Man, if it was Donna Summer, I'd bet all thousand numbers rang her back.
― pplains, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:32 (three months ago) link
oh boy, ranging phones, that's where i'm a viking
― CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:54 (three months ago) link
wait, what is confusing? to ring somebody means to call them in USA too
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:55 (three months ago) link
If I heard someone say "My phone was ringing off the wall" I would assume they meant they were getting lots of calls, not making lots of calls.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:59 (three months ago) link
ring my phoneoff the wall
― CEO Greedwagon (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:00 (three months ago) link
Americans only started saying they "ring" someone in the Internet Age when the English language has flattened out worldwide and Americans have adopted English idioms and vice versa. No one in America in the 1980s said they would "ring" someone unless they were PBS-watching Anglophiles.
― from a prominent family of bassoon players (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:02 (three months ago) link
I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hallIf you don't answer, I'll just ring it off the wall
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:05 (three months ago) link
"almost rang the phone off the wall" of all her friends' kitchens guys come on jeez
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:15 (three months ago) link
Me, in a song I wrote:
"I sent my coals to Coventry"
Which I was sure was an idiom but appears to be a conflation of "Send someone to Coventry" and "Send coals to Newcastle"
― your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 16:28 (three months ago) link
― Alba, Saturday, 2 March 2024 07:51 (three months ago) link
Oh, just saw President Keyes' post, sorry
― Alba, Saturday, 2 March 2024 07:53 (three months ago) link
I think there's a slight distinction there between ringing an object and ringing a person, with the latter being definitely rare in the US of the '70s/'80s
(Also Blondie didn't write that song, but they were certainly Anglophiles!)
― Josefa, Saturday, 2 March 2024 14:44 (three months ago) link
I don't think you "ring" an object in the UK either though? People don't say "ring my phone", they say "ring me".
― The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:03 (three months ago) link
HP Baxxter has no problem ringing up da laydeez:
"I’ve always been the party pleaserThere’s not a doubt, I’ve checked all the ladies out
Ring me up!Skip to the dip now!What we say?Jigga Jigga!
Ooooohh! Ho-ho!Davay-davay-davay!Jigga Jigga!Allright!Aaaaaarrrghh!"
whether he has confused A with B, however, remains moot
― massaman gai (front tea for two), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:05 (three months ago) link
ring a ring of roses?
songwriter confuses the bubonic plague with making a telephone call
― massaman gai (front tea for two), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:07 (three months ago) link
You can, however, ring someone's bell
xpost
― airport convention (Matt #2), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:07 (three months ago) link
anita baker - ring my bell
the white stripes - my doorbell
I did indeed circle both of these with a marker pen
― massaman gai (front tea for two), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:11 (three months ago) link
oh, XP
― massaman gai (front tea for two), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:12 (three months ago) link
xp to Tom Well I was thinking it's easy to slide from a common phrase like "ring my bell" to "ring my phone" and there's no confusion if Donna Summer is ringing someone else's phone. But in the phrasing of "Hot Stuff" she's first calling lots of different numbers and then one particular phone is being rung off the wall, so I was trying to imagine if in UK usage you can ring your own phone off the wall (actually someone else suggested the possibility first in another thread). But you said before that would be awkward phrasing, so maybe not.
― Josefa, Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:14 (three months ago) link
She's making so many phone calls that the resonance of the ringing coming through the earpiece is going to sonically blast her own phone off the wall.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:22 (three months ago) link
You can certainly ring a bell, true! Also the changes.
― The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 March 2024 15:25 (three months ago) link
anita baker ward - ring my bell
― pplains, Saturday, 2 March 2024 16:36 (three months ago) link
He could play a guitar just like ringing a bell
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 2 March 2024 18:33 (three months ago) link
In "Safe From Harm" I'm pretty sure Massive Attack didn't mean to say "what happened to the deliberately treated small details of my childhood days"
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:08 (two months ago) link
Haha I have always wondered about that line
― Tim F, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:10 (two months ago) link