My poor colleague, who really is very attractive (just ask Shu!), got into the elevator in the lobby level of our offices with a 60-ish man. He said, "I just have to tell you this, but you look rather haggard today." She didn't know him, didn't work with him, and had no idea why he said that. She actually looked very cute that day, and I didn't get it either.

Therefore, I looked up the word to see if there were some meaning that I hadn't known about. Perhaps we had misunderstood him? I think not, though, as it typically seems to mean "appearing exhausted and gaunt." What I hadn't known about it is that it comes from the Old French meaning "wild hawk," perhaps of Germanic origin. That I won't tell her!

At any rate, could there be a kinder definition that he had meant? I can't fathom a stranger being so rude.

I'll have to merle this over.

Odd. I wonder if he used a malapropism? I can't think what word he might have meant, though, so perhaps not.

He might have been trying to be funny (a powerful way to create attraction in a woman) but hasn't yet got the technique quite right.

A possible response .... "Well, thank you. So do you."

I'm with arnie on this one. Or,perhaps he'd been watching The Three Stooges.

Or she could have answered, "Thank you. And you look positively flatulent."

Proof, I'm amazed by your excellent eructition!

I gas that was a compliment

quote:

eructition

Did you mean eructation - A reflex that expels wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth?

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English:

quote:

eructition

Did you mean eructation - A reflex that expels wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth?

Yes, Jerry, but I combined it with "erudition" to make it sound more like a malaprop, which, as we all know, is a poorly made propeller. Proofreader, thanks to his clearly having a warped mind, understood easily! My apology to all you normal people.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Asa Lovejoy>,

quote:

Did you mean eructation - A reflex that expels wind noisily from the stomach through the mouth?

I imagine instead of a smartmouth, this would be a fartmouth?

quote:

Yes, Jerry, but I combined it with "erudition" to make it sound more like a malaprop, which, as we all know, is a poorly made propeller. Proofreqader, thanks to his clearly having a warped mind, understood easily! My apology to all you normal people.

Jerry ?

Asa, does this mean you are being so rude as to classify me with all those normal people?

I was about to suggest that the cute colleague simply avoid using the lobby level lift, especially when there are 60-ish men around. And I'm obsessively curious to know precisely how she did respond.

Kalleh?

That man was the worst kind of blackguard
To say that cute young miss looked haggard.
When he next comes her way
She should just turn and say,
“Why, today you look really Mick Jaggered.”

That is the most unsettling thing, to be told you look tired, when you thought you just looked normal! That's happened to me on occasion, and it is a deflating experience. I hope she told the man to go take a nap!

Wordmatic

Especially, Wordmatic, when it was first thing in the morning. And I can assure you that this is one dynamite looking lady. Would that I were so pretty!

BTW, she said she was so shocked that she didn't know what to say, but she said, "Thank you for the insult." Another colleague had the best response, though, I think; she said she should have said, "Do I know you?"