Variant spelling of "run the gantlet." Spelled either way, it's pronounced gauntlet. A gantlet is a double line of people with clubs, whips, tomahawks, fraternity paddles, or other weapons; the poor bastard being punished runs between the lines and everyone hits him as he goes by. Depending on weapons and circumstances, this has been used as an initiation, a test of courage, a way to decide which prisoner to let go (to take the message back that you are holding hostages), or a way to execute someone without making any one person responsible. Often used to describe what the in-crowd does to a noob before accepting him -- "Making him run the gantlet" is a stronger, more violent expression than "making him pay some dues" or "putting him through all the hoops."
The Indians made old Zeke run the gauntlet and when he made it through with just some cuts and a lump on his head, they let him go.
My first year on the job they made me run the gantlet, but after that I was in.
At Kappa Kappa Kappa they make us pledges run the gauntlet for three months, and then on initiation night they make us run a real gantlet; I got through with my ass only getting about five hits, but my roommate fell down and they flayed his pathetic ass.
My first year on the job they made me run the gantlet, but after that I was in.
At Kappa Kappa Kappa they make us pledges run the gauntlet for three months, and then on initiation night they make us run a real gantlet; I got through with my ass only getting about five hits, but my roommate fell down and they flayed his pathetic ass.
by old lang guy January 11, 2008
Get the Run the Gauntlet mug.The rule that if you listen very seriously and intently, with a deeply caring expression, to anyone until 4:30 a.m., they then must have sex with you. Sometimes a verb as well. Comes from the original, good version of Bedazzled, with Peter Cook (as the devil) and Dudley Moore (as the guy being tempted).
"Have you thought of just applying the rule of half past four?"
"What is it?"
"If you can stay wide awake and gaze at her thinking 'You are fascinating,' the whole time she talks, for everything she says, no matter how pointless and no matter how stupid, till half past four in the morning, you're in." (Not an exact quote)
I wanted her so bad that one night when she was drunk and dumping all this self pity, I kept telling her what an interesting person she was, until I finally half past foured my way into her pants.
"What is it?"
"If you can stay wide awake and gaze at her thinking 'You are fascinating,' the whole time she talks, for everything she says, no matter how pointless and no matter how stupid, till half past four in the morning, you're in." (Not an exact quote)
I wanted her so bad that one night when she was drunk and dumping all this self pity, I kept telling her what an interesting person she was, until I finally half past foured my way into her pants.
by old lang guy August 31, 2007
Get the rule of half past four mug.Nick Bilton, whose March 10 article in the New York Times managed to explain how to be a digital/electronic douchebag for the audience of the New York Times.
Nick Bilton, of the New York Times, is such an utter douchebag that, in a section of the country and a social class noted for its production of douchebags, he is an instructor of others in how to extend douchebaggery to the digital realm.
by old lang guy March 20, 2013
Get the douchebag mug.Gradual but inexorable increase in anger, eventually becoming outright rage or fury; what happens as a patient or slow-witted person figures out what has happened and why it is significant. NOT the insult, but the process that the insult (or other upsetting thing) starts in the victim.
"Beware the fury of a patient man" -- Seneca was talking about the consequences of a slow burn here.
At first Ned liked to think his new girlfriend was popular, but as that progressed to flirty, and then to "widely available even when Ned was right there", he began to do a slow burn about it; finding her topless in the kitchen at a party was the last straw.
She did a slow burn over the fact that her roommate borrowed things, didn't return them, gradually assumed she owned them, and finally began to lend them out and give them away herself.
He dented my car and at first it was no big deal; I left a note on his windshield saying we'd figure out what to do about it, but when I didn't hear from him for months, except promises that we'd get in touch real soon, I started to do a slow burn.
At first Ned liked to think his new girlfriend was popular, but as that progressed to flirty, and then to "widely available even when Ned was right there", he began to do a slow burn about it; finding her topless in the kitchen at a party was the last straw.
She did a slow burn over the fact that her roommate borrowed things, didn't return them, gradually assumed she owned them, and finally began to lend them out and give them away herself.
He dented my car and at first it was no big deal; I left a note on his windshield saying we'd figure out what to do about it, but when I didn't hear from him for months, except promises that we'd get in touch real soon, I started to do a slow burn.
by old lang guy December 18, 2008
Get the slow burn mug.When used ironically, used by young artists (teens-30) to refer to work that will convince 30-40 year old money people that it will appeal to young people; not necessarily what the young artist or his/her young audience wants, but what the money people feel they should want.
"How's the mural on the coffeehouse wall coming?"
"The backer drove in from the suburbs and said it wasn't hip enough, so now I've got to put in a bunch of oldstyle stuff so he'll think it'll appeal to young people."
The band is young, intellectual, and hip=a 40-year-old rock critic can't fit into their jeans, but gets their inside jokes, and would have loved them when he was twenty.
Publisher (who is fifty) to a roomful of 20 year old writers and editors: we've got to remake the mag into something hip that will appeal to 20 somethings. Writer (after he goes): So is hip the new lame? Editor: No, hip is what we'd like if we liked what he'd like us to like.
"The backer drove in from the suburbs and said it wasn't hip enough, so now I've got to put in a bunch of oldstyle stuff so he'll think it'll appeal to young people."
The band is young, intellectual, and hip=a 40-year-old rock critic can't fit into their jeans, but gets their inside jokes, and would have loved them when he was twenty.
Publisher (who is fifty) to a roomful of 20 year old writers and editors: we've got to remake the mag into something hip that will appeal to 20 somethings. Writer (after he goes): So is hip the new lame? Editor: No, hip is what we'd like if we liked what he'd like us to like.
by old lang guy August 27, 2010
Get the hip mug.A song line that seems to indicate ignorance, sloppiness, or lack of education on the part of the songwriter.
According to urban legend, the line in Green Day's "Good Riddance (The Time of Your Life)" "a fork stuck in the road" says that the fork is "stuck" rather than just "in the road" because of the mistaken idea that people somewhere back in "olden days" used to stick dinner forks into the road when they changed directions; the claim is often made that one or another member of Green Day told such a story during an interview, but if so there doesn't seem to be any such interview online. It really doesn't sound like them; they're a pretty bright bunch of people.
According to urban legend, the line in Green Day's "Good Riddance (The Time of Your Life)" "a fork stuck in the road" says that the fork is "stuck" rather than just "in the road" because of the mistaken idea that people somewhere back in "olden days" used to stick dinner forks into the road when they changed directions; the claim is often made that one or another member of Green Day told such a story during an interview, but if so there doesn't seem to be any such interview online. It really doesn't sound like them; they're a pretty bright bunch of people.
Alanis Morisette's "Ironic" is a fork stuck in the road; nothing she describes in the song is ironic.
"Hey, that doesn't mean what he thinks it means!"
"Relax, dude, at least it rhymes, and it's just a fork stuck in the road!"
Every time you hear the rolling thunder, you don't need to run, because the lightning already struck and you're still here to hear it.
"Hey, that doesn't mean what he thinks it means!"
"Relax, dude, at least it rhymes, and it's just a fork stuck in the road!"
Every time you hear the rolling thunder, you don't need to run, because the lightning already struck and you're still here to hear it.
by old lang guy September 30, 2006
Get the fork stuck in the road mug.A pair of shorts so short (esp. in the crotch) that it's physically possible to have intercourse with a woman wearing them without having to pull them down.
See any Girls Gone Wild video for plenty of girls in tugovers!
We were making out and I got two fingers around one side of her tugovers.
We were making out and I got two fingers around one side of her tugovers.
by old lang guy August 27, 2010
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