This is "cactus"

[Horus]

So a very common expression, I even heard it on a news program recently, when something is rooted , people say "it is cactus" as a polite alternative to saying its fucked, or not functioning.

After 15yrs of growing cactus, it has a perplexing meaning to me.

Cactus are such hardy, energy filled lifeforms, so hard to kill , they are the complete opposite of describing something as dead.

I dont want to google or Wikipedia it, I would like to know your take on how the term evolved.

What they were origionally trying to say.

And if the term is now giving a derogatory image of the plant to the general perception.

[etherealdrifter]

hehe, love it.

so many d n m's are gunna be opened on this horus.

i'm no cacto experto but interdispersed obvservances have had many profound effects.I'm in the camp of "you're cactus " means you are a tougher nut. not you're oridnary nut. the kind of nut who gives a little bit of shit.

a cactus to me is many things but the beauty of my beholding ov it manifests itself in many forms. scary , then amazingly knowlegedgeful with a touch of searing clarity.

[paradox]

maybe it refers to the noxious opuntia outbreaks in queensland last century.. pretty sure it's only an australian colloquialism...

as in, your land is 'cactus' it's fucked.. completely covered in cactus & useless

i have no idea, just a thought.

[Anodyne]

Huh, good question. Found this discussion which agrees with paradox's idea, and suggests an alternative:

I would say it is probably a severe corruption of "it's karked it", meaning "it has ceased to be a useful object", (literally "it has become a carcase")

Given the other slang that originated around the same time (WWII), this seems like a good guess?

[-RC-]

I reckon that perhaps the saying is more of a reflection of the fact that cactus, when taken superficially, are spiky, sharp and generally foreign. As in the majority of plant species we see and interact with on a daily basis are not cacti (again a generalisation in the extreme for some people here), but more than likely native, evergreen or deciduous, etc. bushes and trees. The saying has therefore, according to my theory, been breed out of a lack of conscious understanding of the potentialities associated with cactus, its varied cultivation and manifestation of form; let alone of its consumption.

As such the saying "It's cactus" becomes a way of describing something you don't understand or are foreign to. Most cases of this phrases' usage revolve around devices and their functionality, and thus "It's cactus" enables me to express the fact the device has stopped working, which is different from normal, and that the solution eludes me or I am unfamiliar with the fault/incapable of fixing it. Uncomfortable, sudden, and intractable. Kind of like stepping on a cactus barefoot, or grabbing hold of one at night as a support.

Or not...

[Horus]

Yeah, it would better describe something that is frustrating or cantankerous,

As an alternative to saying "its a prick of a thing" or "he is a prick".....its a bit cactus

Or.......because cactus spines get under ones skin so successfully, it could be used to describe something you are becoming endeared to.

use em both together,"he is a cactus" like he is a prick, but I have a soft spot for him, and

I digress, back to how the current meaning evolved.

[quarterflesh]

My grandma had a stroke then found out she had cancer = she's cactus