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"Snipe on Ebay"? What kind of rifle do you use for that?
It's a metaphor. Surely they are allowed?
molgrips
"Snipe on Ebay"? What kind of rifle do you use for that?It's a metaphor. Surely they are allowed?
jimjam"Snipe on Ebay"? What kind of rifle do you use for that? Barret 98b? .338 Lapua? Spend days crawling through the long grass do you? in a ghillie suit is it? adjust for windage do you? Use a spotter do you? Killed many people have you? Red mist eh? One shot one kill?
See also hyperbole.
I do really object to the use of the word Steed and references to Stables, weapons etc...
But the great thing about English is it is always evolving we don't have the formal structures of the "furryners lingo", having said that a spade is a spade and if you use hipster toss pot lingo then that makes you an HTP. If we keep up our sanctimony they will go away....and be replaced by another faction, no doubt equally deserving of scorn!
I reckon that this sort of stuff is the 21st century's equivalent of regional accents. The increases in communications technology mean that people are increasingly more united by shared interests than by geographical proximity. Mountain biking slang can spread across the world but only between mountain bikers. Those unconnected to the sport will find our terminology increasingly incomprehensible but stick two (English speaking) MTBers from opposite sides of the world together and they'll understand the terms each uses (though not necessarily the "normal" words linking them!)
Because there is an internet, I can very quickly work out what someone means when they use words in a way I've never seen before.
The need for "standards" to facilitate communication is less than it's ever been. (That assumes that most people are still using [i]enough[/i] words to achieve a given level of precision. But I don't read mathematics anyway)
🙂
BigDummy - MemberBecause there is an internet, I can very quickly work out what someone means when they use words in a way I've never seen before.
Generally speaking I can do this without resorting to "the internet" as it's quite obvious from the context (go me).
Even if I'd never heard someone say "I've just pulled the trigger on a new 27.5+ Carbon Ego-Steed" I think I'd figure out what they meant.
[i][b]trig·ger
?tri??r/
noun
noun: trigger; plural noun: triggers
1.
a small device that releases a spring or catch and so sets off a mechanism.
+ [/b][/i]
[img] 
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translates as I bought a new bike.
Anyway, I haven't got time to shoot the breeze anymore. I've got a bus to catch. If I don't there will be hell to pay.
I put "people who moan about neologisms, metaphors and other thoughtful changes in language" in the same bucket, albeit less deeply buried, as "kippers, racists and bigots". It's all about treating the status quo as somehow inherently correct (eg "trigger" apparently can't be used as a metaphor, but no doubt "rose tinted spectacles" can) and being very selective about choosing which historical events and changes are perfectly acceptable (eg such folk are often very proud of the continental spelling affectations that the English nicked on a whim a few centuries ago, whilst they berate American English which didn't follow suit).
Accept that you're just sitting at a tiny point in time on a vast swell of beautifully democratic human invention and creativity. The rest of us can just sit by happily and watch your impotent rantings being washed away by its tide 🙂
Well I was just about to 'pull the trigger' on 2cwt of of pencil sharpeners, you can bugger off now.
I put "people who moan about neologisms, metaphors and other thoughtful changes in language" in the same bucket, albeit less deeply buried, as "[b]kippers[/b], racists and bigots".
What have the fish done to deserve such treatment?
[url= http://theorwellprize.co.uk/george-orwell/by-orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/ ]Orwell[/url]