What is a hip pocket opportunity
fl
I read the following passage. Although I check "a hip pocket
opportunity" in a dictionary, I still cannot understand it. I have no
connection between a hip pocket and the opportunity. Could you tell me
something about it? Thanks.
Ortega said he did not believe the debt offer was a game-changing deal
for CIT.
"This is simply a hip pocket opportunity for them," he said. "Those
poor guys have a much bigger problems ... CIT has a big chunk of oil
and gas debt. We only want a sliver."
annily
It sounds like an opportunity to make a small amount of money (i.e. it's
not particularly significant in terms of their overall business),
probably so-called because the hip pocket in a pair of trousers is a
common place to keep a wallet containing a relatively small amount of money.
--
Long-time resident of Adelaide, South Australia,
which may or may not influence my opinions.
ella
"annily" <ann...@ihopethisdoesntexist.com> wrote >
> It sounds like an opportunity to make a small amount of money (i.e. it's
> not particularly significant in terms of their overall business), probably
> so-called because the hip pocket in a pair of trousers is a common place
> to keep a wallet containing a relatively small amount of money.
Probably...Yet I remember men telling me that they were out to "party" and
were "carrying on the hip"...meaning, if subsequent extravagances were
anything to go by, that they had quite a *large* amount of dosh in their
pants!
Donna Richoux
It's still a bit of the puzzle, but I found one use that might have some
connection. "Hip-pocket" is definitely used in US military circles to
refer to on-the-spot training. For example:
Q: What is a hip pocket class?
A: A short informal period of instruction that is given on the spur
of the moment to a small unit or individual to correct a deficiency.
And:
DEFINITION
* A Hip Pocket Class is:
- A short informal period of instruction.
-Given on the spur of the moment.
-Given to a small unit (or a solitary marine).
-Corrects a deficiency.
*Described as a "teachable moment".
In this vein, I can find (with or without hyphen)
hip-pocket training
hip-pocket lesson
So I think the word picked up the idea of "quick, small,
spur-of-the-moment." That's my best guess as to what Ortega meant.
Perhaps that meaning has migrated to other combinations, though so far I
don't turn up much.
This may be the source:
Hip-pocket guide
It yields over 80,000 Google hits, such as:
The Hip Pocket Guide to the Humboldt Coast,
A Hip Pocket Guide To Athletic Recruiting
A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms
Amazon.com: Hip Pocket Guide to HTML 4.01
The Hip Pocket Guide to Offbeat Wisdom
I can imagine a corporal pulling out a hip-pocket guide in order to give
his or her soldiers a quick, spontaneous lesson in the field.
The original question was about Ortega's "simply a hip pocket
opportunity for them." Now, where this gets confusing is that the
military "hip-pocket training" appears also to be called "opportunity
training." I find this stated a number of places, such as:
Opportunity Training is also known as "hip-pocket"
training or concurrent training.
This is opportunity (hip-pocket) training.
You now have the perfect opportunity for hip-pocket
training ("opportunity training" in FM 25-3). In this
example, one platoon sergeant and a squad leader ...
So do people combine them, as if with an unspoken slash:
"hip-pocket/opportunity training"? I do find this, but only once, when
this Staff Seargeant wrote:
Training is the primary responsibility of every
non-commissioned officer, whether it's the hip-pocket
opportunity training in the platoon office, or a
planned multi-task training event involving troop
movements, convoy operations and reacting to contact.
It would be speculation to say that the phrase "hip-pocket/opportunity
training" has occurred so often in military circles that some people
mistakenly think that the "hip-pocket-opportunity" part goes together,
saying something about a kind of opportunity. It's possible but would
take more evidence to prove.
--
Best wishes -- Donna Richoux
CDB
> Hi,
> I read the following passage. Although I check "a hip pocket
> opportunity" in a dictionary, I still cannot understand it. I have
> no connection between a hip pocket and the opportunity. Could you
> tell me something about it? Thanks.
>
Google are the same as the one you quote below. There are several
others that have a military context, so maybe the expression comes
originally from that quarter.
