Chill Linda - it's all good. Don't be hatin'

LOL

I really don't mind how people express themselves as long as I understand what they're saying. Pop culture, buzz words, it's all fine with me ; people don't mean to offend when they use improper expressions, they just repeat what they've heard often.

I had to look up curmudgeonly, the origin is unknown. ; I would have to say you are sounding more Andy Rooneyish, lol..... curmudgeonly is a tad strong.

Just last night a group of friends and I were wondering what the phrase "Close but no cigar" means? Anyone know?

"Close but no cigar." I was a little kid the first time I heard that, and remember thinking at the time that cigar was a modification of score. No idea if that's right or not.

OMG!!!!! Linda -- that is one of my top five pet peeves. No one used to say "go missing" or they "went missing". People said someone "is missing" or they "are missing."

Went missing sounds like they just decided to disappear one day, of their own choosing.

Linda -- thank you for letting me know that I am not the only one driven carzy by this. Now I notice even the news reporters have picked it up. "A six-year-old girl went missing from Main Street this morning." What the heck does that mean? She's playing hide and seek? Why not say "A six-year-old girl is missng from Main Street this morning." Sheesh.

I don't think it's Andy Rooneyish -- I think it totally changes the meaning.

FOAS and Shaun, I think the expression comes from when your prize for winning something was a cigar. So, if someone is throwing a ball at a bunch of stacked bottles, and knocks them all down but one, they came close, but they did not win the cigar so -- close but no cigar. Kind of old-fashioned, huh, but I still say it.

Well....although I understand very well what is meant...I expect more from those that should be examples of good language. The today show talks about "went missing" and "give it up for". The New York Times talks about people being unaccounted for or or missed or disappearing.

Mitch, I am amazed that you never heard the word curmudgeonly! It has it's roots well entrenched in English Renaissance Literature.

The term "close but no cigar" comes from carnival games where one could win a cigar by hitting the bulls eye, or knocking down a certain number of "monkeys" or guessing the number where a spinning wheel would stop. Sort of like "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades". Anyone ever page through that book called "Cultural Literacy?"

Perhaps I do sound a but like Andy Rooney....thank you for the comparison, but curmudgeonly is a very good adjective for the way I feel about those who exacerbate the the decline of good language.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Definition of a curmudgeon

By a phone call asking about the water in the house....so I wrote it but didn't get it posted until after "the tired one" said the same thing!
I wasn't trying to upstage her!
Linda C the irascible...

Thank you! That is one of my biggest pet peeves too. People don't "go missing," they either are or they're not!

Another peeve of mine is when people say "shrimps"...as in "Add one pound of shrimps" or "Shrimps with Fried Rice". Grrrrr...it's already plural knuckleheads!!!!

Also, "suppoSUbly"...where in the heck does the "b" come from? It's "supposEDly"!

Hurricane season is hot and heavy right now (I'm in Florida), so the news is all "HUNKER DOWN!" I hate that phrase! It sounds like something people do behind closed doors or in the bathroom.

Ok, crawling back into my hole for the day. LOL!

There is a school down the road that has a sign posted for the summer and it says"Have a 2009 good summer". It drives me crazy everytime I pass it. This is a school! Can't anyone but me notice it's worded wrong or am I stupid.
Kim

Alot of people from the generation before me, ahem, say, "I'm getting my hairs done"...UGH! Or, "I'll need to buy the shrimps for the Jambalaya when I make groceries." What??

Most of the slang doesn't bother me but it drives DH insane.

We have friends and family from all over the country that correct my children when they answer "Yes Ma'me" or "No Sir". Usually they will say "You don't HAVE to call me sir/ma'me". Huh! I taught my children to say those things because in my part of the world it is considered good manners. Kind of like opening the door for anyone that is older than you. Even if it's only a few years older. LOL!

Linda -- no problem. (That's another saying that makes me a little nuts).

I hear people often say "the hurricane wrecked havoc" when it should be "the hurricane wreaked havoc." It may have wrecked the town, but it wreaked havoc.

Also, confusing the word "trembler" for "temblor". I temblor is an earthquake. It makes the earth tremble.

I could go on for hours on this topic.

My friend jokingly says -- I am going to have my hair cut, in fact I'm going to have them all cut.

Mitch, I agree, none of it bothers me. If it did, I'd be picking apart everything I heard or read or said, correcting every spelling and grammar error and regional slang phrase.

As I've mentioned in prior similar threads, the only phrase that really bothers me is when my children say "these ones" or "those ones". No, you like these or you like those. My girls correct themselves but they have a big smile when they do.

Well, that phrase and the sign on the courthouse door that says "We dress casual because we care". I pointed out that we actually dress CASUALLY, because we care. The administrator apparently doesn't really care, because the sign is still there and uncorrected. (grin)

I just shrug and go on, I have enough hate and discontent in my job and my family that I don't usually get bothered by things that mean very little to me personally.

Annie

Annie, more to the point how is dressing casually equate to 'caring' LOL. That sounds like a justification for allowing the staff to dress in a less than professional manner. It would be better to say "We dress casually (or casual if you will) because it's more comfortable, so deal with it!".

Duane

Don't get me started.......
ValentiMes!
WaRshington
. .
. .
But, it does NOT impede my personal happiness.

Duane, I like direct and honest! How about "We dress casually because it's more comfortable, feel free to join us!"

