Ozgirl > wrote:
: "KROM" > wrote in message
: ...
: > sorry ozgirl but "put it out of its misery" has always meant to kill
: > it here and I've heard it used in UK movies in the euthanize context.
: >
: > put "what does put it out of its misery mean?" into a Google search
: > bar and see the result.
: >
: > its very easy to take something a person says wrong..so lets be
: > careful when taking a idiom wrong in others because we will eventually
: > do it ourselves.
: >
: > KROM
: In my country an ass is not a butt. Should I take Americans literally
: when they say ass? I accept what Americans use in that context, can it
: be possible that Americans can accept different word/phrase usages from
: others? Especially when the context was there, i.e. followed by a list
: of possible ways to relieve said misery. Instead of a call of Ozgirl
: suggests I kill my cat! How about, Ozgirl, are you saying I should kill
: my cat? Nope, kangaroo trial instead. Tolerance for differences at its
: best, but yet... the phrase means more than just to kill even in
: America. Not my problem if people in here haven't experienced it. Not my
: problem that people refuse to check it into properly. Google: "define:
: put out of misery".
: "http://www.writersevents.com/Words_Starting_with_P/put_ones_foot_down_put_something_together/put_someone_or_something_out_of_their_misery_defin ition.html
: Idiom: put someone or something out of their misery
: To ****relieve them***** from their physical suffering or their mental
: anguish.
: To kill (an animal that is in great pain)." (American)
: "http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/put-sb-out-of-their-misery
: to stop someone worrying, usually by giving them information that they
: have been waiting for" (British)
: "http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/put+someone+out+of+his+or+her+misery
: Kill a wounded or suffering animal or person, as in When a horse breaks
: a leg, there is nothing to do but put it out of its misery . [Late
: 1700s]
: End someone's feeling of suspense, as in Tell them who won the
: tournament; put them out of their misery . [c. 1920] *******Both usages
: employ put out of in the sense of "extricate" or "free from."********"
: (American)
:
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/put+out+of+misery
: Put (one) out of (one's) misery
: 1. Euph. Fig. to kill someone as an act of mercy. Why doesn't the doctor
: simply put her out of her misery? He took pills to put himself out of
: his misery.
: 2. Fig. to end a suspenseful situation for someone. Please, put me out
: of misery; what happened? I put her out of her misery and told her how
: the movie ended.
: See also: misery, out, put
: McGraw-Hill Dictionary of ****************American Idioms*************
: and Phrasal Verbs. ? 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
: Anyone still want to tell me the phase ONLY means to euthanise?
:
A number of us simultainiously were astounded to hear that there was
another meaning for a phrase we had all only heard s meaning to put down
or wthenize n animal. We all wrote, pretty simlutaniously. When you
described tht to you it didn't mean that some of us , at leasi I, said
that in the US it was not such a meaning tht it had in oz. thant's all.
When you sain put him out of his misery we had had an automatic response.
Once we were told tht it was one of those bum , ass, knock up , kind of
differences between British based and American usages we could begin to
deal with it. Criticising us all and claiming dog iling, etc is rather
an overkill from the Aussies as it was totally new to us USAns that there
was any other meaning.
Please don't let your hostility towards Susan so cloud your view that you
misinterpret all of our reactions. It is simply one of those langage
differences that come up every once in a while.
Wendy