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Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
 
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Oh right. So to become suddenly contrary and change your mind on a whim is what on a dime means? Is that right?
That is not right. You over generalized the definition. I believe the phrase is really only used with stopping and turning. I suppose it is an American phrase, and kind of a weird one at that. Mind you, we English have a lot of sayings that you don't have in the U.S. Like 'taking the piss,' meaning (depending on the context) banter, mocking or a flagrantly unfair rule or price. Eg. £5 for a sandwich, are they taking the piss!?
Heh... I'm only familiar with one meaning of 'taking a piss.' 
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Lucy

Bending Unit
  
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No, no, no, it's 'taking THE piss'.  That's what makes it distinguishable from 'taking A piss'. I suppose the technical term would be 'extracting th urine'. XD I'm not sure why it means the various, uh, variations that it's used for, but it's commonly used in the U.K. So the dime thing just means abruptly stopping and doing a 180 turn about something? :/ (I hope that's right.) I wonder what the significance of a dime is, is it the smallest of all the pennies in the States or something?
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futz
Liquid Emperor
 
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Yes, dimes (10 cents) are the smallest physical size current US coin. The phrase "turn or stop on a dime" typically refers to physical agility of people or objects in motion. Sort of rare to use to describe a person's thinking or behavior.
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transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
 
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« Reply #612 on: 03-15-2012 21:57 »
« Last Edit on: 03-15-2012 21:59 by totalnerduk »
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I'm not sure why it means the various, uh, variations that it's used for, but it's commonly used in the U.K.
There's no excuse for ignorance in the information age."Taking the piss" means mocking somebody, or otherwise having a laugh/joke at somebody else's expense. The wikipedia article I've linked to does an adequate job of explaining the origin (although the "alternate" theories are somewhat deranged). The phrase to "turn/stop on a dime" originally stems from vehicles (usually cars, sometimes other vehicles) that move at high speed but do not suffer from a loss of agility, or are able to come to a stop incredibly quickly. The phrase comes from a time when vehicles (particularly automobiles) were clunky beasts, difficult to stop and steer. It was a phrase used by the people who'd try to sell you a car. Stopping distances and turning circles were awful in years gone by, so this particular piece of hyperbole was often used to extol the virtues of a machine that would outperform its competitors. In England, folks would say that something could "turn on a farthing", which was a very small coin worth a quarter of a penny. For stopping... well, gnats' testicles might be referenced (y'know, because gnats are tiny, so they must have tiny bollocks). Both phrases fell out of use over here, but the Americans continued to use their own slang, presumably because it confuses people who don't know what a dime is. From there, the phrase found another meaning in referring to fickle people. The equivalent British colloquialism would be to "change at the drop of a hat". This refers to somebody whose mood or opinion is liable to take a sudden turn in the opposite (or any other) direction for no apparent reason (ie: the change might be precipitated by something as slight as dropping a hat). I guess that our transatlantic cousins either don't drop their hats as often, or they really like dimes.
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futz
Liquid Emperor
 
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Dime is used in a number of phrases. "Not worth a dime" (worthless), "nickel and dime" (bargaining or just being cheap), "drop a dime" (snitch to police using phone) among others.
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Svip

Administrator
DOOP Secretary

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Yes, dimes (10 cents) are the smallest physical size current US coin. The phrase "turn or stop on a dime" typically refers to physical agility of people or objects in motion. Sort of rare to use to describe a person's thinking or behavior.
Are you saying pennies are larger than the dimes? You Americans really are wasting your time minting those, huh.
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Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
 
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Time and money. (And that article is from 2006. You know, before the economy tanked.)
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futz
Liquid Emperor
 
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Actually retailers want to stop messing with pennies and round to the nearest nickel (guess which way). The mint keeps trying to replace the paper dollar with a coin dollar but people don't use the coin version. I like my broad strike nickel that worth a whole lot more than 5 cents.
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futz
Liquid Emperor
 
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Even the gold tinted ones bombed. They might have more luck if they brought out $5 and $10 coins at the same time so you wouldn't have to fumble so much between pocket and wallet. Also they'd be worth enough to actually buy something.
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Svip

Administrator
DOOP Secretary

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50øre, 1kr., 2kr., 5kr., 10kr. and 20kr., so I guess only 6 coins. Our lowest note is 50kr., which is about £5.
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DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary

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Maybe they took the information from Bender's "trip" while he was being upgraded out of the machine that gives the upgrades and examined his memories to create a "Retro" brand of robots.
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Svip

Administrator
DOOP Secretary

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Ha ha, it's not a computer, it's a phone.
It's a computer. The phone is merely a feature of it.
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