al-in-chgo's definitions

haul water

To perform menial or trivial services for one's superiors, with the implication that the agent is capable of doing nothing more significant.

Alderman "X" does not seem concerned with his constituents; what he does best is haul water for the administration.

by al-in-chgo July 23, 2016

shaggy dog story

A long, convoluted anecdote, often told simply to result in a sentence that consists almost entirely of puns.

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One classic shaggy dog story involves a man named Hugh who is out to stop a couple of monks from growing flowers for money:

"Remember Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars."

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by al-in-chgo March 13, 2010

foo goo

(Note: Two words): Any small unidentifiable residue, globule, or spill, usually sticky or crusty.

"Jenny, I'm not lending you my phone any more. It had foo goo on the face that I had to scrape off. Were you eating fried chicken or what?"

by al-in-chgo October 6, 2013

roughousing

Alternate spelling of "roughhousing" with one "h" omitted. Compare thresh-hold, threshold.

Means mock-fighting or wrestling, grabassing, or physical fooling around, usually between boys of similar age.

See also fooling around.

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"Don't put the twins together in the back seat or they'll be roughousing all the way to the mall."

by al-in-chgo August 18, 2010

Scanlation

Scanlation, from SCAN (or 'SCANned') + transLATION, is the unauthorized translation of a foreign graphic novel, usually Japanese yaoi or other sexually explicit work, from Japanese into English. Typically the scanlator scans the hardcopy text into a computer, and electronically whites out the Japanese characters in the thought balloons to replace them with English text.

Illegality is the essence of scanlation, as opposed to authorized translations in which rights are granted, royalties scheduled, and chain of intellectual property is maintained. Many scanlators will argue that the more erotic or hardcore types of manga (yaoi, bara maga) are rarely translated into English, and that even a Japanese best-seller can sit untranslated for years. (Example: the graphic novels of Gengorah Tagame, like his three-volume PRIDE, which has as subject matter the training of a novice in BSDM techniques and includes very explicit sexual language and images, and scenes of torrture.)
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-- "I'm reading a scanlation of a Japanese 'bear-loving-bear' manga."

-- "Is it any good?"

-- "Definitely gets the plot points across, though sometimes the English is a little sketchy. The scanlator uses spellings like "colour" and "honor" so it's probably someone from the British Commonwealth or perhaps a Japanese person who learned English using English spellngs. No way of telling, really, their blogs don't have to say where they live or what they do."

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by al-in-chgo April 7, 2010

Verschlusspanik

Verschlusspanik (fair-SCHLOOSE-pah-neek) is a German word that literally means "closing panic." It refers to the rush of new investors (and new capital) into consumer investments like mutual funds that occurs when the sponsoring financial house announces that its fund will no longer accept new accounts beyond a certain date. That "last-minute" stampede is due to Verschlusspanik on the part of potential investors who do not want to be shut out of the fund.

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"Go figure -- Fund XYZ announces that it won't open any new accounts past the end of this month, and all of a sudden there's a huge influx of new investors and their money."

"That's called 'Verschlusspanik'. It often happens when there's a deadline for new accounts imposed."

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by al-in-chgo March 24, 2010

The Valley

Abandoned prison restroom with long trough-style urinal off a low-traffic area, as described in John Cheever's 1977 novel FALCONER. To quote the author, this is where the inmates went after dinner "to fuck themselves." Themselves but not each other -- there were unwritten rules. Looking at other penises was okay, but not into another man's eyes. Touching another man was not allowed, except for the shoulder. A grim place, not gay by any definition, and certainly not the fantasy one-for-all tearoom scenes depicted in gay porn videos.

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Since The Valley in Cheever's award-winning novel Falconer was located on an upper floor, the origin of its name was obscure. Perhaps the name was coined to reference the trench- or trough-shaped nature of the elderly urinal itself.

-- "Where's Harry?"

-- "He went to The Valley after dinner."

-- 'When do you think he'll be back in our wing?"

-- "As late as possible, if I know Harry."

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by al-in-chgo February 25, 2010