"Crossed wires" can describe either of these situations:
1. when people who are supposedly having a conversation with each other are actually talking about completely different things
2. when a dialogue gets out of sync because people are not listening to each other - in a written dialogue this is usually because someone has posted twice before reading a reply.
The expression derives from ye olden days of analogue telephones. Sometimes when speaking on the phone in the 60s or 70s it was possible to hear another conversation on the same line. You might also pick up the phone and find that instead of a dial tone you could hear a conversation. This situation was called "crossed wires".
1. when people who are supposedly having a conversation with each other are actually talking about completely different things
2. when a dialogue gets out of sync because people are not listening to each other - in a written dialogue this is usually because someone has posted twice before reading a reply.
The expression derives from ye olden days of analogue telephones. Sometimes when speaking on the phone in the 60s or 70s it was possible to hear another conversation on the same line. You might also pick up the phone and find that instead of a dial tone you could hear a conversation. This situation was called "crossed wires".
Example 1:
Emma: I can't wait for the weekend
Joe: Freedom at last! Next year I'm going travelling
Emma: We're throwing a party for our graduation
Joe: I'm gonna hitchhike around Europe
Emma: Everyone is invited. Hope they all come.
Joe: London Paris and Rome here I come!
Emma: You are coming aren't you?
Joe: Wanna come with me?
Emma: Crossed wires!
Example 2:
Jack: I'm sick and tired of arguing
Anna: sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I forgot that you don't like talking about politics
Jack: and I get the feeling you're trying to upset me!
Jack: sorry crossed wires
Emma: I can't wait for the weekend
Joe: Freedom at last! Next year I'm going travelling
Emma: We're throwing a party for our graduation
Joe: I'm gonna hitchhike around Europe
Emma: Everyone is invited. Hope they all come.
Joe: London Paris and Rome here I come!
Emma: You are coming aren't you?
Joe: Wanna come with me?
Emma: Crossed wires!
Example 2:
Jack: I'm sick and tired of arguing
Anna: sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I forgot that you don't like talking about politics
Jack: and I get the feeling you're trying to upset me!
Jack: sorry crossed wires
by Jules Fox April 11, 2013
Get the Crossed wires mug.A person who often becomes excited and aggressive over trivial things. Specific stimuli especially invokes excitement from one who is a live wire.
Watch what you say, because he's a live wire, he gets so mad over the tiniest things, especially if you tease him about his extensive shoe collection. But if you talk about something he likes, he'll become really excited and happy!
by Laura MM October 2, 2010
Get the live wire mug.Related Words
WineDine69 is an evening of wine and dinner followed by intimacy. In other words a perfect date. Taken literally, it would mean going on a date where two people would enjoy a lovely dinner in a cosy or plush restaurant, together with wine or champagne, flirt throughout the evening, and then enjoy indulging in a sixty-nine position. Hence the name WineDine69 meaning exactly that - wine, dine and then 69!
People enjoy getting on well on a night out where the chemistry is sparkling, the wine is flowing and the flirting is magical. Many meet others online for exactly such evenings for example at www.winedine69.co.uk which is a very appropriate name for the definition given above!
by xbob May 9, 2009
Get the winedine69 mug.Military slang for the perimeter around a forward operating base or patrol base. Except in very remote and sparsely built/manned outposts inside the wire is safer than some bad neighborhoods in the USA. If its a larger base there might even be a McDonalds and Starbucks inside the wire. Outside the wire is enemy territory and is where all the combat and danger happens. Time spent outside the wire is often a direct measure of how experienced a military member is in their combat arms occupation. If one spends too much time inside The Wire they risk becoming a Fobbit.
Grunt: You going with us outside the wire on our next op? Might get to see some action.
Fobbit: Well... I would love to, but you see, I have this thing at that one place with the people and gosh, I just can't get permission from my unit to go along with you guys!
Fobbit: Well... I would love to, but you see, I have this thing at that one place with the people and gosh, I just can't get permission from my unit to go along with you guys!
by TCAT1117 November 17, 2018
Get the The Wire mug.The group of annoying kids you see on TV for Rogers enacting scenes of teen drama and acting all cute. Their adds are aimed at a large audience of youngsters as they represent a perfectly homogeneous mix, complete with the good-looking girl, not as good-looking girl, boyish guy with haircut, other boy and non-caucasian boy.
<Guy 1> Hey, I just signed up for UrbanDictinary.com strictly to playa hate the My 5 kids.
<Guy 2> Oh, the Rogers Wireless Kids? I can't stand those feeble little prepsters.
<Guy 2> Oh, the Rogers Wireless Kids? I can't stand those feeble little prepsters.
by J_Dilla January 16, 2008
Get the Rogers Wireless Kids mug.The Xerox Telecopier, a primitive fax machine, as called by gonzo journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
...back at Rolling Stone I had to be available to read and edit copy as it came in eight- to ten-page bursts -- via the Xerox telecopier ("the mojo wire"), a primitive fax, which had a stylus that printed onto treated paper (at a rate of seven minutes per page) and smelled.
by arteitle May 8, 2005
Get the mojo wire mug.To jerk off, masterbate
"Where is Andy?"
"Dude I think he's still in his room stripping wire"
"Man, he's always jerking off, he needs a girlfriend"
"Dude I think he's still in his room stripping wire"
"Man, he's always jerking off, he needs a girlfriend"
by The BIGGEST T February 26, 2014
Get the stripping wire mug.