This garment has qualities I admire, linguistic question

[Never_falter2]

Now I am even more confused when even native speakers cannot agree.
Have you heard of the convington Catholic controversy? In my country they say everybody in the US is discussing this. I am not trying to talk politics here or make a statement pro or anti Trump. I am really just curious what happened and how a Vietnam vet/Vietnam times vet is defined.

 

[Friday]

Now I am even more confused when even native speakers cannot agree.

:hilarious: This is why English is the language of diplomacy, but Latin the language of science & medicine!

Vague with multiple meanings and shades of meaning vs precise and exacting.

Funny - for me there's a definate difference ---
A Vietnam vet is someone who fought in Vietnam.
A Vietnam era vet is someone who served during the Vietnam war but didn't deploy

Yep... Big difference... With one caveat:

I know a whole helluva lot of lifers who use era (or the head shake / nope, but I served during it, even when they were in country for multiple tours) when others are asking them about this conflict or that conflict, because no single conflict is how they define themselves. It’s also a neat sidestep (because if they have to ask? Unless they’re a wife or a kid, they’re not getting word one about it). IDK why wives and kids have different ROE, but men and girlfriends asking get the brushoff 99% of the time, wives and kids it’s a coin flip.

 

[Freida]

I know a whole helluva lot of lifers who use era (or the head shake / nope, but I served during it, even when they were in country for multiple tours) when others are asking them about this conflict or that conflict, because no single conflict is how they define themselves. It’s also a neat sidestep (because if they have to ask? Unless they’re a wife or a kid, they’re not getting word one about it). IDK why wives and kids have different ROE, but men and girlfriends asking get the brushoff 99% of the time, wives and kids it’s a coin flip.

yes! that's what I was trying to say :laugh:
Which made me think -- we do the same thing in 911. Ask lifers where they work and most of the time you will get "a government agency", or I work for the county, or I'm in a comm center. Why? Because the follow up question is almost always... oh wow that must be stressful. What's the worst call you've ever taken?

 

[Chris-duck]

Why? Because the follow up question is almost always... oh wow that must be stressful. What's the worst call you've ever taken?

I know a couple of paramedics who call themselves "drivers" or "I work closely with the hospital" or whatever for this exact reason :laugh:

 

[Never_falter2]

Could I ask another linguistic question. @Neverthesame told me about the difference between those and these. If I got him right those days mean a long bygone era (btw can I also say “an era long bygone“?) like in “those days the knights were saving damsels from being eaten by dragons“). When actually does “those days“ end and “these days“ begin. Several years ago, a year ago, a month ago?

 

[Freida]

When actually does “those days“ end and “these days“ begin. Several years ago, a year ago, a month ago?

hmmmm..... think long ago past and recent past/present...
I think "those days" refers to something further back than in the previous generation.
In those days my dad had to walk to school
I would hate to live in those days because there were no restaurants

These days is more present..
The political environment is a mess these days
These days the paramedics use a different technique.

 

[Wendell_R]

"These days" can include times that go back a few years, but it should always include the present.

 

[Never_falter2]

In another thread @Sweetpea76 mentioned that some of the buzz words in tried to translate from my native language are used in English too. I don’t want to derail that thread, it I was very interested which ones.

Buzz words I mentioned calling individuals “person who like to wank of“ or “a bag full of penis“ and men say that they should lick one in a private area. I never heard a woman using this one.

I know that @Sweetpea76 said “f*ck that in right in the ear“ a few times. A buzzword we do lot have, but I like it a lot. Is helluva a buzzword @Friday?

 

[Sweetpea76]

Those are equal opportunity swears around here... or maybe the women I know just swear a lot lol.

 

[barefoot]

By buzz word are you meaning swear word?

Here in the UK a buzzword is a word or phrase that becomes fashionable at a time. Sometimes it then gets over used and becomes a cliche and it can then get ridiculed. A buzzword can include things like corporate jargon that becomes the thing everyone says for a while eg blue sky thinking; think outside the box; deep dive; agile; disruptive; influencer (in terms of social media). You could also use it to describe some concepts that have become fashionable/used all the time...something like neuroplasticity or mindfulness eg ‘mindfulness has become a bit of a buzzword in mental health’ though it is more about the concept being overused and thrown into every conversation/article because it is ‘the in thing’ rather than the word itself is necessarily a buzzword.

So, I wouldn’t ever really consider swear words buzzwords. Maybe if you had a new swear word that suddenly became really fashionable and overused but I can’t really think of an example.

In terms of the swear words you have described, I swear quite a lot and I can’t work them out! Ha! I get the first one is wanker but am mystified by the others. I have only recently woken up though, so perhaps I am missing the obvious!

Helluva = hell of a
Eg that was one helluva party meaning it was over the top crazy or particularly brilliant or there was something else exceptional about it.

So, I wouldn’t call helluva a buzzword. More just an example of informal language/slang.

And I agree with @Sweetpea76 on the equal opportunities swearing front...I can’t off the top of my head think of swear words here that only men or women would use.

I’m going to go away and try to work out ‘a bag full of penis’... ?

 

[Fadeaway]

I don't blame you for feeling confused. There are so many varients of English. Amongst English speaking countries we all have unique words and phrases that can be difficult to translate from English, into English. British English and American English have plenty of words that mean one thing in one country and somthing completely different in the other. Take the words boot and pants. In the u. s. it would be acceptable for a guy to say a guy was outside in just his boots and pants. I have a feeling that would get some weird looks from the Brits.

 

[Ronin]

Confused.

Was that a wanker and a dickbag or...?

(Confused which swear words were that, concretely.)

If so, that could be someone (of any gender) who just complains and wastes time / resources a lot, and someone of a bad character. With Sweetpea that they are nongendered, more about the nature of the labeled person, than gender.

Similarly not sure helluva would be any swear word, that is just a quantifier, as said: A lot of something / Very strongly something, if used as an adjective. :)