al-in-chgo's definitions
A sudden but violent outburst of a person shouting, screaming recriminations and (possibly) wailing, generally short-lived but shocking.
"Hissy fit" used to describe an adult tantrum but now has become an equal opportunity description, young or old, male or female. What they all have in common is no matter how severe the (alleged) offense, there is always some wounded pride involved, and usually an audience of bystanders along with the culprit who allegedly triggered the hissy.
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"Hissy fit" used to describe an adult tantrum but now has become an equal opportunity description, young or old, male or female. What they all have in common is no matter how severe the (alleged) offense, there is always some wounded pride involved, and usually an audience of bystanders along with the culprit who allegedly triggered the hissy.
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-- "When I told Sarah she couldn't have the doll, she broke down and pitched a major hissy fit. Right there in the toy department at Target!"
--"So when Joe got fired, all he did was throw a hissy fit out in the hall? Terrible. REAL men used to slug each other."
--"She freaked! She had a hissy! She thinks you're the cat's meow." 'Farmer Ted' (Anthony Michael Hall) in movie SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984), describing the Molly Ringwald character's sudden infatuation with a boy two years her senior.
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--"So when Joe got fired, all he did was throw a hissy fit out in the hall? Terrible. REAL men used to slug each other."
--"She freaked! She had a hissy! She thinks you're the cat's meow." 'Farmer Ted' (Anthony Michael Hall) in movie SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984), describing the Molly Ringwald character's sudden infatuation with a boy two years her senior.
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by al-in-chgo February 25, 2010
Get the hissy fit mug.(Occasionally "cubby bear"): A hairy young gay man with the beginnings of a bear's burly or stocky figure. He doesn't have to be short; to indicate shortness of stature or slenderness in a hairy young gay man, the going term is "otter".
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"Roman Wright is six foot two and hairy-chested. He's a bear cub because he's only 28 years old.
With that height, he will definitely never be an otter, though."
With that height, he will definitely never be an otter, though."
by al-in-chgo February 26, 2010
Get the bear cub mug.County Seat of Washington County, Virginia, in southwestern Virginia about fifteen miles northeast of the Tennesse border. Population ca. 6,000.
Active (live-)stock market, seasonal burley tobacco market, site of Federal District court which accounts for beaucoup (way too many) attorneys for hire.
Biggest cultural attributes are probably the annual Virginia Highlands Festival held on the campus of Virginia Highlands Community College, waggishly referred to as "UCLA(q.v.)," and the Barter Theater, the State Theater of Virginia. Contrary to popular opinion, neither Gregory Peck nor Ernest Borgnine was born or grew up in Abingdon, nor Ned Beatty, although they all played the Barter early in their careers.
Worst-kept secret: The really choice furniture, antiques and miscellaneous items (and often, quite good deals) are not to be found at the open-air Highlands Festival, but at a semi-secret rummage sale held by a consortium of downtown Mainline Protestant churches, named for Plum Alley, which the week-long event occupies.
Little-known facts:
. Interstate 81 runs along eastern edge of town and affords easy access to Bristol, where there is also nothing for young people to do.
. One of several thousand communities in the USA that has earned the right to call itself "the buckle on the bible belt."
. Just for fun, Google for "Abington, Virginia" (note misspelling).
Active (live-)stock market, seasonal burley tobacco market, site of Federal District court which accounts for beaucoup (way too many) attorneys for hire.
Biggest cultural attributes are probably the annual Virginia Highlands Festival held on the campus of Virginia Highlands Community College, waggishly referred to as "UCLA(q.v.)," and the Barter Theater, the State Theater of Virginia. Contrary to popular opinion, neither Gregory Peck nor Ernest Borgnine was born or grew up in Abingdon, nor Ned Beatty, although they all played the Barter early in their careers.
Worst-kept secret: The really choice furniture, antiques and miscellaneous items (and often, quite good deals) are not to be found at the open-air Highlands Festival, but at a semi-secret rummage sale held by a consortium of downtown Mainline Protestant churches, named for Plum Alley, which the week-long event occupies.
Little-known facts:
. Interstate 81 runs along eastern edge of town and affords easy access to Bristol, where there is also nothing for young people to do.
. One of several thousand communities in the USA that has earned the right to call itself "the buckle on the bible belt."
. Just for fun, Google for "Abington, Virginia" (note misspelling).
"Abingdon, Virginia? Where is this Abingdon? How long to drive there from Richmond?"
"Oh, about six, seven hours if the Interstates don't clot up too much."
"That's impossible. Nowhere in Virginia takes seven hours to reach from the state capital."
"Look on a road map, for the extreme Southwestern tip which they always put in a separate little box."
"Oh, about six, seven hours if the Interstates don't clot up too much."
