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Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
 
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« #609 : 03-15-2012 09:33 »
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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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« #610 : 03-15-2012 12:10 »
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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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totalnerd undercanada

DOOP Ubersecretary
 
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« #612 : 03-15-2012 21:57 »
« : 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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Svip

Administrator
DOOP Secretary

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« #615 : 03-16-2012 01:11 »
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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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