Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Jan 18, 2006 20:58
18 yrs ago
English term
United States
As specialized as IT gets
Native in: Romanian 
Works in: Romanian to English, Moldavian to English, English
antelope
English
Art/Literary
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Slang?
I'm really puzzled by some usage of the terms "Antelope" and "Dynosaur" here in Northern California. While I could figure out what a Dynosaur may be, I'm not sure about "antelope".
The context is a couple of reviews of an apartment complex:
"It doesn't hurt to tip the on-site manager some antelopes every once in a while - it'll get you a closer parking spot." -- http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
"He's eaten most of the Antelope and management refuses to do anything about it!" -- http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
There might be some more usage at http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
(I don't work for any competing apartment complex :-)
Thanks.
The context is a couple of reviews of an apartment complex:
"It doesn't hurt to tip the on-site manager some antelopes every once in a while - it'll get you a closer parking spot." -- http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
"He's eaten most of the Antelope and management refuses to do anything about it!" -- http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
There might be some more usage at http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CA-Sunnyvale-Cherryhill...
(I don't work for any competing apartment complex :-)
Thanks.
Responses
| 2 +2 | women tenants |
RHELLER
|
| 2 +2 | meek victims |
Michael Barnett
|
| 3 | money/ a few bucks |
Aotearoa
|
| 1 | antelope = ANTE + enveLOPE |
sergey (X)
|
Responses
+2
45 mins
Selected
women tenants
My interpretation: The dinosaur is an old geezer who sits in the pool checking out all the antelopes (women).
Well, Dan, I did read a few of those postings and this one seems to tell the "whole" story. I'm still using a "low" confidence level.
used to live at Cherryhill a long time ago. I read these out of curiouisty. When I read the comments under the posting of .... main I just died. It is so true. Was when I lived there. Can't believe that old man pervert is still there. Women stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, Dan, I did read a few of those postings and this one seems to tell the "whole" story. I'm still using a "low" confidence level.
used to live at Cherryhill a long time ago. I read these out of curiouisty. When I read the comments under the posting of .... main I just died. It is so true. Was when I lived there. Can't believe that old man pervert is still there. Women stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jonathan MacKerron
: thanks for providing such a terse bit of authentic US malarky; unless it's a typo for cantalopes? lol
15 mins
|
|
well I know it's crap - I had never heard of "antelope" before - still can't be sure//I certainly do not envy Dan this job!
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| agree |
Charlesp
: maybe you'r right - I hope not though.
8 hrs
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|
thanks Charles - this world is a crazy place :-)
|
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| neutral |
Ulrike Kraemer
: How can women tenants be a tip to be given to the on-site manager (in Dan's first reference)?
9 hrs
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Your question is a good one - all of this is wild speculation- maybe the manager considers it an on-the-job bonus having female visitors (eye candy)?
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks everyone for their answers - I selected Rita's answer because she lived there, and this piece of slang seems very local."
+2
8 hrs
meek victims
I believe the "antelope" reference for the tip to the building manager makes no sense in the context of the other Cherryhill citations.
That said, I think the term antelope has become a slang metaphor for any benign victim of the urban jungle. The antelope as peaceful prey has become an icon through such media presentations as "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom". Each week some different predator is filmed stalking these meek animals, usually successfully.
I have even seen a brilliant "Simpsons" episode in which the cinematic style of these Wild Kingdom encounters is satirized by a firetruck stalking an antelope-like ambulance.
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Note added at 8 hrs 42 mins (2006-01-19 05:41:11 GMT)
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...or was it an RV? The ambulances, gathering like hyenas "wait their turn". :-))
That said, I think the term antelope has become a slang metaphor for any benign victim of the urban jungle. The antelope as peaceful prey has become an icon through such media presentations as "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom". Each week some different predator is filmed stalking these meek animals, usually successfully.