One such is "Training is the primary responsibility of every
non-commissioned officer, whether it's the hip-pocket opportunity
training in the platoon office, or a planned multi-task training event
involving troop movements ..."*. That would make a "hip-pocket
opportunity" one that you can take advantage of when circumstances
allow, because you are generally ready for it, although you did not
plan for it or expect it; something,probably minor, that you come
across while you are dealing with other things. That's a guess, but
it's my best one.
>
*
http://www.usarak.army.mil/alaskapost/archives2008/080125/Jan25Story11.asp
tony cooper
wrote:
>fl wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I read the following passage. Although I check "a hip pocket
>> opportunity" in a dictionary, I still cannot understand it. I have
>> no connection between a hip pocket and the opportunity. Could you
>> tell me something about it? Thanks.
>>
>It seems to be a rare expression.
"Hip pocket opportunity" may be rare, but "hip pocket (business)" is
not. Hearing that "He's a hip pocket builder" would tell you that the
builder is a small operation and he could probably carry all of the
paperwork necessary to run the business in his hip pocket.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Don Phillipson
news:30f314ff-e3d7-4a08...@d4g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
"Hip pocket" is informal American vernacular that expresses
readiness for instant use in the way that (for example) carrying a
hip flask permits the owner to drink whenever he wants. Hip
pocket functions are usually minor, cf. the small capacity of a
hip flask. A similar appelation is "tool belt" because many
American workers carry (small) tools on a special belt, ready
for instant use: but you cannot carry on a tool belt (or on your
hip) big tools, e.g. a full-sized saw or an impact driver.
The usage you cite is only a metaphor (a hip pocket opportunity
for investment) and a mixed metaphor at that (because the
speaker also says it was not game-changing. a metaphor from
sports journalism) -- so this quotation is not useful data for learning
everyday usage.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
CDB
> "CDB" <belle...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> fl wrote:
>
>>> I read the following passage. Although I check "a hip pocket
>>> opportunity" in a dictionary, I still cannot understand it. I have
>>> no connection between a hip pocket and the opportunity. Could you
>>> tell me something about it? Thanks.
>>>
>> It seems to be a rare expression.
>
> "Hip pocket opportunity" may be rare, but "hip pocket (business)" is
> not. Hearing that "He's a hip pocket builder" would tell you that
> the builder is a small operation and he could probably carry all of
> the paperwork necessary to run the business in his hip pocket.
So maybe not military, then. I had thought of the possibility of a
small pistol carried in a hind pocket (you hear occasional reports of
people shooting themselves in the ass), but the papers sound more
likely.
Pat Durkin
news:1j7zl4s.sea4fae96q9wN%tr...@euronet.nl...
Military jargon as opposed to military usage is not quite inherently
self-contradictory, but this, your cited instance reminds me of when
someone (I think during the Korean conflict) decided to label
"obstacle courses" as "confidence courses.
I wonder if you found any discussion relating "hip-pocket" to "on the
fly", "on the run", or "spur-of-the-moment", since it seems to refer
to ad hoc situations in which the barbed-wire-and-chewing-gum
solutions are resorted to for lack of time and equipment.
Chuck Riggs
Yes, to say something is a hip-pocket opportunity is American slang
meaning an offering can soon be in the bag, that it is an almost
certain deal and is probably easy to arrange.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs,
who speaks AmE, lives near Dublin, Ireland,usually spells in BrE
and hasn't corrected his email address yet
Donna Richoux
> "Donna Richoux" <tr...@euronet.nl> wrote in message
> news:1j7zl4s.sea4fae96q9wN%tr...@euronet.nl...
[snip]
>>"Hip-pocket" is definitely used in US military circles
> > to
> > refer to on-the-spot training. For example:
> >
> > Q: What is a hip pocket class?
> >
> > A: A short informal period of instruction that is given on the
> > spur
> > of the moment to a small unit or individual to correct a
> > deficiency.
> >
> > And:
> >
> > DEFINITION
> > * A Hip Pocket Class is:
> > - A short informal period of instruction.
