exist

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(well,) pardon me for existing!

An angry, exasperated response to a criticism or rebuke that one feels is unwarranted or unjustified, especially since they believe they did something very minimal or nothing at all. A: "Would you please just sit down and stop getting in my way?" B: "Well, pardon me for existing!" You don't need to get so upset, I was just suggesting you ask for directions. Pardon me for existing! Well, pardon me for existing! I was just trying to be nice—you can get your own coffee next time.

exist (from) hand to mouth

To survive or continue to operate with only the bare minimum of money, food, or resources to, having little or nothing else to spare. I existed from hand to mouth during most of college, since I could only get part-time jobs that paid minimum wage. The company has already been existing hand to mouth for the last two years. If we don't do something to improve sales soon, it will be forced to close down completely.

exist on borrowed time

To live or exist in a temporary and/or tenuous position, which may come to an end suddenly and abruptly. The small aboriginal population has been existing on borrowed time since the invaders began colonizing their land. Accidents and disease can strike so unexpectedly that it feels like we're all existing on borrowed time.

if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him

proverb A sentiment expressed by 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire that emphasizes the human need to believe in a divine being. People can't help it—they need something bigger than themselves to believe in, so if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

See also: did, god, if, invent, necessary, not, to

live from hand to mouth

To be extremely poor, having only enough money to provide food and shelter each month. I had to live from hand to mouth during most of college, since I could only get part-time jobs that paid minimum wage.

pardon me for living/breathing/existing/etc.

An angry, exasperated response to a criticism or rebuke that one feels is unwarranted or unjustified, especially since they believe they did something very minimal or nothing at all. (Any verb that approximately means "living" can be used after "for.") A: "Would you please just sit down and stop getting in my way?" B: "Well, pardon me for breathing!" You don't need to get so upset, I was just suggesting you ask for directions. Pardon me for living!

See also: breathing, exist, for, living, pardon

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

Prov. People need a deity to worship. (This is an English translation of a quote from Voltaire. It is often parodied, using a person's name instead of God and implying that the person is somehow necessary.) The atheist tried to convince Jerry that God does not exist, and that people should not waste their time worshiping Him. "But you can't stop people from worshiping God," Jerry replied. "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." The unscrupulous mayor was such a convenient scapegoat for the city's problems that if she had not existed, it would have been necessary to invent her.

See also: did, god, if, invent, necessary, not, to

live from hand to mouth

Fig. to live in poor circumstances. When both my parents were out of work, we lived from hand to mouth. We lived from hand to mouth during the war. Things were very difficult.

live from hand to mouth

live hand-to-mouth

COMMON Someone who lives from hand to mouth or lives hand-to-mouth always struggles to afford the things they need. I have a wife and two children and we live from hand to mouth on what I earn. I just can't live hand-to-mouth, it's too frightening. Note: Hand-to-mouth is also used before nouns to describe a situation where someone struggles to afford what they need. Unloved and uncared-for, they live a meaningless hand-to-mouth existence.

hand to mouth, exist/live from

Living with a minimum of sustenance or support. This term, which dates from about 1500, implies that one has so little to live on that whatever comes to hand is consumed. “I subsist, as the poor are vulgarly said to do, from hand to mouth,” wrote the poet William Cowper (1790).

See also: exist, hand, live, to

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References in periodicals archive ?

(Be warned that this suggestion will likely seem obscure until it gets fleshed out using the thought experiment below.) Instead of anticipating nothingness at death, I propose that we should anticipate the subjective sense of always having been present, experienced within a different context, the context provided by those subjectivities which exist or come into being.

Death, nothingness, and subjectivity

Such devices have been part of the triggering mechanisms of thermonuclear bombs as long as this variety of explosive has existed, and it could be that some derivative of them is used to focus X-rays on a lasing material.

Strategic defense of X-ray initiative

This opportunity exists for virtually anyone who works for a Federal, State, or local agency, as well as those employed by private or State colleges and universities.

Federal assistance to law enforcement

One of the biggest misconceptions is that toxic mold exists in the first place, said Dr.

The four-letter threat: insurers are applying the experience they've gained from handling mold claims to abate costs and prevent future payouts. (Mold: Property/Casualty)

For example, if no ready market exists, a strategy to sell an asset is not feasible.

FASB 109: auditing considerations of deferred tax assets

As to the substantial understatement penalty, the committee report provides that the definition of "authorities" -- for purposes of determining whether substantial authority exists -- is to be expanded to include private rulings, technical advice memoranda, GCMs, documents published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and the Joint Committee on Taxation's "bluebooks." Additionally, the report instructs the IRS not to automatically impose the substantial understatement penalty -- apparently responding to the levying of these penalties based only upon a mechanical calculation.

Ways and Means Committee penalty reform package - very good, but could be better

To the extent each employee has reached the 1998 wage base of $7,000 prior to an acquisition, no additional FUTA tax liability exists on postacquisition wages.

Avoiding double taxation - an employment tax savings opportunity

A great deal of interest exists in next generation storage services--applications such as virtualization, virtual tape, continuous backup, asynchronous replication, policy-based storage management and Information Lifecycle Management.

Hardware enables next-gen storage: next generation storage software will require specialized hardware

Fortunately, these sites and facilities do exist in New Jersey--often as a result of the major infrastructure investments made by previous corporate users.

Jersey will offer New Yorkers peace of mind

Continuity of life does not exist if the death, insanity, bankruptcy, retirement, resignation, expulsion or other event of withdrawal of a general partner of a limited partnership causes a dissolution of the partnership; furthermore, continuity of life does not exist even if a dissolution of the limited partnership may be avoided, on such an event of withdrawal of a general partner, by the remaining general partners agreeing to continue the partnership or by at least a majority in interest of the remaining partners agreeing to continue the partnership.

Proposed regulation classifies LLC members for self-employment tax purposes

If L had actual knowledge that all 110 shares were acquired by Public L, a new public group does not exist and there is no change in ownership.

Ownership changes under the new Sec. 382 segregation rules

The snapshots are temporary and only exist as long as the backup snapshot is taking place.

iSCSI advantages and solutions for businesses

Rather than "dissect or reconsider" their prior opinions, the court chose to establish a three-prong test, each element of which must be satisfied in order for an insurance relationship to exist.

Insurance in the captive setting

16,172, CAB allowed a first rent to be charged where the dwelling unit had been altered so extensively that it did not previously exist in its present form.

Rent stabilization 'Rent First' issues

NAS devices are disk subsystems with embedded, optimized operating systems that exist with their own network addresses.

Table for two: NAS and the general-purpose server; how network attached storage can maximize the general-purpose server's capabilities