Threw my head back and vomited

[Relayer1]

It's a UK variant of Murphy's Law - "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". The "sod" part is because anyone affected by it can be said to be an "unlucky sod" - here, "sod" is used to describe somebody who is particularly put-upon, rather than an expletive or insult.

With this in mind, Relayer's usage of it doesn't make sense in that context - Deano simply came across the phrase we'd been discussing in the novel he's reading, which is either a coincidence or Alanis-style irony.

Yeah, more of a coincidence than a disaster I suppose, but it did seem odd that after posting unfamiliarity with the phrase he came across it so soon.

 

[JWolf]

"What on Earth is a Haagen-Daas?"

I have no idea what Haagen-Daas is. But I do know what Häagen-Dazs is.

 

[JWolf]

There is a commercial for Scot's grass seed running on TV in America. They have a guy with a thickish Scottish accent as the one describing the product. One of the commercials used the term peely-wally and I would think that without looking it up online that most Americans would have no idea what peely-wally means. I know what it means, but then I have a wife from Scotland.

I've read a number of the Discworld books and Terry Pratchett does use some terms/phrases that are British and I would think most Americans might not get. Again, I got them.

But the point is, authors use phrases/terms that they are familiar with and as a readers, we just have to deal.

 

[BritishSeaPower]

I'm well known in the Star Trek-based IRC RPG I'm part of for having a character raise their eyebrow in a Spock-ish fashion. It's gotten to be such a cliche that members will try to outdo each other! He arched his brow most grievously has to be my favorite to this day.

Even in e-mails and such, I tend to pepper the conversation with little things I've picked up over the years. I especially like to use variations on Latin's ablative absolute, which is hard to render properly in English but basically would be like saying "The cleaning having ended, the party will commence." I've become known for it amongst friends and families and its an odd affectation. All basically to say, even non authors are guilty of pet phrases.

Heck, R.A. Salvatore used "copse" so much that it's become part of my lexicon!

 

[Christopher]

I find one has to be careful to avoid the temptation to give every Vulcan character Spock's eyebrow-raising mannerism. For instance, I've seen books mentioning T'Pol raising her eyebrow that way, but if you actually watch carefully in the show, you'll see she never does that. So it's not a species-wide mannerism. (At one point writing T'Viss in Forgotten History, I was on the verge of having her lift a scornful eyebrow, but I stopped myself and came up with a less cliched way for her to react.)

 

[lurok]

Next to T'Pol and Tuvok, Spock's a veritable facial contortionist.

 

[Timewalker]

I have a couple of questions regarding the term "ginger." Why do characters seem to make such a fuss about it? Does it mean something other than red-haired or something you put in your food? I watch a lot of "Britcoms" and that's one expression I've never really been able to pick up on from the context.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Far as I know its just a reference to being a redhead. Sometimes it becomes a nickname, like with Ginger Baker from Cream and Blind Faith. Its an unusual hair color in many areas so it attracts attention.

 

[RPJOB]

Ginger has also picked up a negative reputation due to South park popularizing it's "Kick a ginger day". There's been cases of red haired children being assaulted on that day just because of the color of their hair. Yes, we shouldn't let them dictate what words we use but I know a couple of red heads that strongly dislike being referred to as ginger imply because of that.

 

[VDCNI]

I have a couple of questions regarding the term "ginger." Why do characters seem to make such a fuss about it? Does it mean something other than red-haired or something you put in your food? I watch a lot of "Britcoms" and that's one expression I've never really been able to pick up on from the context.

It just means hair colour but it has a slightly derogatory context particularly when talking about men. You'll get comments like - at least I'm not ginger.

 

[Captaindemotion]

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

Of course, two of his assistants have been ginger (Catherine Tate's Donna and Karen Gillan's Amy).

 

[Christopher]

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

And just to be clear, this is not derogatory; he wants to be ginger and is disappointed when he isn't. (I think the Doctor has been ginger once, when he was Colin Baker, though I'm not entirely sure whether Baker was ginger or blond.) I think it's a callback to the original series' "Battlefield," which involved a mention of a future incarnation of the Doctor, who I believe was described as ginger/redheaded at one point, at least in the novelization. So I figure he's wondering whether he's become that Doctor yet. Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

 

[Gov Kodos]

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

Of course, two of his assistants have been ginger (Catherine Tate's Donna and Karen Gillan's Amy).

Mel was a ginger, I recall.

