Comments on: Not a trifling matter

By: Gez

Gez — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:27:00 +0000

I think the context of both the example and the urban dictionary definition point to "trifling" meaning gross or disgusting.

I've searched elsewhere and found it used in this context. I think it probably arrived at this meaning by the following route: meddling -> manipulating -> untrustworthy -> nasty -> gross.

By: Kainenchen

Kainenchen — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:37:00 +0000

What James said… I think the implication is more of pettiness than nastiness. In the example Exquisitedolls used, the tone is more of annoyance, bothering someone… an extension of the phrase, “I am not to be trifled with.”

By: exquisitedolls

exquisitedolls — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:53:00 +0000

I upset a Six Flags employee the other day. I was throwing half of our dinner trash away and slipped on water by the trashcan, hurting my toes. Told one employee who started to mop up the spill. As I hobbled over to the kitchen to get a container for our uneaten food, she said “you aren’t going to leave this table like that are you?” I told her I just fell and think I broke my toe. She said “Well how do I know if there is water there if you don’t tell me. You aren’t going to leave the table that way are you?” I said, “Yes I am” turned and hobbled away. Then she started going off on me, pointing at me and saying, “That white girl be trifling me” while stomping her foot. trifling = making someone angry

By: JD

JD — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:16:00 +0000

I think James hit the nail on the head when he brought up ‘trifle with’. The OED defines this as “treat without seriousness or respect”. Perhaps this is also what’s meant by ‘trifling’ in the note?Trifling=disrespectful.

By: James

James — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:22:00 +0000

I heard “triflin” as slang going back fifteen years, and I didn’t skip a beat when I read the word in the sign. Back then, and now, I understood it to have a trivial sense. There are two senses, I think. If someone is worked up about something that really doesn’t matter, like if she wants to beat up her friend because she flirted with her man, then that’s triflin. Another sense would be like the one here: someone doing something so stupid and trivial that it makes no sense. If someone stole my car, that’s major, but if someone stole my towels, that’s just a nuisance, and that’s triflin.

By: pinkmartini

pinkmartini — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:58:00 +0000

kristarella said it best. Learn what the word means, or don’t use it!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:12:00 +0000

In your “You learn something new everyday,” The end of the sentence should be two words: “every day.”

By: kristarella

kristarella — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:52:00 +0000

I hate this kind of thing. I also don't like when people make up words that are just wrong. See my rant on "addicting".

By: laurajeanette

laurajeanette — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:09:00 +0000

I think it started out with people calling other people trifling (and meaning it in the correct way), and then when others who didn’t know what the word meant picked up on it, they assumed it related to other aspects of the person so named. And from there, we can see how it might have come to it’s urban dictionary meaning.

By: pauldwaite

pauldwaite — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:59:00 +0000

Either way, they’d better keep their feet away from my donkey.