"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
> 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.

1. I explained (starting at least a couple of days ago) about there
being another meaning (with suggestions to check dictionaries and
context) yet the posts still kept flowing in about it only having one
meaning.

2. I haven't claimed dog piling at all. I defined (my own
interpretation) of what dog piling means to me in another message. I do
not feel dog piled.

3. This isn't a bum, arse difference at all because every American
dictionary I have been able to see online thus far gives two meanings to
the phrase (*without* saying the second meaning is more commonly a
British phrase) so its more a "I haven't experienced it" moment which
should mean the posts about it should have stopped long before now.

4. I have chosen to criticise anyone who has deliberately chosen to
block that second meaning out of their heads (even after my requests to
check out dictionaries and check context).

5. My aversion to a lot of things about Susan doesn't cloud my judgment.
People choose to ignore or justify her bad behaviour. If one wants to
take that stance then I enter into a debate with them also.

6. This is not simply a language difference (apart from the fact your
dictionaries give two meanings also). If Susan says something derogatory
a number of people jump to her defence claiming language difference or
any other excuse. If I supposedly say something that could be a language
difference issue I am crucified. Name one person in this thread that has
said anything like oh Jan, I understand you meant no harm, we didn't
realise that there was another meaning other than to euthanise an
animal. No posts have had anything remotely sincere, all have said (bar
one) that it means to kill. No acknowledgment of another meaning
therefore no apology.

> 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
>