Search found 7853 matches
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 9:27 am
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: They're there in their house
- Replies: 2
- Views: 11003
They're there in their house
I spat out the spitted kabob. -thank you, Russ Cable Since I sensed the cents' scents... Set the set set set! My peer is on the pier. Is there a term for the sort of sentence that contains multiple instances of different but related homonyms, homographs, homophones, or the like? I have exhausted my ...
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 7:41 am
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: cognates and loan words
- Replies: 4
- Views: 15873
cognates and loan words
I am teaching myself German, just for something useful to do. I have been introduced to cognates and words that have been loaned to either language (German or English). I have looked on- and offline, in many sources, and through many tidbits of information. I have a long list of words that fall unde...
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 5:54 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: near miss
- Replies: 6
- Views: 17292
near miss
Noun: near miss ni(u)r mis
An accidental collision that is narrowly avoided
This term is used often relating to safety statistics of many corporations. Not only is the term misleading, but the definition as well.
Isn't a near miss a hit?
An accidental collision that is narrowly avoided
This term is used often relating to safety statistics of many corporations. Not only is the term misleading, but the definition as well.
Isn't a near miss a hit?
Submitted by Paul Cormier (Halifax - Canada)
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 5:01 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: goes like jack the bear
- Replies: 7
- Views: 27110
goes like jack the bear
This is a phrase that my 80 year old father uses. My closest guess is that it may originate from a Duke Ellington song from the 1940's, but I still don't know the meaning. Any ideas?
Submitted by V Cavaliere (Antioch - U.S.A.)
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:34 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings Archive
- Topic: double cross
- Replies: 17
- Views: 34687
double-cross
What is the most credible version of the origin?
Submitted by Vladimir Demidov (Moscow - Russia)
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:01 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: safety corridor revisited
- Replies: 6
- Views: 14202
safety corridor revisited
This time I am really and truly interested in the origin and age of a phrase. "Safety corridor" is a oxymoronic euphemism for a stretch of very dangerous highway. I presume that it was invented by Politically Correct bureaucrats to deflect attention from how little they have done to fix the road Sub...
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:07 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: pogey
- Replies: 7
- Views: 19995
pogey
This term meaning state funding, is commonly used in Canada but I am sure it has its origins in the U.K. The "google" hit is high but there doesn't seem to be a relevent origin. Pogy referred to a drunkard in the early 18 hundreds...could this be?
Submitted by Gregg MacDonald (Halifax - Canada)
- Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:07 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: minging
- Replies: 8
- Views: 14852
minging
Evidently undergoing metamorphosis. A speech is delivered in a ~ way. As far as I can tell, it once meant mincing, ie, either being chopped up or done delicately (affectedly). However, it is rapidly coming to mean disgusting. Especially I'm interested in learning whether the intended meaning depends...
- Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:34 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: tsunami vs. tidal wave
- Replies: 18
- Views: 31845
tsunami vs. tidal wave
With ‘tsunami’ in the news, I began to wonder if there was any difference between a ‘tidal wave,’ which was the expression that I had grown up with, and the more recent (at least to me) term ‘tsunami.’ I was in Alaska on good Friday of 1964 when we were hit with one of the strongest earthquakes ever...
- Sat Dec 18, 2004 4:47 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: pimp the system
- Replies: 4
- Views: 10339
pimp the system
To get more out of a job than one is supposed to get. Getting financial aid when not absolutely necessary--Allen Iverson, Urban Dict The not so invisible hand of market forces that exploit the gangsta in a quest to pimp the American consumer is an aberration to those who are true, but a natural cons...
- Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:41 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: G-string
- Replies: 8
- Views: 16262
G-string
Is this of German origin or is it a slang term defining those wonderful undies(underpants /smalls /unmentionables / briefs ) that women (and possibly some men) wear to eliminate VPL (visible panty line)
Brian - Australia
Brian - Australia
Submitted by ( - )
- Sat Dec 18, 2004 6:07 am
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: gentrify
- Replies: 9
- Views: 16157
gentrify
Hi:
Is this word - gentrify - and its derivatives - gentrification et alia - still in use? Both in USA and UK? Can anything beyond houses and places be gentrified?
Thanks
JC
Is this word - gentrify - and its derivatives - gentrification et alia - still in use? Both in USA and UK? Can anything beyond houses and places be gentrified?
Thanks
JC
Submitted by Jose Carlos Barbosa (Niteroi - Brazil)
- Sat Dec 18, 2004 1:41 am
- Forum: Miscellaneous
- Topic: whiskies and whiskeys
- Replies: 19
- Views: 24138
whiskies and whiskeys
Is it important to determine U.S. and Irish Whiskeys from Canadian and Scotish Whiskies? I have been corrected on occasion to specify brand or country.
Submitted by Gregg MacDonald (Halifax - Canada)
- Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:27 pm
- Forum: Usage and Writing
- Topic: factor
- Replies: 13
- Views: 17867
factor
In response to the alikidoo topic, Dale used the phrase "obscurity factor". When did factor come to be used in this manner? None of the definitions seem to apply to this usage.
Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004
Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004
Submitted by Jeff Freeman (Orlando, FL - U.S.A.)
- Fri Dec 17, 2004 7:41 pm
- Forum: Word Origins and Meanings
- Topic: son of a gun
- Replies: 7
- Views: 12468
son of a gun
Does anyone know the origin of the above phrase?
Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004
Thanks,
JF 12/19/2004
Submitted by Jeff Freeman (Orlando, FL - U.S.A.)