Annoying Words & Phrases

scotchandcigar said:
Would you like some more?" "No, I'm all set". And if you're ready to go, you're "all set".
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Oh shit, I had no idea all set was a Northeast thing. I guess it found its way at least as far south as Philly because that is a common phrase I still use in the exact situations you mentioned and I just assumed everybody did. I don't really pay attention when I hear it or don't hear it from other people.
 
I'm reading Neil O'Brien's new book, After Disney: Toil, Trouble & The Transformation Of America's Favorite Media Company. He writes that after Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, "phones at the Disney studio were ringing off the hook with inquiries from around the world."

No. Phones do not ring off the hook. Ever. I'm not even sure what the "hook" is – but I know phones do not, and can not, ring off it.
 
Channel98 said:
I'm not even sure what the "hook" is
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My guess is that it implies that the phones were ringing so much. They literally shook themselves off the receptacle thing that you would put the ear and mouthpiece down on when you hung up like back in the day.

I picture specifically this type of phone with the headpiece falling off the hook that held it in place when not in use.

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scotchandcigar said:
View attachment 10329
The hook is circled.
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Oh you think it goes back to like the 1920s? And the first phones like Alexander Graham Bell shit?

I assumed it was more like Mad Men era type shit. Because in the twenties barely anyone had a phone but in the '60s they were popularized. So like if some shit went down on I Love Lucy or whatever everybody would call NBC all at once and that would have the phones ring off the hook per se.... And those phones were the ones that I pictured in my previous post.

I'm not sure if you looked it up for your last post or you just knew that off the top of your head. But if you didn't look it up, don't look it up. I think it's more fun to debate this shit where we both don't actually know the right answer like for 100% sure. Even though we're talking on the internet, it's fun to debate things and not just find the answer from a Google search right away.
 
Here is how the Oxford English Dictionary defines "ring off the hook": "Of a telephone, to ring constantly or excessively." I would add, "The idiom is not to be taken literally."
 
Channel98 said:
Here is how the Oxford English Dictionary defines "ring off the hook": "Of a telephone, to ring constantly or excessively." I would add, "The idiom is not to be taken literally."
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Dude!!!???

Literally the last thing I said in the previous post was let's not look it up because it's more fun to just debate it without automatically finding an internet answer.

It's kind of fun to have to think about this shit like back in the day when there wasn't internet. And if you really wanted to know you had to go to the library if you didn't have a set of encyclopedias.
 
I know what the idiom means. I added that it shouldn't be taken literally because it is not possible for any phone to "ring off the hook." I discovered that Betty Rubble had one of the first rotary-dial telephones.

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Channel98 said:
I discovered that Betty Rubble had one of the first rotary-dial telephones.
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Yeah that's a good call (pun intended). I'm pretty sure Betty Rubble in the Stone Age definitely had one of the first rotary telephones.

Hahahahahahahahaha.
 
sadchild said:
Can confirm
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The idea that saying all set is not commonly used throughout America is very surprising to me. I had no idea until we started talking about it.

If you and your wife want to go to dinner and one or the other asks, you ready to go? They reply with all set.

If you ask your kid if he's ready for the test tomorrow, he replies with I'm all set.

When my boss asks me down here if I'm ready for the auditor to show up, I tell him I'm all set boss, steer the auditor to my place, it's ready to impress.

You guys telling me all set is not a normal part of American English throughout our country is so weird to me.

This is the adult version of teenage me learning that people using the word heartburn were using a synonym for agita.
 
Doing a little research, it seems to have originated in New England. It's also commonly used now in much of the US, but I saw examples of people from California who never heard the phrase until moving east. The same with my stepdaughter from Florida.
 
scotchandcigar said:
Doing a little research, it seems to have originated in New England. It's also commonly used now in much of the US, but I saw examples of people from California who never heard the phrase until moving east. The same with my stepdaughter from Florida.
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Weird, though not surprising. My dad's side of the family is from Boston/New England so I've heard 'all set' all my life. Despite only spending 3 years (the first 3) in VA, and moving to/staying in Colorado ever since.
 
In 1974, country singer Razzy Bailey wrote and recorded I Hate Hate. It was a minor hit. I'm thinking of writing a song titled I Don't Like 'Like'. This is from Entertainment Weekly, March 12, 2025:

"Discussing his film debut in 8 Mile, Anthony Mackie remembered star Eminem as 'such a brilliant dude' on Tuesday's episode of Pivot Podcast. "He was like, 'I was reading the script and I was kinda thinking there's no reason for me not to like you. You're a cool dude, I like you.' I was like, 'I like you too.' He was like, 'Cool, so you don't mind if I add some stuff in the script about you?'" Mackie recalled a particular day on set when the rapper, born Marshall Mathers, told him, "'Yo, it don't make sense that we beefing.' I was like, 'Right?' He was like, 'I need something on you.' We talked for, like, two hours, chilling. I'm like, 'All right, man, I'll see you later.'"

Sheesh!
 
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