Hello,
What does a person mean when they say "you have a rear way of playing with words"?
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Hello,
What does a person mean when they say "you have a rear way of playing with words"?
Are you sure it wasn't "real way of playing with words."?
Are you sure it's an Aussie idiom? I've never heard it, and it doesn't sound Aussie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pirimillo
What's your source?
I don't know about an idiom, but I think the word might have been "rare", not "rear" or "real".Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymott
She has a rare talent.
You have a rare way of dealing with things.
It just means "unusual" or "uncommon". I don't think it's particularly Australian though, unless there's a user from Australia here who can think of a particularly Aussie idiom using "rare".
:up: That's much more likely - 'rare' meaning 'extraordinary/unusual'.
I agree that it's not particularly Australian, but I've often noticed that languages in a colonial context can be both conservative and innovative - and 'rare' in that sense is almost archaic in Br Eng. Similarly, the word 'contrary' - meaning something like 'argumentative' (which in the UK is known chiefly in the nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary/Quite contrary) - is common in Australian English. In Br Eng, we tend to say 'headstrong', 'opinionated', (informally) 'bloody-minded, 'mischievous', 'argumentative', 'curmudgeonly', 'hard to get on with, 'obstructive, 'obstreperous''.... or whatever near-synonym is most appropriate.
b
I would not have said so. Can you present anything to convince me it's common here?Quote:
Originally Posted by BobK
Only anecdotal evidence. Several Australians that I know use it. Perhaps what I've noticed is a common trait among Australians who have emigrated, or perhaps I'm just wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymott
b
Hello,
I could have been a typo be the 'sender'. I think I have it figured out.
Thanks to all of you.