Actually, in America if you say "I’m really knocked out", it implies that someone or thing has done the knocking to you. "Worn out" or "wiped out" might be better choices.
In the UK there is a great expression for very tired. It is "knackered", which probably has its root in knacker - the person that renders old worn out horses into glue.
Thank you Perry, however I found this meaning of KNOCK OUT on http://www.webster.com : (point 3)
Main Entry: knock out
Function: transitive verb
1 : to produce roughly or hastily
2 a (1) : to defeat (a boxing opponent) by a knockout (2) : to make unconscious <the drug knocked him out> b : to make inoperative or useless <electricity was knocked out by the storm> c : to get rid of : ELIMINATE <knocked out illegal gambling>
3 : to tire out : EXHAUST <knocked themselves out with work>
4 : to cause (an opposing pitcher) to be removed from a baseball game by a batting rally
There is a sense to "knock out" that means "to make a great effort" as in
They had to really knock themselves out to finish the job by 5 o’clock.
I don’t think "knock out" actually denotes "become exhausted" but more emphasizes the effort they put into it. Of course they could have exhausted themselves, but not necessarily.
There is a sense to "knock out" that means "to make a great effort" as in
They had to really knock themselves out to finish the job by 5 o’clock.
I don’t think "knock out" actually denotes "become exhausted" but more emphasizes the effort they put into it. Of course they could have exhausted themselves, but not necessarily.
Cheers, BNJTOKYO
I think you are right, bnjtokyo! "Knock out" is ambiguous!
"They knocked themselves out planning this party." could mean that they spend alot of money or time, but not necessarily that they wore themselves out.
"Knock out" brought to mind a discussion we had here back during the Agora’s Cretacious period about the phrase "to knock up."
In the UK it means "to wake (someone) up", from the practice in mill towns during the Industrial Revolution of having someone walk through the streets knocking on the upper windows with a long pole to wake the workers. In the US the phrase means "to impregnate."
This can cause understandable confusion when a woman from the UK tells an American host "Why don’t you knock me up at 7:00 tomorrow morning?" :o
I went searching for that thread, but it must have been one of the Famous Lost Threads.
Then there’s the old joke about the driver who had to slam on his brakes when a pregnant woman jaywalked from between two parked cars. He leaned out his window and yelled, "You’d better watch where you’re going, lady, or you’re gonna get knocked down too!"
We’ll save a discussion of the various meanings of "fanny pack" for another day. :o
One needn’t always be separated by an ocean for phrases to change.
I noticed a big difference between the Northern US and Southern US meanings for "don’t care to ..." Namely in the North that would more likely mean "do not wish to do whatever, whereas in the South it more usually means "it doesn’t bother me to do whatever". I.e. North - decline, South accept. Tim, if you are following this thread, have you noticed the same, or is this more locallised to the mountain areas?
[quote author=Perry link=board=what;num=1082030758;start=0#10 date=04/16/04 at 15:16:00] . . . I noticed a big difference between the Northern US and Southern US meanings for "don’t care to ..." Namely in the North that would more likely mean "do not wish to do whatever, whereas in the South it more usually means "it doesn’t bother me to do whatever". I.e. North - decline, South accept. . . .
I must not be far enough south. I see the difference between "I don’t care to (do something)" meaning I don’t wish or want to and "I don’t care" meaning it makes no difference to me or it does not matter whether I do a particular thing or not.
"Do you want to jump off the cliff?"
"I don’t care to." means "No, I do not want to jump off the cliff." This is a negative reply.
"I don’t care." means "It doesn’t matter to me whether or not I jump off the cliff." This is a reply of indifference, perhaps with a tinge of depression or a suicidal tendency. :D
Then my observation may really only be localised to the mountains around Asheville (in areas such as Bakersville, and Burnsville). There I have heard "don’t care to" used as the equivillant of "that’d be alright".
Sitran, you have just damned me if I do damned if I don’t. If you recall the Sutures and Staples thread I am in no shape to seek proof. (Will it help if I tell you that my brother, who used to live in Bakersville, remembers the same thing?)
Actually it is not as strange as you think. In modern Hebrew the same way of phrasing is used (lo ichpat li l’asot… or I don’t care to do…) for what really means "[if you want me to do such and such] it doesn’t bother me.
