Help with English: "Maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably"

[Saint]

boondocker = combat boot
wacky = eccentric

[Saint]

James Holmes Conviction No 'Slam Dunk' For Prosecutors

'Slam Dunk' = ?

"He looks insane, his acts are those of an insane person, ergo he is insane," Bremner said.

ergo = therefore? This is a word I seldom come across. What is its origin?

[Saint]

Public defender Tamara Brady was assigned to the case, presumably after Holmes indicated he could not afford to hire a lawyer. Brady appeared in court with Holmes on Monday for an initial hearing. Her client seemed sleepy or dazed and often had his eyes shut during the proceeding. Brady has yet to comment on her client’s behavior in court and the defense has thus far been reluctant to speak on the case.

Public defender = a free lawyer?

In this case, what's the reason she wants to defend for a criminal?
Will people do something without getting paid?

[Trippy]

ergo = therefore? This is a word I seldom come across. What is its origin?

When used as a word like that it's from a latin word meaning therefore, consequently or hence.

When it's used as a prefix to another word - eg: Ergonomics, it comes from the greek word for work, which I think is either ergo or ergon. Hence the unit 'Erg' which is a CGS unit equivalent to 100 nJ.

[Sarkus]

boondocker = combat boot

Not sure.
Boondock is a term, if I understand correctly, used to describe the remote rural towns, possibly somewhat run-down and rather insular.
So perhaps a "boondocker" is someone who comes from such a place.

wacky = eccentric

Eccentric, weird, strange etc.

'Slam Dunk' = ?

It comes from basketball, where the scorer of the basket actually directs the ball downward into the basket, rather than the more usual shot that requires the ball to move initially upward. If done properly it is very difficult not to score with it, so the phrase "slam dunk" has come to mean a "sure thing" or something with a nearly certain outcome.

ergo = therefore? This is a word I seldom come across. What is its origin?

Ergo is taken directly from the Latin, meaning therefore. The classic phrase "Cogito Ergo Sum" means "I think therefore I am".

Public defender = a free lawyer?

Not free - as it is paid for by taxes. But it is a defender that is appointed to those who can not afford to hire their own.

In this case, what's the reason she wants to defend for a criminal?
Will people do something without getting paid?

One of the principles of many/all Western societies is the right to a fair trial, and that can only be done with a lawyer working for you (unless you waive your right to a lawyer and defend yourself).
If I understand correctly, in the US if you can not afford a lawyer you can be assigned one by the court. The lawyer appointed will be paid by the state.

In the UK we don't appoint such a "public defender" but instead assist those who can not afford the costs of lawyers through Legal Aid (basically reimbursement of costs).

As for working without getting paid, in the US lawyers are encouraged to work for around 50-hours a year for free - to help provide legal services to worth while causes, such as the poor, charities etc.

[Saint]

I still don't understand "slam dunk" in the context related to the murder.

James Holmes Conviction No 'Slam Dunk' For Prosecutors

[Sarkus]

One would think that given the evidence surrounding the shootings that it would be almost certain that the Prosecutors would achieve a conviction of Holmes.
This headline says that we shouldn't consider it certain (i.e. it should not be considered a "slam dunk", even if popular opinion is that it is).

[James R]

A "slam dunk" in that context means a conclusive and complete win.

[Fraggle Rocker]

boondocker = combat boot

Never heard of it. In the USA, "the boondocks" is slang for a remote, rural area in which services, communication, education, etc., are not up to the standards we're used to in the rest of the country. Originally the word meant a completely uninhabited area through which it is difficult to travel, such as a marsh or a thick forest. Bundok is the Tagalog word for "mountain," picked up by U.S. military personnel during World War II.

wacky = eccentric

Well, it can mean that. But in America we usually use it to mean "zany," as in a wacky animated film in which the action is so exaggerated as to be ridiculous and generate laughter.

ergo = therefore? This is a word I seldom come across. What is its origin?

