Another Angry WomanJul 12, 2023
Feel like there's a typo here but I cannot for the life of me figure out what they *meant* to say
Show threadSophieJul 12, 2023
@stavvers do you mean “using in anger”? It’s as less common turn of phrase but it means “using for real”
Show threadAnother Angry WomanJul 12, 2023
@sophie I've literally never heard this construction in my life
Show threadgregopetJul 12, 2023
@stavvers @sophie I've seen it used in military jargon ("The royal navy hasn't fired any guns in anger for the last 5 years") and I feel it may be more British (but I'm not a native speaker so I may be completely off on this).
Show threadEvelynJul 13, 2023
@gregopet @stavvers @sophie Using that phrase outside of any weapons-related context seems like a very British turn of speech: “Some of these swim toys might as well be brand new: I don’t think any of us have used a pool noodle in anger all summer.”
Show threadAngela Glansbury 🚽Jul 13, 2023

@gorfram @gregopet @stavvers @sophie
Ok everyone, I am in a library with a decent reference section today.

"in anger" doesn't feature in Oxford shorter dictionary, Websters international, Oxford Phrase and Fable, Brewers Phrase and Fable (or Brewers Irish, London, or modern).

However it is in The Cassel Dictionary of Slang. Dated (1970+) and no origin.

I'll follow up that suggestion it may be military slang.

Show threadAngela Glansbury 🚽Jul 13, 2023
@gorfram @gregopet @stavvers @sophie
no mention in dictionaries of ww1 or ww2 slang. No mention on the Economist or Guardian style guides. I'll dig into Hansard and The Times in my own time. I appreciate I will be exhausting some people's patience so will keep my research to myself.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanJul 13, 2023
@floppyplopper @gorfram @gregopet @sophie Please do tell me, this is genuinely fascinating
Show threadAngela Glansbury 🚽Jul 13, 2023

@stavvers @gorfram @gregopet @sophie
my instinct is that during the cold war at some point people became concerned about the uk's war readiness and so you might see in the times or hansard the phrase "XX Batallion of whatever has not fired a shot in anger [to distinguish it from test firing or training] for over 20 years, blah blah blah". This was possibly taken up as humorous but still military, as in "XX canteen hasn't fried an egg in over 20 years". to out of military context but still humorous "that idle sod hasn't done X in anger for over 20 years" to people losing the context and humour as in the report you posted today.

Just conjecture. I have heard "in anger" used before and just assumed meaning from context as you do with all language. I hadn't considered how funny it sounds.

Show threadChristopher Phin
@floppyplopper @stavvers @gorfram @gregopet @sophie Data point: I’ve made a conscious effort to _stop_ using this phrase as although it seems perfectly cromulent to me, it’s apparently 😅 not well known, and gets met with bafflement (or a perfectly justifiable assumption of aggression).
Jul 13, 2023 at 11:23amIvory for iOS