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fantine33
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#26
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by fantine33 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:43 pm
TheConfessor wrote:I also grew up in Louisville and I've never heard the term "tuning up" used with any lachrymose connotations. It was always a musical or automotive term.
Of course, I'd never seen stuff like "suthren" and "dint" until I started reading this board. I don't get why some intelligent people prefer to appear otherwise.
Because they think it's cute or
Because it's part of an in crowd thing or
a combination of both.
TheConfessor wrote:I also didn't get your logic. People try to look extra-smart for the same reason that they try to look extra-stupid? What reason is that?
Same answer.
In both cases I'm not referring to just this message board, or message boards in general. Just people in general.
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tanstaafl2
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#27
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by tanstaafl2 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:01 pm
fantine33 wrote:earendel wrote:christie1111 wrote:Never heard of it. Tearing up, yes, tuning up, no.
I will ask my 16 yo daughter1111 if she ever heard of it after school.
I've lived mostly in Newport, RI; Kauai, Hawaii; Stratford, CT
I've heard "tearing up" also and my first thought was that "tuning" was a mispronunciation of "tearing", but it would take a fair amount of linguistic torture to make that change.
Tuning up refers to getting prepared for your "performance". Like, 'oh crap, here we go. She's tuning up.' Like how little kids open their mouth like a guppy and take a huge breath in order to have plenty of oxygen to throw a screaming fit.
This answer is from my personal history (from my dad, he grew up in Rock Island, my grandma was from Peoria. I don't know which side of the family he got it from).
I must concur! "Tuning up" is not so much about crying itself but rather the preparatory period before actually cutting lose a good solid bawling (or pitching a fit, as noted). It can involve not only sniffling, snorting and whimpering but also the near gymnastic facial contorsions one can go through before the actual "performance" begins.
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
~Mark Twain
Some people are like a Slinky. They are not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs...
~tanstaafl2
Nullum Gratuitum Prandium
Ne Illegitimi Carborundum
Cumann na gClann Uí Thighearnaigh
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TheConfessor
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#28
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by TheConfessor » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:03 pm
fantine33 wrote:TheConfessor wrote:I also grew up in Louisville and I've never heard the term "tuning up" used with any lachrymose connotations. It was always a musical or automotive term.
Of course, I'd never seen stuff like "suthren" and "dint" until I started reading this board. I don't get why some intelligent people prefer to appear otherwise.
Because they think it's cute or
Because it's part of an in crowd thing or
a combination of both.
TheConfessor wrote:I also didn't get your logic. People try to look extra-smart for the same reason that they try to look extra-stupid? What reason is that?
Same answer.
In both cases I'm not referring to just this message board, or message boards in general. Just people in general.
Thanks. That's probably a very good answer and explains why I don't get it. I've never been real familiar with cuteness or in-crowds. Your answer makes more sense than the earlier explanation that people are lazy. To me, trying to affect the insider lingo is a lot harder than just using standard English.
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nitrah55
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#29
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by nitrah55 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:09 pm
As you might have suspected, this lifetime New Yorker (with time off for good behavior in Ohio and California) had never heard the expression "tuning up" for crying or preparation therefor.
I am about 25% sure of this.
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Beebs52
- Queen of Wack
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#30
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by Beebs52 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:23 pm
TheConfessor wrote:fantine33 wrote:TheConfessor wrote:I also grew up in Louisville and I've never heard the term "tuning up" used with any lachrymose connotations. It was always a musical or automotive term.
Of course, I'd never seen stuff like "suthren" and "dint" until I started reading this board. I don't get why some intelligent people prefer to appear otherwise.
Because they think it's cute or
Because it's part of an in crowd thing or
a combination of both.
TheConfessor wrote:I also didn't get your logic. People try to look extra-smart for the same reason that they try to look extra-stupid? What reason is that?
Same answer.
In both cases I'm not referring to just this message board, or message boards in general. Just people in general.
Thanks. That's probably a very good answer and explains why I don't get it. I've never been real familiar with cuteness or in-crowds. Your answer makes more sense than the earlier explanation that people are lazy. To me, trying to affect the insider lingo is a lot harder than just using standard English.
