# Terms/phrases you hear all the time, but don't \*really\* know what they mean. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294 "2005-06-07T14:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/41 "2005-06-07T18:03:40Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > **Synergy** : I think **Ellen Cherry** is missing the core connotaton of the word, which is “working/functioning especially well together” (cf. “working hand in glove”). The word can be applied both to people and to inanimate objects. When applied to people, it refers to a host of positive attributes related to teamwork – taking up slack when others fall off, complementary talents among a group, willingness of given individuals to take on tasks others in the group might avoid, etc. “Synergy” can also apply to inanimate objects like weather patterns, chemical reactions, volcanic processes, etc. I agree that the word essentiallymeans “greater than the sum of its parts”, I’m not sure I agree with your “people” interpretation. While it absolutely has been used that way, mis-used IMHO, I don’t think it should apply to the concept of cooperation in the “working well together” sense. I think the fundamental meaning is that something is created out of the combination of two or more things which is bigger and better than before. Synergy != Efficiency no matter how much the EVPs try to pretend it does. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/42 "2005-06-07T18:16:13Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > **Magnanimous** : **phouka** is in the ballpark, IMHO. To me, magnanimity might be defined as “personal and startling generosity”. “Personal” means in a “shirt of their back” sense … their \*casa \* really is your _casa_, and they meant that sincerely. Any simply generous person can write a check to a charity – a magnanimous person will host events in their home or business. I added “startling” because true magnanimity can get pretty extreme – an example would be a host offering to up and give you a nice piece of furniture from their home simply because you commented on how nice the piece was. Another nitpick…gosh I can be insufferable. Magnanimous doesn’t really mean generous in the charitable sense, while it probably wouldn’t be entirely wrong to use it that way. It is much more a visceral description, illustrating how a person is of a very good nature. He’s generous with his emotions and feelings. Unselfish, very forgiving and generally interested in being the “bigger person”. To be magnanimous would be to offer forgiveness without it being asked, to be exceedingly gracious in receiving, and to generally act in others best interest without interest in reward. A magnanimous person would admit fault readily, take the brunt of critcism to avert a conflict and always take the high road in discussion. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/43 "2005-06-07T18:22:15Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I agree that the word essentiallymeans “greater than the sum of its parts”, I’m not sure I agree with your “people” interpretation. While it absolutely has been used that way, mis-used IMHO, I don’t think it should apply to the concept of cooperation in the “working well together” sense. I think the fundamental meaning is that something is created out of the combination of two or more things which is bigger and better than before. > > Synergy != Efficiency no matter how much the EVPs try to pretend it does. I wasn’t thinking _synergy_ meant “efficiency”, either. On the whole, [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=synergy) supports the “greater than the sum of the parts” angle. I agree with your sense of _magnanimous_, as well … though I’m not prepared to discard my own. To me, the word has broad and varied connotations. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/44 "2005-06-07T18:27:30Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I agree with your sense of _magnanimous_, as well … though I’m not prepared to discard my own. To me, the word has broad and varied connotations. Hmmm … [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) also backs up your take on _magnanimous_ better than it does my own. Harumph. _Magnanimous_ is one of the few words I can recall learning the meaning of through context in print. The passage I read noted traditional Arabs can be especially magnanimous to visitors. An example given was that upon complimenting an Arab host’s wristwatch, the visitor was surprised by the Arab’s prompt offer to give him the watch as a gift. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/45 "2005-06-07T18:31:35Z")
> [@UrbanChic and FaerieBeth](#): > > laina\_f, I think it means a person is cool or doesn’t lose his/her head under pressure. (referring to “butter wouldn’t melt in his (her) mouth”). Unfortunately, no. It’s not a nice term at all. Full information [here](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000905), but basically it means that a person is “overly demure and proper and has an insincere desire to please.” Basically someone who’s cold, stiffly proper, and probably treacherous, likely looking to use his / her “properness” to either look down at you or stab you in the back. It’s never used in a nice way. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/46 "2005-06-07T18:42:15Z")
What about the British expression “What are you like?” I imagine this as a term of eye-rolling, arms-folded exasperation, usually spoken by a hot woman with a hot British accent (think of Elizabeth Hurley), but I don’t know exactly what it means. Does anyone actually say that? ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/47 "2005-06-07T18:54:27Z")
Thanks for the correction. It’s not a phrase I’d ever use, but if I do one day decide to, I’ll at least know how to use it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/48 "2005-06-07T19:52:55Z")
