A Random Poll for a Thursday Morning

[gnomi]

[Poll #1138406]

Comments

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the phrase 'given a name check' before. Shout out conveys (to me) a positive reference.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

me too, on both counts.

[dpolicar]

Tritto. Also, shout-out suggests a targeted naming, as in "Hi Bob!" rather than an incidental one, as in "Bob was indicted today for smoking shoe leather"

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I'd use "shout out." "Name check" is more along the lines of your second example.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Above, in the poll, I used "Bob was name checked," which I've heard a lot recently.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

never heard or read it before in my life. Regional?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think generational.

[byrne.livejournal.com]

oh jeeze, I know I just had a birthday, but now I really feel old.

ack.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

::snerk:: I'm a month older than you, young lady. :-)

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

dude, we're almost the same age and i've heard it before. i've used it before. maybe it's an american vs canadian thing.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Actually, the phrase I used was "Bob was name checked."

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard that phrase either.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

As I said above to byrne, I think it's a generational thing.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

And their music is just noise!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

And they should just get off my lawn!

::shakes fist::

[sorek.livejournal.com]

A "name check" is used when a not famous person mentions meeting someone famous e.g. "I was speaking to Senator Clinton the other day". On sports radio in Boston, this is frequently followed by a bicycle horn sound aka "they're tooting their own horn". It's considered tacky. Also known as name dropping.

A "shout out" is the same thing in reverse. A famous person mentioning someone not famous. An example of this would be a radio personality mentioning someone from his/her childhood: "Id like to give a shout out to my 6th grade English teacher. Mr Smith told me I could have a great career in radio". It's considered a positive. A shout out can also be from one non famous person to another such as one radio caller professing his love to his sweetheart, on the radio "I'd like to give a shoutout to my girlfriend, I love you Becky!"

[glishara.livejournal.com]

I am with you on this. Name check always feels very self-aggrandizing, as in, "Well, you know that Soandso agrees with me!" Shout-outs are good for the people being mentioned, and name-checks are good for the mentioner.