Monday, March 23, 2009

Usage post #45,762: where do you draw the line?

Stephanie of Humanities Researcher, clearly homesick enough in Philadelphia to be reading the Age online, notes an expression she has never seen before.

Newly evolved usage, or sub-editorial bingle?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

To tell you the truth, the expression I find more surprising is 'bingle'. I've never heard that word before.

:-)

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

I first heard it used to mean 'relatively minor car crash' and liked it so much that I expanded it to apply to a broad range of non-disastrous cockups. Some may have thought it was a typo for 'bungle', but no. A bingle is usually the result of a bungle.

This old world is a new world said...

To say nothing of "kitty bingle", to describe their less than friendly encounters (usually at night, accompanied by that ghastly screeching they do).