Here's another of those shorthand phrases I was talking about in a recent post.
Would you have any idea what a friend meant if they said someone was 'carrying'? Although actually, they'd be more likely to say "I didn't know if he was carrying or not". That's because most often the person in question would be 'carrying concealed'. Only today, I saw a sign advertising instruction in how to 'carry concealed'.
I think I'm only going to let non-Americans guess this one, so if you're an American, or resident in America, and you want to leave a comment, you can just say "I know, I know". I'm guessing the rest of you have worked it out by now.
They are carrying a gun, is my guess. Weird, isn't it? I'll never forget when we went into a K-Mart in California. All those guns. I felt like I'd come from a different planet.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'l keep quiet...
ReplyDeleteIts to do with guns obviously and not babies (but it would be funny to see how to carry a baby!)
ReplyDeleteBNM
I don't know if its just that deeply ingrained in my brain from growing up and living there 20 years ago, or if it's too much CSI or if it's the Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich) novels Ive read recently but I knew what you meant immediately.
ReplyDeleteI'll just say that's why you don't cut people off in traffic in Texas... you just never know... And yes, its scarry.
ReplyDeleteI'm with BNM - my first thought was - gosh those Yanks really have moved forward with enabling men to get pregnant, before remembering that we were talking about America. I do find it ever so scary. Particularly as I once saw a poster offering a free gun if you opened a bank account today...
ReplyDeleteyup I guessed guns too. the Brit in me wd interpret it as pregnant but as you gave the example as a male it made it obvious it wasn't that! And after all, in Britain we talk about carrying a gun too don't we?
ReplyDeletei feel a bit of a dumbo that everyone seemed to get that so readily. i am such a naif. i wondered if it was alcohol. of course it must be weapons. hmm. now i feel a bit depressed, and possibly british, knowing there's a whole group of people on the planet who feel it's a human right to shove pistols into their trouser legs.
ReplyDeleteI have't heard this one - and I have no idea. Carrying concealed - could it be pregnant and hasn't told anyone yet? Although I think Grit is probably right.....
ReplyDeleteI'll guess it's something to do with guns.
ReplyDeleteJacqueline
Gosh, I lead a sheltered life!
ReplyDeleteFirst I thought pregnant, as in carrying a baby..
then I thought it was something to do with a work permit and being illegal (??)..
then through the comments I guess it IS a gun!
Do I sound like I'm from a different planet?
Got it - but I think we say "packing" in this neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought it must be a baby until I noticed it was *he*. Then I thought it must be a gun!
ReplyDeleteMaggie X
Nuts in May
i thought baby, and i then i thought that's pretty british isn't it? and then i saw 'he' and you threw my mind into total chaos.
ReplyDeleteweird that it's guns in the states and babies in the uk. says a lot about the fundamental differences between the two countries. (unless i'm wrong?)
ReplyDeletelike the new look btw.
Maybe it's just because we've all got children that we're all thinking "it's babies isn't it? Oh, no, weird. She says he.... [pause for thought]...oh, it's America. It must be guns."
ReplyDeleteBecause it is guns, isn't it? Not shopping, or something totally inocuous, with which you're going to upset all our prejudices?
On second thoughts, please let it be that...
I am a military wife...so I definitely know!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can carry a concealed weapon in California, and though I'm familiar with the phrase from TV, its not something I'm ever heard anyone actually say. Can you carry a concealed weapon in your state?
ReplyDeleteMy perception of San Francisco is that only criminals carry guns, every middle class person I know is completely anti gun. We're such liberal outliers here!