Vin
>>John - maybe it's a language thing - here, the word "lousy" has lost all relation to it's original meaning of "infested with lice" and now simply means "not very good"<<
Here also, except that it retains its flavour of distaste and disparagement, meant in a critical way. Sort of like calling someone a "loser" for not passing an exam. It's more than just saying "not very good", a context thing. I suppose it also depends who says it.
Goodness, why are we on to this? Let me guess: we're co-operating to make this the longest thread ever?!
Regards
JR
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1