quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: In a similar vain, I can't abide the American usage of "I could care less" in place of "I couldn't care less" (i.e. I care so little about that, that it's impossible for me to care about it any less than I already do ). Sadly this seems to have made its way across the Atlantic.
Some have said this is meant sarcastically, but by my reckoning that would be spoken with the intonation on the word I, whereas those crazy yanks seem to emphasise the word care. It makes people sound stupid but, hell, they could probably care less.
In my nationality's defense, neither I nor anyone I know know has ever said "I could care less", instead opting for the Misc approved version...
quote:Originally posted by ben: Also: has anyone else noticed how "sorry" seems to have become the principal unit of exchange between an English person encountering any other English person?
Person treading on foot: "Sorry." Person having foot trodden on: "Sorry."
What's that about, eh?
An observation mentioned and somewhat explained in anthropological terms in Watching the English.
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posted
ha ha - it has been talked about in the Ball household - what with the wife being a Californian girl. We decided some time ago to try London and then LA and make a choice as to where we'd settle after that - plus I think we'd get more house for our money (even in LA!) - even if the houseing market there gets out of its slump and the reccesion that no one dares name lifts, when we think about buying. So, yes, it has been considered, talked about, not finalised though.
As for Brass Monkey's
this is what TLPWUW (the last person who updated wikipedia) says;
Cannonballs? One popular theory is that a brass monkey is a brass tray used in naval ships during the Napoleonic Wars, used for the storage of cannonballs, piled up in a pyramid on the tray, which would contract in cold weather, causing the balls to fall off. This theory is discredited by Snopes, Michael Quinion, and others for four main reasons: The Oxford English Dictionary does not record any such thing. (Indeed, the OED's AskOxford web site also discredits this theory, for the same reasons as given here.) Early references to "brass monkeys" in the 19th century have no references to balls at all, but instead variously say that it is cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears, and whiskers off a brass monkey; or hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. All of these variations imply that an actual monkey, and not a metal tray, is the subject of the metaphor. The first recorded use of freezing a "brass monkey" dates from 1857, being on page 108 of Before the Mast by C.A. Abbey in his book, where it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey". (Ref: Lighter, J.E.) "hot enough to melt the nose off a brass monkey" dates from 1847 (Living Age, New York 14(167):151 — Ref:Phrase Finder). It similarly occurs in the context of heat in Herman Melville's Omoo (1850): "It was so excessively hot in this still, brooding valley, shut out from the Trades, and only open toward the leeward side of the island, that labor in the sun was out of the question. To use a hyperbolical phrase of Shorty's, 'It was 'ot enough to melt the nose h'off a brass monkey.'" The Story of Waitstill Baxter, by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1913) has "The little feller, now, is smart's a whip, an' could talk the tail off a brass monkey". The Ivory Trail, by Talbot Mundy (1919) has "He has the gall of a brass monkey". The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible. Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling loose and rolling around on deck, causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks — longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. Shot was not left exposed to the elements, where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls. Therefore, this appears to be an example of folk etymology.
sorry about the big post, I couldn't create the link?
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quote:Originally posted by dang65: So, I was wondering what phrases or concepts other people might have come across which they never knew the proper meaning of before. Everyone knows what Schadenfreude means, for example, but that sort of thing would count as well.
During the Christmas 2005 tsunami people kept calling the phenomenon a "tidal wave". Since when was a tsunami anything at all to do with tides?
Funny thing is, even the experts kept calling it that. The same experts who told us a tsunami was the result of an undersea earthquake.
Surely "tidal wave" can't mean anything other than a wave caused by a tide?
posted
I dunno. I took "tidal wave" to be a single wave that acts like it's an entire tide. This would be reinforced if a very very small tide was referred to as "waval tide", but I don't think they are so that could be a strong argument in your favour.
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Following a brief walk to the shops this morning, I encountered an old acquaintance of mine. After a few minutes of inane, banal drivel, she did something that made me want to plunge my fingers into her eye sockets. She - along with many other idiots over the years - incorrectly used the word 'apparently'. People usually bung this word into their sentences when they haven't a fucking clue as to the validity of what they're saying, for example:
"Is is true that he actually fucked his own Mother?"
"Well... erm, yeah, apparently. That's what I 'erd mate."
Also used incorrectly by mongs to attempt to give the impression that they know exciting secrets about celebrities/musicians/anybody gossip worthy enough/etc...
"Ha ha! Well check this mate! Apparently he hates that minging slut he had that sprog with, so apparently he's thinking about fucking her sister and having triplets! Ha!"
"Really? How do you know that?"
"Well, that's what my mate's boyfriend's Dad's secret-lover's ex said in a text she sent my mate on Tuesday -- so it must be true!"
posted
[QUOTE]Originally posted by sabian: [QB]In my nationality's defense, neither I nor anyone I know know has ever said "I could care less", instead opting for the Misc approved version...
Sorry, I didn't mean to tar all Americans with the same brush. I've just noticed that the "could" versions seems to have originated across the pond.
