The words with 'secret' meaning
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I've just got to know that the word 'housewarming' means not 'heating the air inside the house' as one could assume, but 'moving into the new house' . Rather funny:улыб:Does anyone know some other words of this kind?
Hilda
I am not sure if these words look like what you wanted to see in this
topic. Anyway, I like them.

Nine-to-fiver - is a person working in the office from nine a.m. till
five p.m.

Brown-bagger (Amer.) - a person who takes his food into the office
(in America it's usually in brown bag) for the purpose of economy or
because of keeping to a diet.
Hilda
As far as I understoщd your 'secret' meaning is called a metaphor.

There are plenty of them in Engish.
Here is my contribution:

to moonlight - to make money on the side, to take extra work.

I've been had - be deceived, be fooled (as in Russian меня поимели )

to cry blue murder - cry for a help
Bellka
couch-potato - the guy that always stays at home when you invite you somewere
мнение
It seems that words I'm speaking about are not metaphors... Though, I'm not sure. I mean the words that can not be understood properly without the exact knowing of their meaning.
Hilda
A word can not be a metaphor. A metaphor is a stylistic device applied to word and expressed by its meaning.

The words you're talking about can't be understood properly just because their meanings shifted due to the likeness or analogy with their literal meanings.

Such process is called metaphorization.
мнение
Don't you think these words are a kind of neologisms? You really will not know what they mean unless you find them in the dictionary or ask a native speaker about the meaning. Very often you willhave to guess or just analyse the word and its components to grasp what it means.
Bellka
Your supposition is rather considerable. Metaphor and neologism sometimes coincide in process i.e. the use of old words in a new sence. But mind that neologisms appear when a new sence is needed that never existed earlier and have nothing in common with speech expressiveness.
Hilda
Here are some more I came across:

to shoot Niagara - to determine oneself to a desperate attempt/action

green-eyed monster - jealousy (in the meaning of painful suspicion of the faithfulness)

Freeload - халява (sorry, I don't know how to put it properly in English). I stumbled onto the following example:
He always eats dinner with us but he never invites us for dinner, he likes to freeload. (...любит пожрать нахаляву).
мнение
Well, I am not quite sure that neologism comes to a language when a new meaning appears... Would you say that there wasn't a notion "бедный, нищий" in English before the neologism "disadvantaged" appeared? And the word paytriotism... And so on and so on... Anyway, it is not so important for me how we can call these words or the ones which Hilda showed us in the beginning of the topic. What I really like is to learn new words and their new unexpected meaning, and the feeling when I succeed in getting what they mean. :улыб:
Bellka
Somewhen any word was a neologism, right?

By the way, will you give me the link where 'disadvantaged' is used in the sense of "бедный, нищий"? Anyway 'disadvantaged' is not a proper example since it was formed by the use of the prefix 'dis-' with a well-known meaning.

As for patriotism, this is of course a neologism but there are no secret meanings in it. :спок:

show-stopper - гвоздь программы
clutch-hitter - палочка-выручалочка
on a hunch - intuitively

Looking forward for yours...
мнение
Well, as for these two words: disadvantaged and paYtriotism.

Recently I started some king of investigation about English lexicology and such things like neologisms, metonymy etc. In one of the articles word “disadvantaged” was cited as the example of neologism, when a known word acquires a new meaning. In that case it was the meaning "бедный, нищий" (in other words, a person without enough money to have the advantages which a wealthy one has).

And as for PAYtriotism (not patriotism) – I think you can guess the meaning by yourself )))
Bellka
OK. I see.
Pity you don't remember the name of the book with 'disadvantaged' in a new sense because I can't find it even in new edited dictionaries.

Recently I started some king of investigation about English lexicology and such things like neologisms, metonymy etc.
Did you learn something new for you? :улыб:
Hilda
Hello there. Well, I got some to. It's a bit unusual, but intresting:

1. afterschool special - describing a person who is known for high drama, no matter what the circumstance :ooo:

2. Benetton Ad - someone whose ethnicity is unknown or unrecognizable :ухмылка:

3. Block-Away Girl/Boy - someone who looks better from a block away than up close :улыб:
4. Booty Temp - a person you are sleeping with until someone better comes along:смущ:
5. Club Detox - period of time where a person who has overdoses on club activity needs a sabbatical :спок:

6. Cockringer - someone with a seemingly constant erection, or someone who is incessantly horny (easy lays):смущ:
7. Conversation Nazi - terminology given to someone who dominates any conversation or discussion :ха-ха!:

8. Crop Circles - term given to objects that appear after a hazy night of intoxication :ха-ха!:

9. Door Whore - Type of person who stands near the exit of any given setting, waiting for possible tricks who might eye him up as a last possibility:смущ:
10. Ejacoleptic - a condition affecting men who have a tendency to fall asleep immediatly following ejaculation:смущ:
11. Flash Flooder - someone who does not dress according to the current weather :а\?:

12. Ford Model - another term for an escort :ухмылка:

13. [censored]-in-law - someone you know who has slept with the same person you have:смущ:
14. HMF - stands for High Maintenance Fag:хммм:
15. Hosting a Telethon - this refers to doing the thankless charity work (known as hanging out with lesser people) :спок:

16. O-Town - someone within an existing clique who attempts to mimic others within the group, to disastrous results:бебе:
17. Salvation Armani - articles of clothinf acquired at thrift stores that go unrecognized as such peers:хммм:
18. Thunderpussed - describes a person who listens to nothing but club nusic :шок:

19. Time Warped - person who does not dress according to current fashin trends :а\?:

20. To play Operation - action necessary when saomeone is a mess and is in need of some restructuring or intervention:улыб:
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how can you disicover new oceans if you afraid to lose the sight of shore?
мнение
Did you learn something new for you? :улыб:
Yes, of course :улыб:I am taking translating course now and our teachers tell as a lot of useful and interesting things.
Bellka
I have taken or I have been taking the courses since blah blah ' I
am taking ' expression means that you are going to take them. Basically saying that means future time.....sorry. But you guys are great!!
I have taken or I have been taking the courses since blah blah ' I
am taking ' expression means that you are going to take them.
Well, just look attentively at my sentence. I said "I am taking... NOW..." It means that I am studying at this very moment :улыб:
Bellka
You missed the indefinite article:

...a translating course...:улыб:
That's not exactly righ: couch-potato is person spending all the time on the couch in front of TV
whiplash
To "hunt high and low" means to search for something vigorously. Also "scour the countryside".
"snail mail" means a simple mail (on paper), not e-mail
whiplash
ok...

what does it mean:

come hell or high water...?
= no matter what happens, by any means