Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 May 6

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May 6

What does "in funds" mean?

The Desolation_Island_(novel) article starts with: "Jack Aubrey is in funds from his successful mission to take the islands of Mauritius and Reunion." What does "in funds" mean? Is it a technical naval term or just a typo? WinterWall (talk) 05:35, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Having money readily available to spend. Mikenorton (talk) 06:31, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

It implies here that he's relatively well off for the moment compared to his usual state. μηδείς (talk) 18:55, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Google "in funds" (in quotation marks) and it comes right up. It's predominantly a British usage. Newyorkbrad (talk) 19:00, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

It's been in use since at least 1822 [1], so more or less right for the setting of the novel. Mikenorton (talk) 19:17, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Slang words for "nothing"

What slang words exist in English for the concept of "nothing"? I already know of at least the following: bupkis, fuck-all, nada, nothing, sod-all, zero, zilch, zippo. Are there any other such words? JIP | Talk 19:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

'appen ah can think o'nowt, lad. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:37, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Damn, I should have remembered that word. And thanks for the clever pun. JIP | Talk 19:55, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I usually aim for lame or painfully contrived so "clever" is something of a hollow fig tree. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:34, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Names_for_the_number_0_in_English isn't exactly "nothing", but there's decent overlap, and it has a few ones you haven't listed. "Aught" is a funny one - it means "anything", but is often used in constructions that imply "nothing". SemanticMantis (talk) 20:15, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Also "zip" and "goose egg" SemanticMantis (talk) 20:16, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

(Going the other way, "nothing" was Elizabethan slang for "vagina" or "vulva" - Much_Ado_About_Nothing, indeed) SemanticMantis (talk) 20:18, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Also sweet Fanny Adams, often abbreviated to "sweet F A" (with the alternative interpretation you mention above). Dbfirs 20:23, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Sweet Fanny Adams, not a sausage, jack shit and nuffink are used here in London. Alansplodge (talk) 20:24, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Interesting. I had never even heard of the expression "Sweet Fanny Adams". I have heard of all the others you mentioned. JIP | Talk 20:28, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

A phrase not welcome in Parliament:

Mr Nick Gibb: "On a point of order, Madam Speaker. You may not have heard, but the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), used what I thought was a most inelegant abbreviation; inelegant at the best of times but, in terms of parliamentary conduct, thoroughly unbecoming of a Minister of the Crown. Could you rule whether "sweet FA" is parliamentary language?

Madam Speaker: I am not certain whether it is unparliamentary, but it is certainly most undesirable. I hope that hon. Members, and particularly Ministers of the Crown, will use better language in the future in the House. House of Commons, 27 January 1998

.. and not forgetting diddly-squat. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:34, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Nix .Widneymanor (talk) 21:16, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

How could the soccer fans here have forgotten Nil? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:31, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

And there's "love", in tennis. Which reminds me that Johnny Carson once said, "In tennis, love means nothing. And in love, tennis means nothing." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

"Oh Marcel, please don't make me go," she pleaded tearily. "Last night you said you loved me".

My dear, love means nothing to a tennis player, he said as he pushed her out of bed. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:49, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

• squadoosh. --Jayron32 23:14, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

• This may help. --Jayron32 23:15, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

'Bugger all'. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 11:12, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Also jack squat and nuttin'. --Modocc (talk) 14:07, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

"Jack shit" or simply "Jack" are also variations on "Jack squat". See the computer game series You Don't Know Jack (video game series) for example. --Jayron32 15:57, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

The "empty set" might work in some situations: "After discovering that the intersection of women who were interested in him, warm, and breathing was the empty set, Carl decided the drop at least one of his requirements." StuRat (talk) 14:33, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Cricketers don't like getting out for a duck. --TammyMoet (talk) 15:32, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Or being kept to a maiden. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:37, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

As an ex-pat Aussie, if my friends and I have just missed the train I'll say "We had Buckley's chance of catching it". --TrogWoolley (talk) 10:16, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

Near zero in monetary terms is expressed in the phrase so poor doesn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of according to this source. Bus stop (talk) 10:45, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

I'm only interested in words or phrases meaning exactly zero, not near zero. JIP | Talk 20:17, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

It is a fine distinction. Like one of Groucho's lines, "I've worked myself up from nothing, to a state of extreme poverty." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:29, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

Lots of variants of "<...>-all", of varying degrees of vulgarity. Several have been mentioned already; "naff-all" is another, less crude one. Iapetus (talk) 13:11, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

"Oblivion" is sort of slang, when it's the sort of nothing you vainly vow to smash someone into. Like making mincemeat of them, but with infinitely more mincing. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:45, 11 May 2015 (UTC)