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the or each
treated / would treat

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

A

English answer:

an emphatic yes/hell yes/damn right/for sure

Added to glossary by Jacek Kloskowski
Jun 11, 2017 20:45
6 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term

A

Non-PRO English Other Slang
"While I’m pretty sure a woman such as yourself already has plans, I thought I’d take a
chance and ask if there’s any possibility you would have dinner with me.”
He endured a long silence before she said, “A table at Jean-Georges
is hard to get.”
Fuckin’ A, he thought. He’d had to remind the maître d’ of a
certain incident he’d quieted down before it made Page Six. “I just
told them there was a chance—just a chance—that the most beautiful
and charming lady in New York might grace their establishment,
and they fell all over themselves.”

What's "A"? I suppose it might be some kind of rating, but have not found anything that would fit the bill, and besides Jean-Georges is a top place and not just some obscure A-rated diner. So what else can it be?
Responses
3 +5 an emphatic yes/hell yes/damn right/for sure
5 +5 fucking awesome
Change log

Jun 12, 2017 10:59: Yasutomo Kanazawa changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Jun 25, 2017 07:42: Jacek Kloskowski Created KOG entry

Jun 25, 2017 07:42: Jacek Kloskowski changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1966699">Jacek Kloskowski's</a> old entry - "A"" to ""an emphatic yes/hell yes/damn right/for sure""

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Björn Vrooman, Yvonne Gallagher, Yasutomo Kanazawa

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Sheila Wilson Jun 12, 2017:
Category Definitely a PRO question, IMHO. How could it not be when native speakers are confused as to the meaning? It's also potentially offensive to those who are offended by the F word, and many are. I suppose I should be having the vapours or something, as an older woman, but I'm made of sterner stuff.
12316323 (X) Jun 11, 2017:
I didn't realize that either. There are the "behind the scenes" thoughts, showing how hard he really had to work to get the table. And then there's his witty banter, where he pretends it was easy to impress and flatter her. I'm sure this is it.
Björn Vrooman Jun 11, 2017:
@Kathryn Edit: Ah, now I understand. The third part in quotation marks is directly related to the first. Somehow, I thought this was internal dialog.

I won't rescind my agreement. KudoZ rules require that you choose the most helpful answer. You gave both explanations; one of them is correct.

Fun fact: So I was actually right with my first d-box post.

Best wishes
12316323 (X) Jun 11, 2017:
Björn, I'd prefer to be right, but it's now clear to me that I was not. And the right interpretation now seems clear as day to me. Though I'm quite puzzled by Jack's comment here in the discussion... I agree with his answer below, but if it were "Score!" (which is how I understood it all along), I'd argue that my answer was right (and better) to begin with. So, it looks like he's accidentally but luckily arrived at the right answer through a mistaken understanding. Sorry, Jack. I still agree with your answer, but "Score!" has nothing to do with agreement.

I have zero doubt that he's agreeing with her. You've got that right... You're damn right it's hard... You have no idea! Little did she know/if she only knew that HE'd had to do XYZ... No one knew better than he how hard it was. It looks like he'd had to bribe them.
Jacek Kloskowski Jun 11, 2017:
IMHO, "fuckin' A" in given context expresses emphatic positive surprise that the lady has agreed for a date. He was not sure she will accept the invitation, thinking she'd decline, but to his surprise she did. Essentially, he said to himself: "Score!":

Score:
(...)
4) The act of securing an advantage, especially a surprising or significant gain.
(...)
7) A sexual conquest.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=score
Björn Vrooman Jun 11, 2017:
@Kathryn Well, I think I can agree with everything you said here, but don't regarding your agreement to the other answer. In the post we both shared, there's also this: "It can vent frustration. Dude, you drank my last can of LaCroix? Fucking A."

While I could still argue in favor of your suggestion ("awesome"), I'd have to reject the second answer's "emphatic yes." It's sarcasm. You're not "agreeing" - in fact, you may just add the letter "s" twice to the first.
12316323 (X) Jun 11, 2017:
I really agree with this line in the post we both shared: "But fucking A does a lot of its work announcing a kind of agreement – a subtle, knowing, or sympathizing kind of agreement."