I have even seen a brilliant "Simpsons" episode in which the cinematic style of these Wild Kingdom encounters is satirized by a firetruck stalking an antelope-like ambulance.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs 42 mins (2006-01-19 05:41:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
...or was it an RV? The ambulances, gathering like hyenas "wait their turn". :-))
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Charlesp
: this is a great explaination - I am really impressed with Michael's so wide range of knowledge that he would know this - I would have never guessed this.
55 mins
|
|
Thanks Charles!
|
|
| agree |
RHELLER
: your idea deserves further investigation - can meek victims be considered a tip?
12 hrs
|
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Thanks Rita. For the tip, I was thinking cantaloupe. Was the manager at Cherryhill partial to fruit? ;-)
|
22 hrs
money/ a few bucks
"It doesn't hurt to tip the on-site manager some antelopes every once in a while - it'll get you a closer parking spot."
I think this is referring to bribing the manager.
I had a few ideas about why the word antelope might have been used, and after a lot of thought, I became convinced that it was just echoing the words of a nonsense apartment complex review.
I think that the other quote the asker mentions, about a dinosaur eating antelopes and a perodactyl flying around, which appeared first in the list of reviews, is nonsense, a prank review. However, the above reviewer responded with sarcastic humour, and echoed the nonsense review with use of the dinosaur and antelope as metaphors.
People in the apartment complex have complained about lack of safety, noisy children, cockroach infestation, spiders (apparently) and the management's refusal to fix these problems.
I believe someone, perhaps bemused by all these complaints, wrote the phoney complaint about an antelope-eating Tyrannosaurus-Rex and a Perodactyl flying around.
Quotes from the apartment complex reviews:
Date posted: 10/3/2002
"...Mangement a bunch of ----es [Bitches]
The management staff is always turning over here, the good one left. The leasing Consultant left- everyone was happy, even some of the staff she has yelled at. But she is back...Avoid this place. The bitch is back!"
[A dinosaur is not necessarily a man]
Date posted: 11/21/2002
"When I read the comments under the posting of "Sucks" about the head of main [maintenance]... Can't believe that old man pervert is still there...."
[There is no comment on the site under the posting "Sucks")
Date posted: 9/20/2003
"Dinosaurs and Antelope!!! They're everywhere!!!
I'm a little discouraged due to the fact that there is a giant Tyranosaurus Rex using the swimming pool. He's eaten most of the Antelope and management refuses to do anything about it! As a matter of fact, my grandfather was minding his own business when a huge Pterodactyl flew right out of the sky and tried to consume our huge satellite dish which we had just illegally installed atop the building. Dinosaurs can be very VERY dangerous and it's quite disheartening when management refuses to do anything about it."
I think the above review is just a flight of fancy, a story. I don't believe it has any disguised truth in it apart from the fact that they installed an illegal satellite dish and management is lax. I doubt this post is related to the "pervert head of maintenance". Maintenance people do maintenace work, they're not likely sitting around in the pool, so I don't think he is the dinosaur.
A very sarcastic review posted a few months after the dinosaur story,12/12/2003, entitled "Sandy Maier Gives the Cherryhill Apartments Two Thumbs Up!":
"Other than the fact the Tyrannosaurus Rex is now the on-site manager, this is the greatest place I've ever lived."
[The building manager is tyrannical, probably old- and it could be a woman! Women can be old dragons too. It could be the horrible woman who was the leasing consultant]
"In just one year, I've learned three Indian dialects (Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali) and a smattering of Korean."
[A lot of immigrants live there]
You could bribe the old dinosaur with a few antelopes.
You could bribe the building manager with a few bucks.
Many animal metaphors could have been used here, but I think the reviewer chose the dinosaur who would be appeased by antelopes as a clever way of referring back to the nonsense story.
Date posted: 5/20/2004
"Some of these statements on this site made me laugh. Dinosaurs, giant spiders, how funny".
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Note added at 1 day3 hrs (2006-01-20 00:13:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Spelling...pterodactyl! Don't use that word too often myself :-)
I think this is referring to bribing the manager.
