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Kung

macrumors 6502
Feb 3, 2006
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Correct. Sorry guys, retired military here and I speak in acronyms too much. ☺️

Veteran here, and I use that term all the time. Everyone else probably just thinks we're ate up like a soup sandwich. ;) lol
 

usagora

macrumors 601
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Nov 17, 2017
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Saying "on God" instead of "I swear" etc.

Example:
"If he screws up this job one more time, I'm going to lose my mind, on God."
 
But I think the other meaning of SME is more widely known.

From my background in the music industry, SME was short for Sony Music Entertainment — a conglomerate name Sony no longer use, but during the years I was in the middle of it, the “SME” initialism, especially in trade publications, was a frequent sight.

Saying "on God" instead of "I swear" etc.

Example:
"If he screws up this job one more time, I'm going to lose my mind, on God."

That has got to be a fairly recent Americanism. I have never once heard anyone around here say that (and my daily life in the U.S. ended in 2005).
 

usagora

macrumors 601
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Nov 17, 2017
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That has got to be a fairly recent Americanism. I have never once heard anyone around here say that (and my daily life in the U.S. ended in 2005).

I'm not sure of its history, but I first heard it within the last year on a prank video that showed up in my Facebook feed. I think it may be used primarily among African Americans. Here's one of those prank videos. He uses the phrase in many similar videos:


I also heard it used in a video showing a fight in a gas station that broke out, spoken again by younger black person.
 

DaveFromCampbelltown

macrumors 68000
Jun 24, 2020
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I watch probably too many news programs, and when some SME is being questioned it has become an irritating and almost constant preamble for the SME to say, "That's a very good question" before actually answering the question. It bugs me.

OTOH, in many cases, they will say "That's a very good question", and then go on to answer a completely different question...
 
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Scepticalscribe

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Jul 29, 2008
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In a coffee shop.
OTOH, in many cases, they will say "That's a very good question", and then go on to answer a completely different question...
Naturally.

Needless to say, but, ah, of course,..that is entirely to be expected, and is, one must admit, a standard, ah, rhetorical device one reaches for, or, has - or can have - recourse to, in some such situations...
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
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I'm currently in Germany and my absolute annoyance is the greeting "Mahlzeit" (meal time).

This phenomena occurs around midday and displaces any traditional greeting otherwise used globally. Ironically, it's not even used when you encounter people eating meals, for then one would instead say "guten Appetit" (with good appetite).

So from around 2 PM one is usually quite safe to simply say "Hi", "Hallo", or whatever. But around midday I can throw many Hi's at people but will always be served a Mahlzeit in return.

Note: this midday meal in DE is usually a hearty and warm dish.
 

usagora

macrumors 601
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Nov 17, 2017
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I'm currently in Germany and my absolute annoyance is the greeting "Mahlzeit" (meal time).

This phenomena occurs around midday and displaces any traditional greeting otherwise used globally. Ironically, it's not even used when you encounter people eating meals, for then one would instead say "guten Appetit" (with good appetite).

So from around 2 PM one is usually quite safe to simply say "Hi", "Hallo", or whatever. But around midday I can throw many Hi's at people but will always be served a Mahlzeit in return.

Note: this midday meal in DE is usually a hearty and warm dish.

Is that common all over Germany or only in certain regions?
 

dotnet

macrumors 68000
Apr 10, 2015
1,661
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Sydney, Australia
It’s common in German to adjust the greeting according to the time of day. Many regions use “Mahlzeit” around lunchtime, some may use a different greeting.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
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New Zealand
Yes, my understanding of this acronym is "Small & Medium Enterprises", or, at least, this is what that acronym means in my world.
That reminds me: the first time I encountered "SMH" I was left completely baffled. Contextually it clearly wasn't "Sydney Morning Herald", which was the "standard" expansion in this part of the world.

It turned out to be "shaking my head".
 

usagora

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Nov 17, 2017
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It’s common in German to adjust the greeting according to the time of day. Many regions use “Mahlzeit” around lunchtime, some may use a different greeting.

Not sure if this was in reference to my question to him, but of course I realize greetings are adjusted based on time of day, just like in the US, UK, and many other countries. I was asking more if that specific time of day-specific greeting ("Mahlzeit") was common all over Germany or only in certain regions within Germany. For example, in the US, you might commonly hear "Howdy" as a greeting in Texas but probably never in New York.
 

Scepticalscribe

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In a coffee shop.
That reminds me: the first time I encountered "SMH" I was left completely baffled. Contextually it clearly wasn't "Sydney Morning Herald", which was the "standard" expansion in this part of the world.

It turned out to be "shaking my head".
SMH = Shaking my head?

