I am on Day Two of traveling back to Utah with my toddler (and, thank FUCKING GOD, my mother), and here are all the forms of transit we will have taken:
Car -> Train -> Shuttle Bus -> Ferry -> Plane -> Plane -> Car
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Figure skating is the most important thing, and I’m super torn about Patrick Chan v. Evgeni Plushenko. Chan, of course, is Canadian, but I always loved Plushenko (and The Bartender loves him with all her Russian heart.)
Also, Putin is a monster and our official Toast stance is pro-him being embarrassed by shoddy preparations and con-actual acts of terrorism impacting the Games.
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There is always room in my heart and mind for gossip about Mean Girls:
“My 11-year-old, after she watched it for the first time, said, ‘Who’s Danny DeVito?’” he laughed. “And my 7-year-old asked, ‘What’s a wide-set vagina?”
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Everything I thought I knew is wrong. But some of these also seem incorrect.
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Why young sexual assault victims sometimes tell incoherent stories.
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The secret life of a professional closed-captioner:
After being inadvertently zapped by a gamma ray, a young woman finds herself acutely attuned to the sounds of the surrounding forest. She pauses, stunned by the deafening clamor of birdsong. I paused the video and thought about how best to convey her newly enhanced auditory perception of the natural world, toggling between [HEIGHTENED WARBLINGS] and the Keatsian [FULL-THROATED AVIAN SINGING]. Suddenly aware of how ridiculous either would look on screen, I settled on the distinctly un-poetic [LOUD BIRD NOISES] and went on about my business. I had already wasted enough time, and who knew what other agonizing choices lay ahead?
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Apropos of nothing, how marvelous is the phrase “looking like a dog’s breakfast”? What is your favourite little saying?
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Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
I’m conflicted about the Olympics in general (tbh, I’m becoming more and more conflicted about all pro sports… #problematic) but Patrick Chan is TOO cute!
Two people in my Facebook feed have announced they are having nothing to do with the Olympics because of Russia/Putin, but I wonder if they did the same thing when they Olympics were China. It’s at least as bad as Russia.
Oh, for sure. I wonder why PR is so extra-bad this time though – a relic of Cold War “Russia = bad” rhetoric in the West?
I feel like I should be conflicted, but damn, I love me an Olympics (and then there are the folks that argue we only care about Russia’s politic b/c of Snowden…)
Nicole, I caught the end of the skating last night and when I saw Plushenko sitting on the bench with his team, I clapped my hands with glee because 1) I forgot he’d be competing and 2) he is so, so ridiculous.
(Bring on the Olympics commenting while feeling bad about watching!)
I think it’s part of it, for sure. The lead-up to Atlanta was anything but smooth. I can’t actually remember an Olympics that wasn’t fraught with preparation problems (although I guess Beijing was close). People are understandably freaking out about the rounding up and killing of the stray dogs, but same thing happened in Athens.
What I want to know is if the anti-communist tourette’s paranoia that afflicts so many conservatives down here will be enough to make them suddenly pro-gay-rights in an enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing. Probably not, but a guy can dream.
Yeah, the “They’re not ready!!!1!” stories come up every time, but mostly get forgotten after the first warm-and-fuzzy moment during the competitions. Also, it sounds like some horrific stuff is happening to stadium workers in Brazil and Qatar, but no one seems too broken up about that.
Ah well, I’ve pretty much resigned myself to being Part of the Problem and watching & enjoying it anyway! :-/
Not to be terribly cynical, but this time around the victims of human rights abuse are white people, sooo…
I feel like part of why Sochi is getting so much attention is that more people are plugged in to what is going on this time around. I remember plenty of reports about evictions/demolishing old architecture in Beijing, but I think even since then, how we get our news has changed a good bit. I know I spend more time browsing a wider variety of sites on the internet, and get pretty much none of my news from traditional sources.
Also, the global financial situation + the pressure to build the most amazing, unique facilities + the Olympics going to different countries than they used to means that more people are realizing the downsides of the Olympics. I personally would love to see them done away with because they are a REALLY poor use of money. This is compounded when they are put on in a developing country, but any country could use that amount of money for something more worthwhile. They’re just not a good deal. I’m really glad NYC did not get the 2012 Games, and if I ever live in a city that is bidding for them, I would actively protest.
