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Terms Which Have Disappeared

skydog757

A-List Customer
Messages
465
Location
Thumb Area, Michigan
As best I can tell, no one has yet mentioned "in his cups."

I recall hearing the phrase as a youngster, and ascertaining its meaning from context.

My people didn't use the phrase, though. The equivalent in our circles was "he's feeling no pain."

Many and varied are the euphemisms for alcoholic inebriation. Snockered. Wooflesnated. Plastered. Zonked. On his lips. Bombed.

Surely there are hundreds more.

Hammered.

Wasted.

Polluted.

Annihilated.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,775
Location
New Forest
The Irish writer George Bernard Shaw once said: 'England and America are two countries divided by a common language'
Maybe, but it always amuses me, when watching an old black & white American movie, when a character, probably played by James Cagney, says: "Can't you speak the King's English?"
 

Stearmen

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,202
I just checked, couch's are designed to seat two to three people and sofa's seat four or more. Now for the confusing part, there are small sofa's called love seats. Confused yet, Couch's are designed to sleep on. Don't know about you, but I have not been able to stretch out on a couch designed for even three people since I was a kid! Just measured my Victorian sofa, it's 6'4" (1.9 meters) I can easily put my head on the pillow and stretch out!
 
Messages
12,941
Location
Germany
I just checked, couch's are designed to seat two to three people and sofa's seat four or more. Now for the confusing part, there are small sofa's called love seats. Confused yet, Couch's are designed to sleep on. Don't know about you, but I have not been able to stretch out on a couch designed for even three people since I was a kid! Just measured my Victorian sofa, it's 6'4" (1.9 meters) I can easily put my head on the pillow and stretch out!

Right! On buying a living room-couch, I always look first on the length. I got actual 1,90 m. :) I think, their could be sitting easily five "N-size people". ;)

So, it's a classic pracitcal sofa. I see no sense in buying one of these popular small, unpractical "Couchs".
 
Last edited:

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,775
Location
New Forest
I just checked, couch's are designed to seat two to three people and sofa's seat four or more.
Here's what Wiki has to say about it:
The term couch is used in North America and Australia, whilst the term sofa is generally used in the United Kingdom. The word originated in Middle English from the Old French noun couche, which derived from the verb meaning "to lie down". It originally denoted an item of furniture for lying or sleeping on, somewhat like a chaise longue, but now refers to sofas in general.
Other terms which can be synonymous with the above definition are settee, chesterfield, divan, davenport, lounge, and canapé. The word sofa is from Turkish derived from the Arabic word suffa for "wool", originating in the Aramaic word sippa for "mat". The word settee comes from the Old English word, "setl", which was used to describe long benches with high backs and arms, but is now generally used to describe upholstered seating.

Just to add further confusion, the word settee still has much currency in the UK, although used far less, most know what it is. And for what it's worth, I don't have any individual armchairs, just two settees, one two seater, the other seats three.
 

KILO NOVEMBER

One Too Many
Messages
1,068
Location
Hurricane Coast Florida
Maybe, but it always amuses me, when watching an old black & white American movie, when a character, probably played by James Cagney, says: "Can't you speak the King's English?"

Cagney may have said it, but what came immediately to mind was the character "Slip" Mahoney of Bowery Boys fame. I think there's a good possibility (snarky comment here) that 1960's U.S. stand-up comic Norm Crosby was his illegitimate son.

Leo Gorcey played Slip and the group, in various configurations and under different names, appeared in movies from the late 1930's to the late 1950's. When I was a lad back in the 1960's, one local television station ran a Bowery Boys movie every Saturday afternoon.

I offer some of Slip's fracturing of English:
  • "A word to the wise is deficient."
  • "I'm sorry we was so enforced in our work we didn't observe your intrusion."
  • "Alright, you did your talk and now it's my turn. You're not holding me here as an accomplishment to the crime because I never accomplished anything in my life, so what's the charge? Fragrancy? No, couldn't be, cuz I ain't fragrant. And foithermore, as a taxpayer, I demand that I be deliberated this very instant to consume my place among the respected citizenry of this town. And another thing - if my name is slenderized or dilapidated in any way, I'm gonna sue. I'll take this case right to Extreme Court of the United States! "
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,775
Location
New Forest
"Alright, you did your talk and now it's my turn. You're not holding me here as an accomplishment to the crime because I never accomplished anything in my life, so what's the charge? Fragrancy? No, couldn't be, cuz I ain't fragrant. And foithermore, as a taxpayer, I demand that I be deliberated this very instant to consume my place among the respected citizenry of this town. And another thing - if my name is slenderized or dilapidated in any way, I'm gonna sue. I'll take this case right to Extreme Court of the United States! "
Priceless! Mrs Malaprop rules.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,715
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Radio comedian Ed Gardner, best known as "Archie the manager" on "Duffy's Tavern," was well-known for his malaprops, and the absolute authenticity of his New York accent. Thirty years later, some of the same writers who created those malaprops passed them on unchanged to Archie Bunker on television.
 

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,005
Location
Gads Hill, Ontario
The term couch is used in North America and Australia, whilst the term sofa is generally used in the United Kingdom.

In Ontario, Canada, couch and sofa are pretty much interchangeable. I have never seen either referenced in print or verbally as being defined as an item with specific seating capacity (two, three, etc.), the terms are just thrown around. Two seaters are often called love seats (for reasons that should be obvious), those with fold-out beds are always called sofa-beds, and chesterfield, though in declining usage, is usually for larger (three seater) and often formal-looking items.

Not scientific, just the observations of someone who was born and raised here!
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I was a big fan of the Bowery Boys when that's what they were (as opposed to the East Side Kids, etc.). In fact, I have on my bulletin board a picture of Huntz Hall, right next to a picture of his son, Gary, who was until recently the dean of Washington Cathedral. I understand he was not especially well liked by the local crowd around here. I did not know that until I noticed a letter to the editor of the Washington Post when he commented on an unkind remark about actress Ann B. Davis who was a very active member of the Episcopal Church and a member of a religious community. The original rather churlish comment was also extended to his father, Huntz Hall. I also have a poster of Max Raabe and the Oesch family, who probably nobody has every heard of in these parts.

I've never heard a complete episode of Duffy's Tavern but it was the one radio program I heard mentioned the most when I was little. I personally like Fibber McGee and Molly more than all the others but the others are good, too. I get a special chuckle out of the beginning of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar," because he is "The man with the action-packed expense account."

I keep wondering how, in German, "auf" translates to "on."
 

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