It's rather pretentious. No one uses it in normal speech or writing. Some Latin words and abbreviations have been adopted into the vernacular language, such as et cetera and i.e., and for intellectuals and college graduates sometimes even Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum, "which was to be demonstrated"). But not this one.

Boondock is a term. . .

It's always plural, and it always takes a plural verb. "The boondocks are a nice place to go on vacation, but I wouldn't want to live there."

If I understand correctly, in the US if you can not afford a lawyer you can be assigned one by the court. The lawyer appointed will be paid by the state.

Correct. Every municipality of reasonable size has a staff of public defenders who do this work full-time and are on the public payroll. Smaller jurisdictions, or those that may be overloaded at the moment, have agreements with local law firms to supply attorneys for these assignments when needed. The pay is not good, but it gets them a reputation for being good citizens--something many lawyers don't have.

I still don't understand "slam dunk" in the context related to the murder.

A "slam dunk" is something that is extremely easy for a person with the necessary skills and in an opportune circumstance. The probability of failure is zero. If the murder had been witnessed by a priest, a schoolteacher, a scoutmaster, the mayor, and the killer's mother, and was captured on video, and the killer confessed on national television, then the conviction would be a slam-dunk.

[Saint]

She reached orbit again the following year, and was scheduled for a third trip when the Challenger space shuttle broke apart during lift-off in 1986.

The disaster occurred just over a minute into the mission, killing all seven crew members, and prompting an almost three-year hiatus in the American space programme.

hiatus = pause. Hiatus is not a popular word, is it?

But in a statement on her Facebook page and Twitter on Wednesday, Papachristou said she was "very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights".

encroach = infringe on? I seldom see people use encroach.

[Fraggle Rocker]

hiatus = pause. Hiatus is not a popular word, is it?

We use it often enough. A hiatus is more than a pause. It is an interruption in continuity. It may be difficult to resume progress afterward.

When you push a button on your remote control, you create a pause in the TV show you're watching. When you return from the kitchen or bathroom, the show starts right up at the same point and continues with no problem.

When a hiatus occurs in your project at the office, it might take a month to get it back on track afterward. The people who were working on it drifted off to other projects. Management discontinued the funding. The conference room you were using has been booked by someone else. The people who were going to use your product may have given up and acquired it from someone else. The project could be canceled.

encroach = infringe on? I seldom see people use encroach.

"Encroach" generally implies "gradually" or "stealthily." In other words, to be sneaky about it. This is another word that we see often enough to be familiar with it.

[Saint]

A man in Newport News, Virginia, who thought of employees at a nearby convenience store "like family" is upset after he says one of them shortchanged him on a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket.

shortchanged = ?

[Sarkus]

To shortchange means to give somebody less in return than is deserved / warranted / expected, either accidentally or deliberately.
The term comes from shopping: say you buy something for £3.50, you hand over a £10 note and expect to get £6.50 change... but instead are only given £5.50. You would claim to have been short-changed.

General usage tends to infer some level of (perceived) deceit on behalf of the one providing less than expected (e.g. the shopkeeper).

[Fraggle Rocker]

To shortchange means to give somebody less in return than is deserved / warranted / expected, either accidentally or deliberately. The term comes from shopping: say you buy something for £3.50, you hand over a £10 note and expect to get £6.50 change... but instead are only given £5.50. You would claim to have been short-changed.

"Short" has developed many meanings over the years. One of them is "scant, scanty, inadequate, below standard." If you're running low on food supplies and there's no way to get more right away, you will put your family, team, army, etc., on short rations. To sell a stock short or short-sell it means to sell someone the obligation to buy it from you at a future date, at lower than today's market price. You're gambling that the price will drop, so at that future date you will be able to buy it for much less than today's price, and then sell it to the other person at the agreed-upon price, making a profit.

Used in a certain sense, "change" is an abbreviation of "exchange." If you want to buy a newspaper, but you only have a fifty-dollar bill, you'll ask the proprietor of the newsstand if he has change for a fifty. He may not, in which case he can't sell you the paper. If he does, and you agree to buy the paper, you give him your fifty and he gives you your paper plus change for your fifty--let's assume the paper cost $1 so your change should be $49.