(I have a lot of feelings about this.)
I think part of the difference is that China is thought of as being Officially Totalitarian, so anything they do that seems like a step towards openness is good; whereas Russia is thought of as being Officially Democratic, so all of their totalitarian tendencies are viewed much more harshly. Basically the current actual state of affairs in Russia messes with the US’s “we won the Cold War! Capitalism=democracy!” narrative.
My cynical reaction is that this is the Winter Olympics, whereas Beijing hosted the Summer ones. And for Americans, it makes a difference. Summer has those fun team sports (basketball, gymnastics, sorta), international stars (Usain Bolt), and features a lot of sports that the US is good at (swimming, beach volleyball), so we get to count medals and feel good about ourselves. The Winter games have a lot of sports that the US doesn’t really get into (all Nordic events), and we never finish with the most medals. So it’s easier for Americans to say, “eh I’m so not down with all this corruption, I’m boycotting” when you don’t have to miss as much.
I really really super- adore the Olympics despite all their massive and constant problematicality, but this time round I’m feeling more than usually queasy about it. I’ve only read reviews but there was a programme on British TV on Monday about attacks on LGBT people in Russia which sounds horrific. I don’t even know if I have the emotional wherewithal to watch it, to be honest. According to the review in the Guardian the Russian gay community thought a boycott would backfire and put them in further danger, which is logical, but I feel pretty grim about watching it. Right now I sort of feel like it would be like viewing Hannah And Her Sisters; I could do it, but I really wouldn’t feel good about it. The queasiness would be coming from the same place.
(guardian review: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/feb/…
That is what makes me more uneasy than usual about this year’s Olympics as well. Maybe it feels more personal because I have many friends who are gay and are hurt by the whole thing, but I didn’t have any Chinese political dissidents friends? Not to sound flip. But I think it has to do with how much more personal this feels than the usual political upsets surrounding the Olympics.
I love the theoretical stance that the world unites in friendly competition through sports. And I love watching many of the winter sports. But the more I learn about how the poor are even more exploited and disenfranchised when the Olympics come to their area, and knowing all the corruption involved in choosing who gets to host, among many other things, the harder it is to embrace the games.
I feel similarly… the idea that there is legislation on hold (i.e. in parliament but delayed until after the Olympics are over and scrutiny dies down) that could remove one’s children – adopted OR biological – from one’s home and custody, simply because one or more parents are gay/lesbian/bisexual… the thought of that makes me physically ill. I understand the rationale behind not allowing LGBT couples to adopt – I don’t agree with it but I understand it – but if I physically give birth to my own child, you are NOT going to take him/her from me, I don’t care what you say.
I have nothing but little sayings. All I do is speak in weird phrases.
“Hitting on all eight” means you feel awesome (hitting on all eight cylinders). “since Moses was a kid” is a long time. “Going like sixty” means things were moving along nicely–“how’s your project coming?” “Great, going like sixty!” Things you don’t care about are “six of one” (i.e., six of one/a half a dozen of the other, the same thing, doesn’t matter.) “Right fussed” is to be upset about something. To “pop smoke” is to leave in a hurry, right away, “let’s pop smoke.”
I will never be cool, I see.
Those are fantastic. My wife rolls her eyes a lot at my sayings, which she refers to as [my last name]-isms.
“Put ‘er in the big wheel,” roughly means let’s get moving, better get going, and quickly.
“Brown study” (this is an actual real thing, but I’ve never heard anyone other than my immediate family use it in general conversation): staring into space; suddenly lost in thought.
“Aye-ya” is really a Cantonese exclamation. It’s one of those un-translatables that doesn’t have a good alternative definition in english, which is why it was the first word I learned and why I use it all the time. It sort of means my god! or what the hell? or dammit! sort of an expression of exasperation/frustration/annoyance, but that doesn’t really capture it. It’s sort of why almost all non-anglos I’ve known use the word okay.
Smucked, as in if you don’t look both ways before crossing, you might get smucked. I introduced it to my wife, but she uses it way more than I do. I never thought of it as a non-word, but her co-workers think it’s the funniest thing ever that she uses this word.
