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stranger
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Hello fellow Word afficianados.
This is my first posting here. hope you can help me shed some light on this phrase.
A dear friend used this description for me and it has perplexed me. I understand that boorish means rude, crude and is negative in general.
But cant figure out the meaning of this combination.
And help with this boggling matter would be a ppreciated.
Thanks,
D
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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boorish charmerWhile I cannot be 100% sure about it, it might be in reference to a sentence in Dryden, cited in the OED entry for boorish: 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Ded., The Boorish Dialect of Theocritus has a secret Charm in it. It ( link) comes from Dryden's translation of Virgil's Eclogues, in the dedicatory preface. Theocritus was the inventor of bucolic poetry, of which the Eclogues are an example.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I googled around on various permutations of "boorish charmer" (e.g., "boorish charm", "charming boor", etc.) and one gets hits: my favorite was a reference to the cartoon character Bender (the robot) from Futurama. It's almost an oxymoron, but not quite.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Aug 2010
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Maybe in this case it means Im old or ancient like Virgil.
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Joined: Aug 2010
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stranger
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OP
stranger
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Its also been used on the web to describe Bob Hope and Seth Rogen in "Knocked Up". Does it mean "schticky"? or "hairy"?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Is there absolutely no way to suppose something more flattering or positive? 
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addict
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addict
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I think some people are easily both. We've all met workmen or neighbors or classmates who lack manners or refinement or grace but are naturally charming, nonetheless. The clumsy oaf who is friendly and self-effacing; the country bumpkin with the irresistible smile; etc. They're out there.
"I don't know which is worse: ignorance or apathy. And, frankly, I don't care." - Anonymous
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Boor originally just meant farmer. The negative connotations came from the lack of a city-dweller's manners. Poetically it could simply mean that your friend considers you to be an unstudied charmer, one who charms without the guile that might be expected of a more sophisticated person. Honestly charming rather than one who is being charming with an eye towards benefiting from the feelings invoked in the person charmed.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The phrase makes me think of someone who, for example, breaks into an established group at a party and begins talking loudly about something on his own agenda, either not thinking or not caring that the group had been carrying on an enjoyable conversation; yet is so, well, charming in relating his tale that they put aside any initial annoyance.
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