Timeline for "I don't give a rip!" What's a "rip"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 10, 2015 at 17:45 | comment | added | crthompson | Hilarious that this question is now the 3rd link in the google link given as a list of references to Dingo's Kidneys. A self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. | |
| Feb 10, 2015 at 1:28 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @mbm29414 - I think the best thing in this case is to leave the question here, as Colleen suggests. If you can think of a follow-on question with a different angle that would be of interest to "linguists, etymologists, or serious English language enthusiasts," then you could ask that follow-on question there. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 23:01 | comment | added | mbm29414 | @J.R. I know that and agree with the sentiment (thus my question). If, however, we assume ColleenV is correct, is her suggestion the appropriate way to handle this one? | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 22:52 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @mbm29414 - "Cross-posting" on any two SE sites is discouraged, even though plenty of sites have overlapping scopes. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 22:17 | comment | added | corsiKa | I think noteworthy would be give a [animal]'s [body part] with rat's ass being the most common but I've heard a lot of different takes matching that pattern. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 19:42 | comment | added | ColleenV | @mbm29414 I think an exact duplicate would be a mistake - you might want to link to this question, and elaborate a little on the original given our discussion here. There are some issues with migrating questions from beta sites that I don't fully understand and I think it is useful to learners here, so I'd hate to see it migrated away. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 19:14 | comment | added | mbm29414 | @ColleenV I'm not as practiced on the non-StackOverFlow sites. Would people be upset of posting a direct duplicate on a different site? | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 19:12 | comment | added | ColleenV | @mbm29414 I do think your question is useful here (as do at least 5 other people :) ) but I think you might get some interesting perspectives on ELU also. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 19:04 | comment | added | stangdon | @mbm29414 - As best I can tell, there's a very old tradition of saying X is not worth a Y, where Y is something of very little value, and from there it may have morphed into I would not give a Y for an X. But I agree with ColleenV about ELU being a better fit. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 19:04 | comment | added | mbm29414 | @ColleenV Now I'm chagrined! I got to this site via the "Hot Network Questions" from StackOverflow and didn't look closely enough! Whoops! Then again, the original question is probably helpful to a non-native speaker who is confused by the idiom. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 18:58 | comment | added | ColleenV | @mbm29414 I wonder if this question would be better on ELU. Idioms can evolve to be so far removed from their original meanings that it's impossible to make literal sense of them anymore. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 18:21 | vote | accept | mbm29414 | ||
| Feb 9, 2015 at 18:21 | comment | added | mbm29414 | @stangdon I think this is probably the best answer I can get, but your answer gives me more questions, like, what is "a darn" and how does one give it? So, I guess the root of the question is why/how we got away from just saying "I don't care." As I mentioned, I'm a native AmE speaker, so I'm fluent in their usage, but I still wonder sometimes... Anyway, accepted! | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 16:26 | comment | added | stangdon | @ColleenV - I am from New York City, but I think "dingo's kidneys" was coined by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fame, and has since escaped into wider usage. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 15:39 | comment | added | ColleenV | The article in the link is very interesting. It might be helpful if you mentioned your dialect - I haven't heard "dingo's kidneys" before. | |
| Feb 9, 2015 at 15:23 | history | answered | stangdon | CC BY-SA 3.0 |