“On a blablah basis"

[LeTyan]

Hi,

I often notice American like to use the phrase "on a blablah basis". It seems quite versatile to me.

Are the following usages acceptable? "On a don't ask don't tell basis" "On a out of sight out of mind basis"?


Thanks!

 

[charliedeut]

Hi,

I often notice American like to use the phrase "on a blablah basis". It seems quite versatile to me.

Are the following usages acceptable? "On a don't-ask-don't-tell basis" "On an out-of-sight-out-of-mind basis"?


Thanks!

If I had to write those, I would hyphenate them, as I showed above. I'm not sure about how natural they are, though.

 

[Tdol]

They sound fine to me, and I would hyphenate too.

 

[5jj]

I've never heard "on a blablah basis", and don't know what it might mean, I can't think when I might could use "on a don't ask don't tell basis" or "on an out of sight out of mind basis"

 

[MikeNewYork]

"Blah blah" was used there to stand in for other words.

 

[5jj]

"Blah blah" was used there to stand in for other words.

We live and learn.

I still can't see "on a don't ask don't tell basis" or "on an out of sight out of mind basis" working.

 

[SoothingDave]

We live and learn.

I still can't see "on a don't ask don't tell basis" or "on an out of sight out of mind basis" working.

We'd tell you but it's strictly on a need-to-know basis. ;-)

 

[5jj]

We'd tell you but it's strictly on a need-to-know basis. ;-)

That one is not only funny in this thread , but it works in other contexts.

 

[Tdol]

Indeed, on a we'd-have-to-kill-you-if-we-told-you basis.

 

[emsr2d2]

Shouldn't that be a I-could-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you basis?