Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 April 25

= April 25 =

Meaning of "smell like soup"
"smell like soup" - what does it mean? --Goqer (talk) 09:17, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Where have you seen/heard that expression? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * If I'm not mistaken, the OP is making a reference to the movie Juno. In it, the character Paulie remarks that someone's house smells like soup. I thought the line was funny due to the randomness of someone/something smelling like soup when soup doesn't have a specific smell and people/things generally don't smell like soup. Which reminds me... I have a question for the Entertainment desk... Dismas |(talk) 09:28, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * No it is not about the movie. I found it is an internet forum. Then I searched google to find its meaning, but that was fruitless. An advanced Google search shows a lot of results. It is generally used in conversation for example see here, "Why not just carry a few bay leaves under each arm, then people would think you smell like soup." --Goqer (talk) 10:41, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Another example see here, "Also, you smell like soup." --Goqer (talk) 10:43, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The "bay leaves under your arms" thing is from a comedian. George Carlin if I'm not mistaken. He talks about running out of deodorant and how it happens even in the best of homes. Then suggests going to the kitchen and stuffing a couple bay leaves under your arms. The last line of the routine is something like, "Sure, it doesn't keep you from sweating but for the rest of the day, you smell like soup!" The Carlin bit and the Juno reference are isolated from one another and simply coincidental, to my knowledge. Dismas |(talk) 10:48, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

"English" to "American" English translations
Can you suggest an American English word for the English "Cheeky"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by TomLewin (talk • contribs) 16:14, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Wikisaurus gives quite a few synonyms, but I'd suggest that you need to look carefully at the context to find the right one. AndyTheGrump (talk) 16:27, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think the word needs a "translation." Americans use the word, perhaps less often than the English, and I think most Americans have no trouble understanding it.  Marco polo (talk) 17:08, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Not on that list, but particularly American: sassy springs to mind if you're using it in a positive sense, "fresh" for something more negative. HenryFlower 17:11, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * "Sassy" is positive? Also "ornery", which is fairly neutral in my AmEn dialect. Lexicografía (talk) 20:40, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * But ornery doesn't mean the same thing as cheeky. Not even close. —Angr (talk) 22:15, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Well I'm not a native speaker of American, but as far as I can tell, "sassy" is more often positive than negative. Googling it produces a lot of establishments and product names presumably intended to invoke positive associations; the first definition on offer is, "Lively, bold, and full of spirit"; cutting out the product names by searching for "really sassy" produces mostly positive self-identification (although admittedly also quite a few parents whining about their sassy children). HenryFlower 02:46, 26 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Positive uses of sassy almost always refer to women and girls, and I'd say almost always younger than 40. --Trovatore (talk) 02:57, 26 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I remember someone once noting that feisty is only used for women and short men. :) HenryFlower 04:22, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

I'd just use cheeky. Americans understand the word just fine.--Mattmatt1987 (talk) 20:03, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Markers?
Translating Jeffery Deaver's Edge, I found the senteces as follows:

...and he'd pulled in some markers from Langley and Fort Meade.

'He' is a government official, and was trying to get some classified information from other agencies dealing with national security.

I don't understand what 'pull in some markers from...' means.

Please help. --Analphil (talk) 17:56, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Just a guess based on context: "pulled in some markers" = "called in some favors"? That is, asked he asked someone from Langley for help, because he had once helped that person. The past help is informally held as a 'marker' or 'chit' or voucher, which the govt. official can 'call in' or 'pull in' to get the help he needs now. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:55, 25 April 2011 (UTC)
 * This google search reveals hits consistent with my answer, and also skews heavily to government/ military usage. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:59, 25 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Your suggestion seems to add up. Thank you, SemanticMantis. --Analphil (talk) 19:03, 25 April 2011 (UTC)


 * This is only my uninformed guess, which you'd have to check out, but I've always mentally connected "calling in your markers" with calling in or cashing in your chips in card games and casino gambling. Someone who couldn't pay off his debts at the end of round of poker might write out a marker or IOU; at some point (perhaps a month or a year later) the holder of those markers might call them in to realize his winnings, just as the winner of chips at a casino might convert them to money (cash them in) at the end of an evening. But that's just what I've imagined; it would be nice to know how close it is to etymology and reality. —— Shakescene (talk) 22:20, 25 April 2011 (UTC)


 * A marker is the one pledge which a guy cannot welch on, never. It is like not saluting the flag. --Trovatore (talk) 03:01, 26 April 2011 (UTC)


 * A casino marker is a line of credit extended by a casino to a gambler. So "pulling in markers" means asking people to repay their debts i.e. asking people to return favours that they owe you. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:46, 26 April 2011 (UTC)