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Joined: Apr 2002
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I had an English teacher who called long impressive words $10 words. I suppose this was to reflect the fact that the word was special enough to be expensive if you had to purchase it from a word lover (I need a $10 synonym for "word lover"). My $50 word is simply adjusted for inflation! Either that or it is five times as long and impressive as a $10 word!
By the way, where did the expression "close but no cigar" come from? I use that expression fairly often myself.
Thank y'all for the big welcome. I'm enjoying the discussion group already.
Robert Payne
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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ooops Robert. I guess we were posting at the same time.  Well, it's always nice to know that some expressions are used in both languages. When I get an itchy throat, I get funny looks when I say I have a "cat in my throat" instead of a "frog in my throat" like English people say.
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome aboard, Robert! This one definitely roots for the underdog: http://id.mind.net/~loki/underdog.jpgThe Only WO'N!
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Australian?
LLOL!  As per usual, Doc, your diagnosis was quick and apt! And I've been dying to say "Did you hear about the Wombat? All it does is eats roots and leaves."
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Joined: Jun 2000
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I get funny looks when I say I have a "cat in my throat" instead of a "frog in my throat" like English people say.
Years and years ago a French girl complained to me that 'my nose is sinking'. I looked at her blankly. It was some time before we worked out that the French use the same verb (couler? help me out, bel!) for a sinking ship and a running nose...
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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And I've been dying to say "Did you hear about the Wombat? All it does is eats roots and leaves."Can't you Striners make up your own? The definition of a Kiwi is one who eats roots shoots and leaves ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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>I posted about that, Dr. Bill?? Good heavens, I have NO memory of that whatsoever!
well, might as well bring it back here:Blush! Ah, me. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. The definition of a Kiwi is one who eats roots shoots and leaves ... No argument here, my friend! Special to doc_comfort: is there a word for someone who defends the underdoc?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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When I was a kid, every summer carnivals would come to town. Like a circus without the animals, just dozens of games of chance, merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, and onther rides. One game of chance was trying to win a cigar by pounding with a sledgehammer on a circular steel plate that caused a weight to go up a vertical track towards a gong at the top, entitling contestant to a prize of a cigar. Macho musclemen would try to impress their dates. It was rumored that the proprietor could keep the weight from going all the way to the top, but I never found out how he could do it, until he wanted somebody to win, to attract more contestants.
His sales pitch was to bellow when a contestant failed was: "Close, but no cigar!" Followed by more chatter to tempt other suckers to try to impress their girls. When there were no suckers waiting, he would with one hand swilng the sledgehammer to make the weight ring the bell, so easily it confirmed my suspicion that his apparatus was rigged.
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