I don't think it has anything to do with "incrowd" stuff. Cute, maybe. I think our regional dialect variations are interesting and fun. "Dint" and "yinz" I'd never heard of before since I wasn't familiar with the Pittsburghian way of speaking. "Suthren" is just one of those, well, things you pick up. "Y'all" and "All y'all" I learned after living in Memphis and Texas and actually use the terms seriously.
Why not have fun with language? What's offputting about screwing around with words? I grew up in Wisconsin and I've thrown in a "Yah sure, you betcha" here and there, both in writing and speaking. It wasn't for any other effect than probably my own amusement.
Well, then
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mrkelley23
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#31
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by mrkelley23 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:28 pm
Ed: are you familiar with concept of "shibboleths?"
I think it may be closer to that than an "in-crowd" sort of thing. Think about the (rather amazing) amount of Bored jargon here, beginning with Bored. Even glowing potato would qualify as a Bored "in-joke" that very few people outside of our company would get.
"Dint" and "Prolly" are more abbreviations for faster typing, at least in my case, than their correct equivalents.
And I know plenty of highly intelligent teens who use all kinds of bizarre misspellings when they text.
Finally, I'm not aware of any reliable research tying(sic!) correct spelling to intelligence.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman
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Beebs52
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#32
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by Beebs52 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:31 pm
Mr. Kelley expressed what I wanted to say much better.
Thenks everso.
Well, then
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Jeemie
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#33
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by Jeemie » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:33 pm
Beebs52 wrote:I don't think it has anything to do with "incrowd" stuff. Cute, maybe. I think our regional dialect variations are interesting and fun. "Dint" and "yinz" I'd never heard of before since I wasn't familiar with the Pittsburghian way of speaking. "Suthren" is just one of those, well, things you pick up. "Y'all" and "All y'all" I learned after living in Memphis and Texas and actually use the terms seriously.
Why not have fun with language? What's offputting about screwing around with words? I grew up in Wisconsin and I've thrown in a "Yah sure, you betcha" here and there, both in writing and speaking. It wasn't for any other effect than probably my own amusement.
Exactly. This is what I meant in my OP- it's just "style".
I only dug at Confessor because in a post where he said "I don't know why intelligent people would want to sound otherwise", he used a word that is not often used in normal conversation and can be construed as trying to "put on airs".
I dug the irony of it, that's all!
1979 City of Champions 2009
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silvercamaro
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#34
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by silvercamaro » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:40 pm
Sometimes I just think funny words are funny.
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Beebs52
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#35
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by Beebs52 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:41 pm
silvercamaro wrote:Sometimes I just think funny words are funny.
Well, YOU would.
Well, then
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mrkelley23
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#36
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by mrkelley23 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:44 pm
silvercamaro wrote:Sometimes I just think funny words are funny.
And sometimes I just thinks.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman
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cindy.wellman
- LOLOLOL
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#37
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by cindy.wellman » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:45 pm
*Rant deleted.
I failed to follow my own self-imposed 24-hour rule of not posting rants until 24 hours had passed.

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Beebs52
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#38
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by Beebs52 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:46 pm
mrkelley23 wrote:silvercamaro wrote:Sometimes I just think funny words are funny.
And sometimes I just thinks.
Sometimes I just word without the attendant thought.
Well, then
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mrkelley23
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#39
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by mrkelley23 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:50 pm
Beebs52 wrote:mrkelley23 wrote:silvercamaro wrote:Sometimes I just think funny words are funny.
And sometimes I just thinks.
Sometimes I just word without the attendant thought.
Are you verbing again, Beebs?
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/humor/calvin.html
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman
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silvercamaro
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#40
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by silvercamaro » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:54 pm
From Mr. K's link:
"Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. "
I've been signed on to this program for years.
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Jeemie
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#41
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by Jeemie » Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:59 pm
silvercamaro wrote:From Mr. K's link:
"Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. "
I've been signed on to this program for years.
Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: "England and America- two nations separated by a common language".
Looks like we have that on the Bored as well!
1979 City of Champions 2009
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Bob Juch
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Contact:
#42
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by Bob Juch » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:05 pm
fantine33 wrote:This answer is from my personal history (from my dad, he grew up in Rock Island, my grandma was from Peoria. I don't know which side of the family he got it from).
