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BS: dead stupid....etc...
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Doug Chadwick Date: 23 Feb 08 - 07:26 AM No one's mentioned "dead good" so far. Oddly enough I can't see anyonee ever saying "dead bad". When I was a kid in Liverpool, I was just as likely to say "dead bad" as "dead good". DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Anne Lister Date: 23 Feb 08 - 06:36 AM "Well fit" = "dead sexy" No wonder some people find it hard to understand English ... Anne |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: theleveller Date: 22 Feb 08 - 08:12 AM Well well! |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Anne Lister Date: 22 Feb 08 - 06:53 AM I've got a sneaking fondness for the Londoner's predilection for "well" attached to anything ... such as "well hard" (as in tough, of a gang) or "well happy". It gets most interesting when you get someone's excuse - "Couldn't come to school because I was well ill". Anne |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: GUEST,chief chaos Date: 21 Feb 08 - 01:56 PM I've got to admit, I've always wondered about "dead sexy". |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: GUEST,Art Thieme Date: 21 Feb 08 - 01:11 PM Dead Alice Books. Good and not expensive at all!! Art!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Dead Horse Date: 21 Feb 08 - 07:19 AM I do wish you folks would stop taking my name in vane! |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 20 Feb 08 - 08:48 PM Deadgeridoo... |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Feb 08 - 03:07 PM Being dead stupid is far less demanding. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: topical tom Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:59 PM You have to be dead on and dead right to achieve dead reckoning. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Donuel Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:24 PM The Scot phrase I am fond of is "Fucking Brilliant" |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Amos Date: 20 Feb 08 - 01:38 PM Oh, Spaw, that's patently untrue. Those words have predominated your thoughts throughout your entire career on Mudcat. Well, except for "accurate". A |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: catspaw49 Date: 20 Feb 08 - 01:27 PM "Dead nuts on (or accurate)".............I used it most of my working life along with "Balls on accurate" and the combo of "Dead nuts balls on the mark" meaning the highest accuracy. Never had a clue why or even gave the individual words a thought. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh Date: 20 Feb 08 - 12:34 PM Re Megan L's posting of yesterday; the expression "pure dead brilliant" was actually part of the script (it became a bit of a "catchphrase" for one of the characters) in a BBC Scotland comedy series about twenty years ago, and was never part of Glasgow "patter" until then; I suspect it was synthesised out of the kind of usages of "dead" as an intensifier which we've got above and the contemporary usages of "pure" in much the same way, especially by the young. Don't know if "pure dead brilliant", or "pure dead [anything]" are used at all now, even in jest; but I can certainly confirm that, some five/ten years back, it was possible (for a teenager) to say simply that something was (simply) "pure", without necessarily referring to water or drugs. They all knew what they meant, even if no-one else did. Inevitably, it soon became possible to say something like: "See that? That's pure Pure, so it is." (I added the first phrase and the last just to give a bit of context; maybe I should have added a "like", too). And that's dead true, by the way. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Rapparee Date: 20 Feb 08 - 09:19 AM Well, I always make dead certain that the bullets will make a dead stop and not even go into a dead zone behind. I'd be a dead failure if I allowed that, because I'd be dead sorry if someone ended up dead dead. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: GUEST,PMB Date: 20 Feb 08 - 03:09 AM You don't get dead bad, but you do get dead rotten. Or even dead bloody rotten. And dead dannan for the really dead icated, I dead juice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:23 AM Many of these expressions come from the concept of 'something that does not move or sound when struck' - like spectators in a Muso circle... |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Georgiansilver Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:16 AM Your idea for this thread was 'dead on' LH. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:04 AM Dead likely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Barry Finn Date: 20 Feb 08 - 02:04 AM I don't know where I've picked this up, but I'm fond of using backwards expresions. "She's drop dead gorgeous" (couldn't be more pretty). Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Ebbie Date: 20 Feb 08 - 01:06 AM I hope you're shooting at a dead end, Rap. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Rapparee Date: 19 Feb 08 - 08:05 PM I'm a dead shot, shooting things dead center every time I take dead aim. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Gurney Date: 19 Feb 08 - 06:16 PM I have a dead-blow hammer somewhere. Honest. It doesn't mean what some folks probably think it means. It is hollow, with metal balls inside. It doesn't rebound when used. A very young lady once exclaimed to me "That's dead killing, that is!" I think she meant it was good. