Help with English

Saint said:
kiss one's ass, is it rude?
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In the United States "ass" often means a person's bottom (back side). "Ass" also sometimes means donkey, but not in the expression "Kiss my ass".

Asking somebody to kiss your ass is telling them to get down and kiss your back side.

So, yes, it's rude.

In some other places (Britain, Canada, Australia, for example) in the world, the word "arse" tends to be used instead.
 
Saint said:
Thirteen people died and dozens were injured when a van ploughed into crowds in Barcelona's Las Ramblas area on Thursday afternoon. The driver of the van fled and is still at large.

still at large means what?
Got "still at small" ?
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"Still at large" means that the driver hasn't been found by the police yet. The expression is usually heard in the context of criminals, meaning the police haven't caught them. They are "out there" in the "large" world somewhere.

"Still at small" isn't used.

Saint said:
peeps mean people?
Is it an informal word?
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Yes to both questions. It's familiar - probably usually a friendly kind of term.

Saint said:
dude means stupid fellow?
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No. It usually is just another word for "man". It doesn't imply stupidity. It can even be a friendly, familiar form of address - "Hey, dude! How are you going?"
 
James R said:
"Still at large" means that the driver hasn't been found by the police yet. The expression is usually heard in the context of criminals, meaning the police haven't caught them. They are "out there" in the "large" world somewhere.
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While that sounds like the expression comes from that, it actually comes from the ancient (15th century) French "au large" where "large" meant "liberty".
 
Baldeee said:
While that sounds like the expression comes from that, it actually comes from the ancient (15th century) French "au large" where "large" meant "liberty".
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Ah. Interesting. Shows how unreliable folk entomology can be. I should have done my homework.

Thanks!

(edit: or even folk etymology. Should have done my homework on that, too.)
 
Well, you could try www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=large

The last paragraph seems to support what I said:

An older sense of "freedom from prison or restraining influence" is preserved in at large "at (one's) liberty, free from inprisonment or confinement free to move openly" (late 14c.).

With regard the expression being of French origin (au large), other than the general word "large" coming to us from the French, it is also where the wiktionary suggests "at large" is from.

However I didn't mean to suggest that "large" only meant "liberty" rather than any other meaning, only that the phrase we use is specifically from the French idiom that used large in the sense of "liberty".

But, of course, the word "large" comes from the Latin, largus, and presumably the Old French idiom derives from the Latin meaning, but there is a difference between the Latin meaning and the use as part of the idiom.
 
Baldeee said:
Well, you could try www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=large

The last paragraph seems to support what I said:

An older sense of "freedom from prison or restraining influence" is preserved in at large "at (one's) liberty, free from inprisonment or confinement free to move openly" (late 14c.).

With regard the expression being of French origin (au large), other than the general word "large" coming to us from the French, it is also where the wiktionary suggests "at large" is from.

However I didn't mean to suggest that "large" only meant "liberty" rather than any other meaning, only that the phrase we use is specifically from the French idiom that used large in the sense of "liberty".

But, of course, the word "large" comes from the Latin, largus, and presumably the Old French idiom derives from the Latin meaning, but there is a difference between the Latin meaning and the use as part of the idiom.
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Yes you seem to be right. I had the feeling that "at large" in the sense of "on the the ocean" might go back a long way but it was wishful thinking on my part it seems (I deceived myself perhaps).
 
An initiative is trying to turn Middle Eastern migrants in Europe into technology entrepreneurs.

In the style of the BBC's international television series looking for new ideas and entrepreneurs, this is a kind of "Dragon's Den for migrants".

Why dragon's den?
 
"Dragon's Den" is a BBC television programme where people pitch their idea to a group of four or five investors, looking for some investment in return for a share in their company. The person pitching for the investment often gets a fairly brutal questioning from the panel.

In some mythology (e.g. Tolkien) the dragon is a creature that hordes gold in their den and protects it?
The title of the show this suggests that the person is facing a number of dragons in their den, trying to persuade them to part with the gold that the dragons have hoarded.
 
Baldeee said:
The title of the show this suggests that the person is facing a number of dragons in their den, trying to persuade them to part with the gold that the dragons have hoarded.
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Not to mention carrying the metaphor to the point where, if the dragons don't like what they see, they burn the hapless wantrepreneur to a crisp.
 
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