Gosh.

That is an entirely new one on me.

Well you learn something new every day.
 
That reminds me: the first time I encountered "SMH" I was left completely baffled. Contextually it clearly wasn't "Sydney Morning Herald", which was the "standard" expansion in this part of the world.

It turned out to be "shaking my head".

The first several times I saw “SMH” back in 2016 and 2017, I swore it was an initialism for “so much hate” and not “shaking my head”, given its solitary appearance on tweets admonishing arrogance and/or absurdity. “SMDH” came with the same assumption (however incorrect), even though the “D” is the same word regardless.
 
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Kung

macrumors 6502
Feb 3, 2006
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All of this discussion about terms and acronyms reminds me of that anecdote where someone was relaying to their mother in a group chat that a relative had passed, and after expressing sadness, the mom typed "LOL."

She thought it meant "lots of love." 😆
 

usagora

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Nov 17, 2017
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Are you saying you find it ushers post-traumatic stress? Or are you saying it greatly annoys you?

If so the latter, “triggers” is not the idea you want to be using here. Cheers.

It's very common and accepted usage in informal speech for "trigger" to simply mean something gets on your nerves. As with many words, it's not restricted to just one context/meaning.
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
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Are you saying you find it ushers post-traumatic stress? Or are you saying it greatly annoys you?

If so the latter, “triggers” is not the idea you want to be using here. Cheers.
It's not meant in a context of anything found in DSM-IV or ICD-11. The term triggers (in my post) obviously referred to "something that sets one off". Broadly speaking, invokes a negative reaction. And as I am commenting under this threat title, it's safe to assume that the term "triggers" that I used (at least in this context) did have an aspect of annoyance to it. The greeting of Mahlzeit effectively triggered an annoyance!
 
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It's not meant in a context of anything found in DSM-IV or ICD-11. The term triggers (in my post) obviously referred to "something that sets one off". Broadly speaking, invokes a negative reaction. And as I am commenting under this threat title, it's safe to assume that the term "triggers" that I used (at least in this context) did have an aspect of annoyance to it. The greeting of Mahlzeit effectively triggered an annoyance!
It's very common and accepted usage in informal speech for "trigger" to simply mean something gets on your nerves. As with many words, it's not restricted to just one context/meaning.

Thanks for the giant mansplains, you two. Really instructive. ::slow clap:: :rolleyes:

A fourth annoyance:

Using trigger to mean anything other than referring to a prompt or incident which invokes bona fide post-trauma symptoms. Saying something to annoy people who you don’t like isn’t “““triggering””” them. It’s annoying them, if not ushering anger. PTSD does a cascade of other things entirely.

Signed,
Someone who has seen a therapist specialized in PTSD treatment

p.s., @Alpha Centauri , the DSM-IV hasn’t been in use since 2000; they’re on the DSM-5-TR now
 
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usagora

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Nov 17, 2017
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Have a read of the thread title, OP :)

Not sure what you mean. His initial post said nothing about being annoyed by it. He was implying the usage was incorrect, but it's not (as I explained). I was responding to that. His subsequent post restated it that this was a usage that simply annoyed him. That's not the same thing. As I said myself early on in this thread, I acknowledge that the usages of the words/phrases that personally annoy me are perfectly legitimate/correct usages, so I'm being perfectly consistent.
 
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usagora

macrumors 601
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Nov 17, 2017
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Thanks for the giant mansplains, you two. Really instructive. ::slow clap:: :rolleyes:

A fourth annoyance:

Using trigger to mean anything other than referring to a prompt or incident which invokes bona fide post-trauma symptoms. Saying something to annoy people who you don’t like isn’t “““triggering””” them. It’s annoying them, if not ushering anger. PTSD does a cascade of other things entirely.

Signed,
Someone who has seen a therapist specialized in PTSD treatment

p.s., @Alpha Centauri , the DSM-IV hasn’t been in use since 2000; they’re on the DSM-5-TR now

Your initial post implied the other poster's usage was incorrect, not that it simply annoyed you. Big difference. So no need to get an attitude and roll your eyes at me when I'm simply responding to what seemed to be a lack of awareness in you on the usage. I figured maybe you weren't a native English speaker and didn't realize that was a legitimate usage of the word.

But your post seems to go beyond annoyance to personal offense. I'd suggest not reading that much into the word usage. No more than people who've recently had a loved one pass away should be offended by the use of the word "dead" (or a skull and cross bones emoji) to mean one found something extremely hilarious. That one actually annoys me, btw. But offend me? Not in the least.

Besides, "trigger" in a basic sense just means to cause something to happen, which could be anything, including annoyance/anger.
 
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