|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
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?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
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...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Flu can leave you limp as a rope.
But not the way a rock in your shoe can make you limp.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
>>limp as a rope...
So weak you cannot stand up.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>>>limp as a rope...
ever try pushing one?!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
>>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."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
TEd's joke
It's a pun. And not a lame one.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
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
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I remember (distantly) when the birth control pill was introduced here in the Colonies and a joke circulated to the effect that aspirin had been shown to be an effective method of birth control ... when held tightly between the knees.
Where's Jackie?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Heh--I started that one!  I actually did tell that to a young mother one time. Unfortunately, her IQ was too low for her to do any more than look quizzical and say, "Huh?"
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Thanks, TEd.
***
>>Between the knees:
Three months later, the woman returned to the Dr., pregnant. When questioned, she said, "I did just like you told me; I put an aspirin between his knees..."
[/drum roll]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
"I did just you told me; I put an aspirin between his knees..."
And you wonder why your new electric mixer comes with the little brochure which includes warnings like "Don't use this product while sitting in a bathtub filled with water" and "Do not use mixer to combine flammable and/or explosive liquids."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
>>"Don't use this product while sitting in a bathtub filled with water"
Why, would that work?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
As a consumer, I used to mock the many, apparently silly warnings that come with new products -- the ones telling you not to use oven cleaner to wash your hair or not to mount your stereo speakers in the shower -- until, as an attorney, I realised that every one of those warnings represents a lawsuit filed somewhere sometime by someone who did quite precisely what the warning is warning against.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Father Steve, you are leading me very strongly into temptation...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Father Steve, you are leading me very strongly into temptation...
May I also deliver you from evil?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
No, thank you; this evil has already occurred, and not of my doing. But thanks for the reminder--it has helped me resist temptation.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
But if he led us into temptation he should deliver us not from evil.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
'The quickest way to be delivered from evil is to be led into temptation' or thereabouts
--what's his name
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,333
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
747
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
