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old hand
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old hand
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Heres the thing...............what thing?
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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do you remember when you first heard it and what your reaction was to it at the time? On the TV show Full House. The dumb neighbor's even dumberer boyfriend would say "Whatever" in response to almost anything. Did I mention he was dumb?
(Wasn't Dumb and Dumberer the title of a movie?)
And, I can certainly see where a constant totally suberb could get annoying! (I expect to see/hear a Dude follow it, as in totally suberb, Dude.)
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old hand
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old hand
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Wasn't Dumb and Dumberer the title of a movie?
Yes it was a prequel to dumb and dumber. Dumberer was a more apt title.
This from OED
O.E. dumb "silent, unable to speak," from PIE *dheubh- "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness." O.E., Goth. (thumb) and O.N. (dumbr) forms meant only "mute, speechless;" in O.H.G. (thumb) it meant both this and "stupid," and in Mod.Ger. this latter became the only sense. Meaning "foolish, ignorant" was occasionally in Eng. from c.1323, but modern use (1823) comes from infl. of Ger. dumm. Applied to silent contrivances, hence dumbwaiter (1749).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm convinced that the term "it is what it is" is an invention of Johan Cruyff,
not only our best football player-coach ever,
but also our best armchair philospher ever. He is great.
I really like it. "het is wat het is". (though it is on some people's irritation-list here too)
What more can you say about the meaning of life?
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Carpal Tunnel
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The dumb neighbor's even dumberer boyfriend would say "Whatever" in response to almost anything. I know it takes things a while to get to Loouhvll but sounds like the train was already up to full speed by the time you got on board. PS Totally suberb? How you even pronounce that? Is it like 'superb' only with a voice bilabial in the middle or is it like 'suburb' only with a harsher, more upstate NY er?
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the term "it is what it is" is an invention of Johan CruyffMr Cruyff, who was born in 1947, probably just made a loan translation. See the late Mr Saffire's musings on what he calls tautophrases cites a usage of the phrase from two years after Johann's birth: The phrase, racing through the language, shows no sign of tiring. The first use I can find is in the Newspaper Archive, from a column by J.E. Lawrence in the Nebraska State Journal in 1949 about the way that pioneer life molded character: "New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is, without apology." [ link] What about: "A rose is a rose is a rose" or "it out-Herods Herod"? As somebody, whose name I have forgotten andwho has the time to find out whom when posting on the Web, once said: "Have you ever noticed how clichéd Shakspear's language is? 90% or more of his more famous plays is tired and hackneyed and full of PC solecisms." [ link]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, of course, the wheel is being reinvented eight days a week, 337 days a year. Everywhere.
But... should there on this topic, for all clarity, not be a difference between the fashionable expression and the quote from a serious, sensible phrase? The irritating thing about these words is that they are used almost randomly; like a sort of mental tic.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The irritating thing about these words is that they are used almost randomly; like a sort of mental tic.
Sure, but human speech and casual writing are full of these tics.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes. Even many officially 'coined' words may originally come from a coiner man's aquaintance. It's just who brings it into the public eye or public hearing first.
Heh! The collective mind? Startrek?
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