Dumpster Fire

[Pio1980]

My recent word complaint concerns folks who insist on calling wheels "rims".
I can understand a big trash box of refuse on fire as symbolic of disfunction

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[Wasillaguy]

Ok, if we're going to vent, I have another.

Why do people insist, after I say something, on responding with "Right?"

This sounded stupid the first time I heard it, and it's not sounding any smarter over time. I make a simple statement, like "Wow, it's pretty warm out today", and they respond with "Right?".
I know I'm right. It's warm. Sweat on my brow and the leaves on the plants are drooping and all I feel like doing is sitting down and drinking a beer, so I'm not questioning my own statement. But for some reason their contribution to the conversation is to ask me if I'm right.

I think this started with them damn Texans, but they had it changed around a little. They'd make a statement and add the question on the end- "It's pretty warm today, right?" Which sounds damn near as stupid because it sounds like he's not sure and looking to me for approval of his statement, but he's really not.

[d-ray657]

OK, mine is "very unique." Unique means singular - no other like it. It is unique, or it is not unique. It can not be very unique or a little bit unique or sorta unique. And I am not unique in my distaste for that particular phrase.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Boreas]

In Baltimore, and perhaps other places, "right" is used as a substitute for "very" but only in connection with the quality of a the thing being described. For instance, you might describe a thing as "right nice" or "right good" (but probably not "right bad") but you would never say that the weather was "right hot" or that an item was "right expensive".

[Wasillaguy]

Originally Posted by Boreas

In Baltimore, and perhaps other places, "right" is used as a substitute for "very" but only in connection with the quality of a the thing being described. For instance, you might describe a thing as "right nice" or "right good" (but probably not "right bad") but you would never say that the weather was "right hot" or that an item was "right expensive".

Jed Clampett was right fond of that usage as well.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Wasillaguy

Jed Clampett was right fond of that usage as well.

I think a lot of usages of this sort are relics of the local dialects spoken in England and other places the colonists came from at the time of original colonization. Electronic media is rapidly homogenizing language these days and regionalisms and accents are rapidly disappearing in favor of what passes for standard English.

[nailer]

Originally Posted by Boreas

In Baltimore, and perhaps other places, "right" is used as a substitute for "very" but only in connection with the quality of a the thing being described. For instance, you might describe a thing as "right nice" or "right good" (but probably not "right bad") but you would never say that the weather was "right hot" or that an item was "right expensive".

Never noticed that as being a particularly Baltimore thing.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by nailer

Never noticed that as being a particularly Baltimore thing.

Never heard it out here (but I have heard "hon"). Didn't hear it in Philly or New Jersey or Colorado. If I had to guess, I'd say it was an Appalachian thing, probably of Scots Irish origin.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Never heard it out here (but I have heard "hon"). Didn't hear it in Philly or New Jersey or Colorado. If I had to guess, I'd say it was an Appalachian thing, probably of Scots Irish origin.

I'm getting called 'hon' more and more by cashiers. Don't think it's changing demographics--I think it's just a trend that has caught on.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

I'm getting called 'hon' more and more by cashiers. Don't think it's changing demographics--I think it's just a trend that has caught on.

Baltimoreans have claimed 'hon' as their own for as long as I can remember. I don't know how legitimate the claim is but you do hear it a lot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Baltimore#Hon