Saturday, September 30, 2017

D'ye Want The Fried Calms With That?

     You can "clam up," but you can't clam down. Conversely, you can "calm down," but no one ever calms up. And yet they're not opposites -- it's totally possible to calm down and clam up.

      This is one of the great mysteries of the the English language.
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9 comments:

  1. New Jovian ThunderboltSeptember 30, 2017 at 9:58 AM

    Mmmm, now I am hungry for a dozen fried Cherrystone Calms. With ballets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rickn8orSeptember 30, 2017 at 11:10 AM

    Things like this are why I come here every day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. fillyjonkSeptember 30, 2017 at 12:36 PM

    Yeah, but if you come across a calm for sale that's already open, don't buy it, it's dead.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Old ManSeptember 30, 2017 at 9:04 PM

    And I attended a clambake tonight and I have another at the Post tomorrow.
    I don't even eat clams.... But the Bosslady does.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AntibubbaSeptember 30, 2017 at 10:22 PM

    But if clamming up causes someone else trouble, are you just being shellfish?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jeffrey SmithSeptember 30, 2017 at 10:49 PM

    If someone raises a clamor, do you tell them to clam up or calm down?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Roberta XOctober 1, 2017 at 11:12 AM

    Mmmmm, clambake! I'm jealous.

    Jeffrey Smith for the win, though. Well-played! Antibubba is a close second.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousOctober 1, 2017 at 10:36 PM

    Try to explain the difference between "slow up" and "slow down" to a non-native speaker some time.

    John of the GMA

    ReplyDelete
  9. Retired SpookOctober 7, 2017 at 4:59 PM

    Had an instructor in the Korean language course at Monterey, who opined that English is a very strange language, because "fat chance and slim chance is same thing."

    ReplyDelete

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