Here's one I learned in college in the late '60s from a slightly older guy who grew up in Upstate NY. It was intended as a mild, relatively friendly put-down:
"Get bent!"
(I strongly suspected it had some sexual connotation.)
Maybe it is drug related?
Looked it up - To get bent out of shape! Oh well, sounded bad anyway
Could've been, Bill, but the context suggested something more along the lines of "Get lost!" only a little stronger...
Bill, is that a gator or a Komodo dragon? He looks scary either way...
Sorry D'artagnan, in looking it up I inadvertently put it into a "fuller" context. Here is a discussion I found that keeps it in context. Note that it goes many different directions:
http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm8.showMessage?topicID=389.topic
Interesting discussion on that site, Bill, thanks. I'm still a little uncertain about the origin of the expression, but I'm only guessing...
Feature
I've heard people say "I can feature that," meaning I can imagine that.
It can also be used as a question... "Can you feature it?"
It sounds a little arty, as though the person is going to quickly make a sketch.
About "get bent"... in the town where I grew up there were many peopls of Slavonian ancestry; consequently many Slavonian swear words (really phrases) were in use. One of those was "eh bent'e coorba" which I sincerely doubt is spelled correctly. I have no idea what it really meant, but everyone thought it was very bad and was used in the context of "get bent," "screw you," or "you're full of it". People would often raise their chin with a snap as they said it... which heightened the effect.
I like to use the word purloin--not in reference to a felony. Just when something is taken. For example, my cat purloined one of my spare ribs.
I also like a word my mother used to say frequently--gallivant. Where have you been gallivanting?
Keep those words coming...Roberta, loved your format. Hopefully, some of the words on this thread may start showing up on other threads.
(nice avatar, mapleleaf!)
Juxtapose is an excellent but under-used word.
Left in the Lurch Left to face a great perplexity. In cribbage a lurch is when a player has scored only thirty holes, while his opponent has made sixty-one, and thus won a double.
Thanks, hiama, I never knew the meaning of that phrase.
Another word I like is obtuse.
Maybe I'm obtuse, but this report is abstruse!
How about recondite?
Nice word, what about :-
Reck his own Rede . Give heed to one's own counsel. (Old English, Rec[an], to heed; Raed, counsel, advice.)
Is reckon from reck, then?
Reckon
v. reck·oned, reck·on·ing, reck·ons
v. tr.
[Middle English reknen, from Old English gerecenian, to recount, arrange. See reg- in Indo-European Roots.]
