Tuesday, May 17, 2005

vernacular

you know what phrase i don't use enough?

bandied about.

as in shoot the shit about something. thought i think it would be better if used as a synonym for 'beating around the bush' or 'wasting a hell lot of time'

yeah. i like that. but it only sounds good in the past tense. bandy about sounds like a bratty 4-year-old.

you know what else i like?

flunkies.

i think i need me some of those, too. where can you get some high-grade flunky around here?


(p.s. my bro was moved out of ICU today. maybe it was the 'psychobitch' (his term, not mine) nurse who was measuring out his dr. pepper 8 oz at a time in those teeny medicinal measuring cups you find overturned over nyquil bottles. and she was being generous when she added a few cubes of ice. i happened to catch the tail end of the lecture on how protein accelerates incision healing. on one hand she's treating him like a toddler and on the other she's acting like he's in the geriatric ward. he kept looking over to me and opening his eyes really wide (our code, usually used in parental cases, for ARE YOU HEARING THIS?) i know she was doing her job, but she was being damn annoying about it. and i swear, if he wasn't attached to all that machinery, she would have had to make a run for it.) she drove him out.

i'm heading over there to take over for mom. let's hope he's in a good mood.

17 comments:

Andy said...

So, what's the present tense of "bandied about"? Bandy about? But by the sounds of it, you'll be your bro's flunky for a while.

I prefer "serf" myself. And I've used "bandied about" quite a few times...

cadiz12 said...

i think the serfdom won't *officially* begin until the lord is back in his castle.

that's when you guys will hear hella bitching from me.

Anonymous said...

Akshay

Slap him hard if he gets too obnoxious, he needs to learn that you have limits too.

Brothers being brothers will always try to push the envelope a little further. Good luck!

Jon said...

I prefer lackey to flunky, but I also say criminy and malarkey (often with a heavy Minnesotan accent) all the time in an effort to sound more old timey. I have no logical reason for this.

cadiz12 said...

Akshay: i think i'd be afraid he'd hit me back twice as hard.

Jon: does it earn you any more authority? because when i was younger i worked with a bunch of old people and picked up slang like 'my word' or 'that's a bunch of hooey' and it brought on nothing but ridicule from the teenage set.

Anonymous said...

I got to this place through my daughter's blog. A few thoughts about "crock-potting". I am, as my wife describes it, a "closet chemist". I seldom use a recipe and am much more comfortable taking flavors that I like and trying to combine them in interesting ways. That's the approach I took to preparing chicken in the crock pot. I just grabbed a bottle or package of something that I thought tasted good and dumped it on the chicken in the crock pot. With the notable exception Girl Spit mentioned, it seemed to work.

There are, however, numerous cookbooks for crock pots. I would try Amazon or Borders on the web.

Good luck.

cadiz12 said...

ah, dad, you're one of those culinary geniuses. i envy you. but it's all good because my mother is one, too. maybe i should skip the book and just let her do her thing.

Unknown said...

yo! i would totaly slap the nurse silly!!!!!!! how dare her!

omar said...

Yeah, you really can't go around saying "a bunch of hooey" these days.

I tried using "bandied about" today. It didn't go well. I don't think it flowed naturally out of my mouth, which drew some additional attention to it. I have to work on my delivery.

Jon said...

The teenage ridicule came from so many different angles, to narrow it down to just one reason would be a nearly impossible task for me. Being the runt of a kid that I was, combined with my fashionless cowlick hairdo, inept social skills and all around “weirdness,” you might see why I’d have a hard time recognizing only the ridicule directed my way from my word choice. Sadly, not much has changed in the past 20 years.

cadiz12 said...

i know, i tried it too, and people looked at me like i was really lame. but i'm hoping with prolonged use, it will become cool.

Jon said...

Let me ask you this, when you say, “bandied about,” do you hold your hands about chest high and wiggle all of your fingers ala Wallace (from Wallace and Gromit) style? I find that really adds to the effect.

omar said...

I don't do that specifically jon, but I do find myself speaking with a horrible British accent when I say it. Perhaps that's why it doesn't flow.

Anonymous said...

In my experience, "bandied about" does not mean to waste time or anything of the sort. I understand it to mean that an idea is being discussed or talked about or a particular word or phrase is being widely used. Has the meaning changed?

Anonymous said...

bandied about? :)
you make me smile even when i dont think i can...

sooo let me use your spot to complain about the passive voice: i like it, my "editor" does not...BUT it sounds so much more polite. SIGH.
i dont even realize when im using it and i try to correct it and i end up in the same spot! Argh.

cadiz12 said...

no, the meaning hasn't changed. i was just sort of wishing that it would b/c the whole wasting time aspect of it sounds more like the word sounds to me. but i know way too many copyeditors to actually try and get away with using it that way, because they would totally call me out on it.

maybe if i try it wallace style, complete with accent, i could pull it off. perhaps like that game balderdash?

cadiz12 said...

i'm sorry you're having trouble with your editor, anon. maybe you can have a talk with her/him; ask for what it is that irritates so much? that way he's not having to re-do stuff he thinks he's explained already and you don't feel like you're always under the third-degree lamp for everything you turn in. and if you show him that you care about being correct, maybe he'll have more respect for your style and let you get away with more.

copychief, if you're out there, does that sound right?