I was watching the traffic report on TV this morning and the presenter said, "Nothing for you to stress about this morning."

The verb to stress is transitive, meaning "to strain", "to put stress on", etc. It does not mean "to be stressed".

Has anyone seen this usage before, or similar?

I heard and read it before: nothing to stress (out) about, nothing to stress over, don't stress, don't stress me out, etc. Not sure when I first ran across it, but I think of it as something US teenagers would say, but perhaps it's made it across the Atlantic.

I hear it frequently. It's similar to the age-old advice "Don't sweat the small stuff" and its equally sage rejoinder, "It's all small stuff!"

And on a related sidenote, Volume One of the 1933 OED (which I just happen to be working with in regards to another project outlined elsewhere on this site) has no listing for the word "age-old." As an adjective, shouldn't that be one word hyphenated? "Age old advice" doesn't look right to me.

arnie, yes, I agree with jheem and CJ. We see "stress" used that way all the time. I wonder, did your announcer have an English accent? Maybe he was an American!

Nope, she was English.

Two idioms involving the word 'stress' are current where I live:
(1) People say you are 'in a stress' if you are in a mood or agitated,
(2) People call you a 'stressmonger' if you are 'in a stress' a lot of the time.

Just out of curiosity, anycon, where do you live?

I would have thought a 'stressmonger' would cause stress, rather than be stressed.

Perhaps it's because desserts can cause obesity, which can cause its victims to feel stress .... someone, somewhere thought it was significant that "STRESSED" spelled backwards is "DESSERTS"

"Stressmonger" sounds like a euphemistic word for "psychotherapist."

When arnie said, "I would have thought a 'stressmonger' would cause stress, rather than be stressed," it sounded familiar. The third quote here was, "Some people are Typhoid Marys of stress, and just being around them can fatigue you."

Kalleh: "Maybe he was American." Arnie: "Nope, she was English"

So, she stressed the words the British way?

Yes, I am skeptical, too, Asa. I can say "shedule" and jag-u-are, too!

Indeed. And remember that the concensus of our group was that they liked "schedule" better than "skedule"!

Or maybe they were just being kind to their foreign visitor!

Richard is referring to the focus group he facilitated for me. He definitely had them in them mesmerized with his accent.

It continues to amaze me how intrigued Americans are with the English accent. The same is not true with other accents, including accents within our own country. I will never forget the receptionist in our building who begged Richard to "just keep talking" so she could continue to hear that accent!

To tie this in with KHC's recent complaint/observation that Southerners seems to be the last sub-group of Americans which can be picked upon with impunity, Lenny Bruce once said "If Albert Einstein 'Tahlked lahk that' the atomic bomb never would have become a reality. He went on to imagine a conversation between Einstein and another scientist (paraphrased from memory):

Einstein - Ahm tahlkin' 'bout noo-kyoo-ler fission...

Other guy - You're an idiot.

Einstein - Hey, Buddy, Ahm tahlkin' some stuff here!

Other guy - Get outa here, schmuck! You don't know what you're talking about.


It's odd how we adore a British accent and yet in many cases (not just with the Southern) look down our noses at our own.

C.J's citation isn't the only one to note how appearances qualify/disqualify someone. In St-Exupery's "The Little Prince," he tells the tale about how a Turkish astronomer had discovered an asteroid, and had presented his finding to a gathering of astronomers, but was ignored because of being dressed in Turkish clothes. The following year he made the same presentation in western clothes and was highly praised.

Now, if a southern boat builder throws a party, does he say, "Yawl come?"

He'd say: "Y'all come and BYOB (bring your own boat)... I'll supply the barbeque and the booze." Now, that's a gentleman.