# Say what you mean **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838 "2011-02-18T19:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/21 "2011-02-22T16:12:09Z")
> [@](#): > > “We’re going to change the main computer on the space shuttle.” it means something very different from “We’re going to change out the main computer on the space shuttle.” Okay, I can accept that something with multiple parts or components might require the subtle addition of **out** to indicate a change in it’s entirety. But changing out wallpaper? Changing out curtains? Switching out a rug? I still think that what one does with the object after the switch has been made is not salient to what is being conveyed. I’ll have to do some research to try to ascertain when the term came into use. Perhaps it was indeed something borrowed from technology and is now used for every change/switch. Thanks, **LSLGuy**. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/22 "2011-02-23T03:05:49Z")
So what does it mean if a coach says to the assistant coach “The right wing isn’t playing well. Let’s switch him.”? Does that mean put him at center or does that mean to substitute him out of the game? Compare that to “switch out the center.” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/23 "2011-02-23T13:48:35Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So what does it mean if a coach says to the assistant coach “The right wing isn’t playing well. Let’s switch him.”? I think it means he wants to flog him with a flexible rod. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/24 "2011-02-23T13:55:01Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > We used to have an elderly neighbour who would regale us with lengthy accounts of various conversations (or more often arguments) she’d had. From the way she told it, no-one ever simply “said” anything, they invariably “turned around and said” it: An ex girlfriend had exactly the same tic. I used to say “so by the time you were saying these things, you were facing away from each other?” Used to drive her nuts. Then I broke up with her and she _fell pregnant_. (There’s another weird one.) Fell?! “Oops, I stumbled and landed on an ejaculating penis?” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/25 "2011-02-23T14:14:51Z")
Most of the examples in the thread represent failures of comprehension by the listeners rather than failures of meaning by the speakers. **LSLGuy** and **Chessic** have correctly addressed the meaning of “switch out.” > [@Dogzilla](#): > > So we were sittin’ there and I said… That’s probably “settin’.” To _set_ is more than just to _sit_. The remark to be quoted came in the context of a relaxed, extended conversation. > [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > “What had happened was…” What do you think the problem with this is? The presence of “had,” or the whole phrase? This construction either corrects misunderstanding (“No, that ain’t it. What _had_ happened was…”) or introduces back story to an image or moment just described (“Yeah, it was crazy. We had no idea what was going on. Come to find out, what had happened was…”). > [@jabiru](#): > > I always found it childishly amusing when I heard someone on a US television programme say they were going to ‘fix dinner’. Fix it? Who broke the dinner?!? > [@EvilTOJ](#): > > I was fixin’ to get started on this here food. My impression is that “fix” meaning _arrange_ or _prepare_ predates “fix” meaning _repair_, although “fix” meaning _fasten in place_ is probably the original. In any case, these are all valid usages and context makes them all clear. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/26 "2011-02-23T14:25:53Z")
Oh, and the “take and…” construction in the OP is a contraction of the direction to _take_ (pick up) an appropriate tool and use it thusly. I agree it’s not necessary, but it’s also not meaningless. > [@jjimm](#): > > Then I broke up with her and she _fell pregnant_. Think of _fell_ here in the same sense as “fell ill.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838/27 "2011-02-23T18:10:34Z")
The problem here, as I see it, is, like, um… know what I mean? When people that use words like… know what I mean? I especially hate it when… know what I mean? That’s one of my coworkers. Know what I mean? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-what-you-mean/571838.md?page=1)