My troubles with English....

Maja

Hi everyone i have some questions from time to time and dont know where to ask them, so I open this thread if nobody minds... :rolleyes:

The ones currently on my mind :

-What does it mean "put your money where your mouth is" ?

-Should I say " Have you been to or in some town/city" ?

-If i need to ask from where bus is departing (?) how exactly i should say it? "from where it goes/ departs" ?

Maybe they sound silly , but i am just not sure about how it really is.
There will be more.

Donkey Oaty

Maja wrote: »

Hi everyone i have some questions from time to time and dont know where to ask them, so I open this thread if nobody minds... :rolleyes:

The ones currently on my mind :

-What does it mean "put your money where your mouth is" ?

-Should I say " Have you been to or in some town/city" ?

-If i need to ask from where bus is departing (?) how exactly i should say it? "from where it goes/ departs" ?

Maybe they sound silly , but i am just not sure about how it really is.
There will be more.

"Put your money where your mouth is" is originally a gambling term, I would guess, but it applies to business as well. It means "You are talking as if you are sure that something is a good buy/investment/whatever so why don't you use your money to buy it/invest in it/etc." Basically, "You are all talk and no action."

Have you been to London? (Have you ever been there in your life?)
Have you been in London? (Maybe you live near London and have a "Harrods" carrier bag - I want to know if you have been there recently)

"Where does the bus leave from?" is what most people would say. They would not say "From where does the bus leave?" although some of the people on this forum will probably claim that they do.

The Raven.

Maja wrote: »

-What does it mean "put your money where your mouth is" ?

Donkey Oaty has explained that one very well !

-Should I say " Have you been to or in some town/city" ?

It depends on what you mean:

You could say ‘Have you been to London?’ as in ‘Have you ever been to London?’, or ‘Have you just been to London?’.

You could say ‘Have you been in London?’ meaning ‘Is that where you have been?’, or if you wanted to ask ‘Have you been in London for a while?’

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

"Where does the bus leave from?" is what most people would say. They would not say "From where does the bus leave?" although some of the people on this forum will probably claim that they do.

Yes indeed, a lot of people would say 'Where does the bus leave from?', but it would be more syntactically correct to say 'From where does the bus leave?'

deman

"From where does the bus leave?" is what people were taught in schools 50 years ago. The old rule was that you could never end a sentence with a preposition. But as always, language changes and even Cambridge and Oxford grammar books end their example sentences (esp questions) with prepositions.

In one episode of Stargate SG1, Jack was being interrogated by a Goa-uld and he answered "You ended that question with a preposition.... Ba$tard!"

Donkey Oaty

Deman has a good point on the "ending with a preposition" issue.

Winston Churchill is alleged to have said "This is a rule up with which I shall not put."

There's also the story about the American tourist who asks an Englishman "Are those the Houses of Parliament I'm looking at?"

Englishman: My good man, you should never end a question with a preposition. Now, if you would care to rephrase the question without it ending in a preposition I will be happy to answer it.

American: Okay. Are those the Houses of Parliament I'm looking at, you f***ing a**hole?

Maja

Many thanks to everyone. There will be more.

Maja

"RITE" price ? Why its written on centra toilet paper?

Dunjohn

It's just a trademark, they wanted something that's eye-catching so they changed the spelling. Personally, I cringe whenever I see companies doing this.

I also hate seeing "tonite" instead of "tonight" on chalkboards outside pubs.

Donkey Oaty

SuperValu is another odd one.

looksee

Sox is another one. I don't know if they are hoping you will subconsciously substitute an e for the o.

jesse.j

Maja wrote: »

"RITE" price ? Why its written on centra toilet paper?

the person who came up with the 'rite' idea probably uses his/her 'rite' hand to wipe 'wite'

gnospher

Maja wrote: »

"RITE" price ? Why its written on centra toilet paper?

Gotcha!

Donkey Oaty

Come on Maja, more questions please.

We're bored waiting around in this draughty alley.

Maja

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Come on Maja, more questions please.

We're bored waiting around in this draughty alley.

Ok,ok I was listening to some old hits few days ago and... :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTQ-Cinar4

- I checked lyricks because i couldnt understand everything and :

"So you want to be free
To live your life the way you wanna be
Will you give if we cry
Will we live or will we die"

-will you give if we cry???

What does it mean?

