How buoyant are you?

Hi, I know you can make buoyant steps and China’s economy seems to be quite buoyant too but what else can be buoyant? I mean, is buoyant part of your active vocabulary?

Buoyant moments,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Preparing an assessment of the museum facility[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi!

Thew water in the Red Sea is buoyant, I think, also the speed of your word suggestions. Only the improving of my English skills isn?t as buoyant as I would like they were! :lol:

Michael

‘Buoyant economy’ is almost a fixed expression, it seems. The word is also used to mean full of beans or full of vigour (bubbly, perhaps?). I wouldn’t say I use it much in daily speech, though.

The Thesaurus gives some interesting synonyms:

Main Entry: buoyant
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: happy
Synonyms: animated, blithe, bouncy, breezy, bright, carefree, cheerful, debonair, effervescent, elastic, expansive, happy, jaunty, jovial, joyful, laidback, light-hearted, lively, peppy, resilient, sunny, supple, vivacious
Antonyms: depressed, down, heavy-hearted, somber

The water isn’t buoyant. Things are buoyant in the water. In the Dead Sea in Israel, EVERYBODY is buoyant. It’s so salty that it’s impossible for people to sink.

I always thought full of beans meant full of nonsense. It’s a way for people to avoid saying someone is full of the material that beans produce in the intestines. When I was little and concocted a preposterous story just as a joke, adults would tell me I was full of prunes. They didn’t really mean prunes, but the other stuff that you get when you eat a lot of prunes. Many people think I’m still full of that.

In the 1970s, a huge freighter sank in a storm in Lake Superior, and all the men on it died. Later the US government spent $50,000 on a study to find out why the ship sank. The study’s conclusion was that “a loss of buoyancy” caused it to sink.

It took me some time to find the word I think you meant – flatulence! It has both meanings (figurative and literal). Unless the ‘hidden’ expression is ‘full of wind’?

Full of soft brown stuff.

:lol: :shock: :lol: :roll: :shock: :lol: :roll:
Hi Jamie
There seem to have been some real intellectuals at work there.

I also know “full of beans” with a meaning similar to “full of **". But I’d expect “full of beans” to be used mainly in a good-natured way — unlike "full of sh”.

Hi Conchita

If someone in the US says “You’re full of it!”, they’re not talking about “beans” or “wind”. :lol: And this utterance may well be a reaction to something you said which they consider to be pure “bull”. :lol:

Amy

Hi Amy,

My, my and on a Sunday morning, too. To my innocent mind full of beans means full of good health and enthusiasm. And now you’ve gone and spoilt it all . Clearly it’s time for breakfast.

Alan

Hi Alan

Oh, so sorry! :wink:

Actually, I’m aware of the British usage (but only since coming to Europe). But “full of beans” is in fact used differently in the US.

I’ve heard the expression “full of beans” used most often with kids in the States. Kids who are full of enthusiastic nonsense.

So at least the element of “enthusiasm” seems to be common on both sides of the pond. :smiley:

Amy

Hi Jamie!

Of course, water itselfs always has the same specific weight everywhere in the world and what the water makes buoyant are the ingredients which are added to the water. So it was a common saying when I wrote the water in the Red Sea is buoyant!

Michael