Let fly

[canadalynx]

Hello.

I stumbled upon this idiom 'let fly' on the internet and asked a native speaker of English about it. He had never heard of this idiom.
Firstly, I would like to know if it is prevalent in the UK and North America?
Secondly, If this idiom can only be used as an alternative to 'to attack verbally'?
What about "to argue", "to reprimand" and "to fend for oneself"? Does the idiom cover these expressions?

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

Can you remember the context in which you saw/heard it?

 

[probus]

Canadalynx, you should answer jutfrank's question. Nevertheless, while we're waiting: let fly is pretty common in AmE. To me it means any outburst of uninhibited speech, not only attacks.

 

[emsr2d2]

Canadalynx, you still haven't corrected your profile information. I am closing all your threads until you do so. Once I see that it's been done, I will reopen them and you can post new threads.

 

[probus]

When I look up canadalynx's IP address it resolves to Australia, which his profile gives as his current location. What does he now need to amend?

 

[emsr2d2]

The Support Area message from one of the admins says it resolves to France. I just checked it and it says UK. It's either a VPN or something else is going on.

 

[GoesStation]

According to Wikipedia, the population of Brunei is 10% Chinese.

 

[probus]

I'm still getting Australia, specifically Cairns, Queensland.

 

[emsr2d2]

So am I now, but the IP address has changed from the one I checked 45 minutes ago. I made a note of the previous one.

 

[probus]

I've noticed in the past that our admins sometimes go by the IP address used to register. That was in France. Evidently he's now in Oz.

 

[emsr2d2]

canadalynx, this thread has now been reopened. Please put us out of our misery and let us know why it might be that your IP address has shown up as France, the UK and Australia.

 

[canadalynx]

Can you remember the context in which you saw/heard it?

"Foreigners utterly baffled when we let fly with our own slang..."

Time difference, mate!!

canadalynx, this thread has now been reopened. Please put us out of our misery and let us know why it might be that your IP address has shown up as France, the UK and Australia.

I haven't the foggiest.
I am not an IT technician.
I can't remember many details these days. I perhaps created the account when I was in Europe.

I DON'T APPRECIATE AT ALL THE ACCUSATION REGARDLESS OF THE PROBLEMS OR MISGIVINGS ON YOUR SIDE.
I don't want my posts to be at your mercy nor at your contentious discretion.

 

[GoesStation]

I DON'T APPRECIATE AT ALL THE ACCUSATION REGARDLESS OF THE PROBLEMS OR MISGIVINGS ON YOUR SIDE.
I don't want my posts to be at your mercy nor at your contentious discretion.

I'm sure it's uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of these discussions about a member's truthfulness. Unfortunately, we have to be vigilant against trolls and spammers. A couple of different suspicious signs in your membership — not your posts — led to legitimate questions. We moderators usually discuss such issues in private, but we needed information that only you can provide.

Strict moderation is a key feature of usingenglish.com. You've probably noticed that our forums maintain a much higher level of English than others. That's a direct result of our moderation policies.

Please don't take this personally. Bitter experience has taught us we have to keep our guard up. I hope you have a long and fruitful membership here.

 

[emsr2d2]

I haven't the foggiest.
I am not an IT technician.
I can't remember many details these days. I perhaps created the account when I was in Europe.

I DON'T APPRECIATE AT ALL THE ACCUSATION REGARDLESS OF THE PROBLEMS OR MISGIVINGS ON YOUR SIDE.
I don't want my posts to be at your mercy nor at your contentious discretion.

Don't take it personally, canadalynx. GoesStation has very eloquently explained why we have to be very careful on this site. Every post is "at the mercy" of the moderators and editors. We can open/close threads as we see fit, and when users have been asked multiple times to do something or to explain something, particularly in terms of their profile, and have failed to act or explain, we get suspicious.
I accept entirely that you might have created your account when you were in France, which would explain the provenance of the original email/IP. The fact that your IP jumped from France to the UK to Australia didn't make sense to us. It suggests that you are using a VPN but you would know if you were because you have to pay for it every month/year. I will reopen all your threads now.

 

[canadalynx]

I'm sure it's uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of these discussions about a member's truthfulness. Unfortunately, we have to be vigilant against trolls and spammers. A couple of different suspicious signs in your membership — not your posts — led to legitimate questions. We moderators usually discuss such issues in private, but we needed information that only you can provide.

Strict moderation is a key feature of usingenglish.com. You've probably noticed that our forums maintain a much higher level of English than others. That's a direct result of our moderation policies.

Please don't take this personally. Bitter experience has taught us we have to keep our guard up. I hope you have a long and fruitful membership here.

Hi,

I understand your position. However, there are different ways to ascertain information than to resort to accusation. Of course, I am not talking about you. I do find it hard not to take it personally after some posts in other threads as well. I have not let fly at anyone personally but have stayed polite, unless being accused of something such as my background, language or the IP address? I did what I could and I am not an IT expert.

I do expect your team to have a better control over the language because of your status as native speakers and deemed professional or expert in this field. I don't
comprehend and am still appalled that the simple 'Thank' and 'Like' buttons issue could led to such accusation.

If you want to suss something out, please do it in a more appropriate and acceptable way.
Anyway, Thank you for your response.
PS Please don't take it personally.

 

[GoesStation]

For some reason, your account is stuck in "moderated" status. The buttons won't appear until that gets sorted out.

 

[canadalynx]

For some reason, your account is stuck in "moderated" status. The buttons won't appear until that gets sorted out.

No worries.
You can leave it as it is.
I don't need those buttons to express my gratitude.

I am here to learn and improve.
Nothing else.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't need those buttons to express my gratitude.

Actually, it's really helpful for you to be able to use those buttons. It means you can simply click a button to say "Thank you", which is nice and quick for you as well as quick and easy for us to spot. It saves time for everyone.