Oct 21, 2010 · What does the prefix atta mean? What is it trying to abbreviate? What a? Wiktionary claims that it stands for that's a or that's the, but I do not see the resemblance to atta.

Dec 5, 2017 · Attaboy or thattaboy or that a boy is an informal expression of praise, approval, or encouragement of American origin, first attested 1909. As AHD has it: interj. Informal Used to show encouragement or approval to a boy or man: Attaboy! That's the way to hit a home run! [Alteration of That's the boy!] The OED also gives that origin, which seems plausible, though …

Jul 29, 2021 · take a couple of attaboys from petty cash As far as I can determine, this is still a very recent coining of a phrase. The earliest example dates to 2003, and the phrase is mostly found on discussion forums, primarily gaming. It does not appear on ngrams viewer, and is seen on only a few google books searches. It basically is a form of congratulating someone for an …

Dec 21, 2024 · the use of the word 'boy' on its own is not enough evidence of racial animus, but that the word is also not benign. That means the court is willing to consider the context in which "boy" is used to determine if it's being uttered as a racial epithet. Boy is not commonly used to refer specifically to Asian people in a racist way.

You're talking about personal pronouns, not articles. As well, when you say that you don't know the person's gender, do you mean that you don't know what gender, masculine or feminine, they identify with; or do you mean that you don't know if they are male or female? If it's the latter, you're talking about their sex.

Jun 22, 2021 · I know that words like cuppa, fella, attaboy and attagirl are contractions of, respectively, cup of tea, fellow, that's the/a boy and that's the/a girl. I wonder if there is a term which would

Jun 26, 2014 · To clock someone indeed has something to do with a clock: a clock has a face. To clock (verb): Brit and Austral and NZ: to strike, esp on the face or head; to strike sharply or heavily: clocked him in the face. It's birth is somewhat roundabout, however. Initially, the phrase using clock to connote violence was "to clean someone's clock": To beat or defeat decisively: …

Though somewhat synonymous, I find that 'speak' and its derivatives are somewhat more formal than 'talk', so that you may feel in the situations where you refer to another conversation, they are more on the formal side. Both are 'proper', just the register may …

The OED’s first sense of “to speak with ——”, meaning “To converse with, talk to; to consult or confer with”, doesn’t seem restricted to North America. Citations from English (and indeed, British) literature include authors such as Ælfric in Old English, Malory, Sir Walter Scott, and Tennyson, the lattermost being “Not for three years to speak with any men.” It hasn’t ...

May 12, 2020 · The expression "bada bing" and often accompanied by "bada boom" is used when something was very easily accomplished or as an euphemism of the nastier bits of something (like in the Godfather). A q...