As has been said, while the original meaning reflected an actual Native American custom (reciprocal gift giving), the present one (taking a gift back) does not. In my experience, it is usually used in an insulting manner (or at least chidingly), and Merriam Webster says it is “sometimes offensive.” In either sense, it denotes someone who is not a true gift-giver.
One step too far. (1) A Dutch auction is a real auction, unlike Dutch treats, Dutch uncles, or Dutch courage. (2) Dutch auctions actually originated in the Netherlands, as a way to sell huge lots of fresh flowers as quickly as possible. Cite.A more detailed cite (.pdf)The actually Dutch Dutch-auction flower market.
Well, sorta. he he he !!
What I said was a warning to those that get in my face for that stuff. Of course if you think you are big nuff, have at it. LOL
As I really think you talking about it being a strawman statement thing, I can see you thinking that too.
I am not too fond of guys beating women but I have done nothing about it on occasion. ( 1 ) They were on a power boat & I was on a sail boat so there was no chance to get there & we had no idea of where they were going.
But bunch your ( generic ) panties all you want. I don’t mind…
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May have actually happened. My father (white) taught at an all-or-mostly black high school in Detroit (in the 1930’s, I think). He told the story of one white teacher who used the word “niggardly”, perhaps to a student. Some kid went home and said something like “the teacher called us a bunch of niggers!”; word spread around the hood, and near race riot ensued.
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As for Indian summers: That’s what you call Native Americans who can do basic arithmetic.
This discussion is interesting to me because there is no equivalent expression or word in French, so if you want to make that point, in particular to a kid, we use this saying:
“donner c’est donner, reprendre c’est voler”
(giving is giving, taking back is stealing)
(Pronounced ‘Longeycricketball’) Refers to the thing given not the giver. This is used in my family (And likely nowhere else). Supposedly from an interview with former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, who told the story about giving his father a cricket ball on his birthday, despite Pa never playing the game and David being on the school team.
I first learned this term when my 7 year old brother gave my dad a small rubber whale as a birthday gift, which was known forever after by that name.
“Hey, you know that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry’s hot for the Native American girl, and keeps winding up almost offending her accidentally with his racial insensitivity? I need my lawnmower back.”
Exactly. Indian or not, once you actually GIVE something, you cede all title to it, including the right to take it back, tell the guy how to dispose of it, etc. No more rights than if the guy went out and bought the lawnmower in the store on his own.
Careful. There are two ways to look at this -
-a 7yo who thinks he would truly like to have this sort of toy to play with, so infers that dad would feel the same way.
-a teenager who plays cricket, knows dad never touches the stuff, and buys a ball for himself as “a gift for dad”.
When it was just me, my brother, and my dad, we never really learned about social niceties like buying a gift for someone. After all, our allowance in those days at that age was about a quarter a week. My dad wasn’t big on social interaction pretences. The first time we had to buy a gift for our stepmother, we bought her a jar of candy - not because we expected to eat it ourselves, but because we knew that was what we would have liked, so ergo, so should she. I still remember her screaming at us and lobbing the jar across the kitchen so it rolled up to our feet; she said “you know I can’t eat candy!” Oddly enough, no we did not, her medical history and dietary restrictions had never come up in front of a bunch of 6 or 7 year olds… but that set the tone for years to come and to this day I absolutely hate buying gifts.