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#146966 08/28/05 04:46 AM
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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?


#146967 08/28/05 09:00 AM
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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



#146968 08/28/05 09:50 AM
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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...
#146969 08/28/05 10:16 AM
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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
#146970 08/28/05 11:05 AM
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>>limp as a rope...

Huh?


#146971 08/28/05 01:04 PM
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>>limp as a rope...

So weak you cannot stand up.



TEd
#146972 08/28/05 09:36 PM
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>>>limp as a rope...

ever try pushing one?!


#146973 08/28/05 10:38 PM
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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."


#146974 08/28/05 10:59 PM
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TEd's joke

It's a pun. And not a lame one.


#146975 08/28/05 11:19 PM
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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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