Anonymous  +  239608 Sat, 24 Jun 06 12:27 PM Hi. I don't understand very well this idiom I have found. I know the meaning is that by desesperation they threw themselves by the windows of Wall Street, but I don't see it so clear: 'My brother was born the year the stock market crashed and all the rich white men started JUMPING OUT OF THEM Wall Street windows' Thanks in advance, Jo. Anonymous Idioms

	Ant_222  +  239622 Sat, 24 Jun 06 01:00 PM He was born in the year the Great Depression came. Wall Street is the home of many financial institutions of the USA. Ant_222 Joined on Sun, May 21 2006 Podolsk, Russia Contributing Member 1,716

	Clive  +  239623 Sat, 24 Jun 06 01:06 PM Hi, I don't understand very well this idiom I have found. I know the meaning is that by desperation they threw themselves out of the windows of Wall Street, but I don't see it so clear: 'My brother was born the year the stock market crashed and all the rich white men started JUMPING OUT OF THEM Wall Street windows' A common grammatical error by some native speakers is to say 'them' instead of 'those', eg 'them cars' instead of 'those cars'. Thus, the phrase is really    '. . . the year . . . all the rich white men started jumping out of those Wall Street windows'. It's not really an idiom here, because it describes what actually happened. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,301 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Idioms

	Marius Hancu  +  239624 Sat, 24 Jun 06 01:08 PM This isn't an idiom, just an expresion. And btw: it's desperation started JUMPING OUT OF THE Wall Street windows THEM in this context is African-American speech/dialect, also used in South, I think; it seems that the author is an African-American. Marius Hancu Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006 Veteran Member 11,673 Dialects, Idioms

	CalifJim  +  239724 Sat, 24 Jun 06 10:01 PM African-American?  No, no, no.  People of all colors and ethnicities can be heard saying them for those by mistake.  It used to be quite common among rural people in the U.S., possibly because they had little or no access to education. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,128 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	khoff  +  239805 Sun, 25 Jun 06 05:30 AM CJ - I would guess that Marius thought the author of the original quote was African-American (personally I would say Black) not only because he said "them" instead of "those" but because he refered to "rich white men." khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,216 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

	CalifJim  +  239813 Sun, 25 Jun 06 05:50 AM Ah, yes!  Now I get the connection. By the way, I've been told that Black is now passé, and African-American is the more accepted form. CJ CalifJim

	Grammar Geek  +  239826 Sun, 25 Jun 06 06:15 AM By the way, as a history lesson and not an English lesson, no one really did jump out the windows. It was just a rumor. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,508 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Marius Hancu  +  239879 Sun, 25 Jun 06 11:38 AM  Khoff wrote: CJ - I would guess that Marius thought the author of the original quote was African-American (personally I would say Black) not only because he said "them" instead of "those" but because he refered to "rich white men." Well, in fact I used both in my guess. Somehow, just from what I read on the Web, I have the feeling the urban black people are still sticking to "them" more than the  rural folks in general. Marius Hancu