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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Is any of this related to slipping someone a mickey?
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 45
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Mar 2002
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Yes rkay we have "pulling your chain" here, though a much more common alternative is "pulling your/my leg". A popular expansion of leg-pulling is the phrase, "Oh yeah sure mate.(US equivalent = "Yeah, right", which proves that two positives can make a negative) Pull the other one - it plays Jingle Bells."Oh and thanks maverick!! I can't believe that as an aussie I didn't think of that."Taking the piss" is not only a regular phrase here but it is almost national pastime, and we are especially good at taking the piss out of ourselves! 
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Joined: Feb 2002
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I've also heard, "You're yanking my chain".
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2002
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There's also pulling my string. Somewhere in the recesses of memory there's a country-western lyric that goes: If ya wanna see me do mah tha-a-ang, pull mah stra-a-ang.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've always had the impression that pulling someone's leg is essentially good-humoured, whereas pulling (or rattling) someone's chain is intended to set off a major tantrum from the pullee.
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dearest Bingley, you can pull any part of me that you wish, any time...  [swoon]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Jackie asks:Is any of this related to slipping someone a mickey?
I think she was being humourous, but I looked it up anyway for my own edification.
Mickey Finn:
NOUN: Slang. An alcoholic beverage that is surreptitiously altered to induce diarrhea or stupefy, render unconscious, or otherwise incapacitate the person who drinks it.
ETYMOLOGY: Probably after a notorious Chicago bar shut down in 1903, allegedly because its customers were served spiked drinks and then robbed.
dxb
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't vouch for the accuracy of this account of the term Mickey Finn, but offer it for whatever it's worth: http://thebachelor.crosswinds.net/mfinn.htm, beginning: ONCE UPON A TIME, back in the 1880's of the last century, there was a saloon-owner in Chicago whose name was Michael Finn. No, Mr. Michael Finn did not invent the Mickey Finn. The guy who ran the saloon right across the street from Mr. Finn's did that.Edit: according to this account, the original Mickey Finn did render the victim unconsious. It neutralized an obnoxious drunk by a different means: strong purgatives. [bill, am I being suitably euphemisic?]
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In the course of looking this up I found a new usage: mickey n. The resolution unit of mouse movement. It has been suggested that the `disney' will become a benchmark unit for animation graphics performance.This is per dictionary.com, which cites as its source the glossary at http://www.jargon.org. Bill, take a look and tell us what you think of the latter. With luck, you'll find some interesting word-posts for us there!
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