Yadda Yadda Yadda and a bunch of other stuff.

Page 2 of 2 [ 24 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

ZedSimon
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 722
Location: Alone At The Lunch Table

12 Jul 2005, 11:27 am

They could be saying that they've also lived 40 even years for a total of 80. It could also mean that the 40 years they're refrring to was a very strange time!



ashkelon
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jun 2005
Gender: Female
Posts: 100
Location: Iowa USA

12 Jul 2005, 11:30 am

I think the "40-odd" in this case is like "odds and ends". Meaning like 40+ some non-specific additional number that's not too significant, since "odds and ends" are the insignificant bits of stuff that don't fit anywhere else.

My problem was a grandma and her sisters with a proverb for anything and most of them conrtadictory.

Many hands make light work vs Too many cooks spoil the broth
Absence makes the heart grow fonder vs Out of sight, out of mind
The more the merrier vs Two's company, three's a crowd
ad nauseum....

And they would spout them as truisms one after another.

The aunties were much more interesting when talking about who was getting money or kissing fools based on what part of their body itched...

renaeden wrote:
The sayings,

"No skin off my nose" and
"Keep your eyes peeled "
sound really gross to me. What kind of people come up with those?

Also, why are buildings called such, if the process is complete? Weird.


Cutting off your nose to spite your face. :o

Doctors and other professionals "practicing".



GeriatricJurassic
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jun 2010
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 32
Location: nonurbiz

21 Jun 2010, 11:04 pm

yea, i think of all kinds of those questions too, i would give you an example, but i just can't think of any right now.....having alot of anxiety issues.


_________________
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without
--Confucius--


devark
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 8 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 457
Location: CT

21 Jun 2010, 11:11 pm

Hi and welcome! I incessantly ask people about plant names for some reason, but never wondered who named them :D


_________________
"To the end, my dear." ~ Stravinsky


Ambivalence
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Nov 2008
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,613
Location: Peterlee (for Industry)

22 Jun 2010, 2:37 am

"Expecting the unexpected"

It isn't contradictory, because two meanings of "expect" are used. A roughly similar example would be saying "watch the watch" where the first "watch" always means "look at" but the second could refer to either a timepiece or a guard. The first "expect" means "wait for" and the second means not "something you are not waiting for" but "something whose nature you do not yet know."

"The planets"

Are all (at least in English) named for deities, after the Romans, after the Greeks, after the Babylonians. 'cause hey, those bright moving lights in the sky must be divine. :roll: The naming convention was kept up as people discovered new planets (including some exoplanets.) Other objects in the solar system tend to get similarly mythical names by association.

"Skinning a cat"

Whoever first said that was one sick puppy... :lol:

"Skin off my nose"

No idea. Google says boxing related.

"Eyes peeled"

Yuck! Sounds like the masochism tango.

"Odd years"

Not a contradiction, just a different meaning of "odd" which may be related to its meaning of "region" ("ort") in Germanic languages. So "forty odd years" would be "in the region of forty years." I don't know, though.

(woah - just noticed the date of the OP - ancient spirits of evil!) ^^


_________________
No one has gone missing or died.

The year is still young.


AngryJessman
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 253
Location: Melbourne, Australia

22 Jun 2010, 10:11 am

40 odd years would be saying around 40, like you are older and you have a bad memory,
you can remember it was either close to 40 or that it's first number was 4



GeriatricJurassic
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jun 2010
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 32
Location: nonurbiz

22 Jun 2010, 11:18 am

oh,oh! i forgot! :lol: Hiiyaa & Greetings Earthling; to WrongPlanet.net!! !


_________________
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without
--Confucius--


GeriatricJurassic
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jun 2010
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 32
Location: nonurbiz

22 Jun 2010, 11:26 am

Namiko wrote:
Pandora wrote:
Why do people refer to even numbers as odd? e.g. "I've lived in the country for 40 odd years". It is contradictory since 40 is an even number! :roll:


Well, humans tend to use base 10 to do their math. Numbers like 41, 42,47 and 49 are NOT divisible by ten and have a remainder. And when doing math, when one has a remainder, it is an odd (possibly from the even-odd and divide by two scenario), even if the reference number might be even or if the actual number is even (like if they've lived in the country for 46 years).

And then there's the fact that many NT humans like to contradict themselves... ;)


Yea, like you said alot of NT's DO enjoy contradicting themselves...such as when they say:
Man,It took "FOREVER"!, When, in fact, it only took about, oh, let's say, about 10 or 15 minutes at the most. In which, IF it had of took "forever" like they said, they still would be(NOTE: I'm giving an example, not an actuall fact.)
EXE: Jogging to their car, to grab their wallet.


_________________
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without
--Confucius--