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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In a newspaper story I read today the reporter used the word "swiped." The story said "Police are searching for a man who entered Currier Jewelry yesterday and swiped a substantial number of diamond rings."
This gave me a mental picture of someone who made a sweeping movement, gathering the rings then exiting quickly.
I thought this was an interesting use of the word "swipe" rather than stole. Gave me a whole different picture of the theft. Although. In the usual sense of "swipe this" I would think of straightforward stealing -(if you can call it that.)
Your thoughts?
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear wow: when I was a teenager, we swiped apples and watermelons. It just meant
to "liberate" something relatively minor. For robbery you describe I like Brit "smash and grab".
At least I think it is Brit.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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What does the "smash" refer to? I get an absolutely incorrect mental image of the thief smashing the goods before grabbing them to steal away with. I'd think "grab and stash" would make more sense, but I ain't a Brit, so I need a translation expert from the Isles for this one, thank you.  WW
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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interesting--I got the image of smashing the display case and grabbing the contents.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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Ah, tsuwm, I think you've got it!
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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To get back to the original question; I have heard swipe as a generic term for a sort of low level theft for most of my life up until recently. I am still somewhat amused at hearing it used to mean passing your credit or ATM card through a card reader at the supermarket or some ATMs.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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You have a transpondial semantic misalignment. "Swipe" in this context is just a non-Merckan term for "steal". No other real implications.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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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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non-Merckan
You callin Dr. Bill a non-Merckan?
You wanna step outside an say that?
When you come back in tell us did anyone out there believe you.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
So...does "non-Merkan" mean "non-American" in a slangy, slurred speach kind of way?
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