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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
does "non-Merkan" mean "non-American"?
It's a creative misspelling of non-Merkin, used to try to sneak it past the inner English school-boy in them.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Well, trying to sneak it past Dr Bill, but then I repeat yourself.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
In reply to:
Well, trying to sneak it past Dr Bill, but then I repeat yourself.
I think the problem is I have been reading this thread whilst sober, when in fact all the other participants are writing it in a state of inebriation.
"...Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought."
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
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.
Well, dear Faldage, I challenge you to come up with another catchy word to mean the same. If the cashier had to tell each customer "Please pass you card through the card reader" instead of "Please swipe your card" the service would be even slower than it already is (this being Newfoundland and all). It's almost onomatopeic. "Swwwp!" is more or less the sound made as you pass the card through.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Touché, Bean! 
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Touché
Yeah, well. It still sounds funny.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
"Smash and Grab" was a popular term in the 40s to 60s in Britain and had the specific meaning of breaking a shop window (with a brick or an iron bar, usually) and reaching in, grabbing whatever you could lay your hands on and running off into the night before anyone could stop you. This promoted the sale of window shutters and burglar alarms and theis form of crime became less prominent for a while, until someone got the brilliant idea of reversing a vehicle into the shutter, window and any other protection. So the name changed to "Ram-raiding." (Nothing whatever to do with ovine quadrupeds  ) "Swiping" things has always had a distinct connotation, over here, of opportunistic larceny - purloining other peoples goods whilst they aren't looking, then sneaking away with them. It is a very "old hat" term, these days - haven;t heard it in years. "Swiping" a credit card, meaning to pass it through an electronic reader, is very commonplace over here, but.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I challenge you to come up with another catchy word to mean the same.
At the supermarket last night, the machine said "slide".
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
From the most recent issue of Wired magazine's "jargon watch" column on page 30:
swipers
New York City subway scam artists who buy low-cost all-day subway passes and then swipe passengers through the turnstiles in exchange for cash or tokens.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
re: New York City subway scam artists who buy low-cost all-day subway passes and then swipe passengers through the turnstiles in exchange for cash or tokens.
all day cards can only be used once (in a half hour) at the same subway station...
swipers do work some stations, but they have 3 or 4 or even a dozen cards, and they get chased away...
and smart NYer's will use them once in while, but only pay $1, not the $1.50 that is the real fair.
the NYC subways system is one we NYers love to hate.. it runs 24 hours a day, lots of express lines, and cover 90% of the city. but there are delays, and problems, and its impossible some times to get from point a to point b--
for example, i am planning to move about 8 mile from where i now live. to get from north queens, to central queens, i would almost have to go into manhattan. to get to south queens i would have to go via manhattan.. same is true for west bronx to east bronx... the system is manhattan oriented.
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