Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> wrote:
>> Even more interestingly, "(to) kick ass" means
>> something positive in English ("Oh my f*cking god, that's
>> kicking loads of ass, man!").
>
> "To kick ass" has both positive and negative connotations.
> If there is first or second person, then it's more likely to be
> negative:  "If you don't fucking shut up, I'll kick your
> fucking ass!".  But if it's inanimate, it's very frequently
> positive:  "The band's new album really kicks ass."
>
> Also note the different Aktionsart:  it's <kicks ass>,
> not <is kicking ass>.  The latter is generally only acceptible
> in the literal case of applying one's foot forcefully
> onto someone's posterior.
There is a usage, [something] "is really kicking my ass", but that's
negative (it really threw me the first time I heard it, as it was
being used to mean "I'm stumped by this problem").

Given the short range of examples it seems kicking ass is positive
as long as the ass doesn't explicitly belong to someone, (my ass,
your ass) in which case someone's ass is on the line. :p


	*Muke!
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