[GreenMan]

Throw the horse over the fence some hay.

[gordontd]

 Trinidad, on 2014-September-08, 10:07, said:

And, yes, adding a preposition makes the phrase clearer, but grammatically the preposition isn't needed.

Rik

I didn't understand it without.

[Winstonm]

 GreenMan, on 2014-September-09, 09:33, said:

Throw the horse over the fence some hay.

Throw over the fence the horse some hay.

[mycroft]

You will over the fence the horse some hay throw.

(nightmares from German 101 class. They return.)

[Vampyr]

 blackshoe, on 2014-September-06, 00:37, said:

Well, obviously I am not a Latin scholar. I took what I read at face value. Sue me.

I was going to let this go, but my thoughts returned to it. Why do some people react this way upon being caught out after making pronouncements on matters about which they know fu ck-all?

[barmar]

 Vampyr, on 2014-September-20, 20:25, said:

I was going to let this go, but my thoughts returned to it. Why do some people react this way upon being caught out after making pronouncements on matters about which they know fu ck-all?

If you know *****-all about something, and someone who seems knowledgeable says something, are you always expected to go research it for corroboration before repeating what you heard? If it's important to your life, that might be appropriate. But if it's just some random trivia or gossip, that's more work than people should be expected to do.

Yes, I realize this is how urban legends propagate -- no one thinks it's important enough to look for independent confirmation. After a while, there's been so much repetition of the original claim, that someone who DOES look for confirmation will find it, not realizing that it's also derived from the same rumor.

[Vampyr]

 barmar, on 2014-September-21, 14:09, said:

If you know *****-all about something, and someone who seems knowledgeable says something, are you always expected to go research it for corroboration before repeating what you heard?

The OP stated that he read his erroneous information; this may well have been on the internet, so...

Anyway I do think that it is a good policy not to make assertions unless you know you are correct. In other cases, it is prudent to say something like "I heard" "I read" "I seem to remember" "it is my opinion that" etc. But I guess some people think that this makes them sound weak, and it is better to present everything as fact and when proven wrong to get defensive and try to demean the person who corrected him on such a trivial matter.

But my point was not that the OP made a mistake and looked foolish, it was his disrespectful and perhaps character-revealing reaction, as opposed to "oops, my information was wrong; didn't mean to misinform anyone" or the like.

[jjbrr]

you must be a lot of fun at parties

[barmar]

 Vampyr, on 2014-September-21, 16:37, said:

But my point was not that the OP made a mistake and looked foolish, it was his disrespectful and perhaps character-revealing reaction, as opposed to "oops, my information was wrong; didn't mean to misinform anyone" or the like.

Isn't that essentially what he said? He explained what happened: he read something that seemed plausible, and believed it. "So sue me" is a way of saying "oops" for something that doesn't really matter much.

[jeffford76]

 barmar, on 2014-September-22, 10:25, said:

Isn't that essentially what he said? He explained what happened: he read something that seemed plausible, and believed it. "So sue me" is a way of saying "oops" for something that doesn't really matter much.

Clearly the phrase "so sue me" reads differently to different people if that's what you hear. I hear a tone of "I don't care that I was wrong, and I'm not going to take any blame for it [unless you file a lawsuit to force me]" when I hear someone say that.

[barmar]

Since I think I've used the phrase myself, my intent is something like "What are you going to do, sue me over such a trivial matter?"

[kenberg]

Nathan Detroit to Adelaide:

Call a lawyer and sue me, sue me
What can you do me, I love you
Give a holler and hate me, hate me
Go ahead, hate me, I love you
Read more: Guys And Dolls - Sue Me Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Admittedly, Nathan Detroit might not be everyone's idea of a role model.

[Vampyr]

 barmar, on 2014-September-23, 09:19, said:

Since I think I've used the phrase myself, my intent is something like "What are you going to do, sue me over such a trivial matter?"

It wasn't trivial when the OP started a whole new thread about it. It was trivial only when he was shown to be wrong.

[helene_t]

The semantics of "sue me" is more useless than interesting.

[blackshoe]

Back in Apple Computer's early days, Apple Records sued or threatened to sue, I don't remember which, over the former's use of the latter's name. They struck a deal which was essentially that the latter would stay out of the computer business, and the former would stay out of the music business. Some years later, Apple Computer had come to be a really big company, and they started in with iTunes and the iPod and such. IOW, they broke the agreement and got into "the music business". They also put a new "alert" sound on their computers. They named it "Sosumi".

I saw something I thought might be mildly amusing, maybe even interesting. I posted it. You don't agree. That's fine. Beyond that, I'm not getting into any more discussions on it.

[lamford]

 blackshoe, on 2014-September-23, 15:41, said:

I saw something I thought might be mildly amusing, maybe even interesting. I posted it. You don't agree. That's fine. Beyond that, I'm not getting into any more discussions on it.

No, surprisingly perhaps to you, completely erroneous information was not all that interesting, LOL.

OOPS sorry that was Vampyr.

[jeffford76]

 barmar, on 2014-September-23, 09:19, said:

Since I think I've used the phrase myself, my intent is something like "What are you going to do, sue me over such a trivial matter?"

But why is that ok? Clearly if someone brought it up, *they* don't think it's trivial.

[kenberg]

There are many things where it is "maybe sort of interesting" that there is common mis-usage. I recently finished reading Gone Girl. A fascinating psychological thriller and I am looking forward to seeing how they handle all the interior mental aspects in the movie. Along the way, I learned that "the hoi polloi" is incorrect, sort of like a VIN number. The Wikipedia agrees, saying that
"Hoi polloi (Ancient Greek: οἱ πολλοί, hoi polloi, "the many"), is an expression from Greek that means the many or, in the strictest sense, the majority."
So "The hoi polloi" translates to "The the many".

Sort of interesting. I guess.

And now:
Let's shoot craps.
For the culturally deprived, this is the universal response to everything for Big Louie from Chicago in Guys and Dolls.

[WellSpyder]

 kenberg, on 2014-September-23, 17:42, said:

And now:
Let's shoot craps.
For the culturally deprived, this is the universal response to everything for Big Louie from Chicago in Guys and Dolls.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like playing bridge the way Big Louie plays craps? - with a pack of cards on which the faces have all worn off, but Big Louie remembers which is which....

[kenberg]

 WellSpyder, on 2014-September-24, 03:34, said:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like playing bridge the way Big Louie plays craps? - with a pack of cards on which the faces have all worn off, but Big Louie remembers which is which....

This has definitely occurred to me. Big Ken isn't big enough to pull this off, at least not big enough in a useful way.