 

[Captaindemotion]

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

And just to be clear, this is not derogatory; he wants to be ginger and is disappointed when he isn't. (I think the Doctor has been ginger once, when he was Colin Baker, though I'm not entirely sure whether Baker was ginger or blond.) I think it's a callback to the original series' "Battlefield," which involved a mention of a future incarnation of the Doctor, who I believe was described as ginger/redheaded at one point, at least in the novelization. So I figure he's wondering whether he's become that Doctor yet. Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

Not sure about 11 but 12 was definitely disappointed when he wasn't. Personally, I think Tennant has a bit of ging in him.

I would have said that Colin Baker was blond rather than ginger. Strawberry blond at most but even that would be a stretch IMHO.

 

[Christopher]

Not sure about 11 but 12 was definitely disappointed when he wasn't. Personally, I think Tennant has a bit of ging in him.

Unless you're posting via TARDIS, you must mean 10 (Tennant) and 11 (Smith). The 12th Doctor is still years in our future, since Smith has said he isn't going anywhere for a while.

I would have said that Colin Baker was blond rather than ginger. Strawberry blond at most but even that would be a stretch IMHO.

You're probably right.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^11 and 12, what was I smoking several minutes ago?!

 

[Timewalker]

Ginger has also picked up a negative reputation due to South park popularizing it's "Kick a ginger day". There's been cases of red haired children being assaulted on that day just because of the color of their hair. Yes, we shouldn't let them dictate what words we use but I know a couple of red heads that strongly dislike being referred to as ginger imply because of that.

I have a couple of questions regarding the term "ginger." Why do characters seem to make such a fuss about it? Does it mean something other than red-haired or something you put in your food? I watch a lot of "Britcoms" and that's one expression I've never really been able to pick up on from the context.

It just means hair colour but it has a slightly derogatory context particularly when talking about men. You'll get comments like - at least I'm not ginger.

I'm talking about references that predate South Park. The expression was used in the Britcom (that's what we PBS viewers call them) "Are You Being Served?" - Mr Humphries (portrayed mostly as a gay man, but it's never explicitly stated the character is gay, just that he's "of an amorous and affectionate nature" and "has never done anything as Nature intended") seemed to have odd reactions to hearing that somebody was "ginger." So I've been wondering if there's some kind of urban slang connotation I'm not aware of.

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

Of course, two of his assistants have been ginger (Catherine Tate's Donna and Karen Gillan's Amy).

Mel was also red-haired, but for some reason most new Who fans seem to forget that Doctor Who and the other Companions existed prior to Christopher Eccleston/Rose Tyler. And it could be said that the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker, no relation to the Fourth Doctor/Tom Baker) was strawberry-blond. However, if you take a look at some of the outdoor scenes filmed in the early/middle years of the Tom Baker era, you can see reddish highlights in his hair at times (yes, I've gazed adoringly at him enough times to notice these things ).

Other red-haired Companions showed up in the Fifth Doctor/Peter Davison era: Tegan and Turlough were both red-haired. Another Companion of that era, Nyssa, had red highlights in her hair.

And who knows about the non-dark-haired Companions of the black-and-white episodes?

 

[VDCNI]

I didn't even know it was referenced in South Park - it's been a British term for a long time.

Finding out someone is ginger is often made out to be slightly repulsive. Even these days the fact that one of our athletics gold medalists is a red head was considered worth mentioning. Without seeing the scene I can't say exactly what is going on but I would assume that is what is happening.

 

[Christopher]

That's surprising. At least here in the US, many people (myself included) find redheads of the opposite sex to be particularly attractive. I wonder why it would've acquired a negative connotation in the UK.

 

[Captaindemotion]

It's also been referenced a couple of times in Doctor Who - each time that the Doctor has regenerated in the new series, the new Doctor either asks if he's ginger or comments on the fact that he still isn't ginger.

Of course, two of his assistants have been ginger (Catherine Tate's Donna and Karen Gillan's Amy).

Mel was also red-haired, but for some reason most new Who fans seem to forget that Doctor Who and the other Companions existed prior to Christopher Eccleston/Rose Tyler.

I didn't watch it during that period for the simple reason I didn't like the Sixth or Seventh Doctors (but as a child I did watch the 4th and 5th and I also watched the 8th Doctor's movie on his debut).

More to the point, I singled out ginger companions in nuWho because it was during that era that the Doctor referenced the hair colour during or after his regenerations. If 6 or 7 had mentioned it, I might have referred to contemporary ginger companions for them.