I had a few ideas about why the word antelope might have been used, and after a lot of thought, I became convinced that it was just echoing the words of a nonsense apartment complex review.
I think that the other quote the asker mentions, about a dinosaur eating antelopes and a perodactyl flying around, which appeared first in the list of reviews, is nonsense, a prank review. However, the above reviewer responded with sarcastic humour, and echoed the nonsense review with use of the dinosaur and antelope as metaphors.
People in the apartment complex have complained about lack of safety, noisy children, cockroach infestation, spiders (apparently) and the management's refusal to fix these problems.
I believe someone, perhaps bemused by all these complaints, wrote the phoney complaint about an antelope-eating Tyrannosaurus-Rex and a Perodactyl flying around.
Quotes from the apartment complex reviews:
Date posted: 10/3/2002
"...Mangement a bunch of ----es [Bitches]
The management staff is always turning over here, the good one left. The leasing Consultant left- everyone was happy, even some of the staff she has yelled at. But she is back...Avoid this place. The bitch is back!"
[A dinosaur is not necessarily a man]
Date posted: 11/21/2002
"When I read the comments under the posting of "Sucks" about the head of main [maintenance]... Can't believe that old man pervert is still there...."
[There is no comment on the site under the posting "Sucks")
Date posted: 9/20/2003
"Dinosaurs and Antelope!!! They're everywhere!!!
I'm a little discouraged due to the fact that there is a giant Tyranosaurus Rex using the swimming pool. He's eaten most of the Antelope and management refuses to do anything about it! As a matter of fact, my grandfather was minding his own business when a huge Pterodactyl flew right out of the sky and tried to consume our huge satellite dish which we had just illegally installed atop the building. Dinosaurs can be very VERY dangerous and it's quite disheartening when management refuses to do anything about it."
I think the above review is just a flight of fancy, a story. I don't believe it has any disguised truth in it apart from the fact that they installed an illegal satellite dish and management is lax. I doubt this post is related to the "pervert head of maintenance". Maintenance people do maintenace work, they're not likely sitting around in the pool, so I don't think he is the dinosaur.
A very sarcastic review posted a few months after the dinosaur story,12/12/2003, entitled "Sandy Maier Gives the Cherryhill Apartments Two Thumbs Up!":
"Other than the fact the Tyrannosaurus Rex is now the on-site manager, this is the greatest place I've ever lived."
[The building manager is tyrannical, probably old- and it could be a woman! Women can be old dragons too. It could be the horrible woman who was the leasing consultant]
"In just one year, I've learned three Indian dialects (Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali) and a smattering of Korean."
[A lot of immigrants live there]
You could bribe the old dinosaur with a few antelopes.
You could bribe the building manager with a few bucks.
Many animal metaphors could have been used here, but I think the reviewer chose the dinosaur who would be appeased by antelopes as a clever way of referring back to the nonsense story.
Date posted: 5/20/2004
"Some of these statements on this site made me laugh. Dinosaurs, giant spiders, how funny".
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day3 hrs (2006-01-20 00:13:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Spelling...pterodactyl! Don't use that word too often myself :-)
Note from asker:
| Wow, Fiona, impressive research and amazing connection! I tend to think "antelope" stands for some kind of bribe, too. Thank you! |
2 days 4 hrs
antelope = ANTE + enveLOPE
the only slang that i am aware of is 'ante' - (orig. US) meaning 'money in hand, cash' which can be a tip:
"It doesn't hurt to tip the on-site manager some antelopes [cash in an envelope] every once in a while - it'll get you a closer parking spot."
ante up v. - pay money in advance.
could it be, like, a deposit?
"He's eaten [spent] most of the Antelope [deposit] and management refuses to do anything about it!"
only guessing .....
"It doesn't hurt to tip the on-site manager some antelopes [cash in an envelope] every once in a while - it'll get you a closer parking spot."
ante up v. - pay money in advance.
could it be, like, a deposit?
"He's eaten [spent] most of the Antelope [deposit] and management refuses to do anything about it!"
only guessing .....
Discussion