“Runned over.” This is the state of having massive sleep inertia. Perhaps you are hung over. Perhaps you were up late. You are awake, but only just barely and mostly communicate via a series of grunts. General facial expression is closed eyes and a frown. Rage directed at bright lights and/or sun. We always ask our toddler “Did you get runned over?” when he wakes up because he, like his mother, suffers terribly from sleep inertia. (Yes, I’m aware the grammar is incorrect for this one; that’s sort of the whole point.)
I _LOVE_ using “Aye-ya” or “Aiya” because it is such a great expression of frustration/annoyance/whatever, AND I get to pretend to be an old Chinese lady. Also, I can draw out the “aaa” as long as I need to, with variations in pitch, to get my point across!
My family used “Aijaa” — but in Finnish it’s an affirmative, like, “Ah, yes, I see.” Fun that it sounds probably about the same as the Cantonese “Aye-ya” but means something completely different.
Aye-ya! I’ve always spelled it aiya, but anyway, they say it in Mandarin too and it’s one I’ve totally adopted. You’re right, it’s one of those phrases that a language just gets so right that translation is impossible. It’s so satisfying, and even if you’ve never spoken a Chinese dialect in your life, you get the meaning immediately.
Ooohhh instead of “hitting on all eight,” I say “firing on all six.” You must have a hemi or something under the hood. I’m gonna get some gator backs next week, maybe do a new coat of plum crazy purple. You ever go down to the quarry and do donuts? Me, Huckle and Puff are gonna hit the Kum and Go later and maybe head down there. Shotgun a couple and then practice our jackknives.
Six? Six is for chumps! (Although it’s Friday morning so I’m nowhere near hitting on all eight, I’m hitting on like….three, tops.)
I give up on today already. Let’s blow this joint.
I always use “Let’s blow this popstand” for some reason? When my sister was little, she’d say “let’s blow UP this popstand.” Good thing the NSA wasn’t tapping our phone lines back in 1989.
Oh my gosh, my dad says “Let’s blow this taco stand” (for “we’re done, let’s get out of here”), and I don’t know where it came from, nor met other people who say it, but your “popstand” is clearly the same thing.
He says a lot of other odd things (beyond his tendency to just make little noises to himself as he putters around, and the long strings of nonsense syllables he releases in situations where he’s trying not to swear):
“up Tina! Up up!” = roughly “come on, lazybones, let’s get moving” (according to my mom this has something to do with an elephant)
The mangled “Six and one half dozen or the other” and “No need to cry over spilled milk under the bridge”
Calling horses “cows” and vice versa when I was little (to provoke the “DAD, those aren’t cows, they’re HORSES” response)… but it has continued to the present day?
Etc.
DADS.
My dad says both “Let’s blow this taco stand” and “let’s blow this popsicle stand.” They must all be variations of each other. (Perhaps an article in next month’s Dad Magazine can address the topic.”
“Going like stink.” Something moving very quickly. “There we were, going like stink.”
“Look (something) out.” As in, looking something out of the pantry or the closet. Retrieving it. Particularly if you have to search for it. “I’ll just look it out.”
“Punky.” When rubber perishes. “See, it’s gone all punky.”
“Luck in.” When you are in luck. Conversely, “Luck out.” SOL. (I do not get why this is confusing to people.)
“Disappear in a cloud of small stones and chicken shit.”
It’s just how we roll.
And for some purely Canadian content: “Does the Bay tell Eaton’s?”
OH! And “Shining like sharn on a lee rig.”
Literal translation: “Glistening like a turd on a sh*t wagon.” Used when someone is all dressed up. A passive aggressive compliment.
Unless, of course, you like that sort of thing.
If we’re going boonie-whompin’ I gots to get new tires on my rig.
Muddin’, what fer do we do it?
I like “right fussed” a lot. I use “cross” more than your average Texan, mostly with my shorty to convey that I’m not angry enough to lose my temper, but I’m more than a little annoyed and if you don’t cut whatever it is out, it might turn into a thing. Similar?
I use the phrase “I tell you what” as a complete expression and someone once told me it was a Southernism, and I have never even BEEN to the South.
“Right fussed” is when you’re decently aggravated over something. See also “some pissed”–“It’s been a week and that client hasn’t gotten back to me, if I don’t hear back from them today I’m going to be some pissed!” but “I had a snafu at the grocery store when I dropped the eggs, everybody was right fussed.”
