[Ads-l] extra / that's extra

[Amy West]

So, I had an interesting conversation yesterday with my young informant 
(23 year-old white middle-class male gamer) re: a pejorative use of 
"extra"/ "that's extra" to mean "over the top; extreme."

Here's the context: He was describing a car that he had seen that was a 
light shade of pink, had eyelashes above the headlights, and a sparkly 
steering wheel cover. After describing the car, he described his 
reaction: "I was, like, that's super extra." (Note the use of the 
intensifier.) He said that it can be used as just "that's extra" as a 
comment on a friend's clothing, food, gaming, etc. I don't know if 
"just" can be used with it (? "that's just extra").

He became super annoyed with me as I pressed him on context 
disambiguation (what if it's said in the context of ordering a grande 
macchiato with whip and chocolate syrup?) and intonation (does 
intonation convey the pejorative sense?).

I guess I was just being . . . extra (annoying)

(Is it a clipping / ellision where the complement/modifier is understood 
from the context? That's a possibility for it's development . . . ?)

---Amy West

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