Timeline for The word "joint" as a synonym for place?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 2014 at 5:42 | vote | accept | ethmz | ||
| Apr 8, 2014 at 19:26 | comment | added | BobRodes | As for "casing the joint", it's an example of "bad guys" putting it all backwards. "The joint" is where you go to have a good time; banks and mansions and the like are where all those pillars of society keep all of the ill-gotten gains they use to keep the little guy under their collective heel. | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 19:26 | comment | added | BobRodes | Interesting answer and comments. Looking for examples that contradict my generalizations, I don't see any clear ones. Burger joint is interesting, though; seems a combination of frowned upon and facetious. Frowned upon because we feel rather guilty about our (over)eating habits--I've never met an American who is literally "starving", and rarely heard one say he was just hungry--and our propensity to spend vast amounts of money to avoid cooking for ourselves; facetious because hey, nothing wrong with eating, after all. | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 18:38 | comment | added | Tyler James Young | @FumbleFingers We need one answer to rule them all! | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 18:19 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @J.R.: While I was writing my comment, Bob was composing what seems to me a perfectly good answer (not that I can really fault Jolenealaska's, so far as it goes). Of course, there are other contexts, such as casing the joint where the referent might be, say, a bank (or indeed some wildly figurative usage where "the joint" isn't even a physical thing at all, let alone a place where people meet, sell things, or whatever). | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 18:03 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @FumbleFingers - That comment would make an A-1 answer, imo. | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 17:57 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | In my experience, joint is definitely more likely to be used of a retail outlet if it sells food/drink rather than, say, clothes or newspapers. It also tends to imply that the establishment is small, and that whatever they sell is either consumed on the premises, or it's "fast food" consumed immediately after purchase. Finally, I also think there's a terndency for joints to be places where people meet, rather than just places that sell things. | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 17:51 | comment | added | Jolenealaska | Yes, I forgot about that one. The joint is jail. | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 17:48 | comment | added | Tyler James Young | There's also even less formal use to refer to any place whatsoever, and use with the definite article to refer to jail.¹ | |
| Apr 8, 2014 at 17:46 | history | answered | Jolenealaska | CC BY-SA 3.0 |