Where are you from because in Indiana I have friends, young friends, who say “I’ll tell you what” as a complete phrase all the time. I haven’t heard it in the south before but I may be in the wrong part of the south.
“He doesn’t know his arse from his elbow” is one of my mom’s, which I now use all the time. it means someone was confused or disorganised I suppose?? “Well he didn’t lick it up off the road” – pointing out similarities between parents and their children. “I’m so hungry, I’d lick the arse of a low flying duck” – self explanatory haha. “sucking diesel” – really going well, being really efficient and hard-working.
oh, oh, and my dad’s favourite one (bearing in mind my dad has an accent which makes “ee” sound more like “ay”): “There’s currants for cakes and raisins for everything!”
We say “doesn’t know shit from Shinola” in my family. And “the apple doesn’t roll far from the tree.”
And when someone is keeping you in the dark about something they are “giving you the mushroom treatment.”
Ooh, I like “giving you the mushroom treatment”
Confirmation that the Bartender is female and Russian? NEW INFORMATION. (Or I just haven’t been paying attention. We don’t actually know who Bartender is yet, right?)
Female, Russian, mysterious? I’m going with Black Widow is the Bartender.
Headcanon accepted.
Yes please.
Fuck and yes. (And Hawkeye is made to clean up after the giant misandrist spider.)
I’m REALLY enjoying (in a terrible, mean-spirited way) the cluster**** that is the Sochi Olympic preparations so far. I mean, I feel bad for the athletes who’ve worked their whole life towards this dream, but I am also pro- embarrassment of Putin AND the IOC.
I think the way American media has been talking about the accommodations has been a little disrespectful, though. Lots of places (even in the US) don’t have plumbing that can handle flushing toilet paper. And if the journalists don’t have access to safe tap water for one week, it probably means that citizens don’t have access to safe tap water much more often. It makes us seem like bullies to make fun of Russia for this stuff, in my eyes.
I haven’t fully figured out how to feel about this. Does anyone else have thoughts?
YES. Some of the complaints (like rooms being not ready) are legitimate, but some of them also just make me go “Hm. You’ve clearly never traveled outside of North America and Europe.”
Not being able to flush toilet paper or drink the tap water? Please, friends.
Agreed on the somewhat disrespectful part, and any reasonably seasoned traveler will know that there are many, many places in the world where you can’t flush toilet paper. However, I think there is something to be said for the fact that when you spend more on one Olympics than literally ALL other winter Olympics combined, there are going to be high expectations. Putin himself has spent the last seven years setting those expectations. $50+ billion should at least get you some high-tech plumbing.
I tend to believe the Cold War isn’t entirely over. A lot of people are comparing this Olympics to Beijing in terms of gross violations of human rights, etc., but I think there are two key differences in that Beijing actually pulled off a well-organized games, and that the US’s relationship with China doesn’t have the same history that we have with Russia and the USSR. We are also not economically dependent upon Russia in the way that we are China. And, you know, as a true American, I also like the resurgence of the Russian Reversal (“In Soviet Russia, car drives YOU!”) and the fact that Putin is so far being embarrassed on the world’s biggest stage.
I agree that many people are still thinking in a Cold War framework, but I’m curious about why. It seems to me that a lot of US media’s reactions to things happening in Russia right now are not actually in the best interest of Russian citizens. Will it improve the lives of Russians to revel in Putin’s embarrassment? Unlikely, especially considering that much of the support for Putin’s aggressive nationalism comes from people who felt that Gorbachev and Yeltsin’s weaknesses embarrassed Russia for too long. I would ask the same question of media coverage of LGBT rights in Russia. Will the Russian government decide to take a serious look at homophobia because Western media has taken issue with it? Will LGBT Russians benefit from this attention? I would predict that things will go well while the media spotlight is on Russia for the Olympics, and then the Kremlin will take a more defensive/repressive position.
Someone please talk me out of my particularly cynical view about this stuff.
I think it has to do with the tendency to ascribe a foreign leader’s image and policies to his/her people. With Putin back in power and projecting an aggressive global image, it gives people a reason to dislike Russia(ns) again. I think it’s similar to the way Americans were hugely unpopular around the world 10 years ago when GW Bush was President and we were flailing around in Iraq. Unfortunately, I think you are right to be cynical — it’s so human to want to feel superior to others. Laughing at people is easy; empathy requires the work of understanding on both emotional and rational levels.
