# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/101 "2005-06-10T21:43:47Z")
I’ve never understood the expression “Possession is nine tenths of the law.” What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean? _What_ law? Possession of _what_? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/102 "2005-06-10T22:48:06Z")
If you are in possesion of something, then it is very hard to disprove you do not have a legal claim to it. “The law” in this case, is legal concepts in general. It is simply a saying, and not a statement of any real laws. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/103 "2005-06-10T22:57:00Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > as in snapping your fingers? 😕 No, just the exclamation “Snap!” ---
**Author:** ![Tower\_Dweller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tower\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tower_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/104 "2005-06-11T06:08:37Z")
> [@silver1](#): > > “Fat-fingered” Bord is right, it basically means when some bit of data is keyed in incorrectly, whether or not the data entry person actually has fat fingers. When I worked for a telecom company for awhile, they also used it for situations where sales reps deliberately entered incorrect values, such as promotional codes for promotions that had already expired… “Shizle” is a Snoopism, from the talented and odd rapper Snoop Dog. He has whole songs where he just throws z’s into words, and I think there was a short-lived TV series called “Doggy Telivizle” for awhile. Fo shizle. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/105 "2005-06-11T06:37:18Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > If you are in possesion of something, then it is very hard to disprove you do not have a legal claim to it. Or the other way around? But I get it, thanks Scott–this is something that has bothered me for over a decade! Is that going to be Ken Lay’s defense? ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/106 "2005-06-11T07:00:47Z")
A good example of Iambic Pentameter (near perfect) is Robert Frost’s “[Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening](http://www.ketzle.com/frost/snowyeve.htm)”. It’s one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/107 "2005-06-11T12:55:18Z")
Die the death of a June bug . 😕 I have heard this all my life when something is ending , but … why a June bug ? Just what makes the demise of a June bug so much more spectacular (or not , as the case may be) than the death of , oh , say a praying mantis or a ladybug ? Although I have to admit , there was a whole new meaning added to the phrase roughly 15 years ago , when my Gordon Setter Corey (who is now waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge ☹ ) caught a June bug in his mouth . I had no idea what was happening , he was standing , mouth open , head down , shaking his head , saliva dripping . I thought he was having a seizure ! :eek: Turns out he had picked up a June bug , and it was clinging to the roof of his mouth . I flicked it out onto the gound , laughing till I cried , and Corey went after it , stomping it with his front feet until it was dead . Now \*THAT’S the death of a June bug ! 😛 ---
**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 11, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/108 "2005-06-11T18:02:48Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > A good example of Iambic Pentameter (near perfect) is Robert Frost’s “[Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening](http://www.ketzle.com/frost/snowyeve.htm)”. It’s one of my favorites. Actually, no. Count the feet per line. whose WOODS/these ARE/i THINK/i KNOW It’s iambic tetrameter–four iambs per line. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/109 "2005-06-11T22:25:19Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Actually, no. Count the feet per line. > > whose WOODS/these ARE/i THINK/i KNOW > It’s iambic tetrameter–four iambs per line. I stand corrected. ---
**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 12, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/110 "2005-06-12T04:55:21Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > I stand corrected. But you have very good taste! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/111 "2005-06-12T19:19:05Z")
I have another one. You don’t hear it every day, but listening to Tom Waits just reminded me to ask: what is a “woof ticket” or “wolf ticket”? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/112 "2005-06-13T03:28:41Z")
**Watershed** and **benchmark** seem to mean more or less the same thing (a high point or standard of excellence) when used metaphorically. (“1932 was a **watershed** year for Duke Ellington”; “The Roseville Pottery set a new **benchmark** for quality in ceramics.”) Thing is, I don’t know what a **watershed** or a **benchmark** _actually are,_ non-metaphorically. I’m going to guess a benchmark is a mark applied by a craftsperson to his work before it leaves the bench. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/113 "2005-06-13T03:34:56Z")
“Watershed” has two meanings. Technically, it’s the area which is drained by a particular river and its tributaries, and can be defined at any scale (from the area around the creek behid your house, to the entire Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio drainage area). The second, informal meaning is the drainage divide that separates two or more watersheds – again, at any scale, from the low rise in front of your house, to the “Continental Divide” which follows part of the Rocky Mountains, etc. It is this secondary meaning that has given rise to the metaphorical meaning, of a “high point” in one’s career, etc., or the point at which things could have gone one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/114 "2005-06-13T03:38:16Z")
