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Colonel Panic wrote:One of my faves has always been when douchebags misuse the term mano a mano to mean "man to man".

As in: "I need to talk with you, mano a mano."

In such cases, it's best to just let it go. Nothing can possibly be gained by correcting them.

Actually, that's not exactly misuse. The original Spanish means "hand to hand", but it's been adopted in English to mean "one on one" or "head to head", possibly even "face to face". It's not faithful to the original Spanish, but since the user is actually speaking English I don't think it's so incorrect as to warrant "douchebaggery". And in Portuguese, "mano a mano" actually does mean "man to man".

In any case, if someone approaches you and demands to talk "mano a mano", it might not be the best time to explain the proper usage. They might put a mano in yo face.

Colonel Panic wrote:

Ty Webb wrote:That being said, I use "flout".

So that makes you a "floutist" then?

And a fuckin' one-eyed skin floutist, at that.

Ty Webb wrote:

FuzzBob wrote:

The MayorofRockNRoll wrote:Everybody's gotta have their tenants to live by

Unless they're feeling rebellious and decide to "flaunt" tradition.

If I'm reading you right, that would actually be a correct use of the word. "Flaunt" can mean to treat with disdain or to dismiss derisively.

Ty, funnily enough I recently read the following entry in James Cochrane's Between You and I:

James Cochrane wrote:flout and flaunt 'Saddam Hussein has continued to flaunt UN resolutions.' (Tom Carver, BBC Washington Correspondent, September 2002)

At the time of writing the only UN resolutions that Saddam Hussein would be likely to flaunt would be those that forbade any interference in his country's internal affairs. The BBC correspondent almost certainly meant to say flout.

To flaunt is 'to display ostentatiously'. To flout is 'to break (rules or regulations) openly and even with contempt'. The two words are very often confused, but should not be.

However, as your later post points out, the modern usage has melted the distinction. A shame, I say! Cochrane would classify this a "lost cause".

Churl and arch traditionalist that I am, I'm sticking to the original sense.

Wheely wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:One of my faves has always been when douchebags misuse the term mano a mano to mean "man to man".

As in: "I need to talk with you, mano a mano."

In such cases, it's best to just let it go. Nothing can possibly be gained by correcting them.

Actually, that's not exactly misuse. The original Spanish means "hand to hand", but it's been adopted in English to mean "one on one" or "head to head", possibly even "face to face". It's not faithful to the original Spanish, but since the user is actually speaking English I don't think it's so incorrect as to warrant "douchebaggery". And in Portuguese, "mano a mano" actually does mean "man to man".

In any case, if someone approaches you and demands to talk "mano a mano", it might not be the best time to explain the proper usage. They might put a mano in yo face.

Well I didn't mean that people are douchebags for using that expression in that way, but it just happens that most of the guys I've ever met who go around saying "mano a mano" when they mean "man to man" happen to be douchebags.

Cochrane's even more of a dick about usage than I am. He makes me look downright flexible.

Colonel Panic wrote:Well I didn't mean that people are douchebags for using that expression in that way, but it just happens that most of the guys I've ever met who go around saying "mano a mano" when they mean "man to man" happen to be douchebags.

Understood and agreed.

Wheely wrote:

Colonel Panic wrote:One of my faves has always been when douchebags misuse the term mano a mano to mean "man to man".

As in: "I need to talk with you, mano a mano."

In such cases, it's best to just let it go. Nothing can possibly be gained by correcting them.

Actually, that's not exactly misuse. The original Spanish means "hand to hand", but it's been adopted in English to mean "one on one" or "head to head", possibly even "face to face". It's not faithful to the original Spanish, but since the user is actually speaking English I don't think it's so incorrect as to warrant "douchebaggery". And in Portuguese, "mano a mano" actually does mean "man to man".

In any case, if someone approaches you and demands to talk "mano a mano", it might not be the best time to explain the proper usage. They might put a mano in yo face.

Certainly an acceptable usage under that scenario if they're deaf.

I overheard a man on a phone describe someone as being 'volumptuous" today.

Not a malapropism as such, but it still made me laugh.

Enola Gaiety wrote:I overheard a man on a phone describe someone as being 'volumptuous" today.

Not a malapropism as such, but it still made me laugh.

Ha! I love that. So inadvertently good.

I was watching a bit of The Soprano's Season 1 over the weekend and caught this little gem from Tony, which I'd missed before. He's talking to Dr. Melfi about Uncle Junior:

"Now he has to piss into a cathode tube..."