I lived in Peoria for six months.
They have a Peoria Walk of Fame. Which two actors are the only stars on it?
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.
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silvercamaro
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#43
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by silvercamaro » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:09 pm
cindy.wellman wrote:*Rant deleted.
I failed to follow my own self-imposed 24-hour rule of not posting rants until 24 hours had passed.

Darn. I would love to see a good rant from Loooooocinda.
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Beebs52
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#44
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by Beebs52 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:29 pm
Well, then
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tlynn78
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#45
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by tlynn78 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:30 pm
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
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Rexer25
- It's all his fault. That'll be $10.
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#46
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by Rexer25 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:32 pm
Another point Confessor dude may not be considering is that several of us have chronic cases of smart-ass, which seem to be beyond all treatment options.
Enough already. It's my fault! Get over it!
That'll be $10, please.
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Bixby17
- Posts: 519
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#47
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by Bixby17 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:49 pm
earendel wrote:Last night a friend and I were talking, and during the conversation she said something like, "My daughter called and while she was telling me something she started tuning up on me." I had no idea what that expression meant, so I asked, and she told me. It was an expression I'd never heard before, but later, when I asked elwing about it, she said she knew what it meant. I wondered if it was something she had learned since we came to Kentucky or if she had always known it (we grew up in Oklahoma, within a mile of each other). She didn't know the answer. That got me to wondering:
1. What is the derivation of the expression?
2. Is it a regional expression and if so, what region?
BTW, "tuning up" means to start crying.
So help me out here - have you heard this term? Was it something you grew up with, and if so, where did you grow up? I'm trying to track this down.
I think she just made it up and then was too embarrassed to say so.
I've lived all over the place and have never heard that.
I like made up words.
Ginormous is one of my favorites.
I used the word chestacular in a recent FanHouse entry. Everybody knew what I meant.
I wrote the first Simpson-Romo post for FanHouse and invited the readers to come up with a nickname for their pairing. They came up with Romessica. I've seen it elsewhere since.
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themanintheseersuckersuit
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#48
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by themanintheseersuckersuit » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:54 pm
Bixby17 wrote:earendel wrote:Last night a friend and I were talking, and during the conversation she said something like, "My daughter called and while she was telling me something she started tuning up on me." I had no idea what that expression meant, so I asked, and she told me. It was an expression I'd never heard before, but later, when I asked elwing about it, she said she knew what it meant. I wondered if it was something she had learned since we came to Kentucky or if she had always known it (we grew up in Oklahoma, within a mile of each other). She didn't know the answer. That got me to wondering:
1. What is the derivation of the expression?
2. Is it a regional expression and if so, what region?
BTW, "tuning up" means to start crying.
So help me out here - have you heard this term? Was it something you grew up with, and if so, where did you grow up? I'm trying to track this down.
I think she just made it up and then was too embarrassed to say so.
I've lived all over the place and have never heard that.
I like made up words.
Ginormous is one of my favorites.
I used the word chestacular in a recent FanHouse entry. Everybody knew what I meant.
I wrote the first Simpson-Romo post for FanHouse and invited the readers to come up with a nickname for their pairing. They came up with Romessica. I've seen it elsewhere since.
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,810 for Romessica. (0.23 seconds)
Suitguy is not bitter.
feels he represents the many educated and rational onlookers who believe that the hysterical denouncement of lay scepticism is both unwarranted and counter-productive
The problem, then, is that such calls do not address an opposition audience so much as they signal virtue. They talk past those who need convincing. They ignore actual facts and counterargument. And they are irreparably smug.
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tlynn78
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#49
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by tlynn78 » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:18 pm
invited the readers to come up with a nickname for their pairing. They came up with Romessica. I've seen it elsewhere since.
I prefer Jomo
t.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
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Ritterskoop
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#50
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by Ritterskoop » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:20 pm
I've never heard of tuning up but I bet my co-worker from Kentucky will confirm it's from her area.
I dial up my accent and relax my grammar sometimes for two reasons: to amuse the furriners, and to put the natives at ease.
If you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked. - Tom Robbins
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At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you. - attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.