How Come?

How come "Up for" and "Down with" mean the same thing?

"Are you up for taking in a movie?"

"I'm down with taking in a movie!"

flammable, inflammable, imflammable.

OTOH - "How was the movie?"

"It had its ups and downs." :grin:

actually it was bad (good)

Just English being abused

I'm jiggy with it.

Correction: I'm jiggy wit it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettin'_Jiggy_wit_It

Groovy. I candiggit.

absolutely gnarly. Now let's go pound some until we yack...

I once asked my kids if they knew what “Bread” was. We were listening to Billy Joe’s Piano Man...
“I sit at the bar and they put bread in my jar”
Neither of them knew what it was.

Far out man, I grokked the whole gestalt at the be-in.

These days, kids say something is "sick" if it's really cool.

Can you dig it?
if this doesn’t get you out of your chair and movin there no hope for you
i dig it

https://youtu.be/cjYrski71II

Most of what we old fogies object to in the above relates to the use "old" words as new slang terms with a different meaning. Slang is used by different groups of people to show membership in or, at least, knowledge of that group. This has been going on, and protested about, forever.
Words are often used to denote membership in a group. Think of your profession. Doesn't it have buzz words, technical terms and words that have different meanings to you than the general public? Mine certainly did.
English is an evolving language. How many of you use "snuck"? Not a word. Or is it? The writers for Frazier on "Frazier" had him say it. NOT correct for a Harvard educated DOCTOR. But on it comes... having sneaked in. Consider awful. It once meant full of awe. Not anymore! English is an evolving language. When it stops evolving it will be a dead language and, hopefully, studied in school.
I heartily recommend "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson to see what a mishmash, potpourri, beautiful language English is. JHB

18kperhr said:

Most of what we old fogies object to in the above relates to the use "old" words as new slang terms with a different meaning. Slang is used by different groups of people to show membership in or, at least, knowledge of that group. This has been going on, and protested about, forever.
Words are often used to denote membership in a group. Think of your profession. Doesn't it have buzz words, technical terms and words that have different meanings to you than the general public? Mine certainly did.
English is an evolving language. How many of you use "snuck"? Not a word. Or is it? The writers for Frazier on "Frazier" had him say it. NOT correct for a Harvard educated DOCTOR. But on it comes... having sneaked in. Consider awful. It once meant full of awe. Not anymore! English is an evolving language. When it stops evolving it will be a dead language and, hopefully, studied in school.
I heartily recommend "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson to see what a mishmash, potpourri, beautiful language English is. JHB

Click to expand...

I for one think we should stamp out verisimilitude!

Let's don't be L7's.

Sam the Sham, if you want to look it up...

Gliderman8 said:

I once asked my kids if they knew what “Bread” was. We were listening to Billy Joe’s Piano Man...
“I sit at the bar and they put bread in my jar”
Neither of them knew what it was.

Click to expand...

Not dough either?

The vagaries of the English language are fascinating. And confounding to those trying to become fluent if it's not their native tongue.

Once had a Thai fellow ask me sincerely: "What means this "FUNKY!"?

Another occurrence here in CONUS, on stopping to give a hitch-hiker a ride I asked where he was going. He told me in what I perceived to be a thick middle eastern accent, and I then asked where he was from. His answer was at first confounding. He said "NEV-adda." After my puzzlement as to where that might be in relation to a major city, he says "Las Vagas". *sheesh* I felt a bit embarrassed over that one.

We have quite a few Indian contractors working for use. I have tried to help some of them understand the different uses of some similar words, like advice and advise or your and you're, but as mentioned it is had for them to understand when they didn't grow up with it. Although to be fair a lot of native English speakers don't use some words correctly.

I have a friend from overseas who didn’t have a grasp on the English language. He went to the doctor some years ago and put his hand on his throat and announced to the doctor that his testicles hurt.... the doctor said “up there?”
My friend mixed up Tonsils and Testicles. We still laugh about it.

Gliderman8 said:

I have a friend from overseas who didn’t have a grasp on the English language. He went to the doctor some years ago and put his hand on his throat and announced to the doctor that his testicles hurt.... the doctor said “up there?”
My friend mixed up Tonsils and Testicles. We still laugh about it.

Click to expand...

I like some of the British terms I hear of Fawlty Towers! "Bob's you Uncle", "Cloth Eared Bint", "Piltdown Ponce."

And a few more:
Why isn't phonetics spelled phonetically?
Why are there Braille signs at the drive-through windows at the bank?
If a deaf kid swears, does his mom wash his hands with soap?
What's another word for synonym?
Why do we drive on a parkway but park in a driveway?
Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
Is it possible to be "totally partial?"
Would a fly that loses its wings be called a "walk?"
If a turtle loses its shell is it naked or homeless?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
If olive oil comes from olives and vegetable oil comes from vegetables, where does baby oil come from?
If people can have triplets and quadruplets why not singlets and doublets?
Is Atheism a non-prophet organization.
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where is the self-help section?" She said that if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
Why don't you ever see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why is the airport called 'terminal'?

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Authors: Some are from George Carlin and Stephen Wright; others are unknown
Contributors: Wanda Wilson & John Masher

What do you call a banjo player without a girlfriend? Homeless.