Thread: Whip

Hi chris.r!! Just like "wet", I have never heard a steering wheel called a whip. Is it another British term? You can never tell what those Brits will come up with.

Have you seen the movie Snatch? A really funny movie so if you haven't seen it "give it a go". Dennis Farina, the actor who just died a couple of days ago, played an American in London who was flustered by the Brits' accents and slang, uttered a line that went like this: (paraphrased) "Speak English! I thought this was the country that spawned the language but I haven't heard anybody speak it yet!"


http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/la...182917042.html

Hi chris.r! I was raised on the southern East Coast and never heard the expression. Maybe it's more regional, like a New England thing? They have some unusual ones, like frappe for a milkshake.

The truth is, it could be in use in Texas and I'm not aware of it. At my age I don't get to mingle with the younger ones who invent slang, so I'm far from being an authority.

This is an excerpt from Urban Dictionary ( a source I consider extremely unreliable)

This is just one contributor's comment:

Currently the most overly used word to describe ones car regardless of the cars make or model. It's most commonly used in "Ricer" rags or on MTV Cribs by soon-to-be bankrupt rappers that no one besides MTV has heard of. Not to be confused with "Rides" which is another trendy word for cars, which makes more sense, but still should not be used by anyone with an IQ higher than 20.

Yeah, kvillanueva, I laughed at that too which is why I thought it was worthy of posting. I kinda feel that way about a lot of the Urban Dictionary stuff.

The key here might be "...another trendy word for cars...". chris.r's original post cited the origin but I wonder how long it's actually been around. I still have my doubts about the source. Seems to me "rein" would be a better choice since stagecoach horses are steered by the reins. I'd be more inclined to think it came from "whip around", which means, in one context, to run about, as in, "He likes to whip around town in his new car". I don't think that phrase had anything to do with horses but came from one of the alternate definitions of whip, i.e., to move quickly.

Per Dictionary.com:

[I]verb (used without object)
14.
to move or go quickly and suddenly; dart; whisk: She whipped into the store for some milk[/I].

In any case, Cheers! chris.r. It was a good post!! I learned something and that's what it's all about here in the foro. Thanks.