Deanna

Like it or not, people form opinions of us based in part on how we speak and the words we use.
If you say Ma'am to me I will think you grew up somewhere south of here. If you call a 7-UP a coke I will know you did! and if you call that 7-UP a soda I will know you are from the east coast and if you call it a phosphate I will suspect you grew up in central Massachusetts.
If you call that thing that holds 3 to 5 candles at a time a candle opera or you mention that my table with the claw feet looks like it was made by Chip and Dale I pretty well know you don't read much.
But....if you are a newscaster and talk about someone who "went missing" I am confused. I know that you care about how you speak, I would hope you choose your words carefully.

And while we are at it....another is signage....what's that? Signs? I first heard the word when I was on the planning committee for the arboretum in town. we were worrying about sewer connections, drainage, easments, building plans, terracing etc....and one man said he had been consulting with the city about signage. ???? He said we need to meet with the architect to see what he has to say, still I was wondering....someone mentioned did we need signage anywhere but at the building? I am still thinking it might be like sewage? Finally someone presented a picture of the proposed signs! I deemed that man to have spent too much time talking to bureaucrats about sanitation receptacles and irrigation hydrants and a key secured entrance!
Linda c

Duane, the employees are only allowed to dress CASUALLY (LOL) on Fridays if they donate $1 to the fund which is designated quarterly to a local charity. The money has gone to the Humane Society, to the local Community Services organization, to the food pantry, to the Senior Citizen's Center, to the United Way, the Cancer Society. The employees nominate their favorite charity and everyone gets a chance to vote. A charity can only receive the quarterly donation once every two years, and it's whatever charity gets "elected" as the recipient that quarter.

So yes, it's because we "care". Most people donate more than the $1, and with over 100 employees that can add up to a pretty nice charitable contribution in three months.

Annie

Irascible Linda, you are a cute curmudgeon!

A local restaurant hosts Toastmasters club meetings, and one day there I thought, "they should have similar verbal communications / public speaking classes in schools."

I've written this here before -- whenever I interview young people for my company I am shocked by their lack of verbal skills. And these are college grads.

I know a couple of adults...can we call them "older adults"? Well past 40 at any rate, who felt handicapped by their lack of speaking ability and joined Toastmasters.
Some schools do have verbal communication/public speaking classes, but they are often called "debate" or "Theater arts".
Public speaking isn't all what it's about. I know several people who freeze at 50 people in a room, but are very articulate in a group of 3 or 4.
Not sure why some think that more is good...signage instead of signs, prior to instead of before, portion instead of part, verbally communicated instead of said....
well you get the idea!!
My son was a journalism major and made his living for a number of years writing ads.....now he just sells the ads someone else writes. But he left his New York Times Style book at home.
I am afraid I have become addicted to simplicity and non complicatated writing style.
We could talk about "he goes....and then I go..." But maybe not right now!! LOL!
Linda C

Oh, Linda, you can speak for me anytime. My pet peeve is hearing "I am wanting...." or "I am loving...." and other phrasings of the kind. What, you can't say, "I want it" or "I love it"?

Go missing is a common British locution akin to "go public" or "go native." It's been in use at least since WWII. It doesn't bother me; it's just an American adoption (or affectation).

Carol

I TRY not to let little things like that bother me... there are more important issues to think about. Please don't critique my postings!LOL But....my anal daughter goes ballistic when someone says Reecy cups (the candy) and I do cringe, with her, when I hear athaletic and nucular. Think we have too much time on our hands?

jude

Annie, foot removed from mouth. Taste was familiar, but not all that delicious! I'm glad you care! But seeing the sign and not knowing that information would definitely cause me to scratch my head!

Duane

My peeves are "mammyagram", "prostrate" and "these ones". Unfortunately some of my nearest and dearest (but thankfully not DH) use them,oy!

Duane, the reason for dressing casually and the current charitable recipient are also on the sign, but in small print. I doubt that many people read it because many people complain loudly that my receptionist is wearing jeans.

I'm not sure how her attire affects how she answers their questions at the window. Since many of them are on their way to jail or prison, you wouldn't think they were fashion experts, but I guess I'm wrong about that.

Carol, I was an English major in college and my professor was quick to point out that we don't really speak English, we speak an Americanized version, something that evolved from English. As we grow and become more diverse, so does our language. Truthfully, it intrigues me to think of where many of our slang words and phrases came from. Many have Latin roots, others Arabic and some seem to be uniquely ours.

Annie

Yes...slang and colloquialisms do evolve.
Remembering a few years people "went postal"....you don't hear that any more....but I never could figure out what that one meant.

Linda, it came from the first post office disgruntled employee shootings years ago. And you still hear the term used in workplace violence.

Here is a link that might be useful: Going postal

EWWW!! Didn't know that! Now I really hate that term!

Also, it's been mentioned to me that a horse will "go lame". They don't "get lame", or "develop lameness", they "go lame". It's probably an English expression much like "go missing", but anyone who has horses says it.

Annie

"Mitch, I am amazed that you never heard the word curmudgeonly!"

Linda, I said I looked it up, I wanted to ascertain what it really meant; I had certainly seen it in written form many times but I've never heard it used in conversation ever.

I think a lot of people write in a way better form than the way that they converse in everyday life.

Now I'm going to look for an audio of the word; if I ever want to use the word curmudgeonly in conversation, I should not botch it up with a bad pronunciation, lol..... " kur mid gin lee " would be my first instinct but I am probably very wrong.

Nope...."ker MUD gin"...
Sometimes there are situations and things that can be so accurately described with one word....words that come to mind are unctuous, sacerdotal, scrofulous ...
Impossible to resist using one when it fits!
Linda C