Pedants' Paradise

[french frank]

Never heard of it before but if you google it, it seems to be quite common. Turn down the heat? Mind you, I never thought 'sex up' a very appropriate image. Just make it sounds more exciting in the press. And headline writers love words with low character counts - like 'fury', 'rift' &c.

[jean]

Never heard of it before but if you google it, it seems to be quite common...

I've just googled it, but the only references I get that are in any sense the opposite of 'sexing up' are from today's news.

I think that whoever coined this in the sense I'm talking about (Nick Clegg?) thought of 'down' as the opposite of 'up', and didn't really consider what the 'sexing' bit meant.

.

[french frank]

I've just googled it, but none of the references I get are in any sense the opposite of 'sexing up'!

No, it mainly seems to be a youth slang term. Though 'make more exciting' might be rendered as 'more urgent', thus 'needing urgent action'. As I say, I think it was coined by the press to make the press stories even more exciting, sensational. Which might be wholly justified, of course ...

But I'm wrong ...

OED, first use is 1931:

3. trans. colloq. With up. To make more sexually exciting or explicit; to inject sexual content into (a book, film, etc.). Now also more generally: to make something more interesting or exciting; to spice up.
1931 H. L. Wilson Two Black Sheep 159 ‘Put her in one of those things and sex it up to a glucose finish!’ ‘But she ain't film-minded,’ insisted the director sadly.


Article updated 2008, but hasn't caught up with 'sex down' - definitely a new (ad hoc?) coinage.

[jean]

I edited my post, because references from today's news have have just appeared online!

Definitely ad hoc, and could never make much sense out of a context in which sexed up hadn't become notorious.

(I didn't realise sex up was so old, though.)

[mercia]

And headline writers love words with low character counts - like 'fury', 'rift' &c.

yes, that must explain CHAOS when a train is five minutes late, or it starts to rain

[jean]

Article updated 2008, but hasn't caught up with 'sex down' - definitely a new (ad hoc?) coinage.

But here it is in a literal sense:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/bra-cup-coup-jennifer-love-hewitt-sexed-down-20130516-2joed.html

(I could analyse why this works better than the metaphorical sense we are dealing with here, but I haven't got time.)

[french frank]

yes, that must explain CHAOS when a train is five minutes late, or it starts to rain

Yes - and FURY!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

- and SHOCK every time there's a puny rise in council tax.

[teamsaint]

- and SHOCK every time there's a puny rise in council tax.

the rises that took my council tax to a £180 a month weren't puny at all.

They were HUGE

[french frank]

the rises that took my council tax to a £180 a month weren't puny at all.

They were HUGE

One-Hundred-and-EIGHTY? Bof! Oh, a MONTH!!?? You'd better move, or downsize. (Mine's only (only!!) £95. But then, it's a very modest dwelling in an unfashionable area ...

[teamsaint]

One-Hundred-and-EIGHTY? Bof! Oh, a MONTH!!?? You'd better move, or downsize. (Mine's only (only!!) £95. But then, it's a very modest dwelling in an unfashionable area ...

..a month, obviously !! Downsize? I wish. Kids can't get on the housing ladder , parents want to move in.......sigh......

TS Towers may have a posh name,but its a modest family home, and I think you will find that it is " Up the hill" that is the fashionable part of this village.

Bristol is highly desirable in its entirety... all the young people love it....especially now that Eastville Stadium has been replaced by an IKEA and a Tesco.....

anyway, all off topic , (what is the topic again?) all due to EA's inflammatory remarks...or are they flammatory?......

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

anyway, all off topic , (what is the topic again?) all due to EA's inflammatory remarks...or are they flammatory?......

My point was that headliners use the word "shock" for things that are entirely predictable.

[jean]

And mine was about SEX UP (or DOWN), either of which ff speculated might be attractive to headline writers because of their low letter count.

(Honestly, the short attention span round these parts...)

[teamsaint]

My point was that headliners use the word "shock" for things that are entirely predictable.

ah, but "puny " rises in council tax aren't predictable....the huge ones are.....

anyway, looks like I have the wrong end of the" council tax rise" stick.....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(Honestly, the short attention span round these parts...)

It's still about pedantry though.