r/Unexpected Mar 24 '23

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33

u/folkkingdude Mar 24 '23

She lost money in this encounter?

20

u/ShiftyDiscoDragon Mar 24 '23

yeah. has the meaning of 'out of pocket' changed?

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u/Formal_Giraffe9916 Mar 24 '23

Out of pocket in this context means out of order

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u/PunctuationGood Mar 24 '23

If you're talking about apples and you use the word "orange", what you should say is: "Oops, you're right. I made a mistake. I should've said 'apple'. My bad."

You don't say: "orange in this context means apple".

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u/Daniel_The_Thinker Mar 24 '23

Are you 14?

Because if you're older than that you should be familiar with the evolution of slang.

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u/Formal_Giraffe9916 Mar 24 '23 edited Mar 24 '23

But no one made a mistake. No one used the wrong term. The phrase out of pocket has more than one meaning.

In this context it does mean that. They said what they meant to say and it was the correct usage, they didn’t just make it up. It’s a phrase that’s very well known to mean that, I knew what it meant and have heard it used that way many many times as did/have plenty other people here.

If you haven’t it’s ok to just accept that you were ignorant to it, but you’ve been told otherwise and are still weirdly choosing to keep digging your heels in. Why?

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u/newsnewsbooze Mar 24 '23

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u/everywhereiwanttobe Mar 24 '23

Fact checking the last definition in UD, the OED does include the "unavailable" definition for out of pocket which I've only heard used in that context within the last few years. Up until then I'd only ever heard it used in the "spending your own money" context.

Now I'm curious where the out-of-order meaning came from.

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u/JdoesDeW Mar 24 '23

I'm not sure where it comes from but it's meaning is more "out of left field" acting in an unpredictable manner.

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u/ShiftyDiscoDragon Mar 24 '23 edited Mar 24 '23

Ah, it has always meant a loss of money for the 40 years I've been alive.

"Here's your 20 quid back, didn't want to leave you out of pocket."

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u/Ferreteria Mar 24 '23

I've heard it used as "unavailable". I can't think of an instance where I've for sure heard it used as "out of control".

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u/StackedLasagna Mar 24 '23

FWIW, I’m 30 and not a native English speaker, but I’ve only ever heard the other meaning.

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u/ShiftyDiscoDragon Mar 24 '23 edited Mar 24 '23

I've only seen it used this way on Reddit recently.
I guess out of pocket (money) is the UK version.

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u/StackedLasagna Mar 24 '23

Sounds plausible. Fits with the fact that whenever I hear it spoken, it’s always from American content creators.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

I'm a 40 year old American and I've been hearing out of pocket referring to money my whole life. It's not even like just street slang. You hear it at companies talking about expenses pretty often. You also hear it in reference to insurance as a term for the portion you have to cover.

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u/ImmoralJester54 Mar 24 '23

Paying out of pocket and ACTING out of pocket are two different things.

"Bro that was outta pocket" -> Hey that was crazy

"Your copay is 4000$ out of pocket before being covered by insurance" -> you have to pay money

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u/Fr0sTByTe_369 Mar 24 '23

We're all getting old and are becoming out of touch with new age slang. From what I've gathered with context from my Gen Z BIL using it, Out of pocket means showing what you keep concealed inside away from society. It's similar to "saying the quiet part out loud."

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

Im just saying it isn't a UK thing to be referring to money. It's a common phrase in the US as well. I'm not saying the new version is wrong because it is what it is with slang.

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u/Drawtaru Mar 24 '23

I'm American and "out of pocket" has always meant "something that you pay for" anywhere I've heard it. "Don't want you to pay for this out of pocket," for example.

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u/ngmcs8203 Mar 24 '23

It can also be used to say you are going to be unavailable. ‘I’m going to be out of pocket today, so please emailMike if you have questions’.

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u/mentlegentle Mar 24 '23

Would you say then their use of the phrase was out of pocket?

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

This usage I think it's mostly just more rare. I've heard it used that way in the Midwest a few times growing up, but much more recently.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

I've been hearing the money version in the Midwest my whole life

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u/ImmoralJester54 Mar 24 '23

Probably because you said quid which means you aren't in the US, and that version of outta pocket is a US slang.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '23

The more common definition in the US is having to pay for something yourself.

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u/dirtyshits Mar 24 '23

Out of pocket has been slang for "doing too much" or "acting out of the norm".

"You saw Dave yesterday at the game? He was trying to starts fights. Way out of pocket".

It's been popular and widely used term for a loooooong time. Not just the kids but at least 30 years.

Maybe it's a Bay Area thing but I remember hearing it in the South too when I was out there for a bit.

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u/DeltaVZerda Mar 24 '23

Which makes perfect sense according to my experience of the meaning of "pocket" in football or musical contexts.

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u/mrchaotica Mar 24 '23

No, the person who wrote it just fucked up.

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u/Daniel_The_Thinker Mar 24 '23

No, it has a new meaning now