Lally column maybe?
Somehow I find it hard to imagine traditional Polari users being that familiar with the construction industry, wishful thinking apart.
don’t forget the term also refers to certain suicides
I read a lot of American crime books, and when the cops are tailing a suspect and the
suspect spots them, they say that the suspect “made” them.
Where does that come from ? It always sounds very odd to me.
Interesting question. Maybe it’s from “to make out”?
That’s right. ‘I could just about make him out in the darkness’ could be shortened to ‘I made him’.
Or “made the connection”; the mental connection that that car is following me, not just driving the same route as I am by coincidence.
I’ve noticed recently that a lot of (presumably American) people on SDMB seem to use the word ‘obligated’. I use the SDMB as an example because it’s probably the place I see written American English the most, being a Brit. Is this a recent thing or has it always been so? I would use the word ‘obliged’.
To me, “obligated” is stronger than obliged.
I was obliged to = I had to
I was obligated to = I couldn’t not
I’m sure I’ve heard ‘obligated’ in BrE too. The OED has it from the 1700d
obligated, adj. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary.
.
Those mean exactly the same thing to me though.
It’s probably one of those (seemingly common) examples where the old word has come from British English and then abandoned on that side of the Pond but kept on the other.
I guess for me “obliged” has the sense that you have social pressure to do something, while “obligated” means that pressure with constraint.
I was obliged to go to work Monday through Friday; I was obligated to attend training.
Yes, it’s in that area of difference - the old usage “I would be much obliged if you would..” (i e , I will owe you a favour in return), as opposed to some legal/contractual constraint (perhaps also implying that’s it’s unwelcome).
Yeah. My take on US usage:
Obliged = social pressure to do [whatever].
Obligated = legal, financial, or practical pressure to do [whatever].
That does make sense to be fair.
I follow a few U.K.ers on Twitter. Today one of them referred to someone she evidently dislikes as a “whelkfucker”, which I found picturesque.
I may have to add it to my lexicon along with the Australian “cooker”, to refer to conspiracy loonies.
Nope, can’t help you there. But I’ll agree with picturesque.
j
This one is slightly different in US dialects (IME) - you don’t go to town, you go into town.
We also say “go to town,” but only as a metaphor for doing something very enthusiastically and thoroughly - “I really went to town on that rack of ribs!”
And a more hyper-regional one: the California Bay Area, there are several cities. But if you’re going to the city, you’re going to San Francisco.
Do people living in outer sections of London refer to “going into the city” when they travel to central London?
When I was growing up (and probably still), residents of the outer boroughs would say they’re “going into the city” when traveling to Manhattan, even though the other 4 boroughs are part of New York City.