Another Angry WomanFeel like there's a typo here but I cannot for the life of me figure out what they *meant* to say
Sophie@stavvers do you mean “using in anger”? It’s as less common turn of phrase but it means “using for real”
@sophie I've literally never heard this construction in my life
Ben Curthoys@stavvers @sophie I didn't know that it wasn't commonplace. I couldn't work out what was wrong when I first saw the original post.
Always understood it as meaning "for real", not as a test or training. You would be using a fire extinguisher "in anger" if you used it to put out a real fire that had started by accident, whether or not you were cross about it.
Rob@bencurthoys @stavvers @sophie I picked up the construction of using something “in anger” when I used a piece of research software not to evaluate the software but because I wanted it to help me do my work: I was the first person to use the software “in anger” and I liked it because it captured my expectation that it just work so I could do my work and my frustration when it fell short