Different Meanings for Words

[Wonderflonium]

I knew I'd heard it!  Its in a Destiny's Child song, 'Bills Bills Bills':

"You triflin',good for nothing type of brother
Silly me,why haven't I found another
A baller, when times get hard he's the one to help me out
insted of, a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about"

I don't really know what it means in that context, but then I don't know what a 'baller' is either!

That song was so stuck in my head!

In this context, "trifilin'" means something along the lines of ignorant. A baller is someone from the neighborhood who is "livin' large," or, in lay terms, who is living the good life/is wealthy.

[Seraphia]

I knew I'd heard it!  Its in a Destiny's Child song, 'Bills Bills Bills':

"You triflin',good for nothing type of brother
Silly me,why haven't I found another
A baller, when times get hard he's the one to help me out
insted of, a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about"

I don't really know what it means in that context, but then I don't know what a 'baller' is either!

If I had to guess, especially since it's rap song (I think), 'baller' is probably a stand-in for a basketball player - i.e. someone from the rough part of town who made it big/made it out, but comes back to help out friends/family still in that situation.

[Sharnita]

I knew I'd heard it!  Its in a Destiny's Child song, 'Bills Bills Bills':

"You triflin',good for nothing type of brother
Silly me,why haven't I found another
A baller, when times get hard he's the one to help me out
insted of, a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about"

I don't really know what it means in that context, but then I don't know what a 'baller' is either!

If I had to guess, especially since it's rap song (I think), 'baller' is probably a stand-in for a basketball player - i.e. someone from the rough part of town who made it big/made it out, but comes back to help out friends/family still in that situation.

yes

[Wonderflonium]

If I had to guess, especially since it's rap song (I think), 'baller' is probably a stand-in for a basketball player - i.e. someone from the rough part of town who made it big/made it out, but comes back to help out friends/family still in that situation.

That's what it originally meant, but the definition has expanded somewhat.

[kglory]

I knew I'd heard it!  Its in a Destiny's Child song, 'Bills Bills Bills':

"You triflin',good for nothing type of brother
Silly me,why haven't I found another
A baller, when times get hard he's the one to help me out
insted of, a scrub like you who don't know what a man's about"

I don't really know what it means in that context, but then I don't know what a 'baller' is either!

Larabee, I think it means (in urban slang) along the lines of your original definition on the last page:  "a minor thing of little importance, 'a mere trifle', 'a trifling matter'."

The song is about a guy who is of so little importance, he's a good for nothing who can't pay his bills and is not worth dating.

[jilly]

What does 'B movie' mean to you?
I'm in the UK and to me it means a not very good movie kind of like a strait to DVD movie. Similar to the b side on a single in the days of final.
On strictly come dancing Holly Valance said it meant something very different in oz.
I can guess what she was hinting at but I thought I'd ask anyway just in case :-)

[Larrabee]

I'm in the UK too and a B movie to me is a very specific type.  It comes from the time when the studios put out double features, it would be the lower billed, low budget second movie.

The writing tends to be a bit more, casual, and its about mindless entertainment rather than art, but it isn't P*rn! 

Examples would be stuff like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, or more recently things like Lake Placid or Eight Legged Freaks.  They're generally made in a tongue in cheek deliberate way these days though!

[Leafy]

As an Aussie I can say that I have absolutely no idea what Holly Vallance was referring to. I've always known it to be a bad movie. Just double checked with DH and he agrees with your definition. He adds that it could be a cult movie with a small audience.

[PaintingPastelPrincess]

I would like to add that I'm in the US and don't consider B movies to be *bad* so much as cheesy or campy.  They don't tend to take themselves seriously enough to be truly bad.

[jassou]

didn't read the whole thread, but can you help out this non-native speaker? I just heard the word 'spinster'  used matter-of-factly in a documentary. I always thought it was an old fashioned word that is now not much more than a derogative term (or for fun, such as with a thread here on ehell, but I suppose it's different when people own the word?).

Is it still used? Or rather avoided?

[jilly]

As an Aussie I can say that I have absolutely no idea what Holly Vallance was referring to. I've always known it to be a bad movie. Just double checked with DH and he agrees with your definition. He adds that it could be a cult movie with a small audience.

I have no idea why she was confused then? Oh well myth busted.

[Elfmama]

didn't read the whole thread, but can you help out this non-native speaker? I just heard the word 'spinster'  used matter-of-factly in a documentary. I always thought it was an old fashioned word that is now not much more than a derogative term (or for fun, such as with a thread here on ehell, but I suppose it's different when people own the word?).

Is it still used? Or rather avoided?

It's rather an old-fashioned word now, since the circumstances of family life have changed.

A 'spinster' was an unmarried woman.  The word implied that she was a woman that no one wanted to marry, or one who was so picky about prospective husbands that she refused to get married.  Up until the 20th Century, that usually meant that she had to live with family members her whole life; her parents as long as they lived, her brother's family or nephew's family or some other (male) relative. It would have been scandalous for her to live alone in her own home!  What, no man to keep her in line?  Who knows what she might do! 

She was tolerated as long as she made herself useful.  "Spinster" originally meant that, freed of the need to care for children of her own, she had the time and inclination to spin thread for sale, thus changing her from a useless mouth to feed into someone who brought money into the family.  After the Industrial Revolution, the name stuck but the occupation ceased to exist.

As the 20th Century advanced and independence for women became common,  'spinster' and the early 20th Century 'bachelor girl' for an unmarried woman fell out of fashion.  If your friend/sister/aunt isn't married, she would simply be described as single.

[Slartibartfast]

I have heard "spinster" used on occasion, although never to the woman's face.  Specifically, it seems to only apply to women who never married, not by choice, and are now much later in life and bitter about it    It doesn't seem to ever be applied to women who are single by choice, women who haven't hit menopause yet, or women who are actually pleasant to be around.

[Sharnita]

I have heard "spinster" used on occasion, although never to the woman's face.  Specifically, it seems to only apply to women who never married, not by choice, and are now much later in life and bitter about it    It doesn't seem to ever be applied to women who are single by choice, women who haven't hit menopause yet, or women who are actually pleasant to be around.

Actually I think that it historically was used for any woman too old to be desraible - which might still mean far before menopause in the minds of some.  As far as not being married by choice, there were and still are a whole lot of people who find it impossible to believe that any woman would choose to be unmarried.  The term spindter seems to carry the hint of "unwanted" or "rejected" so it is one I'd avoid. 

If the documentary was using it about a historical person I could understand their choice because that is probably how an unmarried woman would be seen.

[Larrabee]

I have heard "spinster" used on occasion, although never to the woman's face.  Specifically, it seems to only apply to women who never married, not by choice, and are now much later in life and bitter about it    It doesn't seem to ever be applied to women who are single by choice, women who haven't hit menopause yet, or women who are actually pleasant to be around.

Some of us use it about ourselves!  Ok, not many of us admittedly but I'm trying my very best to 'reclaim' it.  I don't see why a word that only means 'unmarried woman' should be so negative and derogatory so I'm a happy and proud spinster!

(There are a few spinster threads in the coffee break folder!)