The wired usages of "the"

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I dunno if you have ever used the usages of the "the", for example (all examople come from my English-Chinese dictionaries)

(1) in the (American slang)
in the = to lose face = to get humble pie

(2) on the (oral English)

on the = on the dot

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I'm not quite clear on what you are asking this time oristar.

on the and in the are meaningless on their own, They only occur within a sentence.

on the dot means exactly on time - dot presumably referring to the markings on a clock face

the phrase is to eat humble pie - admitting you were wrong

to lose face is different - losing dignity and looking foolish

is this what you wanted to know?

I think you may have meant weird in the thread title?

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Vivien wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what you are asking this time oristar.

on the and in the are meaningless on their own, They only occur within a sentence.
...
I think you may have meant weird in the thread title?

And, of course, you deemed "on the dot" and "to lose face" are meaningful on their own?

But my dictionaries indicate that:
"On the" means "on the dot"! And "in the" means "to lose face", that is why I said the usages are so bizarre!

Smile

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I still don't quite follow your reasoning here! or what you are worrying about!

on the dot is used within a sentence of course - as in 'they arrived on the dot' meaning exactly on time, no sillier than 'they arrived in the nick of time' meaning only just in time, by a hairs breadth. it is just a figure of speech.

he got it all wrong and lost face would be one way of using that expression

- he ended up looking silly because he hadn't got his facts right

on the or in the are just parts of a sentence and don't mean anything to do with the above phrases on their own.

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Alright, according to your opinion, the two sentences below make sense no doubt?

(1) They arrived on the.
(2) He was in the because he told us a lie and made our company into deep trouble.

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No. Those 2 sentences make no sense at all, oristarA, due to the fact that they're missing crucial words. Most people would not automatically pick up what you're trying to say, either.

This isn't the first time your English-Chinese dictionary has mislead you though...I wouldn't trust it. Wink

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Agree with Monger and Vivien.

Missing the vital word "dot" or "sh!t" (in the....) doesn't work.

Example 2 - better to say "He was in the sh!t because he told a lie and LANDED our company IN deep trouble"

"Made...into..." looks like a cooking thing - "he made the eggs into an omelette" or "he made the leftover vegetables into a soup".

KP

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kitchenpete, "land in" is definitely a proper idiom for the sentence 2! Thanks for the correction.

Hi Monger, A slang is a slang, so let it be. I'd avoid using the slangs, rather than criticizing the dictionaries. To err is human, after all. Very Happy

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oristarA wrote:

Hi Monger, A slang is a slang, so let it be. I'd avoid using the slangs, rather than criticizing the dictionaries. To err is human, after all.

Sorry oristarA, no dice. If your dictionary is not at fault, your understanding of it is very much incorrect.

It is not slang, it simply makes no sense -- there's a big difference. Wink

By the way, a slang dictionary you might find useful in the future is www.urbandictionary.com (keep in mind, though, that definitions are sent in by users, and quality control is somewhat limited).

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oristarA wrote:

A slang is a slang, so let it be. I'd avoid using the slangs, rather than criticizing the dictionaries. To err is human, after all.

as Monger says - itisn't slang - just a totally meaningless fragment - time for a new dictionary?

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Maybe a new dictionary would help, but probably the best course of action is to look the word or expression up twice whenever you are totally new to it - in your Chinese-English dictionary, and then in your English dictionary (the kind English speakers use).

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Eos wrote:

Maybe a new dictionary would help, but probably the best course of action is to look the word or expression up twice whenever you are totally new to it - in your Chinese-English dictionary, and then in your English dictionary (the kind English speakers use).

Yes, I did. Since I could find out them in any (native) English dictionaries, so I asked you and will take precaution not to use them Razz

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The wired usages of "the"

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