to _show out_

[Wilson Gray]

"To make a display of oneself, behave extravagantly, esp. in order to draw
attention to oneself; to brag, show off"

Children that annoy adults by "acting ugly" in front of guests or in public
are said to be"showing out"; likewise, a child throwing a tantrum. A drunk
who turns belligerent during a party is "showing out." Any public display
that draws any kind of attention, positive or negative, is "showing out."


"We went out in the second half and _showed out_!"

could be rendered as "... and kicked ass!" or "... and put on a clinic!"
OTOH,

"*They* went out in the second half and showed out"

could mean that they played in such a way as to embarrass the other team or
in such a way as to embarrass themselves.

"He came to center-stage and showed out!"

could imply "really making us proud of him" or "embarrassing us in front of
the in-laws."

Kinda depends on whose ox is being gored.


On Sun, May 25, 2014 at 10:53 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: to _show out_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On May 25, 2014, at 7:45 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> >
> > This is covered in DARE, but I was a little startled to see it used on
> line
> > as something that people other than "them good folks who come from home"
> > would understand.
>
> for the sake of readers who don't have DARE to hand while they're reading
> ADS-L, it would be helpful to give a brief gloss.
>
> arnold
>
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>



--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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