It has so many meaning badtempered · irritable · grumpy · cantankerous · truculent · sulky · sullen · awkward · uncooperative · unhelpful · recalcitrant · refractory · difficult · perverse · contrary · confrontational · argumentative · quarrelsome · obstreperous
Two articles I think people in this thread will find interesting: English Is Not Normal https://getpocket.com/explore/item/english-is-not-normal The oddity that we all perceive most readily is its spelling, which is indeed a nightmare. In countries where English isn’t spoken, there is no such thing as a ‘spelling bee’ competition. More weirdness? OK. There is exactly one language on Earth whose present tense requires a special ending only in the third‑person singular. I’m writing in it. I talk, you talk, he/she talk-s – why just that? The present‑tense verbs of a normal language have either no endings or a bunch of different ones (Spanish: hablo, hablas, habla). And try naming another language where you have to slip do into sentences to negate or question something. Do you find that difficult? Unless you happen to be from Wales, Ireland or the north of France, probably. Why is our language so eccentric? Just what is this thing we’re speaking, and what happened to make it this way? 12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...fossilized-in-idioms?utm_source=pocket-newtab English has changed a lot in the last several hundred years, and there are many words once used that we would no longer recognize today. For whatever reason, we started pronouncing them differently, or stopped using them entirely, and they became obsolete. There are some old words, however, that are nearly obsolete, but we still recognize them because they were lucky enough to get stuck in set phrases that have lasted across the centuries. Here are 12 words that survived by getting fossilized in idioms.
To use one of the words from the second article, I think you might be running roughshod over the French language. Nowadays we see this word in the expression "to run/ride roughshod" over somebody or something, meaning to tyrannize or treat harshly. It came about as a way to describe the 17th century version of snow tires. A "rough-shod" horse had its shoes attached with protruding nail heads in order to get a better grip on slippery roads. It was great for keeping the horse on its feet, but not so great for anyone the horse might step on.
Non non, I'm not running shod-rough at all ....... the language is front to back for sure ......... @Dwight Ward
Pardon. Excusez-moi. I took it in high school but don't remember any of it. I'll defer to you on this.
I bumped into “a load of cobblers” today and after finding the meaning I think I’ll include the phrase in some future posts. It’s much better than telling someone their story is a tad exaggerated or less than truthful.
I was on another forum and one poster referred to someone an an "insufferable tosspiece." I have no idea what that means, but I'm going to use it as often as I can.
Or, as I understand it to be and a tad more specific, the part that a Rabbi relieves a man-child of by the age of 10 days.