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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Hiassen: T-boned
Hello: "T-boned?" ---- [Joey describes her husband's sources of income] "Tells me he won a big settlement from being in a car accident." "When?" "Long time ago, before we met. He got T-boned by some drunk Kiwaian up in Tampa and seriously screwed up his back." Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 63 ---- -- Thanks. Marius Hancu > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Thanks. > Marius Hancu To be T-boned is to be in a car accident in which one car rams into the side of another, so that the two wrecks are in the shape of a T. Maybe car #1 is proceeding legally through an intersection and the drunk Kiwanian ran the red light in car #2, hitting car #1 about halfway along, around the place between the front and back doors.  SignatureCheryl Marius Hancu: > > "T-boned?" Cheryl Perkins (among others): > To be T-boned is to be in a car accident in which one car rams into the > side of another, so that the two wrecks are in the shape of a T. I'd say it's more specific: to T-bone another car is to ram it in this way. In other words, "he got T-boned" not only tells you what kind of accident, but which car he was in. The phrase "T-bone" comes from a cut of steak containing a T-shaped piece of bone. I presume it was extended to car crashes because cars, like bones, are hard. SignatureMark Brader "It is hard to be brave", said Piglet, sniffing Toronto slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." msb@vex.net -- A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh My text in this article is in the public domain. >Hello: > >"T-boned?" It refers to a car running at right angles into the side of another. The crashed cars form a T shape: http://www.cliffprosser.com/crash_test_6.JPG Ships can do it too: http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/small/0911/yup-big-ship-t-bo ne-crash-demotivational-poster-1258922223.jpg or http://tinyurl.com/ybqfm4z >---- >[Joey describes her husband's sources of income] [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 63 >---- SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) On Jan 27, 12:15 pm, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net> wrote: > On Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:54:35 -0800 (PST), Marius Hancu > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/small/0911/yup-bi... > or http://tinyurl.com/ybqfm4z ... It seems to have replaced "broadsided", at least around here. -- Jerry Friedman > On Jan 27, 12:15 pm, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > It seems to have replaced "broadsided", at least around here. The OED doesn't have that sense of "broadside". As a verb, the only sense they have is an intransitive one of performing a controlled sideways skid. With respect to a collision, I would probably have taken it to be one involving the sides of both vehicles. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |English grammar is not taught in 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |primary or secondary schools in the Palo Alto, CA 94304 |United States. Sometimes some |mythology is taught under that kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |rubric, but luckily it's usually (650)857-7572 |ignored, except by the credulous. | John Lawler http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ [to T-bone] > > It seems to have replaced "broadsided", at least around here. > > The OED doesn't have that sense of "broadside". As a verb, the only > sense they have is an intransitive one of performing a controlled > sideways skid. With respect to a collision, I would probably have > taken it to be one involving the sides of both vehicles. Dictionary.com Unabridged: " to collide with or run into the side of (a vehicle, object, person, etc.): _We got broadsided on the freeway._" AHD: "To strike or collide with full on the side: _lost control of the truck and broadsided the car._" M-W: "to hit broadside <the car was broadsided>" They define that adverb as "directly from the side <the car was hit broadside>" I don't know whether we need to get Jesse Sheidlower's attention-- somebody in Oxford is probably checking dictionaries, Anyway, these are all consistent with the sense I knew, though they don't really rule out your side-to-side meaning, which I would call "sideswipe". -- Jerry Friedman >> Hello: >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >> Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 63 >> ---- S'pose that's a "KiwaNian"? SignatureFrank ess >>> Hello: >>> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > >S'pose that's a "KiwaNian"? It may not be a typo. Hiaasen is very likely to have used that spelling to poke fun of Kiwanis Club members and other joiners. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >>>> Hello: >>>> [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > It may not be a typo. Hiaasen is very likely to have used that > spelling to poke fun of Kiwanis Club members and other joiners. Don't we poke fun /at/ joiners? In either case, how is that spelling doing so? I'm making fun at you. SignatureFrank ess >>>>> Hello: >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > >Don't we poke fun /at/ joiners? I wrote "make fun of" and changed the "make" to "poke". >In either case, how is that spelling doing so? Oh, I think any time you deliberately misspell or misspeak a name you are poking fun at that person or organization. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >Carl Hiaasen, Skinny Dip, p. 63 >---- "T-boned" describes an automobile that has been crashed into by another automobile from the side. The two vehicles form a tee at impact. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida |
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