worried whether to use what you know to be the proper pronunciation of a name and seem pretentious to some, or to use the name’s more common mispronunciation and seem a dunce to others
I’malways a pronunciation chickenshit when it comes to “Vincent van Gogh”.
WWII troop slang for military bureaucratic bullshit. The word implies that the regulations in question are so silly and trifling that they don't measure up to the level of bullshit. Subsequently, the word came to be merely an intensification of the epithet chicken.
In life and death matters, soldiers relied on their common sense and ignored the chickenshit regulations their superiors foisted upon them whenever possible.
According to Paul Fussel'sbook "Wartime," "Chickenshit refers to behavior that makes military life worse than it need be: petty harassment of the weak by the strong; open scrimmage for power and authority and prestige; sadism thinly disguised as necessary discipline; a constant 'paying off of old scores'; and insistence on the letter rather than the spirit of ordinances. Chickenshit is so called--instead of horse- or bull- or elephant shit--because it is small-minded and ignoble and takes the trivial seriously."
This definition is cited by at least two books by Steven E. Ambrose, "Citizen Soldiers" and "Band of Brothers."
Soldier 1: Some rear-echelon type saw me and said that I wasn't maintaing a professional appearance. I can't help it that we've been living in foxholes for the last week and because of the snipers, I can't shave.
British slang for a scientist or technical expert, esp . when the speaker is not certain of the expert’s specific field of study. Not necessarily derogatory, but typically used by persons without a technical background. In the US, the equivalent would be “egghead”, “squint”, or “geek.”
Origin of the word is unknown. Started sometime in World War 2. Given the typical evolution of British slang, could easily have started because what these experts did was confusing or “baffling” to the common person.
According to the boffins downstairs, the murdererused a serrated blade.
When you have to pee in a movie but don’t want to miss anything, and must do the following mental equation: will the amount I have to pee cause enough discomfort to diminish my attention capacity for the remainder of the movie to an extent which is greater than the amount of the movie I would miss by making a mad dash to the restroom.
I saw Satantango last night, wonderful film but by the 5th hour I had to start doing peecalculus.