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So I was surfing YouTube for tunes, and in the vids' comments sections I came across this (paraphrased): "A lovely rendition well done, despite them." I encountered this "despite them" thing at least a couple of times in different vids and from different people, so "despite them" strikes me as a stock phrase possible in such contexts. I don't hear it in the States, though.

Now it seems to me that the obvious meaning is that the comment was a jab in the style of a very backhanded compliment. Or is there something else to it?

Nanohedron wrote:So I was surfing YouTube for tunes, and in the vids' comments sections I came across this (paraphrased): "A lovely rendition well done, despite them." I encountered this "despite them" thing at least a couple of times in different vids and from different people, so "despite them" strikes me as a stock phrase in such contexts. I don't hear it in the States, though.

Now it seems to me that the obvious meaning is that the comment was a jab in the style of a very backhanded compliment. Or is there something else to it?

I've no idea what it means. It's not something one would say hereabouts (UK).

benhall.1 wrote:I've no idea what it means. It's not something one would say hereabouts (UK).

Well, they were Scottish tunes, FWIW...

Nanohedron wrote:Well, they were Scottish tunes, FWIW...

No, I've never heard it either. Sounds like there's something missing...

'A lovely rendition well done, despite them playing cheap nose flutes' (or whatever)!

No, it was just "despite them". There could've been an omission such as you suggest, Peter, but lightning striking twice and all that, I thought I might be onto something.

It strikes me as the same thing as saying, "It was good, in spite of the people playing it." It's exactly the sort of thing I would say if I wanted to be mean, go ad hominem for the jugular, and get ouchy noises and style points out of my audience. But it's just a thought experiment, of course.

https://www.google.com/search?q=MacGregor+Despite+Them

?

Peter Duggan wrote:https://www.google.com/search?q=MacGregor+Despite+Them

?

That's it! One definitely had to be from that; one of the players was a MacGregor, too, but I wasn't 100% sure that clan lore was involved. The problem is I encountered the other one first, and it definitely came off as a "Nice, but...". No MacGregors there, to memory.

Peter Duggan wrote:No, I've never heard it either.

Have to retract that now because, while Google was involved, 'MacGregors despite them' is familiar to me and it was your context (or lack of it) that threw me. So clearly confusing as an apparently standalone comment when 'them' isn't who guesswork might have you think!

I wish I could find those examples again, but that's out of the question without more searching than I'm willing to do at the moment.

The term 'despite them' usually means 'against the odds' - to put it into a context that you may well relate to - it's like if you have a cheap whistle, but play it well.

fatmac wrote:The term 'despite them' usually means 'against the odds' - to put it into a context that you may well relate to - it's like if you have a cheap whistle, but play it well.

Yes, I know that. But thanks all the same.

What I was asking was whether the usage I'd mentioned was a matter of style particular to the UK in some way when it comes to assessing something in a not-so-flattering light. As you might gather from this thread, one of two such examples (of course, all you have is my word for it since I lost track of them) turned out instead to be from Scottish clan lore, but the other's ultimate intent remains less certain.

fatmac wrote:The term 'despite them' usually means 'against the odds'

But in the context of 'MacGregors despite them' identified here means MacGregors remaining true to their proscribed name (whether used or not) and identity despite those who'd proscribed it and would exterminate them.

Poem by Sir Walter Scott
Sung by Andy M. Stewart

Maybe it's a reference to earlier comments that trashed the performance. OR it's a reference to the band Them. Van Morrison and co. didn't like the performances either and the person is responding to, erm, them.

That is indeed a problem in the YouTube comments section: context is often woefully lacking. Me, I failed Mindreading 101.

Nanohedron wrote:I wish I could find those examples again, but that's out of the question without more searching than I'm willing to do at the moment.

Scottish fiddler Bruce MacGregor plays his own composition, the air "The Nameless Clan", on Douglas Hadden's channel (isn't that Kenny's?)...

Beautiful... despite them. ;c)

First hit for https://www.google.com/search?q=scottis ... or+youtube, would you believe it!