Kind of depends on the context, but I'd say the following are/can be synonyms:

All right...
Right on...
Damn straight...

But from the context here, I think he's just psyched to get this non-rejection.
Björn Vrooman Jun 11, 2017:
@Kathryn To clarify: you're probably right. I think I've misread part of the text at first; I hate he said-she said moments, haha.

Got a game at home where they say: "Let's kick some A" - well, it's a versatile letter.
12316323 (X) Jun 11, 2017:
Used ironically? Great... Fantastic...

In any case, I can't tell from the limited context if she's agreeing to the date with him or not, and, thus, his reaction. It sounds like she's giving a tentative yes, but pointing out (and maybe hoping that this will be her easy escape) that a table at this restaurant isn't easy to get (assuming he'd mentioned it to her). So he was thrilled to hear that that was her only objection, as he'd already secured the reservation because he knew the maître d’. Again, that's what I understand.
Björn Vrooman Jun 11, 2017:
@allp https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/what-the-fuck-is...

Not sure that squares with Kathryn's interpretation. I thought it was meant to vent frustration here.

Responses

+5
27 mins
Selected

an emphatic yes/hell yes/damn right/for sure

Peer comment(s):
agree 12316323 (X) : I now think this is right here. He's thinking, you're damn right it's hard to get a table there... I had to do XYZ (jump through all these hoops). - Ha, well I completely disagree. See discussion. That's what I thought before. Still agree w/ your answer!
9 mins
Thank you. IMO, it is rather expressing elation about the fact she has accepted his invitation. Much to his surprise :)
agree philgoddard
29 mins
Thanks!
agree Jack Doughty
1 hr
Thank you.
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : your answer heading is OK but your understanding agrees with Kathryn's initial understanding and the more usual meaning of "A". It doesn't mean "expressing elation about the fact she has accepted his invitation=score" here
11 hrs
Thank you for your input
agree Yasutomo Kanazawa
13 hrs
Thank you.
agree acetran
1 day 6 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+5
1 min
English term (edited): fuckin a

fucking awesome

http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/fucki...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuckin A

Now this was a gimme :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2017-06-11 20:49:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

More references:

https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/what-the-fuck-is...

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2077/whats-the-orig...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fucking_A#English

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2017-06-11 20:50:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

*And I should have included the apostrophe: fuckin' A.
Note from asker:
And to think I've spent two hours studying restaurants ratings... :) Thanks!
Peer comment(s):
agree Björn Vrooman : Whether it's awesome or some other A-word, I agree with your explanation(s) in d-box. Gotta say I'm curious about the Polish version of this one :)
12 mins
Thanks, Björn. I'm not trying to say that the A stands for awesome, but it is the generally accepted/assumed/used meaning.
agree Tony M : There is also 'fucking Ada', of course!
26 mins
Thanks, Tony. Had to look that one up.
neutral philgoddard : Not in this context.
55 mins
I figured it out.
agree Daryo : unfortunately you don't get voice intonations in print - he probably meant at the same time a straight meaning of "great that she accepted" and ironically "that's great - it's going to be hard work to get that table"
2 hrs
Thanks, Daryo. I think he already had the table, though.
agree Yvonne Gallagher : "awesome" most common meaning (and ="score") but yes, here it's "you're damn right it's hard to get a table there... I had to do XYZ (jump through all these hoops)"//no, he hasn't understood it at all it seems.
2 hrs
Thanks, Gallagy. So, you agree with Jack, not me, correct? I only came to that accurate interpretation belatedly, alas. - I'm afraid I can't disagree with you.
agree JohnMcDove : After reading all the "material", I agree with this answer, and "partially" with Jack's. IMHO it seems rather a PRO question.
3 hrs
Thanks, John.
neutral Yasutomo Kanazawa : Agree with philgoddard.
14 hrs
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