“Benchmark”, at least in geography, is a fixed object of known elevation above sea level and known location in coordinate space that is used to map features around it, by fixing their locations relative to it. Thus, metaphorically, it is the “fixed point” in time from which we “measure” a person’s career path. Loosely speaking, about the same as a “watershed”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/115 "2005-06-13T03:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=JKellyMap] Thus, metaphorically, a “benchmark” is the “fixed point” in time from which we “measure” a person’s career path. [QUOTE] Or, as your example shows, the “fixed point” from which we compare the work of others. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/116 "2005-06-13T03:59:10Z")
At the risk of being seen as silly, here goes. I don’t understand “ad hominem” or [sic], either. And it seems that analogies are not “kosher” in debates because that leads to cries of “strawman”–huh? Color me clueless and out of crayons on alot of this. I must have missed the Latin class or something. Ipso facto and et al, ie, etc(haha)–I have a sense of what they mean, but a working definition–nope. Yes, there is the dictionary, but I don’t want precise and exact–I want commonly accepted reference and usage. And I have never understood “the exception that proves the rule”–Cecil did a column on that and it still doesn’t make sense! and is it, “I couldn’t care less” or “I could care less”? The former makes more sense logically, unless one is being ironic with the second. And what the hell is a hat trick in soccer? And why is it called that? I’ll just go sit in a corner-felling very stupid now. Sorry if these ahve been discussed already–didn’t read entire thread d/t lateness of hour. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/117 "2005-06-13T04:14:06Z")
**JKellyMap** , I stand enlightened. Your explanations were glowingly succinct. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/118 "2005-06-13T07:40:19Z")
Be careful when using your [Snoopisms](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fo'%20shizzle%20my%20nizzle). ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/119 "2005-06-13T09:21:35Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I don’t understand “ad hominem” or [sic], either. And it seems that analogies are not “kosher” in debates because that leads to cries of “strawman”–huh? Ad hominem - personally attacking the arguer, rather than addressing their argument. [sic] - means “the apparent error in this quote really was like that in the original, it’s not an error in my transcription of it” Strawman - constructing a false representation of your opponent’s argument and arguing against that. Analogy - perfectly kosher in formal arguments, but you have to be able to justify that it is relevant to the argument at hand. Only if your analogy mischaracterises your opponent’s position would it be a strawman. > [@](#): > > Ipso facto and et al, ie, etc(haha)–I have a sense of what they mean, but a working definition–nope. Yes, there is the dictionary, but I don’t want precise and exact–I want commonly accepted reference and usage. Ipso facto - literally, by that fact; “winning an argument does not ipso facto mean your position was correct” Et al - and others of a similar type; “Goering, Himmler, Goebels, et al …” refers to Hitler’s henchmen as a group. There’s not much difference between this and _etc_, except _et al_ usually refers to people rather than objects. > [@](#): > > And I have never understood “the exception that proves the rule”–Cecil did a column on that and it still doesn’t make sense! In this case \*proves \*means _puts to the test_, not _confirms_. That is, if a rule has an exception then there had better be a good explanation or the rule is invalid. However this saying is frequently misused in the _confirms_ sense, which is of course silly - an exception to a rule can never in and of itself (ipso facto, in fact!) confirm that rule, obviously. > [@](#): > > And what the hell is a hat trick in soccer? And why is it called that? In soccer it is one player scoring three goals in a match, in cricket (the oldest reference) it is a bowler getting three batsmen out in successive balls (roughly the equivalent of a baseball pitcher getting three batters out in three pitches). Why, no-one knows exactly; there have been explanations such as a bowler achieving this was awarded a hat as a prize, but these sound like folk etymology to me. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/120 "2005-06-13T14:37:55Z")
A quick return to iambic pentameter: Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote GREAT blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). I find him very restful to read: Example from [Ulysses](http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/733/): It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vexed the dim sea:… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=7)