<p>It ain’t half bad: Brit for “pretty good.”</p>
<p>It’s soooo bad= it’s really good (teen speak).</p>
<p>It’s cool= it’s hot (teen speak)</p>
<p>Are we collectively resurrecting SAT analogies? :)</p>
<p>oh-- thedad–
someone had better be “jung” to look good int that neglige.
(sorry-- puns should be banned this early in the morning)</p>
<p>habitable = inhabitable
loosen = unloosen
vest (endow) = invest</p>
<p>This one has been bugging me for years…</p>
<p>Is it “chafing at the bit” or “chomping at the bit”? I have seen it both ways, but have been unable to uncover the origin of the saying.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sorry, ariesathena, that one doesn’t work: irregardless is NOT a word, irregardless of how many times you’ve heard it in conversation. ;)</p>
<p>A common un-word [that’s not a word] in the South is “un-thaw.”</p>
<p>When we have a hard freeze, folks call in the plumber to have him “un-thaw” the pipes. Trouble is, they’re already “un-thawed”; what they want is to have them “thawed out.”</p>
<p>UMDAD-
Isn’t that an expression that refers to a horse chewing on its bit in its mouth?? Horses sometimes do that when they are irritated by something(I believe), so I’d assumed the expression referred to that. The “bit” is the metal thing in the horses mouth attached to the rein. Hope that helps, assuming its accurate!</p>
<p>“chewing at the bit” - 405 Google returns
“chomping at the bit” - 87,400 Google returns
“chafing at the bit” - 839 Google returns
“champing at the bit” - 32,100 Google returns</p>
<p>Winner: Chomping
Runner-up: Champing
And they both mean exactly the same thing. but my dictionary recognizes “chomping at the bit” as an idiom, but not “champing at the bit.” Hmmmm…</p>
<hr>
<p>“What? We DON’T get French benefits?”</p>
<p>I must admit to never having heard or read “chafing at the bit” before your post, dig – yet that has by far the most Google returns! ?</p>
<p>(Edit: D’OH! My mind inserted “,000” after the actual numbers there, yikes! Never mind me…)</p>
<p>S once used the word “half-asked” in a school essay (about 7th-9th grade, I think). When I told him the word was “half-assed” (will the mods bleep that?), he was afraid to use it, even thought I felt it was appropriate in the context. Such a nice boy ;)!</p>
<p>Oooh…I had so hoped not to get sucked into this thread, but faint praise/feigned praise is really interesting. I would disagree with Mr. LePage, quoted in #16. Praise that is successfully “feigned” would be believable, and positive, so how could it then be damning? However, “faint” praise could be “damning” in the sense that it is a polite dismissal of something that is worthy of greater praise.</p>
<p>Speaking of “half-asked”, do you remember the kid who saved someone from choking by using the Time-Life Maneuver?</p>
<p>Irene: I’m whelmed by your post.</p>
<p>Jym, if we ever meet, remind me to tell you the joke about the Rogerian psychologist and the suicidal patient.</p>
<p>“Chomping at the bit” means eager & excited to begin, much like the other horse-behavior-derived “rarin’ to go.” When a horse is being held back from running, or “reined in,” he will “chomp at the bit.” Sometimes, he will rear up too.</p>
<p>Dig- something will “vest” when it is given to a person. (Can’t tell y’all how many times we’ve heard about estates “vesting.”) Maybe this will help: </p>
<h1>To place (authority, property, or rights, for example) in the control of a person or group, especially to give someone an immediate right to present or future possession or enjoyment of (an estate, for example). Used with in: vested his estate in his daughter.</h1>
<h1>To invest or endow (a person or group) with something, such as power or rights. Used with with: vested the council with broad powers; vests its employees with full pension rights after five years of service.</h1>
<p>“Vest” uses “with” or “in,” and “in” goes after what is being vested (the estate, the land, whatever). “Invested” uses “in” as well, but “in” goes right after the verb. Right?</p>
<p>Oh, and my usual rant - impact. It’s what happens to a tooth or what makes a crater, but is not a synonym for “influence.” Gah!</p>
<p>The regardless/irregardless dictionary.com entry has an interesting footnote (<a href=“IRREGARDLESS Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com):%5B/url%5D”>IRREGARDLESS Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com):</a>
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]</p>
<pre><code>Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
</code></pre>
<p>I could care less - ironic, sarcastic, actually implying
I couldn’t care less.
Which is better? 
</p>
<p>I’ve always felt that neither “I could care less” nor “I couldn’t care less” expresses anything at all about the speaker’s interest. “I could care less” seems almost positive, if weak. S/he is not excited by a topic, but s/he is not totally uninterested either. “I couldn’t care less” is no better. Is the speaker so enthralled by the topic that s/he is incapable of diverting his/her attention? I suppose the speaker could also be completely bored, making it impossible to sink any lower.</p>
<p>Humm, then there are the old parking on a driveway and driving on a parkway</p>
<p>To add to the bimonthly confusion:</p>
<p>Biweekly
- Happening every two weeks.
- Happening twice a week; semiweekly.
Bimonthly - occurring twice a month; “a semimonthly publication”; semimonthly
- occurring every two months; “bimonthly visits”, bimestrial
Biannual<br> - Happening twice each year; semiannual.
- Occurring every two years; biennial.
Biennial<br> - Lasting or living for two years.
- Happening every second year. </p>
<p>Usage Note: Bimonthly and biweekly mean “once every two months” and “once every two weeks.” For “twice a month” and “twice a week,” the words semimonthly and semiweekly should be used. Since there is a great deal of confusion over the distinction, a writer is well advised to substitute expressions like every two months or twice a month where possible. However, each noun form has only one sense in the publishing world. Thus, a bimonthly is published every two months, and a biweekly every two weeks.</p>
<p>
Huh???</p>
<p>Oh, never mind, aren’t you a law student? Let me say this: You’re perfect for the job!!! :)</p>
<p>How do you make an adjective into an adverb?</p>
<p>Pretty (adv) awful (adj)
Awful (adv) pretty (adj)</p>
<p>This drives middle schoolers crazy!</p>
<p>If “con” is the opposite of “pro” then is congress the opposite of progress?</p>
<p>Why isn’t “phonetic” spelled the way it sounds?</p>
<p>Why is dyslexic so hard to spell?</p>
<p>Why do you fill in a form by filling it out?</p>
<p>Why does an alarm goes off by going on?</p>
<p>Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?</p>
<p>Why do people recite at a play and play at a recital?</p>