Is a 'show stopper' bad... and other things

[EinsteinaGogo]

A thread about a thread (eeek!).

On a current thread, the OP is selling her house, and mentions there are one or two show stoppers about the property that are very clearly described in the details.

Therefore - any viewers who book an appointment, look around the house, then feedback that the show stopper is the reason they don't like it, are unreasonable.

The OPs home showstopper isn't stated, but it's clear that 'show stopper' is a negative .
Something like no parking, leasehold of 1 year, built on a train platform, about to be bulldozed by Christmas, etc.

To the OP - and me, and a handful of other posters - a show stopper is something negative - an obstacle hard to overcome. To the majority, it's a positive - something brilliant to make everyone gasp in awe.

What is a show stopper to you?

AND

Do you have any similar tales of using a phrase (any phrase) in a different way to its general meaning?

I agree it should be a negative- I think the Great British Bake Off has a lot to answer for with its showstopper cakes!

A show stopper to me is those amazing cakes on bake off. That's actually the only time I can remember hearing the phrase!

A show stopper is amazing, awesome, something to take your breathe away.

It’s most definitely good. So good it stops the show. Nothing else competes type thing.

Positive

When you stop the show in a performance, it's because you're so good the audience just can't help giving you a massive round of applause. So that's good for you, but probably super-annoying for everyone else on stage and probably also quite nippy if you've accidentally booked the second to last train home.

So that probably doesn't help, does it?

Though interestingly, seems to be both:

1	1. 
a song or other performance receiving prolonged applause from the audience."he wants every scene to be a showstopper"


4	2. 
an obstacle to further progress."the subsidy limits proved to be a showstopper for other senior Democrats who refused to pass the bill with such restrictions"

I know which thread you are talking about, and when I read it I instantly understood what the OP meant. I was actually surprised to see so many confused posts. But yeah, I had also heard the phrase at work for being something negative stopping a deal going further.

A showstopper is something very positive.

It's sort of the opposite to a dealbreaker, which is negative.

I always though it was an act in a show that people would give big round of applause for which would stop the show for a short time. Therefor it is something good.

Showstopper stops all progress it’s different to a deal breaker, that stops the deal being agreed. A showstopper stops the delivery of whatever has been aged in the deal.

Def a negative not a positive

Funny, it has always been a negative to me (at work we categorise problem tickets that bring all business activity to a halt as 'showstoppers', things that must be fixed as a high priority).

The dictionary description is something positive...

A showstopper is glorious, wonderful, breathtakingly marvellous.

I would call the opposite a deal-breaker, a no-no, a swizz.

PS OP I adore your username, it is quite brilliant.

@Beldon

I always though it was an act in a show that people would give big round of applause for which would stop the show for a short time. Therefor it is something good.

Yes, that's what it is, hence something positive.

A good thing.
Something so amazing all thought is given over to it.
A showstopper dress at the Oscar's!

Showstopper is good. Annoying, but good.

As in, "that dress is a showstopper"

i.e. everyone will turn to look at you wearing that dress, you might even stop traffic...

Another who thinks it is something so positive, it's amazing.

To me, the phrase the OP of the other thread should have used in that context, was 'deal breaker'.

OTOH, it was fairly easy to work out what she meant, and not really confusing, as she did give examples........

I know the thread and, to me, a showstopper would have been a fountain in the back garden or vast glass chandelier over an infinity pool. (which would have been prohibitively expensive to maintain. )

@VimFuego101

Funny, it has always been a negative to me (at work we categorise problem tickets that bring all business activity to a halt as 'showstoppers', things that must be fixed as a high priority).

Negative to me too, in software testing it's an issue which so serious that we cannot go live with the software until it is fixed. It will prevent the go live if it isn't fixed.

show stopper to me is positive

what the op in the OP was talking about is to me deal breaker

Except - in the OP, there are possible 'deal breakers' that may not be absolute.

As in I don't like 'x' but if everything else is perfect I'll get past it. After viewing 'yeah, the house is ok but it isn't good enough to get past the potential deal breaker

To me it has always been a good thing, something that stops the show for applause. I know it had the other meaning too now, but I think the good thing meaning came first.

To me a showstopper is something amazing, pulling out all the stops. I would use the term deal breaker I think for the negative thing.

I was going to write one of those hilarious cancel the cheque posts on that thread, I was getting so vexed by people's confusion. The OP explained what she meant and why she'd used that term. Maybe she doesn't watch GBBO.

@FlibbertyGiblets

A showstopper is glorious, wonderful, breathtakingly marvellous.

I would call the opposite a deal-breaker, a no-no, a swizz.

PS OP I adore your username, it is quite brilliant.

Thanks. @FlibbertyGiblets - got to love the early 80s!!!

I’d use it at work in the negative - a showstopper is a negative event/finding that halts the project. It’s corporate jargon really.