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Probably a silly question, but... PIF? huh?

As the title says. I've searched, and found no definition. I've searched for a FAQ file too, and come up empty. So. What on Gods' Green Earth does "PIF" mean or stand for? :blink:

Ta muchly in advance :001_smile
 
Pay It Forward is a concept that I first heard about in a movie back in the 90's. Based on a true story, A young boy came up with it and popularized the concept locally. He later on met a tragic end. I think that the movie is what really popularized this great concept.
 
Pay It Forward is a concept that I first heard about in a movie back in the 90's. Based on a true story, A young boy came up with it and popularized the concept locally. He later on met a tragic end. I think that the movie is what really popularized this great concept.


The tragic part was that Haley Joel Osment ended up playing him in the movie, a fate worse than death.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Now that you understand "PIF", you may need to explain "ta muchly" to our American friends. :wink2:
 
Now that you understand "PIF", you may need to explain "ta muchly" to our American friends. :wink2:

Ahem. *Assumes voice of the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, a.k.a. the Stephen Fry fruity voice:wink2:*

"Ta Muchly". A generally British expression that has also come to be used in certain antipodean places such as Australia and New Zealand. A phrase used to denote many thanks to any person or group who provide much needed assistance and/or advice to the recipient, who shall become most properly grateful. May incur the recipient granting a small boon, such as the provision of an alcoholic beverage to the singular individual providing the best help and/or assistance. Provided, of course, that the boon recipient is him or her self over the minimum age to partake in such beverages under local laws and/or ordnances. if not, or if the boon recipient is a tee-totaller, then a simple handshake and parting nod should be all that is required to settle the transaction."

Hope that helps :wink2:
 
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Pay It Forward is a concept that I first heard about in a movie back in the 90's. Based on a true story, A young boy came up with it and popularized the concept locally. He later on met a tragic end. I think that the movie is what really popularized this great concept.

The Wikipedia has a great history of it, and it may refer to the movie you saw?

History

The concept was used as a key plot element in the denouement of a New Comedy play by Menander, Dyskolos (a title which can be translated as "The Grouch"). Dyskolos was a prizewinning play in ancient Athens in 317 BC; as the text of the play then disappeared and was not re-published until 1957, the concept had to be rediscovered.

The concept was rediscovered and described by Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Benjamin Webb dated April 22, 1784:
I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you [...] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro' many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his 1841 essay Compensation,[1] wrote:
"In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody."
In 1916, Lily Hardy Hammond wrote, "You don't pay love back; you pay it forward."[2]
Woody Hayes (February 14, 1913 –March 12, 1987) was a college football coach who is best remembered for winning five national titles and 13 Big Ten championships in 28 years at The Ohio State University. He misquoted Emerson as having said "You can pay back only seldom. You can always pay forward, and you must pay line for line, deed for deed, and cent for cent." He also shortened the (mis)quotation into "You can never pay back; but you can always pay forward" and variants.

The 1929 novel, Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglass, also espoused this philosophy, in combination with the concept that good deeds should be performed in confidence.
An anonymous spokesman for Alcoholics Anonymous said in the Christian Science Monitor in 1944, "You can't pay anyone back for what has happened to you, so you try to find someone you can pay forward."[3]

Also in 1944, the first steps were taken in the development of what became Heifer Project, one of whose core strategies is "Passing on the Gift".

The term "pay it forward" was popularized by Robert A. Heinlein in his book Between Planets, published in 1951:

The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note. "But eat first — a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer." His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance." "Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it."

Heinlein both preached and practiced this philosophy; now the Heinlein Society, a humanitarian organization founded in his name, does so. Author Spider Robinson made repeated reference to the doctrine, attributing it to his spiritual mentor Heinlein.[4]

The mathematician Paul Erdős, in one of his visits to Harvard University, met a promising math student on the verge of expulsion for inability to pay his tuition. Erdős paid the young man's tuition in full. Years later, the man offered to return the entire amount to Erdős, but Erdős insisted that the man rather find another student in his situation, and give the tuition to him.[5]

In 2000, Catherine Ryan Hyde's novel Pay It Forward was published and adapted into a Warner Brothers film, Pay It Forward. In Ryan Hyde's book and movie it is described as an obligation to do three good deeds for others in repayment of a good deed that one receives. Such good deeds should be things that the other person cannot accomplish on their own. In this way, the need to help one another can spread exponentially through society, creating a social movement with the goal of making the world a better place.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
There once was a man from Southcrisp,
Who spoke with a bit of a lisp.
His B&B mates
sent him razors in crates,
and told everyone he was PIFFed!
 
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