this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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You know any cool, lesser-known or even made up phrases? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by birdcat@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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pray tell

For demanding an answer. In my opinion, it adds a friendly layer of irony, indicating that you cannot see a possible reason for something :

And pray tell, what purpose does it serve? ๐Ÿ™„

Half Sisyphus, half rolling stone.

Describes self sabotaging tendencies (while showing good will and effort).

I thought you quit smoking last month โ€“ yea, half Sisyphus, half rolling stone๐Ÿฅฒ

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[โ€“] distractedcactus@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

"Mallyhacked" - meaning something that is broken or destroyed. I heard this phrase a lot from older folks during my childhood, but never by anyone who wasn't from my area. My SO didn't believe it was a real word so I did some digging and I think that it is likely a very regionally accented version of "malahack".

Urban Dictionary says that malahack comes from the Lumbee-English slang of southern North Carolina. I don't think that's quite accurate because I'm not from anywhere close to North Carolina. My preferred reference is from The Vocabulary of East-Anglia: An Attempt to Record the Vulgar Tongue of the Twin Sister Counties Norfolk and Suffolk, as it Existed in the Last Twenty Years of the Eighteenth Century, and Still Exists: with Proof of Its Antiquity from Etymology and Authority; in Two Volumes ยท Volume 2 by Robert Forby, 1830:

Malahack, v. A word ludicrously fabricated, which means to cut or carve in an awkward and slovenly manner.