Old buffer redux [S. Worthen

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A few clarifications, following up on yesterday's poll.

[Poll #1805188]

Also on the subject of language recently: C wasn't familiar with the phrase "to phone in a performance".

major_clanger assures me it's an Americanism.

I'd never encountered "the subject in hand" before, only "the subject at hand"; yet, from online discussions, the former is apparently much more widespread and more multinational than the latter.

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There are 17 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

I think "clownish or mocked" is too strong. A bit doddery and/or set in his ways and/or slightly deaf and ignoring the fact might be closer

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Thank you for refining on what it might mean. I do appreciate it.

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I'd agree with m'learned friend above on the precise shadings of the term...

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I also concur.

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I wasn't aware of buffer as a term for a CPO, but even given that meaning I'd assume that Lord X would have been an officer rather than a non-comm, and that the author therefore meant the term as a synonym for duffer.

On 'phoning it in': Sarah says that it's an Americanism, also heard as 'dialing in a performance,' but that UK theatre types would recognise (and occasionally use) the phrase.

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Interesting. Thank you for the clarification; and also, on checking with Sarah about "phoning it in"!

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Also, if there is a recorded example of a peer of the realm who was also a petty officer in the navy I'd be curious to know when, where and how. At least after about 1830. I can just see a very young peer being rated Midshipman or Master's Mate before that date.

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Also "phoning in a performance" is certainly au courant in Toronto. I heard Isabel Bayrakdarian's Pamina earlier this year described thusly.

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Excellent. Thank you for Toronto evidence. (Alas, I cannot generalize from that to the rest of Canada, as you know.)

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I'm familiar with "phoning it in", and would not have thought it an Americanism.

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I clicked 'other' because I think 'clownish or mocked' is too strong. Calling someone an old buffer might be affectionate if slightly exasperated term. Set in his ways and stubborn about it rather than clownish.

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I am so grateful for language clarifications and the constellation of what this phrase might connote. Thank you!

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I think it's fascinating to try to articulate the meaning of a term I have heard and used so often but never thought about

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"Phoning in" a performance (acting, job, etc.) of some sort is certainly widely used here in the US.

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I'm pretty sure 'phoning it in' is American in origin--some vague recollection is telling me it comes out of sports commentary but it seems to be viral now.

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'Old duffer' implies an element of direct military action in the old man's (and it is man, not person) past that old buffer lacks - see meanings around 'duff up'. I'd have no problem with the former being applied to a retired non-comissioned officer in any service. 'Old buffer' carries (for me) an implication of past uniform or office without the associated element of action - to buff is to polish so perhaps batman or steward? Either implies a certain lack of brains and initiative coupled with rigidity of personal habits based on past military service, and neither quite works with 'Lord X' imho.

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For me an "old buffer" is a slightly less condemnatory than "old duffer" who is slightly foolish. Neither have any military connotations for me - just age and upper-middle class at least.

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S. Worthen | Weblog

Old buffer redux

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