Oxford Languages Gets It Wrong Again

[Hornbein]

half-arse
INFORMAL
verb
past tense: half-assed; past participle: half-assed

1. do (something) with little effort or care.
   "developers should stop half-arsing things and make good games!"

Ha. Half-assed is usually an adjective or adverb. From now on I'm skipping past the half-assed efforts of Oxford Languages. They must be paying someone to uprate their stuff.

 

[pinball1970]

Ha. Half-assed is usually an adjective or adverb. From now on I'm skipping past the half-assed efforts of Oxford Languages. They must be paying someone to uprate their stuff.

Agree, adjective.

 

[martinbn]

Ha. Half-assed is usually an adjective or adverb. From now on I'm skipping past the half-assed efforts of Oxford Languages. They must be paying someone to uprate their stuff.

I don't understand! If "half-ass" (or is it "half-arse"?) is a verb, then when you say that you half-assed something yesterday, it is the past tense of the verb, isn't it?

 

[Hornbein]

I don't understand! If "half-ass" (or is it "half-arse"?) is a verb, then when you say that you half-assed something yesterday, it is the past tense of the verb, isn't it?

Right. But I've never heard it used as a verb.

 

[pinball1970]

Right. But I've never heard it used as a verb.

Never heard it in present tense if it used that way. How would you conjugate the verb to "half arse?"

 

[martinbn]

Never heard it in present tense if it used that way. How would you conjugate the verb to "half arse?"

I guess it is

I half arse
You half arse
He/She/It half arses
...

 

[DrGreg]

Curiously Oxford Languages does define "half-hearted" as an adjective, not the past participle of a verb.

"Half-hearted" has a similar meaning, but more like "without enthusiasm" whereas "half-arsed" is more like "without competence".

 

[DrClaude]

Ha. Half-assed is usually an adjective or adverb. From now on I'm skipping past the half-assed efforts of Oxford Languages. They must be paying someone to uprate their stuff.

Do you have a link? Because the OED only has it as an adjective and adverb.

 

[Hornbein]

Do you have a link? Because the OED only has it as an adjective and adverb.

No web site, but it comes up first in my Google search. I suspect they paid for this advantage. Here's a screen shot.

I'm pretty sure they have nothing to do with the OED.

 

[mjc123]

That dictionary is half-arsed. Assuming the verb to exist (and I've never come across it), if it was "half-arse" the past tense would be "half-arsed", and if it was "half-ass" the past tense would be "half-assed" (presumably British and American respectively).

 

[pinball1970]

Curiously Oxford Languages does define "half-hearted" as an adjective, not the past participle of a verb.

"Half-hearted" has a similar meaning, but more like "without enthusiasm" whereas "half-arsed" is more like "without competence".

Without enthusiasm actually means"without god."

I know we do not mean it like that now. Lack of commitment or energy or attitude is my take.

Half arsed is to me today in work, when a colleague is not pulling his/her weight.

 

[marcusl]

At my first job, my boss said,
“Don’t start a vast project with half-vast ideas.”