(Just in case I need some computer help in the future)
quote:Originally posted by Benny the Ball: apparently became an indicator that someone was about to tell a lie for me about 12 years ago.
Me and an old school mate used to make a big deal of the misuse of 'apparently'. It became a cult thing amongst a few of us at school. He's now a newspaper editor, so I'm hoping that this choice of vocation hasn't tarnished his opinion, thirteen years on. Unfortunately I can't get hold of Cumbrian newspapers, therefore there is no way of confirming this.
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posted
I was kept in from play time when I was eight because I couldn't think of every hononym variable of there (actually, the one that got me was their, I put something like 'it was there idea' and was kept in) that bitch of a teacher made me cry with frustration
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posted
Your teacher sounds like a twat of the highest order. Perhaps she fancied you and wanted to spend some 'quality time' with you?
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quote:Originally posted by Benny the Ball: apparently became an indicator that someone was about to tell a lie for me about 12 years ago.
Me and an old school mate used to make a big deal of the misuse of 'apparently'. It became a cult thing amongst a few of us at school. He's now a newspaper editor, so I'm hoping that this choice of vocation hasn't tarnished his opinion, thirteen years on. Unfortunately I can't get hold of Cumbrian newspapers, therefore there is no way of confirming this.
ha ha - same here - there was a third friend who took longer to catch on, and we'd tell fantastic lies, with just enough peppering of truth to lead the 3rd man on for as long as possible.
after a while though most conversations would go;
"Person X isn't coming along" "Apparently their hands have...." "You said apparently" "Oh. Never mind."
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quote:Originally posted by Zygote: Your teacher sounds like a twat of the highest order. Perhaps she fancied you and wanted to spend some 'quality time' with you?
If only she'd said - there was something...smokey...about her beauty.
It was the same teacher that I got in trouble with for telling her that I was going to put on a play for the class, and then spent an hour with my friend playing war before she made the entire class file out into the hall with their chairs, and sit while my friend and I stood there blankly, thinking, can we get away with winging this, before he said 'we've been playing war, miss'.
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Can anyone clarify the term "optimist"? Someone once told me that an optimist is someone who makes the most of what they've got, or sees the best in what life has dealt them.
A lot of people seem to think of an optimist more as someone who thinks things will get better or will go well in the future, as in "I'm feeling optimistic about our chances of winning the cup".
Is there any conflict of meaning there, or is it the same thing really?
I think there's an, admittedly fairly subtle, difference and that you can be confident about the future, or have a good feeling about it, but that you can't "make the most of" something that may never happen.
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posted
I've spoken to people who consider an optimist to be somebody who ignores realistic negatives in their life. Somebody who sees like through a rose tinted monocle, if you will.
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quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: Optimist: somebody who buys a season ticket on the way to a job interview.
That's a perfect example of what I don't think "optimist" is supposed to mean. That would be someone with extreme self-belief.
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quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: I've spoken to people who consider an optimist to be somebody who ignores realistic negatives in their life. Somebody who sees like through a rose tinted monocle, if you will.
thats kindof what I would say. though I would say it was someone who focuses on the positives rather than the negatives in a situation.
So not dismissing the negatives as such; more focusing on the best rather than the worst elements.
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quote:Originally posted by Kira: I would say it was someone who focuses on the positives rather than the negatives in a situation.
So not dismissing the negatives as such; more focusing on the best rather than the worst elements.
Yes, that's the one I think. But does that conflict with a saying like, "I'm optimistic about getting laid tonight", for example. I think it does.
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quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Anyone who thinks they're an optimist, by definition, isn't.
I'm having trouble getting my head round that. Surely someone who makes the most of the positive aspects of a situation can acknowledge that they're doing so without suddenly disappearing in a puff of logic, as DNA would say. Or did I miss something?
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Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
posted
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Anyone who thinks they're an optimist, by definition, isn't.
Does that work conversely as well? So if someone says 'I'm not an optimist' they actually are an optimist but haven't realised it yet?
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If someone says, "I'm an optimist!" what they're really saying is "Gosh life is tough, yet look at me, putting a brave face on it and struggling through." ***** like that are just whining mealy-mouthed weasels grubbing around for sympathy and a pat on their oily backs. Optimism can only, fairly, be objectively assessed.
quote:Originally posted by Kira: I would say it was someone who focuses on the positives rather than the negatives in a situation.
So not dismissing the negatives as such; more focusing on the best rather than the worst elements.
Yes, that's the one I think. But does that conflict with a saying like, "I'm optimistic about getting laid tonight", for example. I think it does.
I'm not sure how you mean it conflicts; using your example "I'm optimistic about getting laid tonight" you're assuming that there's a possibility that you either will or wont get laid and are focusing on the positive view that you will.
Merriam Webster online dictionary brings up the same definitions for both optimism and optimistic.
Main Entry: op·ti·mism Pronunciation: 'äp-t&-"mi-z&m Function: noun Etymology: French optimisme, from Latin optimum, noun, best, from neuter of optimus best; akin to Latin ops power -- more at OPULENT 1 : a doctrine that this world is the best possible world 2 : an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome
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