Wednesday, June 01, 2016

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Fun with British phrases.

(Regular readers will appreciate Andy Borowitz's satire at The New Yorker: STEPHEN HAWKING ANGERS TRUMP SUPPORTERS WITH BAFFLING ARRAY OF LONG WORDS)

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Welcome to another installment of SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS, a regular Wednesday feature at NA Confidential.

But why all these new words?

Why not the old, familiar, comforting words, like the ones you're sure to hear at Democratic Party fundraising movie night?

It's because a healthy vocabulary isn't about intimidation through erudition. Rather, it's about selecting the right word and using it correctly, whatever one's pay grade or station in life.

Even remuneration-engorged municipal corporate attorneys are eligible for this enlightening expansion of personal horizons, and really, as we patiently compile FOIA requests in lieu of any discernible municipal commitment to transparency, all we have left is plenty of time -- and the opportunity to learn something, if we're so inclined.

This week, something sure to baffle the Disney devotees. You must click through to read them all, though number three is provided; the American variant probably is "all hat, no cattle."

Can you think of any local examples of trouserlessness?

8 British Expressions, Explained, by Erin McCarthy (Mental Floss)

The British have many delightful and colorful expressions that often make no sense to those of us on this side of the pond. Luckily, Christopher J. Moore has decoded a number of them in How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King's English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. LOAD OF COBBLERS
2. HOW’S YOUR FATHER?

3. ALL MOUTH AND NO TROUSERS
Hailing from the north of England, this phrase is “used to describe a man whose sense of self-importance is in inverse proportion to his actual relevance,” Moore writes. The mouth refers to brash talk; trousers, of course, are pants.

4. BOB’S YOUR UNCLE
5. BY HOOK OR BY CROOK
6. ON THE PULL
7. SPEND A PENNY
8. SWEET FANNY ADAMS

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