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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I had e-mail from the wife of a chum in the Mother Country today informing me that he is abed with flu (or somesuch) and is feeling particularly "ropey." That sent me to the dictionaries. What do you suppose is the connection between ill health and rope?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
rop·y also rop·ey P Pronunciation Key (rp)
adj. rop·i·er, rop·i·est
Resembling a rope or ropes.
Forming sticky glutinous strings or threads, as some liquids.
ropi·ly adv.
ropi·ness n.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Main Entry: ropy
Variant: also rop·ey /'rO-pE/
Function: adjective
Inflected Forms: rop·i·er; -est
1 : capable of being drawn into a thread : VISCOUS; also : tending to adhere in stringy masses
2 : having a gelatinous or slimy quality from bacterial or fungal contamination <ropy milk> —rop·i·ness noun
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
OneLook gave me this:
Quick definitions (ropy)
adjective: forming viscous or glutinous threads
adjective: (British informal) very poor in quality
it's a new one for me.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Flu can leave you limp as a rope.
But not the way a rock in your shoe can make you limp.
TEd
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>limp as a rope...
So weak you cannot stand up.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>>limp as a rope...
ever try pushing one?!
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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>>ever try pushing one?
Indeed. Up a hill.
***
>>limp as a rope...
That is, I don't get TEd's joke:
"Flu can leave you limp as a rope.
But not the way a rock in your shoe can make you limp."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd's joke
It's a pun. And not a lame one.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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IP:
OLD joke. How can a rock be a good contraceptive? Answer: put it in your shoe, it will make you limp.
I think they kicked Columbus in the pants for telling it to the Caribs back in '92.
TEd
TEd
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