On Invented Slang

[rachelmanija]

I will do an actual write up shortly, but first I had to quote this. The context is that the character is having trouble walking.

It seemed like at any moment his knees were going to take a vacation and he was going to yard sale like an idiot. - J. R. Ward, Lover UnboundI can tell from context that "yard sale" means "fall down

Comments

[_profiterole_]

Prices go down at a yard sale, I suppose?

[rachelmanija]

Ohh, that makes sense! Still not very intuitively clear. For me, anyway.

[tool_of_satan]

Yeah, I would never get that without it being explained. "Going to drop like prices at a yard sale" would be fine, but wordy. "Fire sale" would work better, I think, since "down" is more immediately accessible as a concept from that; to me the obvious association with "yard sale" is "get rid of stuff you don't want." I could see it being used as slang for vomiting or something more readily.

[rachelmanija]

"Drop like prices at a fire sale" is pretty good. I could see that in a first-person wiseass narrative.

[sovay]

"Drop like prices at a fire sale" is pretty good. I could see that in a first-person wiseass narrative.

I say you claim it. It's nicely hard-boiled.

[sovay]

I could see it being used as slang for vomiting or something more readily.

That's how I read it first!

[tool_of_satan]

Great minds.