Another song by PIXIES :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxytSH_piRQ

What does it mean GOUGE AWAY??? I asked few people about it and nobody knows. It has to mean something! :rolleyes:

symbolic

gouge away:
I read its about Samson. they gouged out his eyes. in the song he's saying keep gouging if you want to. gouge away. what a great song!

Maja

symbolic wrote: »

gouge away:
I read its about Samson. they gouged out his eyes. in the song he's saying keep gouging if you want to. gouge away. what a great song!

Yeah i love it too! Thanks

Donkey Oaty

Symbolic is on the money there.

"Gouge away" you wouldn't hear too often, but "work away" is quite common in Ireland, meaning "carry on doing whatever you have to do and don't mind me".

As for "Will you give if we cry", well, this is a bit odd. I take it to mean "Will you give way or give in if we cry" rather than "will you be generous in giving things if we cry".

Maja

Thanks Donkey Oaty, maybe it just had to rhyme rather then make sense!

Oh and where my favourite "whats the craic" comes from? Does "craic" itself mean anything? :rolleyes:

mink_man

craic is the irish for fun

Maja

mink_man wrote: »

craic is the irish for fun

I know what does it mean... :rolleyes:

-oh sorry -it comes from irish language yes?

Donkey Oaty

"We had great craic" or "I just did it for the craic" is about fun, but people use "What's the craic?" to mean "Hello" and in serious situations to mean "What's happening?" or "What's going on?".

Here's an example from the tech forum.

seanin4711 wrote: »

as above done one click and have defrost on board.
like it.
when official Froyo comes along what's the craic?
will it be a case of searching for the. update ota and installing over my defrost?
hope so

Don't ask me what all the other stuff means because I haven't a clue!

Oddly, it's not originally an Irish word but comes from the English "crack" via Ulster Scots, as in "crack a joke".

Maja

Thanks again.. I know all this :

""We had great craic" or "I just did it for the craic" is about fun, but people use "What's the craic?" to mean "Hello" and in serious situations to mean "What's happening?" or "What's going on?". "

-just didnt know where does it come from.

Donkey Oaty

Maja wrote: »

Thanks again.. I know all this :

""We had great craic" or "I just did it for the craic" is about fun, but people use "What's the craic?" to mean "Hello" and in serious situations to mean "What's happening?" or "What's going on?". "

-just didnt know where does it come from.

The English word "crack". That's your answer - although a lot of Irish people don't know that!.

Dunjohn

Maja wrote: »

Ok,ok I was listening to some old hits few days ago and... :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTQ-Cinar4

- I checked lyricks because i couldnt understand everything and :

"So you want to be free
To live your life the way you wanna be
Will you give if we cry
Will we live or will we die"

-will you give if we cry???

What does it mean?

It should be punctuated like this:

So you want to be free,
To live your life the way you wanna be?
Will you give? If we cry,
Will we live or will we die?

Maja

Stupid question, but what does it mean "

"Solvent abuse can kill instantly" :eek:

-on my hair spray.... I do understand the words, but what does it mean all together!?

-and the othe one. The word "kudos" - sounds strange, do people use in "every day" language?

FlutterinBantam

Maja wrote: »

Stupid question, but what does it mean "

"Solvent abuse can kill instantly" :eek:

-on my hair spray.... I do understand the words, but what does it mean all together!?

-and the othe one. The word "kudos" - sounds strange, do people use in "every day" language?

It means that if you sniff solvents you could be dead on the floor in an instant,if you get a bad reaction.

Open your tube of glue, take a deep sniff...bang.. stiff as a board on the floor

'Kudos' yes used by those with some education... from the Greek 'that which gains renown'

Therefore 'kudos for that ,horse' if you manage to skillfully steer your car out of a threatening situation.

Would be uttered by the front seat passenger.

Seldom heard in the North Inner City though.

Yakuza

Maja wrote: »

The word "kudos" - sounds strange, do people use in "every day" language?

As The Flutt pointed out, it's not an everyday word, but you do hear it now and again. I first heard of it about 14 years ago, from The Simpsons, no less. (at the end of 5X14 (Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy), Lisa is given kudos by the woman who sponsored the production of the Lisa Lionheart doll. Even though it was commercially unsuccessful, Lisa got the praise for sticking to her beliefs and making a doll with better values than Malibu Stacy )

Dunjohn

I think it's well-known street talk in America. The Project Gotham Racing computer games, for example, have a "kudos" system where points are awarded for stylish driving. It basically means "well done" or "respect."