Inspired by something I said last night when complaining about an achievement at work and the only way I could think to describe it was “pure frippery.”

  • Canadian_Cabinet @lemmy.ca
    131·
    22 天前

    Last week a coworker described a restaurant as being “kitty-corner” from our office. Took me forever to figure out what they meant

      • ElectricMachman@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        2·
        21 天前

        I was always under the impression that was a similar expression to ‘dog-eared’, i.e. a bit beaten up. But maybe I’m conflating it with another phrase

        • Wolf314159@startrek.website
          2·
          20 天前

          Dog-eared means that a corner got folded down (making a diagonal) on a page as a bookmark. A dog-eared book isn’t necessarily beat-up beyond the damage to the corners of pages. Catty-cornered or kitty-cornered is adjacent to something on the diagonal, i.e. not orthogonally next to it like up, down, left, or right. So there is an argument to be made for a loose (coincidental) connection between those ideas, but I don’t think they come from the same roots.

          • Classy@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            20 天前

            I’m my area it’s said “caddy corner”, or you might hear the random old euphemistic “caddy-wampus” which means either “diagonal to reference position” or “all fucked up!”

  • Adderbox76@lemmy.caEnglish
    11·
    21 天前

    I used the phrase “tilting at windmills” when discussing current politics and got looked at like an insane person.

    No one reads anymore, apparently.

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
    9·
    21 天前

    Heh. Back in my youth in the 1990s I used dated slang ironically and now it is part of my daily vocabulary. Neither myself or anybody else can tell if it is ironic or not. Now I’m just a middle aged man speaking in a weird capitol city dialect in the second largest city, which by the locals is a crime on its own.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
    8·
    22 天前

    Yesterday I learned the word Steez from my son in high school.

    Still not completely sure what it means, but I believe it’s something between a dork and a douche.

    • JesusSon@lemmy.world
      11·
      22 天前

      So back in the 90s “steez” was your overall style. Like “this dude’s steez is off the chain.” But it’s not just style but also hutzpha, so “check this steez yo, fresh shells smoking a blunt on the street”

      Idk what it means today but this old head used to have steez but then I got old and now I just sneeze rimshot I’ll be here all night folks.

      Long post just to ask, is that still what it means?

      Edit: forgot a part

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
        4·
        22 天前

        I think it does still mean that, but, not in a good way.

        The 90s celebrated Steez (which I personally never heard of back then) then it’s definition today is essentially “The 90s called and they want their style back.”

        Definitely explains why he had to borrow some of my clothes for it. 🤦🏻‍♂️

        • JesusSon@lemmy.world
          3·
          21 天前

          Ha, isn’t that how it always goes? Like dope, if my dad called me a dope it was because I was being stupid. If I called you dope it was because you were cool.

      • superkret@feddit.org
        4·
        22 天前

        I’ll be here all night folks.

        In your bed, snoring, right?

        Punchline

        Because you are old

        • JesusSon@lemmy.world
          2·
          19 天前

          Are you the raw sugar cane, nutrasweet, never equal? If you were in Binzito or your mother’s Buick Regal would you get up like Chino shouting power to the people?

    • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      21 天前

      I’ve heard steeze in snowboard / Park rat culture. Though it’s a bit dated it means like, style/vibe/look

  • kakler bitmap@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    21 天前

    I don’t personally think it’s wierd, but my partner told me I sounded like an old for using the word “flummoxed”

  • Taniwha420@lemmy.world
    7·
    21 天前

    My parents emigrated from Aus/NZ just before I was born, so I inherited a bunch of weird down-under, outdated vocabulary.

    “What are you fossicking around in the pantry for?” “Did you find a few skerrigs of chocolate?” “I need to use the dunny.” “That guy in car dealership was apoplectic.”

    Lots of other turns of phrase, but - with the possible exception of “dunny” are legit words.

    EDIT: OK. A few others, I still use ‘blasted’ as an adjective. If my kids do something ridiculous, “Jesus wept, child,” sometimes comes out of my mouth. Then a bunch of, “running around like a sprayed blowfly,” or, “wandering around like a lost soul.”

  • compostgoblin@slrpnk.netEnglish
    61·
    22 天前

    One of my new favorites when trying to decide if something is worth doing - “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    4·
    22 天前

    Dropped a Tom Swifty on my wife… the other day.

    “They want me to check in at the hospital…”

    “She said admittedly.”

    I got “the look”.

  • Akasazh@feddit.nl
    3·
    21 天前

    ‘Spasmodic’. A boy walked in the sidewalk and he showed signs of having cerebral palsy… Somehow that word popped up and it surprised me how topical that word was and that I don’t realize how I know the word.