...meaning "as I see it...", yielding nearly 30,000 hits. Yet we don't find it in the usu slang/phrase dictionaries, and I had never heard it

Of course I don't get around much. However, can I conclude that the expr is nonetheless pretty well established

never heard it

Nor I.

Nor I...though "ready to roll" is common enough.

It's a very popular expression right now, probably most among people who are under 30. Typically it is "that's just the way I roll", or something like that. It is often an answer to a question like "Why do you such and such?", where such and such could be pretty much anything.

It may come from the expression "rolling", like in Snoop Doggs "Gin and Juice", "rollin' down the street", meaning driving. Of course, it could come from Rock n' Roll.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dalehileman:
...meaning "as I see it...", yielding nearly 30,000 hits. Yet we don't find it in the usu slang/phrase dictionaries, and I had never heard it

Like so many new or rediscovered colloquial expressions, some classed as 'slang', it will have to await the passage of time to see whether it perishes, or fills a gap in modern English usage and thereby persists. This one is superficially attractive, but lacks specificity. It does not explain:

That's the way I think,
That's the way I feel,
That's the way I am inclined…'
That's the way I usually do this. etc. etc.

My guess is it won't last.

pearce: You are absolutely right about that. But my problem is, that I need to guess right away whether an expr is going to achieve longevity. So I've developed a number of techniques for the purpose.

The main trick of course, is to determine how many Ghits it elicits; then look in the various slang dictionaries. Eg, oftentimes if it's very new, you'll find it first in UrbanDictionary

I don't have much hope for the many neologistic portmanteau, infixes, etc of obvious meaning; eg, ABSOLUDICROUS, AMN’T, BABELICIOUS, BANALYSIS, CHATTERFUGE, DREADLINE, DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION,GINORMOUS, etc. It’s not that they’re obscure (9,910 hits on BABELICIOUS, 76,900 on DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION; 780,000 on GINORMOUS); but I judge they won't last long

Suggestions for other techniques welcome--thanks all

Ginormous has been very common in the UK for at least 20 years - although it's not a word I care for.

I see there are 351 google hits for "catapostrophe" a word I think I was the first to use, both on this site and on write101.

You can find its definition here http://www.slangsite.com/slang/C.html

Sean: Ginormous is a good word.

Why do you like to use it?

Sean: It's just the way I roll.

Rich: If that is so, then I stand corrected. Indeed I find 212 Grefs in the usu online slang dicts. However, if it's so common, how come do you suppose it's in neither in H-C Dict of Am. Slang nor Cassell's Dict of Slang

'Ginormous' is recognized in the Compact Oxford English Dictionary and in OED itself, which traces it to a 1948 Partridge dictionary of slang.

It was certainly in common schoolyard use when I was at school in the late 60s/early 70s

nerd: Why do you suppose I don't find it in my '61 Partridge

Per OED [red emphasis added]:

quote:

1948 in Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang. 1962 W. GRANVILLE Dict. Sailors' Slang 53/2

"the way I roll" makes me think of the song "Roll With it Baby" by Steve Winwood. Anyone else remember that song?

When life is too much, roll with it, baby
Don't stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby
Hard times knocking on your door
I'll tell them you ain't there no more
Get on through it, roll with it, baby
Luck'll come and then slip away,Yu've gotta move, bring it back to stay

You just roll with it, baby
Come on and just roll with it, baby
You and me, roll with it, baby
Hang on and just roll with it, baby

quote:

Originally posted by Caterwauller:
"the way I roll" makes me think of the song "Roll With it Baby" by Steve Winwood. Anyone else remember that song?

Pleased to say No!

quote:

Pleased to say No!

Well, at least you're honest!

I don't remember it, CW, but then I am not one to know many songs.

It was a top 40 hit in the late 80's. Steve Winwood is from Birmingham, England, so I thought maybe some of the UK folks would know him. Maybe 80's pop music isn't your thing.

At any rate, I think the phrase is related to "roll with the punches".