Comments on: I guess he thought he could have gone faster

By: andreas

andreas — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 02:48:49 +0000

was thinking the S&M term “to top”. I mean, he may have gone faster, but it wasn’t anything to beat himself up over.

By: Merkin

Merkin — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 13:56:29 +0000

…and not an ice cream van in sight. dumb joke

By: dave heasman

dave heasman — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 09:58:29 +0000

In England the “topping-shed” was the execution area in prisons.

By: taylor

taylor — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 23:56:07 +0000

In Canada “dink” is slang for penis.

By: Michael Honey

Michael Honey — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 23:06:02 +0000

I’m Australian, and “tops himself” definitely means “kills himself” – I’ve always thought of it as a violent auto-trephination. Also: “Dinky-di” means “genuine, honest, the the real thing” (and was the name of a brand of dog food in the mid-20th century). “Dinky” to me means “cute, but not to be taken seriously”, and “dink” is, as getadink says, to give someone a bike ride. I have heard that in Canada, dinking (as with riding in the UK) is something that two people do in more intimate circumstances…

By: getadink

getadink — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 19:51:04 +0000

I only know the American usage and I’m Australian. Never heard it used in the sense you described for Australia. Not a very common word to use over here full-stop. Also, a “dink” is when someone lets you hitch a ride on their bicycle, usually perched on the handlebars.

By: Giles

Giles — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 18:32:45 +0000

While we’re on the theme of divided by a common language I came across this one recently – a yank described a certain paper as “dinky” – I took that to mean “good” whereas he meant to imply the opposite. As I understand it the word has three meanings depending on which ocean you cross; it means: Small and bad (in a toyish sense) in American. So, for instance, you might use it to describe a simplistic and potentially misleading undergraduate concept. Small and good (equivocally) in British. So, for instance, you’d use to describe something like Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage. Good (unequivocally) in Australian. So for instance, you’d use it to describe a concept like the pub. So a phrase like “John Quiggin topped himself with quite a dinky post” has potentially 12 meanings.

By: rvman

rvman — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 17:31:57 +0000

I was thinking the S&M term “to top”. I mean, he may have gone faster, but it wasn’t anything to beat himself up over.

By: Giles

Giles — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:49:59 +0000

Did he jump or was he pushed – the coach denies responsiblity “I don’t think I pushed him at all,” Vendt said.

By: KCinDC

KCinDC — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:26:07 +0000

Jeremy: In British slang, “tops himself” means “kills himself”.

By: lady c

lady c — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:21:59 +0000

Perhaps an infelicitous wording, but the “over-the-top” enthusiasm is because Phelps is a local story (Maryland). WaPo is part national, part company-town (gov’t/politics) and part home-town (DC Maryland & Virginia). In this case the story is “home town boy makes good.” As for the Ausie comparison, there was more coverage by the WaPo of the return of Joe Gibbs as Redskins coach than of John Kerry’s VP pick.

By: Jeremy Osner

Jeremy Osner — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:16:56 +0000

Ok, now you’ve got me curious—what does that mean in Australian?