Thank you so much for saying this. I’m from the US, but I work in former Eastern Bloc countries — some of which are of the don’t-flush-the-toilet-paper-variety; some of which aren’t — and the willful ignorance of so many people in the “West” of circumstances in those countries (and the way in which that willful ignorance has — with the Olympic Games — been translated into an awful, condescending mockery) absolutely KILLS me.
Current favorite figure skating thing is Jason Brown’s Riverdance free skate routine at Nationals. SO RIDICULOUS AND DELIGHTFUL. He is so adorable. Everything is good.
MANNNNN first time I watched that video I got like chills or something idk and then I just clicked play and watched it again and then I forced my mother and grandmother to watch it with me. I will be tracking his performance at Sochi very closely (:
IT’S SO GREAT, what did your mother and grandmother think?? If I was 12, I would be hardcore in love with Jason Brown, for reals.
My mom really liked it!!! My grandmother regaled us with tales of her competitive roller skating days for the next hour haha :p
Yessss. He is the cutest.
OK, that is awesome, and just melted my cynical ice-bound heart completely.
I AM SOBBING TEARS AND NOW MY FORMER RESOLVE TO LEAVE THE WINTER OLYMPICS ALONE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE IS SHATTERED SO THANKS.
😀
De-lurking, on a post about figure skating, of all things! But everyone who loved this performance should go listen to Jason Brown’s interview on NPR–I hadn’t even seen the video yet, but he completely won me over!
http://www.npr.org/blogs/theedge/2014/01/27/26721…
HIS PONYTAIL HAS A TWITTER ACCOUNT. He is so adorable.
That NPR interview was ridiculously adorable. I heard it on my way home from a tough day at work, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Oh he is so adorable! I made the old alcoholics in my bar watch this last night and even they were charmed.
But can we also talk about the Russian couples skate.
1. The costumes, 100 leagues above everyone else.
2. The man was possibly Win Butler????
ALSO Yozuru Hanyu, that kid killed. In my very unprofessional skating opinion.
Hanyu was INCREDIBLE. kid had so much sass.
and I loved/hated his music, haha. I saw a comment somewhere saying “this sounds like it should be playing at the end of a 90s action movie”
YESSS V/T are perfect. They’re also a couple!
All his little arm flourishes! He lands an amazing jump and then does this thing with his hands just for fun.
I tend to be pro-Plushenko because of this ridiculous Eurovision performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-72s4WzUcKI
Will Dima be at the opening ceremonies? I hope so. It seems ridiculous that TATU gets to be there when Dima actually won Eurovision.
AGREE. I mean, “Believe” was basically tailor-made for the Olympics!
I can’t believe Mean Girls was ten years ago! Loved that article.
Can someone explain to me the new figure-skating team competition thing? I’ve caught sight of it around but I fear I don’t understand…why?
The Google Doodle = A+. I won’t be watching the Olympics (mostly because I don’t have time, we move in a week, but also because everything I’m hearing about how bad things are in all sorts of ways, human rights, animal rights, builders not getting paid, security workers not getting paid, hacking, terrorism threats… it all just makes me feel really gross about it). I’m sad, because the Olympics are my #1 favorite thing on the planet (GO FINLAND). I guess moving is good timing. I don’t have too much time to really think about it.
Wow, Mean Girls is 10 already, I’m amazed time has gone that quickly. Speaking of movies that are older than we think they are: a friend of mine was at Target the other day and overheard two young women talking about Space Jam. One said to the other, “Is that the one with LeBron James in it?” D: D: D:
Love that transcription piece. I’ve always wondered. I have to admit, I appreciate funny transcription on the things I watch.
Me, too! One of my friends wears hearing aids so we always have the captions on when she’s around, and some of them are just goofy and amazing.
That closed-captioner article is great. I hope one day to come across a [HEIGHTENED WARBLINGS] or [GURGLING CATERWAULING] in something I’m watching.
