Hi, Mark! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:
"out of pocket" has always meant "out of touch"
for me...
Interesting. I'd never heard this phrase used
the way you use it,
actually, not the way i use it... i've never used
it but it is how it was used by someone else some
years ago in another echo...
Ah. I don't know who you're referring to, but I imagine it may have been in common use where he came from & he didn't realize folks from SomePlace Else might see it differently. Happens all the time in Fidonet... [wry grin].
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Shortly after this thread got started in E_T, a friend sent Dallas a message which reminded me of a similar incident. If you go to facebook & look for "Dead Fred's Genealogy Photo Archive" you can see a photo of a middle-aged Londoner aiming a pea shooter at an upstairs window. In years gone by, before reliable alarm clocks became generally available, women like her were employed to wake people up in the morning. For those who don't have access to facebook ... we found this character & her occupational title intriguing, but her story is the icing on the cake. In the anecdote I'll share next what matters may be found in RANDOM HOUSE WEBSTER'S, OXFORD CANADIAN, and other dictionaries. :-)
***
Now fast-forward about half a century. As a university student, I'm also employed as a server at a private club. Two of my co-workers are Aussies ... young males who want to see a bit of the world & have found temporary jobs as bartenders. Happens all the time in the southwestern corner of BC, Canada. Typically the males are bartenders & the females are nurses. (I could say the principle still seems to apply as of 2012, in my experience... but I digress.)
While a bunch of us are sharing a table in the staff room one of the Aussies says to the other, "I'll knock you up in the morning." Everybody else laughs hysterically. The Aussies don't understand what's so funny... and that makes it even funnier to the Canadians. Finally some kind soul stops laughing long enough to explain that the meaning is quite different in US English. ;-)
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)