51
votes
Accepted
What does "I'm catching a 4:00 at Logan" mean?
Logan is an airport in Boston.
"A 4:00" means a 4:00 flight. That style of reference is often used for "commuter" flights, which go a particular route at a scheduled regular interval, e.g., every ...
- 4,652
45
votes
Accepted
What does "number f**king ten" mean?
A quick online research shows that "number 10" is indeed part of 60s' Vietnam War jargon, meaning "the worst" and being the opposite of "Number 1": "the best"; according to glossaries in Ray's Web ...
- 17.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Is there a specific term for the short descriptions of a movie or TV episode present in TV guides?
It could be called a synopsis
3 a brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play, etc.
- 503
14
votes
What is a word for an unaffiliated gunfighter in western movies?
It depends on what exactly you mean by "unaffiliated:"
A character who will join any side of a conflict for money, like a mercenary, is a hired gun.
If they're someone who tracks down criminals for ...
- 1,075
11
votes
The meaning of a short excerpt of dialog from the "La-La Land" movie
to haul ass is an AmE slang phrase for "to move extremely quickly"
from the UD - to move extremely quickly, to move at an expeditious rate, to move much quicker than the normal pace
When you ...
- 49.8k
9
votes
Accepted
What does the phrase "laying pipe" mean?
It is the literal meaning. The teacher compares the 'geometrical' analysis of Pritchard, which he has called excrement, to something as equally mundane or technical or unexciting as laying pipe(lines)...
8
votes
Accepted
"Digital computer" in the 1940s
I was going through some online articles and I'd like to thank @Josh61 for the right references. I found this detailed write-up on Word Origins from OED by Richard Holden. (I think I now know the ...
- 13.5k
8
votes
Is there a specific term for the short descriptions of a movie or TV episode present in TV guides?
This is the blurb.
Originally the term used for a brief description of a book printed on its back cover to entice browsers to purchase it. The term is now widely used for short promotional ...
- 13k
8
votes
Accepted
Was "fong" a Middle English word?
Yes, there's some basis for the claim. The Middle English Dictionary gives fongen (-en being an infinitive ending) with a bunch of meanings, the last being:
10. To attack (someone); to molest.
[...
- 15.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Asgard is not a place, it's a people
Grammatically either would be valid, but not quite the same.
The people would mean a particular group of people, which in the context would mean "the people who live in Asgard".
A people would mean ...
- 53.2k
6
votes
What does "circle the flame" mean?
It is undoubtedly true, as Hot Licks's answer observes, that wolves and other creatures have been observed to walk around fires (particularly campfires) in a circular path. If the screenplay's conceit ...
- 161k
6
votes
What is a word for an unaffiliated gunfighter in western movies?
Hired Gun:
One, especially a professional killer, who is hired to kill another person.
American Heritage Dictionary, 5th Ed.
Also used currently for any newly added specialist on staff.
- 6,675
6
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of 'to summon the future'?
One of the definitions provided by M-W is:
to call into being through the use of one's inner resources or powers
So the sentence
One man cannot summon the future.
means that a man cannot call the ...
- 32.2k
5
votes
What does the idiom "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise" mean?
It was a common saying: "That's the way the cookie crumbles." But the "-wise" ending is a Madison Avenue stereotype for any subject one wants to address. It was funny to hear it phrased that way at ...
- 51
5
votes
Question about the phrase "fought fire with oil" as used in the film "Spartacus"
It's a play on words of fight fire with fire by using a word (oil) from another idiom, namely
to grease or oil someone's palm
to bribe someone
See The Free Dictionary, which gives an example of ...
5
votes
Advanced English: What can be "rather than a subtle ______ " in movies?
Here's my answer, revised and reposted.
What @Scotty Colby might have meant was good cinematography.
A really exciting movie depends on good CINEMATOGRAPHY (photography), good
EDITING (the way ...
- 1,621
5
votes
Accepted
Advanced English: What can be "rather than a subtle ______ " in movies?
I'm guessing that the Cambridge Advanced English Teacher's Book (ISBN-13: 978-0521336987, ISBN-10: 0521336988) will offer a definitive answer. It seems that there are some used copies available ...
- 637
5
votes
Accepted
Cinematic term for: A known symbol confirms the location of the scene
It's called an establishing shot.
An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important ...
- 38.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Meaning and etymology of the "Rhodesia Solution"
Meaning
The Rhodesia solution is used when one finds one in a dilemma situation where one would have to inform a superior (e.g. to apprise them of a scandal), but one rather did not. In fact, in the ...
- 7,148
5
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning of "Ma" when a husband addresses his wife?
It's probably a bit out-dated, but not a surprising usage. When kids are small and just learning to speak, the first words they usually learn are the "names" of their parents. This is ...
- 27.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What's a word for ensuring certain categories play certain roles?
"Authentic" seems to be the word that best renders the expected meaning.
Here are a few examples of its use (bold mine) :
Authentic casting has been one of the most prominent issues facing ...
- 550
5
votes
What was the reference to 'federal case' in the movie Air Force One
"Making a federal case out of it" is figure of speech (and had the same meaning in 1997 when the movie Air Force One was released that it does today).
It means making a big deal out of ...
- 2,316
4
votes
Is there a specific term for the short descriptions of a movie or TV episode present in TV guides?
It can also be called a log line. See this Wikipedia entry
A log line or logline is a brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a television program, film, or book that states the central conflict ...
- 41
4
votes
What is the word for a 'hint' that might help give the solution at the end of movies?
"Chekhov's Gun" After Anton Chekhov, the playwright. The idea is usually paraphrased as "If you show a gun in the first act, it must be fired by the last."
"Remove everything that has no relevance ...
- 507
4
votes
Accepted
What verbs can you use in a sentence "The movie "Boyhood" runs for three hours"?
The first micro-question to consider is "Why is 'runs' common?"
Movies seem to have inherited this term from theater where "limited runs", "re-runs", "plays that ran for a season", and "a play that ...
- 1,578
4
votes
Advanced English: What can be "rather than a subtle ______ " in movies?
I think I have it.
Horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street depend on spectacular SPECIAL (or VISUAL) effects rather than a subtle SOUNDTRACK.
Music in horror films help create mood, tension, ...
- 90.3k
4
votes
Opposite of "trick film"
This is usually termed live action regardless of whether it's filmed entirely in a studio, or the film crews go to where the action is supposedly happening and film it there. In the latter case, it ...
- 6,746
4
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of phrase "Why on earth"
It's similar to the phrase "Why in the world...?"
It's basically asking the question "For what reason, in the entire world (or on the entire earth), would I do that?"
It seems rather like it's ...
- 134
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