Interesting to learn some of the process behind it, too. We frequently have movie subtitles on for my husband’s sake, and when they’re on I can’t not look at them, and there’s such a difference in quality. Some people seem to move beyond the “verbatim” or “clean-read” designation, taking it upon themselves to rewrite the script. It can be very distracting. (Of course, closed-captioning’s primary audience isn’t hearing-abled people like me, so I shouldn’t complain.)
Yeah, we noticed this when watching Beverly Hills Cop. However, my movie-making friend says in the past, transcriptions would just come straight from the script, so any adlibs or improvisations wouldn’t be included in the captions. But sometimes I think it just might be for time’s sake (so the person can read quickly during dialogue-heavy scenes).
What I find fascinating is when it seems like the captions were done from the script, not the cut that aired. I’ve been re-watching Veronica Mars and every now and then there will be a line in the captions that isn’t spoken. It’s stuff that fits in with what else is being said, but that one line isn’t there. And then of course, there are the times when the delivery is just slightly different from what was probably written.
I wonder how shows like Dr. Who are captioned when all the sciencey sounding nonsense is said in rapid fire incoherence. I’m only half-deaf so I have like 50 years before I’ll find out, but I also have worst vision ever + ten year old glasses and would never sit that close to the television.
(Ferry aside, Porter Air is the shiz. And they’re going to be done the tunnel soon!)
Regarding closed-caption piece, my friend does the same for people who are visually impaired, ie she provides audio description of films and TV shows. She had to do David Lynch’s Inland Empire last year and she actually went insane from it. Actually insane. Completely off her rocker.
Surely David Lynch is grounds for some kind of workman’s comp claim, though, right?
I walked by Patty Chan once, on King Street in Toronto! He was very short and using some bad language!
I love “ass over teakettle” and asking people, “How’s tricks?” But nobody ever knows what I mean.
LOVE “how’s tricks?” No one ever knows what you mean, but I’m determined that it’s going to catch on.
Explain it so I can use that because I would love to say that in public!
Ass over teakettle is a favorite of my dad’s. I’d roughly describe it as head over heels, although not in the love sense but in the falling down/tumbling sense.
“ass over teakettle” is adorable. (also quite fond of “ass over cupcake”…!)
I hope I’m never in a situation where I have to say “Givenchy” out loud, because my brain straight-up refuses to accept the correct pronunciation.
I just imagine I’m “not porn stars anymore” on SNL & say it however they would.
It helps to have studied French. I think Nicole’s right, though, and the pronunciation guide is off a bit too – especially as it says Lanvin and Louis Vuitton are pronounced the same, which is untrue.
Of course, I’m also That Lady Who Whines that Everyone in ‘Moulin Rouge’ Mispronounces It, so don’t mind me…
The phrase “sons of bitches” always makes me giggle for its grit-tooth melodrama. Also whenever someone says “on the other hand” I mentally answer “there are more fingers.”
Every time I hear “sons of bitches,” I think of Ralphie’s father losing it at the end of A Christmas Story when the dogs grab the turkey.
Perfect mental answer for “on the other hand.”
When I’m in Southern Delaware for too long (which is about ten minutes), I lapse back into saying “might could” (as in “I might could do that”) and using “right” for emphasis (as in “that’s right awful”). Otherwise, I got nothin’.
Also conflicted about Olympics. Well, and the NFL/NCAA. And snow. I’m very conflicted about snow.
Remember, the release date anniversary is April 30th. Which is a Wednesday. On Wednesdays, we wear pink.
ON THE CALENDAR.
I will be gleefully watching the Olympics because figure skating (:
The fashion pronunciation guide thing — some of those are definitely french pronunciations of italian words (as said by americans). A good old-school name like “Giambattista” as “gee-am bah-tee-stah”? Oy vey!
I couldn’t watch much of the Olympics last night because my TV antenna really blows. I caught most of Plushenko and Chan and a little of Hanyu (I’m choosing to forget what little I saw of Jeremy Abbot, poor guy) in between frozen images, blackouts, and little confetti-squares of digital static. Annoying!
I heard a high school student (you can tell because uniforms) make a flawless Mean Girls reference yesterday on the sidewalk–a reference to “She doesn’t even go here!”–and I wanted to hug him then and there.
I have so many feelings about figure skating and I am LIVING for this whole extra chunk of it in Olympic competition! I only need a Synchro competition before all my dreams come true.