"That's impossible. Nowhere in Virginia takes seven hours to reach from the state capital."
"Look on a road map, for the extreme Southwestern tip which they always put in a separate little box."
by al-in-chgo February 26, 2010
Get the Abingdon, Virginia mug.A term preferred by some writers in preference to using "homosexual" as a noun.
In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexual"; OR
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
by al-in-chgo February 27, 2010
Get the homosexualist mug.1. People who go out in public just to see an event that doesn't really concern them -- such as rushing to the site of a fire, or collecting home-improvement ideas for their own house while mooching a free open-house tour.
2. The guy whose goal is to sneak a peek at your dick when you're at the urinal -- or tries to.
3. Ellen DeGeneres' nickname for the "Telestrator" -- the device that allows a sportscaster or other user to digitally "mark" a c.g.i.'ed stripe or streak on a saved visual image, such as a football play seen from above. Any digital image can be embellished with anything schematic that a whiteboard and dry markers would show: combined with X's and O's to show standard football play configurations, for example. Ellen likes to use hers to post-mortem social interactions, such as a guest on her show who was heading in for a handshake but suddenly diverged to steal a kiss on the cheek.
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2. The guy whose goal is to sneak a peek at your dick when you're at the urinal -- or tries to.
3. Ellen DeGeneres' nickname for the "Telestrator" -- the device that allows a sportscaster or other user to digitally "mark" a c.g.i.'ed stripe or streak on a saved visual image, such as a football play seen from above. Any digital image can be embellished with anything schematic that a whiteboard and dry markers would show: combined with X's and O's to show standard football play configurations, for example. Ellen likes to use hers to post-mortem social interactions, such as a guest on her show who was heading in for a handshake but suddenly diverged to steal a kiss on the cheek.
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1. "Retail sales are so far off that on an average day, the mall has ten times more looky-loos than real shoppers."
2. "See the man in the gray windbreaker? He's a menace, King (or is it 'Queen'?) of the men's room looky-loos."
3. "The sportscaster used the looky-loo (Telestrator) to superimpose his own diagram of the play on a video freeze, and to indicate how it failed (succeeded)."
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2. "See the man in the gray windbreaker? He's a menace, King (or is it 'Queen'?) of the men's room looky-loos."
3. "The sportscaster used the looky-loo (Telestrator) to superimpose his own diagram of the play on a video freeze, and to indicate how it failed (succeeded)."
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by al-in-chgo February 28, 2010
Get the looky-loo mug.1. Southernism. Adds a certain repugnance to describe an idea, remark or occurrence that fell flat, killed conversation, was socially unacceptable, or went over like the proverbial lead balloon.
2. Similarly, a gauche, socially inept or unwelcome person who has a stultifying effect on social gatherings, or, by extension, was involved in some futile or hugely unpopular effort.
2. Similarly, a gauche, socially inept or unwelcome person who has a stultifying effect on social gatherings, or, by extension, was involved in some futile or hugely unpopular effort.
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1. -- "All I did was tell one harmless little dirty joke and the whole room went silent. Apparently I had crossed some kind of taboo. No one even chuckled at the joke; it was a veritable turd in the punchbowl. I felt like one too, since the whole party immediately seized up and everyone stared at me."
2.(a) -- "There we were discussing local politics, and who shows up uninvited and parks himself right in the middle of our group? Little Georgie, the mayor's brat, who has an unerring sense of inappropriateness. I'd rather see a turd in the punch bowl than have to deal with that nuisance."
(b) "Practically everyone in town was in favor of a weeknight youth curfew, but as usual our "freethinking" pastor went contrary and opposed it. He didn't change anyone's mind. I think he's a jinx! A turd in the punch bowl of civic affairs."
1. -- "All I did was tell one harmless little dirty joke and the whole room went silent. Apparently I had crossed some kind of taboo. No one even chuckled at the joke; it was a veritable turd in the punchbowl. I felt like one too, since the whole party immediately seized up and everyone stared at me."
2.(a) -- "There we were discussing local politics, and who shows up uninvited and parks himself right in the middle of our group? Little Georgie, the mayor's brat, who has an unerring sense of inappropriateness. I'd rather see a turd in the punch bowl than have to deal with that nuisance."
(b) "Practically everyone in town was in favor of a weeknight youth curfew, but as usual our "freethinking" pastor went contrary and opposed it. He didn't change anyone's mind. I think he's a jinx! A turd in the punch bowl of civic affairs."
by al-in-chgo February 28, 2010
Get the turd in the punch bowl mug."Considering the poor showing Team Russia made at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, they've got their work cut out for them to dominate the scene at Sochi."
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by al-in-chgo March 1, 2010
Get the Sochi mug.