The English Language

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
As a village schoolteacher, my father noticed and often echoed "destructions" (i.e. "instructions") and "sustificate" (i.e."certificate").

by the way, readers out there.....

if anyone would like an English coach and conversational practice partner - let me know!!!! Grammar, syntax, organization....etc. I'm able to help with all that (with proven results!).

I'd be happy to help you learn written English - slang, formal, etc. Just send me a U2U (private message) and we'll get started!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

that is weird....

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I know right?!

At first I was like, "Okay, well, do it anyway".
And the response would be, "I'm going to".
And I was like, "Okay, then...? NVM".

I'm sure there's more. That's the first that comes to mind. There seems to be another language, at times, up here on this little mountain!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

okay well do it anyway.....


LOL!!! You go girl!

Read this word the other day..... enfilade
1. a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.
2. a suite of rooms with doorways in line with each other. [this was the definition for the word in the book]

"early 18th century (denoting the position of a military post commanding the length of a line): from French, from enfiler ‘thread on a string, pierce from end to end,’ from en- ‘in, on’ + fil ‘thread.’ "


Re pronunciation

foliage mispronounced as "foilage"

famous one .... nuclear mispronounced as "nucular" ..... I used to cringe hearing POTUS George W. Bush always mispronounce it, and that was quite often with all the talk of WMD!

Here's today....

I was just outside checking on my newly laid pea-gravel patio area, arranging the stuff - and there were some weeds poking up!

I took them out and scolded them, and reminded them that if they came back I'd resort to harsher measures!

And then I brushed off my hands, pointed at the root and said, "So pipe down!!"

Interesting term. Ordering someone to put their pipe down - I like it!!!!!!!!!!

We all know what it means is: "will you stop making a rukkus!!"


LOL!!! *scowly face and finger point* "You! Pipe Down!!"

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
This is "pipe" as a verb. Making a shrill noise in some way, by whistling, or speaking in a shrill voice.
"He piped up"- he spoke up, perhaps in the middle of a group discussion.
It is used as a nautical term, because they use "piping" as a signal.
If you make a ceremonial visit to one of Her Majesty's vessels, you might get piped aboard.
"Pipe down" is given as "dismissal from duty" (presumably because this is announced by another signal); from which appears to derive the slang usage of "stop talking".

a reply to: DISRAELI

Interesting! Thanks for that.....

It's a new word day!!!!

I just invented a way to pronounce LGBT as if it were a word. People over in Rant were griping about the word "gay" having been 'hijacked' by the LGBT cpmmunity.

The LGBT movement has become enough of a household topic that it deserves its own word.....

so I thought we could figure out the best WORD for the ell-gee-bee-tee community.....

my suggestion:

ligbit


noun


Used in a sentence:
"The ligbits are here."

"There's a ligbit convention after the parade!"

"Ligbits have been around forever - they just never had their own 'label' before. Who knew there were so many of them? Sheesh!"

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
Leg-biters.
More euphonic.

a reply to: DISRAELI

No. Fleas.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
Norman Hunters
(This is a soccer in-joke. There was a player who was nicknamed "Bites-yer-legs" Hunter)

a reply to: DISRAELI

Ah.....that explains why I was all

Thanks for explaining! I like to keep my repertoire of foreign slang up to date....

yesterday I was thinking about when I stayed in Penrith at a B&B - the owners invited us onto their back courtyard for a private breakfast with them....we got a tour of their house - and we learned that when the owner used the phrase "this is a bit Irish" ---

it was a euphemism.. we have those in English too ---- jury-rigged being one of them. Pejoratives.....
lately I've heard that now the phrase "that's so Texas" has taken hold, IIRC.....

a reply to: DISRAELI

"Pull the other one!!! "

that's unique to UK......

I figured out it was the offspring of 'you're pulling my leg!'

Here in the US if you say 'pull my finger' it is a dis......or a practical joke - when the finger is pulled, the owner passes gas.....

hilarious with the preteens. And the trailer trash....

a reply to: BuzzyWigs
To be honest, references to Norman "Bites-yer-legs" Hunter are not very up to date. I think his era was the 70's.

Yes, "a bit Irish". "Something which at first hearing sounds illogical". I believe Irish jokes in England equate with Polish jokes in the States (e.g. we had three Irishmen in the original changing the lightbulb joke).

a reply to: DISRAELI

Yes - Irish jokes are Polish jokes.

And recently Texas jokes, too....

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
"Pull the other one!!! "
I figured out it was the offspring of 'you're pulling my leg!'

Quite right. The full expression can be "Pull the other one- it's got bells on it!"
I can remember my father once literally shaking his leg as he made that remark.

P.S. I don't think "jury-rigged" is an ethnic slur, though. I'm sure you'll find that it's a nautical metaphor- rigging that is put together to meet an emergency.

At the all hands IT meeting [person, manager] was tasked with giving a talk a talk about [a process I helped create] (unbeknownst to me). During the meeting somebody had a question which I was more than happy to answer. But nobody could hear me so I had to, no prep, no props, nothing to show, go up before the crowd and talk about the [process].

That is a true story! There I was in a multi-state meeting some 80-90 people in total with one being the CFO! I was a half second away from taking the mike off the podium and doing my Mitch Hedberg riffage: “Fettuccini alfredo… it’s like mac-n-cheese for adults! My fake plants died because I forgot to pretend to water them".

So as I typed up the above email (names removed to keep anonymity) that word just popped out at me! I am not aware of using it before. Webster's Ninth says: happening without one's knowledge. Usu. used with To.