> > -Given on the spur of the moment.
> > -Given to a small unit (or a solitary marine).
> > -Corrects a deficiency.
> > *Described as a "teachable moment".
[snip more stuff]
> I wonder if you found any discussion relating "hip-pocket" to "on the
> fly", "on the run", or "spur-of-the-moment", since it seems to refer
> to ad hoc situations in which the barbed-wire-and-chewing-gum
> solutions are resorted to for lack of time and equipment.
Both of those examples I quoted say "spur of the moment." Are you asking
for more than that, and if so, what?
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Roland Hutchinson
I think it is American slang that won't be understood by a large number
of Americans, myself among them.
--
Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba,"
... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy.
--Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>"fl" <rxj...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:30f314ff-e3d7-4a08...@d4g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
>
>> I read the following passage. Although I check "a hip pocket
>> opportunity" in a dictionary, I still cannot understand it. I have no
>> connection between a hip pocket and the opportunity. Could you tell me
>> something about it? Thanks.
>>
>> Ortega said he did not believe the debt offer was a game-changing deal
>> for CIT.
>>
>> "This is simply a hip pocket opportunity for them," he said. "Those
>> poor guys have a much bigger problems ... CIT has a big chunk of oil
>> and gas debt. We only want a sliver."
>
>"Hip pocket" is informal American vernacular that expresses
>readiness for instant use in the way that (for example) carrying a
>hip flask permits the owner to drink whenever he wants. Hip
>pocket functions are usually minor, cf. the small capacity of a
>hip flask. A similar appelation is "tool belt" because many
>American workers carry (small) tools on a special belt, ready
>for instant use: but you cannot carry on a tool belt (or on your
>hip) big tools, e.g. a full-sized saw or an impact driver.
I've always thought of it as meaning something small and easily carried. You
don't need a bag to carry it, it fits in a pocket.
>The usage you cite is only a metaphor (a hip pocket opportunity
>for investment) and a mixed metaphor at that (because the
>speaker also says it was not game-changing. a metaphor from
>sports journalism) -- so this quotation is not useful data for learning
>everyday usage.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Chuck Riggs
wrote:
You hear of people shooting themselves in all sorts of places, but
related expressions for "committing an embarrassing blunder" that are
widespread both inside and outside the military are "He shot himself
in the foot" and "Don't shoot yourself in the foot".
Chuck Riggs
Isn't that possibility in the very nature of most recent slang?
Roland Hutchinson
> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:17:25 +0000 (UTC), Roland Hutchinson
> <my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:51:13 +0100, Chuck Riggs wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:13:18 -0400, "Don Phillipson"
>>> <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>>"fl" <rxj...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>news:30f314ff-
e3d7-4a08-904...@d4g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
Yes, but we haven't identified this particular bit of slang as being
recent, have we?
Chuck Riggs
<my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote:
Not quite yet, but if we let it hang out there for a few more days,
with no AUE word scholar being able to identify its pedigree, can we
declare that it is recent?
Roland Hutchinson
Might could do.
RichardMaurer
"teachable moment".
Donna Richoux quoted a passage about
"hip pocket training" or "opportunity training.
Nearby is a small section that might indicate the
origin of this sense:
War Story
One sharp company commander devised a
comprehensive hip-pocket training book for
her trainers. In it, she covered every conceivable
training subject by task, condition, and standard.
And she designed it to fit in the large BDU
pants pocket. All the platoon aergeant or
squad leader had to do was open the book,
pick a subject, and start teaching.
Company Command: The Bottom Line
By John G. Meyer 1990
That said, I think the the original post had to do
with a "hip pocket opportunity" that required
a medium amount of money -- more than
small change, but could be done with folding
money, and not require borrowing
from a bank.
--
---------------------------------------------
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Today: tools that will count a quadrillion things)
Chuck Riggs
Roland Hutchinson
Have you started studying UFL[1], Chuck?
[1] Underpondian as a Foreign Language
Chuck Riggs
<my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote:
Until they bore me, I study the damnedest of things, often finding
them very interesting.