I’m a librarian at an art school which has a big fashion design & retailing program. I am constantly googling pronounciations for designer’s names (I practiced saying Marimekko for weeks before a presentation). If that sort of thing is important to you there are a ton of great pronounciation videoes on youtube. Your two other choices are to mumble or just lean into it and make it a joke (Ver-say-chhh!)
MOM COULDN’T MAKE IT AM SOLOING CRAVE DEATH SEND HEMLOCK ok she is asleep finally
OH oh! My favourite little saying is one I learnt from an old co- worker, who was a very tough South London Matriach type. Have you ever seen South London Gran in the Catherine Tate show? I used to work with her slightly more elegant sister. She used to describe things which were old and past- their- best and seedy (ie a shabby pub with faded carpets) as ‘a bit wee and biscuits’. I would imagine this was originally ‘a bit piss and biscuits’ but she bowdlerised it for general usage.
Sorry, guide, that’s not how you pronounce “Christian.”
An ad rep I used to work with was the Aussiest of Aussies and his phrase that I picked up was It’s a bit how-ya-goin’ meaning it’s not very good, maybe something that was put together a bit too quickly and with not much thought. P sure he made that one up. the other one was when he was busy he’d say I’m flat out like a lizard drinkin’.
An Aussie here. He didn’t make it up. 🙂
I love “jimmy jacked” and it’s slightly more PG13 sibling “jack wacked” to describe something that’s totally fucked up.
I’m also fond of saying “fustercluck” instead of the reverse, because it sounds just as naughty, with a dash of silliness.
Little sayings! Mine are:
“It’s hotter than a hooker’s hooch”
“Many moons.”
“Two shakes of a lamb’s tale.”
Also my friends and I invented the term Hungerdeath, which refers to the state of being so hungry you cannot go on any longer, like when you haven’t hardly eaten all day and then you go to a restaurant but it takes ages for the food to come out even though all the other tables are getting theirs even though YOU GOT THERE FIRST and you begin to consider stabbing yourself with the dull butter knife to escape the feelings of frustration.
Hangry, though!
My family usually uses “hunger rage(y)”
The worst part of that is that when your blood sugar is low, and you feel very “I hate my life, I hate everyone around me, I just need to eat something” is around the time that you and your loved ones need to make a decision about what to eat/where to eat. And among a group of people who are indecisive under normal circumstances, and made even more indecisive by apathy of the “it doesn’t matter where we eat, let’s just eat something soon” variety, I’ve been party to a number of tearful fights and/or “Oh my gosh, I’m dying, someone for the love of God please voice an opinion! We’ll do it, I promise.”
I love the phrase “piss and vinegar,” but unfortunately do not have many occasions to use it. Also “tits up.”
LOVE “Tits up”. Succinct, impish, slightly crass and works for most scenarios.
We use “full of piss and vinegar” or “p and v” all the time, mostly about our very energetic corgi. I think I got it from my dad, as with most awesome-but-underused sayings.
“Ridden hard and put away wet,” but only the Logan Echolls version.
“Sure as Bob’s your uncle” is one I love that my folks used all the time when I was growing up, though I never say it as it sounds silly in an American accent.
OOOH and how on earthy could I forget “Well, bless your heart”, which I do say on occasion because it is just so delightfully passive-aggressively insulting. There wasn’t a lot I liked about living in Georgia, but I have a deep and abiding appreciation for that phrase and “y’all”.
I like “Bob’s your uncle” too (and I actually have an uncle named Bob!) but it’s true that it really doesn’t sound right if you’re not British. 🙁
“This isn’t my first square dance” as a form of reassurance that I know what I’m doing. I maybe shouldn’t use it in professional settings as often as I do… but I love it so much.
Also, as an inside joke among my family: “does the pope shit in the woods?” –> uttered once by my mother, when she was really drunk. I think it was a combination of “is the pope catholic” and “does a bear shit in the woods.” She also likes to use “that went over like a fart in church” when things don’t go well.
“That went over like a fart in church” has just been added to my favourite phrase repertoire.
Just pointing out that “Mean Girls” is airing at TIFF next Saturday (Feb 15): http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/nextwave/2014/2…
Nicole, you left Ontario a week too soon!
I just got unreasonably irate about the Bazaar article using non-IPA pronunciation so I’m probably gonna take a Tylenol and call it a day.