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Feb 08 - 06:04 PM Anyone who's read the delightful Adrian Mole books will be quite familiar with the typical UK uses of "dead (whatever)". His hated rival Barry Kent, for example, impresses Adrian's favorite girl of the time (Pandora Braithwaite?) by his habit of sticking safety pins through his facial skin (he was going through a punk phase). The girl says she thinks Barry is "dead brave" for doing that. Adrian responds sarcastically that he thinks Barry is "dead stupid" for doing that. On this occasion, I'd have to agree with Adrian. ;-) In Barry Kent's defence though, I must admit the lad has plenty of physical courage...something Adrian Mole is conspicuously lacking in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 19 Feb 08 - 05:33 PM No one's mentioned "dead good" so far. Oddly enough I can't see anyonee ever saying "dead bad". |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Linda Kelly Date: 19 Feb 08 - 03:00 PM ken dodd's dad's dog's dead. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Jim Carroll Date: 19 Feb 08 - 02:57 PM In Liverpool we used to refer to people with no personality as 'Dead Lash' - stopped using it when I realised the connection with one of my favourite comediens Mort Sahl - Mort = Dead (Latin) Sahl = (anagram of lash). Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Feb 08 - 02:06 PM It is far more prevalent in the UK. If someone calls someone else "dead stupid", you can practically guarantee that it's someone from the UK using the expression. There are, however, other expressions such as "dead drunk" which are to be found commonly in all English-speaking cultures. Same goes for "dead right". |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Ebbie Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:44 PM I once heard someone report that someone had been killed dead. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Amos Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:39 PM American English has plenty of uses of the word "dead" to mean "absolute" or "completely", a sin "top dead center", "dead slow ahead" (a maritime engine-room command), and "dead-eye dick" for a sharpshooter. Although why anyone would use his dick for that purpose is beyond me. Cf. "dead-eyes", the lignum vitae blocks used for securing ratlines to chainplates in older vessels. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Leadfingers Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:20 PM Ithought this thread may have been a Darwin Awards comment ! Clicky |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: PoppaGator Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:19 PM This usage may be more prevalent in the UK than elsewhere, but it is certainly not unknown in the US. "Dead certain," for example, is very common and familiar hereabouts, although other constructions, like "dead stupid," would be less so. This reminds me of a similar linguistic quirk, this one more strictly regional: New Englanders' predeliction for the word "wicked" as an all-purpose intensifier. My favorite paradoxical example: "wicked good." |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Wolfgang Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:00 PM UK expression? I've learned that use of "dead" from a Canadian Native. When I told him about my dangerous habit of forcing cars to a halt with my bicycle when it is my right to pass first he quipped: "One day you may not just be right you may even be dead right." Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:51 PM 'dead' must have been used in every possible sense. dead last dead in the water dead as a mackerel, dodo, etc. dead wind dead straight dead hand dead vote dead certain dead lives dead wood dead ice dead steam dead silence dead pull dead water dead center dead time dead drunk dead level dead calm dead-alive dead beat dead head dead ahead dead slow dead on dead shot dead eye deadfall dead letter dead heat dead weight dead dumb etc., &c., and so forth |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:42 PM Waking the Dead is a British murder mystery we see on PBS here. Of course, they're not really awake. . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: redsnapper Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:41 PM Dead cert = probability that a thread discussing what folk music is will degenerate into an acrimonious free-for-all |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:40 PM That would mean no hope of resuscitation whatsoever. |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:35 PM Dead dead? |
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Subject: RE: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Megan L Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:29 PM Or in Glasgow "See that thats pure dead brilliant so it is" |
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Subject: BS: dead stupid....etc... From: Little Hawk Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:25 PM One of the best UK expressions! Just link the word "dead" with any other adjective in order to raise it to the ultimate amplitude: dead stupid - as stupid as a person can possibly get dead lazy - lazier than the laziest hound dog in Georgia dead ugly - so ugly that you can break a mirror just by looking at it |