You get on the subway and look in your wallet, and discover that you only have $48. You say, "That bastard short-changed me a dollar."

The dictionary says "shortchange" is an Americanism. Apparently it has crossed the ocean.

General usage tends to infer some level of (perceived) deceit on behalf of the one providing less than expected (e.g. the shopkeeper).

This is the case when we're talking literally about money. Although these days, with a younger generation that can't do subtraction (or any other arithmetic) without a POS (point of sale) terminal, it could easily be a stupid but honest mistake.

If we're using the term metaphorically for a commodity other than money, it doesn't always have to imply deliberate attempt to cheat.

"The doctor told my mother that if she agreed to get chemotherapy for her cancer, she would probably live five more years. She got the treatment, which was very harsh and made her feel miserable for a long time, but she only lived 18 months. She was shortchanged." This is nobody's fault, just bad luck.

[Saint]

Djokovic drubs Roddick in 2nd round at Olympics

drub = beat ?

So it went Tuesday for Roddick, outclassed by Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Olympics at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-1.

outclass = defeat ?

[Saint]

Lindsay Lohan has never seemed shy when it comes to showing off her body – after all she posed nude in Playboy last year. But while filming a sex scene for her upcoming movie “The Canyons” with porn star James Deen, she suddenly got demure. Lohan reportedly demanded the 10-man crew strip down to their skivvies while she filmed the scene in order to make her feel more comfortable going topless in front of them.

skivvies = ?

[Saint]

Anwar decries Najib's 'vendetta' against Rafizi

Vendetta = enemy?

[Sarkus]

skivvies = underwear.
No idea as to origin.

In the UK "skivvy" is also an old term for servant, but still understood.


Vendetta is a feud - a long-standing dispute, often quite extreme, where there is a strong desire for revenge.

[Trippy]

skivvies = underwear.
No idea as to origin.

In the UK "skivvy" is also an old term for servant, but still understood.

What I find interesting about this is that here in New Zealand this:

Is a skivvy.

[Fraggle Rocker]

drub = beat ?

The original meaning is "to beat with a stick," probably from Arabic daraba, "a beating." In the U.S. we only use the gerund, "a drubbing," usually "a good drubbing." It doesn't mean simply "a defeat," but a defeat involving great force, injury, embarrassment, etc.

outclass = defeat ?

Not exactly. It means to defeat someone so thoroughly as to suggest that you are in a higher class of skill, strength, etc., than they are.

Suppose a man driving a Toyota Camry pulls up to a red light and sees a Chevrolet Corvette in the next lane. When the light turns green he stomps on the gas pedal to provoke a drag race. Within two seconds the Corvette, despite a late start, is 600ft/200m ahead of him. His car has been outclassed.

skivvies = ?

This is nautical slang from the early 20th century, but the exact origin is unknown. Originally it meant a specific suite of underwear: a cotton T-shirt and cotton shorts. Today it's still used primarily for men's underwear rather than ladies', although a tank top would now qualify, in addition to a T-shirt. The basic idea is that very little of the body is covered, so long johns are not skivvies.

Vendetta = enemy?

This is an Italian word, from the same Latin root as "vengeance" and "revenge." Originally it was a revenge-feud, i.e., the family of a man who was murdered going after the family of the man who killed him. Today it is used for any violent feud, and more generally for any acrimonious, irresolvable long-term disagreement. In America it's a somewhat literary word, used more in writing than in speech. In vernacular speech we'd usually just say "feud." If it's not literally a blood feud in which the two sides are attempting to kill each other, we might just say, "There's bad blood between those two families."

What I find interesting about this is that here in New Zealand this: Is a skivvy.

It certainly doesn't fit our definition. A) More skin is covered than showing and B) It's a lady's garment. Not to mention, in America "skivvies" is only used in the plural, like trousers, briefs, pants, undies, etc.