I like to describe things that are good/that I like as “aces.” Ex: That party was aces!
all via my dad, an italian who lived in an english speaking country for 15+ years:
“done up like a kipper!” – he uses this to mean “you look great tonight!”
“she is a strange little kettle of fish” – “she’s nuts”
“be a shade braver!” taken from an ad for hair dye about colouring your hair bright red – used as advice for anything / everything
“pig in a wig” – used to describe anyone not making the ‘most of themselves’. i use this all the time to describe myself when i feel hungover / dirty
In my family when one gets up from a seat but is coming right back we call “bacon”, as in this place is taken. Is this a thing in the greater world or just my crazy family?
Also other favorite phrases: “Hay is for horses” “You make a better door than a window” and “I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it”
Most of mine are vaguely Yiddish-y phrases I picked up from my dad. “I should live so long,” when someone says something you think is never going to happen is one of my favorites.
I’d never before seen the word Yves written as Eve, but my God, that makes sense. My family’s from Mississippi, so they went the complete opposite direction, accent-wise, and called men named Yves, Why-ves. We named our dog Why-ves and I thought that was how it was spelled. I also had a great aunt Y and until I was twenty years old, I didn’t know that that was short for Why-vonne. No one explained this whole thing to me until I was way too old.
Does that count as weird sayings? I also regularly drop the “fixin’ to” and still have trouble calling groups of people “you” instead of “y’all”.
They’re promoting the Olympics at my kids’ school and I get it, getting kids engaged in sports, right, good. But I’m furious at everything about it and also horribly afraid something bad is going to happen. Man, I do feel sorry for those athletes being in the middle of this, though.
Sadly (awesomely?), I only know how to pronounce Christian Lacroix due to multiple repeat viewings of Absolutely Fabulous.
“IT’S LACROIX, SWEETIE, LACROIX.”
My mom had a ton of sayings, some of which I picked up:
It’s hotter than two squirrels fucking in a wool sock
It’s colder than a witch’s tit in a brass brassier
It’s colder than a welldigger’s ass
And, being from Alabama, the usual southern suspects: y’all, hon, darlin’, bless your heart
“Colder than charity.”
Tells you something about charity.
I’ve been living in northern Canada long enough I’ve apparently started to pick up northern-isms. I recently had a visiting southern friend say that we have too many words and phrases to describe the weather: bluebird day, closing in, belching snow, coming in low etc. And I recently caught myself saying “I seen that”. It’s too late to fight it now.
My (Kazakhstani) husband is annoyed at Patrick Chan because in some lesser international sports event held in Canada (I’m a doofus and don’t remember which one), Denis Ten of Kazakhstan outskated him but Patrick Chan came in first anyway despite falling three times and being kind of wobbly, and the commentators were all like, “well, Denis Ten should be grateful because he’s from a developing country! And look, he won a shiny medal anyway! Do they even have shiny medals in his country?” Which sort of reflects my husband’s employment experience in Canada–he used to work in a fancy-schmancy place (the schmanciest, just about), and is now underemployed in a bank where he is far more educated and experienced than anyone around him and people are all, “aren’t you lucky you got this job, brown immigrant person? Do they even HAVE banks in your country?” And then later, when Patrick Chan was questioned about his performance, he was all, “Well of course I won. I was the best!” So now my husband is hate-watching and heckling Patrick Chan’s performances, and is grimly satisfied that he was third at last look. So my husband is riveted to men’s figure skating for reasons of outraged national pride.
That NPR interview was ridiculously adorable. I heard it on my way home from a tough day at work, and I couldn't stop smiling.
It helps to have studied French. I think Nicole's right, though, and the pronunciation guide is off a bit too – especially as it says Lanvin and Louis Vuitton are pronounced the same, which is untrue.
Of course, I'm also That Lady Who Whines that Everyone in 'Moulin Rouge' Mispronounces It, so don't mind me…
Every time I hear "sons of bitches," I think of Ralphie's father losing it at the end of A Christmas Story when the dogs grab the turkey.
Perfect mental answer for "on the other hand."
We use "full of piss and vinegar" or "p and v" all the time, mostly about our very energetic corgi. I think I got it from my dad, as with most awesome-but-underused sayings.