On my mom’s side of the family, if you do something fast or efficiently they say you did it “like Grant took Richmond.” I assume this is a civil war reference. But I know nothing about the battle for Richmond. Did Grant indeed take Richmond swiftly and efficiently? Any war buffs know the answer to this one? ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/49 "2005-06-07T20:51:00Z")
I may not spell this right but I used to always hear the words; **IAMIC PENTAMETER**. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/50 "2005-06-07T21:28:51Z")
> [@START](#): > > I may not spell this right but I used to always hear the words; **IAMIC PENTAMETER**. You almost got the spelling. It’s iambic pentameter. IP is a poetry term refering to a specific rhythmic pattern within a line of poetry. Generally, the line has ten syllables made of five (penta) “feet.” Generally, again, each foot has one stressed syllable. In an iamb, there is one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. So each iamb has the stress pattern of “da DUM” like in the word “toDAY.” So the line goes “da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.” shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY Sonnets are often written in this meter. It’s the most common meter for poems in English. So “iambic” means “made of iambs.” And “pentameter” means a “meter with five feet.” ---
**Author:** ![6\_6\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e0b2c6/32.png) [@6\_6\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6_6_6)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/51 "2005-06-07T21:45:28Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I read a lot of romances. The cheap kind. They are published by an English company so you get a lot of Britishisms. It’s my understanding that “Snap!” means something like, “I was thiking the exact same thing!” > > Is this true? It comes originally from a card game played mainly by children. The players turn over cards and when two match in rank the first to shout “Snap” claims the pile of cards. Hence the use in your “thinking the same thing” situation. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/52 "2005-06-08T00:04:43Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > On my mom’s side of the family, if you do something fast or efficiently they say you did it “like Grant took Richmond.” > > I assume this is a civil war reference. But I know nothing about the battle for Richmond. Did Grant indeed take Richmond swiftly and efficiently? Any war buffs know the answer to this one? In reality? No. The campaign for Richmond stalled quite a bit, especially in trench warfare around Petersburg, Virginia. To be completely on the up and up, Grant’s army never really took Richmond in the sense of a stand-up fight for it. Lee’s army surrendered before Grant even reached the capital city. Then again, when compared to his predecessors at the helm of the Army of the Potomac, Grant _was_ a model of speed and efficiency… ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/53 "2005-06-08T00:35:30Z")
I had to explain the phrase \*to shoot through like a Bondi tram \* to my nephew the other day. He’d heard my mother using it. Apparently the trams that ran from the city to Bondi beach, being express services, tended to whizz through the intervening suburbs very quickly. Interestingly the phrase is still in common usage despite the fact that the tram service to Bondi was discontinued in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/54 "2005-06-08T01:56:53Z")
al fresco. I think it means to dine outside, but in all my years of seeing this word, I refuse to look it up on grounds that I’m stubborn and forgetful. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/55 "2005-06-08T03:05:23Z")
What, precisely, is a “deal-breaker” ? Does it have to do with relationships? I feel so inadequate for not knowing this. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/56 "2005-06-08T03:48:11Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > What, precisely, is a “deal-breaker” ? Does it have to do with relationships? > > I feel so inadequate for not knowing this. It has to do with an issue or flaw that makes the entire situation/product unworkable for you. To use your example, someone might say “Cheating is a deal-breaker. I’d dump the guy/girl on the spot”. Regardless of how super-wonderful they might be, no matter how extenuating the circumstances, it’s something you can’t get over. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/57 "2005-06-08T05:59:43Z")
Thanks. I’ve been hearing it for nearly a year but didn’t know the origin or the exact definition, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/58 "2005-06-08T14:02:54Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Thanks. I’ve been hearing it for nearly a year but didn’t know the origin or the exact definition, obviously. The origin is pretty mundane – it just stems from the twin concepts of making/breaking a deal. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/59 "2005-06-08T15:09:15Z")
I’ve seen the term “deal breaker” used more in commercial transactions than in relationships. For example, if I find a car I like but it doesn’t have air conditioning, that would be a deal breaker. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/60 "2005-06-08T16:13:16Z")
I always thought a “deal breaker” was a condition without which there was no deal. I never understood the term “bitchin’.” It was current when I was in high school (1957-1961), and you got in trouble for using it, probably becauase the adults associated it with “bitch.” I know it meant “outstanding” but I have no idea where it came from. “Bad,” meaning good, was in use at about the same time. I always assumed it was just generational contrariness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=4)