English In The Playground

[Cicciograna]

I think that there are no doubts that English is the Language of the Net.
And it's the second most spoken language in the world (http://www.vistawide.com/languages/top_30_languages.htm).
And specifically, it's the language of the GitP Forum.

So nowadays it's fundamental to know English to communicate on the Net, to communicate in the World and, most important, to read OOTS comics and discuss them on this board :smallsmile:

As a non-English, I sometimes have troubles to understand some expressions found on this board, or in the comics: I understand that this can be a widespread problem, since this website is visited by many people, many of which are non-English speakers.
So this is the main reason behind this thread: posting misunderstood English expressions, hoping that some kind member could explain them.

I'm proud to open the dances with the expression, taken from this strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0146.html):

:roy: "Identify with the proverbial pot much?"

What does it mean??? What is a "pot much"?

[Dallas-Dakota]

A confusing term is ''making a rain check'' or variations of it.

Over the time I have come to understand it and that it means ''I'l do it later''

[loopy]

:roy: "Identify with the proverbial pot much?"

What does it mean??? What is a "pot much"?

It comes from the old 'proverb' "pot calling a kettle black", created in the days when both pots and kettles were black (I assume).

Anyway, if someone says "well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black" its someone calling out someone else for something they are guilty of. Basically, being a hypocrite.

For example, me complaining about someone else being self-obsessed would be a "pot calling the kettle black" situation.

I hope that made some sense. :smalleek:

[mikeejimbo]

:roy: "Identify with the proverbial pot much?"

What does it mean??? What is a "pot much"?

Roy is comparing the addressee to the pot from the phrase "the pot calls the kettle black" which basically means to be hypocritical.

Edit: Ninjas!

[St.Sinner]

Another way of putting what Roy was trying to say is "Do you identify with the proverbial pot?" He was making a reference to the proverb "The pot calling the kettle black", which means accusing someone of doing something when you yourself are guilty of the same thing. When Belkar accuses Roy of being unreliable, Belkar is being like the "pot" because he is usually the unreliable one in the party.

[Thufir]

I'm proud to open the dances with the expression, taken from this strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0146.html):

:roy: "Identify with the proverbial pot much?"

What does it mean??? What is a "pot much"?

Well, for starters, I think it's technically grammatically incorrect, though colloquially acceptable. A clearer but less funny version would be something like:
"Do you identify much with the proverbial pot?"

As to the proverbial pot, we have a phrase: "Pot called the kettle black," the point being that the pot is just as black as the kettle. Used to say someone is a hypocrite.

Edit: 3 ninjas. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised.

[Cicciograna]

Finally...some sense...:smallsmile: thank you guys!

[WalkingTarget]

A confusing term is ''making a rain check'' or variations of it.

Over the time I have come to understand it and that it means ''I'l do it later''

rain check (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language_idioms_derived_from_baseball#R) — a ticket given to a spectator at an outdoor event providing for a refund of his or her entrance money or admission at a later date, should the event be interrupted by rain; an assurance of a deferred extension of an offer, especially an assurance that a customer can take advantage of a sale later if the item or service offered is not available (as by being sold out); or a (sometimes vague) promise to accept a social offer at an unnamed later date. The latter two meanings derive from the first, which OED states was first used in 1884; its first written entry into non-baseball usage is cited as 1930.

[13_CBS]

Another useful tool (or, if you're a linguistic archaeologist, interesting) is http://www.etymonline.com/, giving you information on how certain English words became the way they are.

[Cicciograna]

Another useful tool (or, if you're a linguistic archaeologist, interesting) is http://www.etymonline.com/, giving you information on how certain English words became the way they are.

I'm not a linguistic archaeologist, but I find it interesting altogether :smallsmile:

[Trog]

Another useful tool (or, if you're a linguistic archaeologist, interesting) is http://www.etymonline.com/, giving you information on how certain English words became the way they are.
*Puts on fedora and leather jacket and grabs his gun and his whip and plunges into the Tomb of Expressions*

[loopy]

*Puts on fedora and leather jacket and grabs his gun and his whip and plunges into the Tomb of Expressions*

*sets off the boulder trap*

[Myshlaevsky]

*Puts on fedora and leather jacket and grabs his gun and his whip and plunges into the Tomb of Expressions*

His tomb, Fedora style and fall, the whip, is to get the position of a leather jacket and his gun. (http://www.translationparty.com/)

[Eldariel]

A site (and mailing list) I've personally found fascinating is A Phrase a Week (http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html). My English vocabulary is quite good, but not having grown up in an English-speaking environment, I have hardly had the exposure I would like for especially the more obscure phrases, particularly the UK ones.

The weekly phrase is easy enough to learn and the history provided with it is incredibly enticing. I can honestly say my own phrasal reserve has multiplied since subscribing, at least the amount I've got in active memory. Some of them are ones I'm familiar with, of course, but even then, I didn't know the etymology of "the hair of the dog" before reading.

[Trog]

*sets off the boulder trap*

:smalleek: Gah! A round rolling noisy stone object! (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=boulder&searchmode=none) *flees!*

[Totally Guy]

This website (http://www.effingpot.com/) never fails to amuse. It highlights all the funny sayings we Brits use to confuse Americans.

[Quincunx]

*several seconds after Trog flees, sounds of collision*
*sounds of a giant X being scratched onto a scoring card*

There used to be a thread on the OotS subforum called "Things You Didn't Get", which was a great resource for the idioms and in-jokes.

[Cicciograna]

There used to be a thread on the OotS subforum called "Things You Didn't Get", which was a great resource for the idioms and in-jokes.

The spirit of this thread was not discussing solely idiomatic expressions found in the comics, but throughout the forum, throughout the Net: nonetheless, could you please point me to the thread you're talking about?

[Cristo Meyers]

In it's third thread, no less (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124645)

[Trog]

*several seconds after Trog flees, sounds of collision*
*sounds of a giant X being scratched onto a scoring card*
*Comes wobbling back in with a huge, heavy boulder prop where his head normally would be. A muffled and slightly echo-y voice speaks out from the huge rock*

Professional Stunt Trog - don't try this at home with your parents' boulders kids.

*A wind kicks up and Trog's hat comes blowing back in, hitting his legs. He bends over and pats the ground blindly looking for it when suddenly the boulder upends and begins rolling and lifts Trog off his feet and upside down and rolls off screen*

Gah! It's got Trog! Someone stop *CRUNCH* ...ugh... oh god... stop it please Trog can't take being rolled over agai- *CRUNCH* ... wElL aPpArEnTlY tRoG cAn TaKe JuSt OnE mOr- *CRUNCH* ... ... we stumble... from here.*CRUNCH* ... ... ... ... *CRUNCH*

Production Notes: It was soon after that the perpetually drunk and accident prone troglodyte was quietly removed from the picture and replaced with up and coming actor Harrison Ford and the title of the film changed from Raiders of the Lost Trog to something else about an ark or some such nonsense.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Trog, I'm not entirely sure how, but I want to have your babies.

[13_CBS]

On that note...



Troglodyte:
"cave-dweller," [from] 1555, from [Latin] troglodytae (plural), [which comes from] [Greek] "troglodytes", "cave-dweller," [literally] "one who creeps into holes," from "trogle", "hole" (from "trogein" "to gnaw;") + dyein "go in, dive in." [The modern slang term] shortening, "trog", [or] "obnoxious person, boor" is recorded from 1956.

...Trog's not Greek, is he? :smallconfused: