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Wed 5 Mar, 2003 11:20 am
Hi all. Recently a friend of mine who grew up in Virginia/Maryland visited me. As a teen she lived in a number of different countries, went to college in North Carolina and is a doctor in Europe right now.
She kept laughing at my Boston accent, and I noticed that she said "dang!" a lot.
What exactly does it mean? A cross between darn and/or da*n? Does anyone know its origins? Just wondering...
Dang is a non-offensive way to say damn. As far as I know that's it. Like saying fudge instead of the bad f word. Or like saying darn it.
Thanks littlek -- I thought so but wasn't sure.
just another freakin' excuse for a word
Now I have an inclination to like anyone who uses this word. Dang may be just a bowdlerization of damn, but when used properly it conveys befuddled wonderment. As in, "Dang, what was in those cookies made them taste so good..."
Now I may be predisposed toward this word because it is every third utterance of one of the cutest people I know.
I thought it was shorthand for dagnabit.
It has got to have a Southern origin.
My uncle has the mouth of a sailor, but mom is a holy roller. He catches himself in mid-curse every two words and has created a tapestry of nonsensical half-curses the likes of which is unfathomable.
Dangna dastid ffffrob shhht.
If always say "If Dag were here, he'd nab it".
Anyone know of any swear generators on the web
that will produce new swear-sounding nonsense words
for use instead of the bad ones?
Foreign words won't do because sooner or later somebody recognizes them. And that Shakespearean Curse site just makes me sound kind of odd.
About the same time I learned that dagnabbit is spelled with two "Bs" (or not two "Bs") and is a Walter Brennan-ism, I came across this website. It doesn't generate swear-words, but it has quite a few that are new to me. Maybe you'll like it.
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/New_20Curse_20Words
Here's a bit from the site:
Quote:I still like 'pillock', 'bollocks', 'cobblers', 'hairy ring piece', 'spug', 'dreck' (and 'drokk' from Judge Dredd), 'burk' (sp?) , 'poopnoddy', 'ninnyhammer', 'Edmund', and of course 'Pacino' (as in 'Did you see dat chick? What a Pacino on her!)
dingleberry.
I like bollocks, because Brits use it as if it were terrible, but nobody knows what it means.
(What does it mean?)
Bollix (as the unlettered in the british isles usually spell it), refers to the external male genitalia, and has the meaning of "bullshit" in the American language, and the second definition is idiot:
Fellah comes home to his house in Ballsbridge (Dublin) leading a camel. His wife comes out, understandably dismayed.
"Oh Jaysus, Declan, now what are we gonna do with that?"
"Dunno, Bridey, but it was a steal, only 20 quid from this feller at Phoenix Park." (site of the zoo)
"Well, is it male or female?"
"Well, i'm not sure, but i t'ink it's male."
"An' why's that?"
"Well, when i was comin' over the O'Connel bridge, some git hollered out: 'Will ya just look at the bollix on that camel!'"