Your big-boy pants

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Jun 15 14:33:36 UTC 2014


My understanding also.

Joel

At 6/13/2014 01:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Watching and listening, I interpreted the precise contextual meaning not to
>be "bite the bullet" (take action no matter how unpleasant) but to "grow up
>and deal with the real world."
>
>Mudd was saying that the Presdent is morally and Constitutionally obligated
>to try to rescue any citizen from unlawful captivity abroad, and if that
>required negotiating with the Taliban, so be it.
>
>He was criticizing as irrelevant claims that Bergdahl was a "deserter" and
>that the US was "caving" to the Talis. He acknowledged that the five
>released prisoners could cause trouble later, but that was also secondary.
>"There ain't no good decisions" meant that no political decision is simple,
>safe, guaranteed, and unproblematic.
>
>JL
>
>JL
>
>
>On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 12:54 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Your big-boy pants
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1";UTF8ISO-CONVERTED;\n
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > X-OriginatorOrg: uga.edu
> > X-Scanned-By: Digested by UGA Mail Gateway on 128.192.1.75
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> > X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by listserv.uga.edu
> > id s5DGsbAl000738
> >
> > In the example Jonathan gave, I think the expression "strap your big boy
> > pants on" would mean something like "bite the bullet."  But it can also
> > mean "not act immature or cowardly."
> >
> > Charlie
> > ________________________________________
> >      Christopher Philippo wrote:
> >
> > On Jun 13, 2014, at 8:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Philip Mudd, ex-CIA analyst, on CNN re Bergdahl:
> > >=20
> > > "As I said in the past, you gotta strap your big-boy pants on, 'cause =
> > there
> > > ain't no good decisions!"
> >
> >
> > The overall meaning of =93you gotta strap your big-boy pants on=94 is =
> > unclear to me - is it: grow up/don=92t be a baby?
> >
> > By strap, I suppose a belt is meant.  The use of =93big-boy=94 is, =
> > ironically, infantile and when followed by a double negative it makes =
> > one shudder that an ex-CIA analyst takes pride in repeatedly using the =
> > expression.  Given that he specialized in South Asia and the Middle East =
> > yet failed to anticipate, detect, or prevent the 9/11 attacks, and that =
> > he was involved with Iraq prior to the invasion, and with setting up the =
> > new dysfunctional =93government=94 in Afghanistan, and he speaks only =
> > English and French and not Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Berber, Farsi, =
> > Pushto, Punjabi, Urdu, etc. one wonders why he=92s listened to at all. =
> > http://newamerica.net/user/286
> >
> > Chris=
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list