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Threw me for a loop

Posted by dB on October 01, 2002

In Reply to: Threw me for a loop posted by R. Berg on September 22, 2002

: : What is the meaning behind this saying?

: Roughly "stunned me," in either a good or a bad sense. To knock or throw somebody for a loop originally meant to render the person unconscious or (in figurative use) "to make a strong, favorable impression on someone" (Wentworth & Flexner, "Dictionary of American Slang," 1960). "Loop" has been used to mean someone who is stupid or drunk or simply a nobody: "a person with nothing inside" (Dict. Amer. Slang).

:Or simply turned me upside down, or 180 degrees from my original thinking.

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