Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 September 26

= September 26 =

First woman swimmer in history
Who was the first proffessional woman swimmer in history? I know its impossible to know about antiquity and such - I am rather asking about the first since the modern art of swimming was introduced in the 19th-century(?). --85.226.43.165 (talk) 14:34, 26 September 2009 (UTC)


 * This question was also asked on the Humanities Desk, and since it has drawn some responses there, please direct all responses there. --Anonymous, 00:08 UTC, September 27, 2009.

Lyrics meaning
What do these Cobra Starship lyrics mean "the world has its shine but I would drop it on a dime for you"? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 15:40, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The writer seems to have conflated a couple of sayings. "Drop it in a second" means to take your attention away from something in order to focus on something else without any hesitation.  Someone may say "I love my house but if someone offered me the Playboy Mansion in trade for my house, I'd drop it in a second".  They aren't literally dropping their own house but they would without hesitation go through with this deal.  The second of the phrases is "Turn on a dime".  This is a bit of hyperbole to describe how maneuverable something, like a car, is.  It basically means that the car could turn in the space of a dime on the pavement.  So, in my opinion, the writer/singer is saying that he would give up "the world" (meaning everything he has/his life/etc) even though it is "shiny" (is very interesting) without any hesitation to focus his attention on the other person.  And in my opinion, they're bad lyrics...  Dismas |(talk) 16:02, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, this is, after all, the band that wrote the theme song for Snakes on a Plane. Adam Bishop (talk) 18:46, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * That explains alot! Dismas |(talk) 09:43, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh, and the OP might be interested in learning about another saying. To "drop a dime" means to call someone on the telephone.  This comes from the old pay telephones that charged ten cents for a phone call.  Alternatively, you could say that you're going to "drop a dime on Harry", meaning that you are going to call Harry on the phone.  Dismas |(talk) 10:11, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
 * In most pulp fiction, the phrase "drop a dime on Harry" means that you are going to call the police (or similar) to become an informant against Harry. -- k a i n a w &trade; 18:42, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Not surprisingly, drop a dime redirects to "Informant". —Kevin Myers 14:42, 29 September 2009 (UTC)