BS: Fossilised phrases

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 04:08 PM

"point in fact" = "the fact of the matter is": both translate as "in my opinion."

I still look in the icebox rather than the fridge, although I was a wee one when my parents last had one.
I go to the store for a bottle of milk, although for years it has been sold here in waxed cartons. And I ask for a quart when the measure is liters (er, litres. Is it butter or buttre?).

Grocery stores here in Canada still have scales that weigh in pounds as well as grams, for which I am thankful.

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Genie
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 04:49 PM

How about "tickling the ivories" as a phrase for playing the piano? Yes, I know some vintage pianos have ivory keys, but the vast majority of pianos don't.


And, Fat B****d, I've always heard it as "happy as a pig in SLOP"--which pigs do seem to be genuinely happy in--, not "...as a pig in shit."

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Genie
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 05:04 PM

Interesting to be reminded that record "albums" were originally individual 78s bound together like the pages of a photo album. But once the term came to mean "a collection of songs on recording" -- as distinct from a "single" -- I think it applied equally to a vinyl disc, a cassette, or a CD.   There's nothing about the term "album" that suggests wax or vinyl, any more than the term "photo album" refers to paper and not to digital formats.

@leeneia
[['crank the engine' when engines have not had cranks since the era of the Model T Ford]]
Even more out of sync with current technology is the use of the phrase "Crank it" to mean "Turn the volume (on a radio or CD player, etc.) up very high."

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 07:06 PM

3 square meals a day
Trying to get a quart into a pint pot.
In the pink...wherever did that come from?


When I was in the RN we had a plethora of sayings we frequently used, most if not all referred to things connected to ships of sail not modern warships.

Gone by the board
Waisters (unskilled crew who were not allowed aloft)
Brought up short (would still be used today)
Lower deck lawyer
9 sheets to the wind

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 03 Sep 11 - 05:23 AM

cc used to stand for carbon copy ........

.... It's probably pronounced see-see now, so younger people don't realize the connection.


I am far from young but I have only just found out the origin of "cc" by reading this thread, even though I have seen and used it many times. Some of us are slow learners!

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Genie
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 06:58 PM

@ Richard Bridge
[["Willy nilly" - the slightly corrupt transliteration of the Latin "volens nolens".]]

It may come from that same Latin phrase, but I thought "willy nilly" was a slight corruption (as in mumbling) of the phrase "Will ye, nil ye," as was used in Shakespeare's "The Taming Of The Shrew" (meaning "whether you like it or not").

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 07:46 PM

"3 square meals a day"

I only ever have 2 nowadays, and I'm unlikely to have slicing (Lorne) sausage more than once!

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 08:01 PM

Citroens had cranks [mine always worked.] through at least the 70's. They were used to help set the timing and spark gap as well as to start the engine, when needed. Unlike the model T and many others, there was a pawl to keep it from spinning once the engine fired.

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 09:37 PM

How did "nine to five" come to mean a standard working day? Nobody I know actually works nine to five.

Nine to five wouldn't even be a full eight hours unless (a) you skipped lunch, or (b) your lunch break was considered part of your working day, and you were paid for it—neither of which is standard practice where I live (in Minnesota).

A standard day here is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a half-hour break for lunch, for which you don't get paid. Thus you get paid for 8 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 11:59 AM

I think the 9-5 thing is American. I often worked 9-5 when in offices, and got a half-hour for lunch. But I was not at the time paid by the hour. Great song, BTW, from the movie.

Just reread above, Minnesota is in the US the last time I looked, so maybe it's an East Coast thing?

What about "room and board" - are there still boarding houses? My dad used to say that the board was to sleep on. Where DID the board in boarding house/school from, and is it the same as boarding a ship?

And what IS a square meal - all four food groups? back when they were, I think, meat veg starch sweets? (I know, they are really coffee, chocolate, lunch and dinner, or something, I can never remember the last two!)

Also: when did "the carrot on the stick" (a reward held out of reach to motivate the recalcitrant) become "the carrot AND the stick" (hold the reward in one hand and threaten punishment for inaction with the other)?

(Oops - thread creep - sorry - but I've been wondering about that.)

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 09:58 AM

Mrzzy: Thanks for your insight. After pondering this a bit, I have come to the conclusion, you must be right, it IS an east-coast thing.

Which leads to the incidental observation that while we in the central time zone are going to work at 8 a.m., people in the eastern time zone are going to work simultaneously—except they call it 9 a.m. I suppose there's a historical reason for that. Maybe it has to do with the development of the telegraph or railroads.

Our TV schedules are linked in the same way. What is called 7 o'clock news on the east coast is called 6 o'clock news in the Midwest, but we see it simultaneously. And that solves one problem for me: I used to wonder how people on the east coast could watch, say, Jay Leno (and before that, Johnny Carson, Jack Paar, etc.) until 1 a.m. without being dead tired the next day. Well, naturally, they don't have to be at work until 9!

Now, as to quitting time. It seems east-coasters get off at 5, which is our 4, while we have to work another half-hour. How the hell did THAT custom get established?

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 10:00 AM

Railroads!

Fascinating place this thread has crept.

What about Are we on the same page? I've heard same screen... to update into the computer age...

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 08:14 AM

To be perfectly honest, at the end of the day, my take is that I'll be over the moon, if the truth were known!

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 08:24 AM

No Spring Chicken. or Passed ones sell by date.

Happy as Larry (who was Larry?)

Dumbing down.

Melt down.

Happy as a pig in clover.

Let the dog see the rabbit.

Knocking off time (end of working day).

Gained some Brownie points (made an impression).

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 09:31 AM

I think the original intent of this thread was to collect expressions that have a connection to technology that is now obsolete.

Some people have posted expressions that either don't fit the pattern, or fit it in a way that I don't understand—please explain.

By the way, did Brownies ever really collect points?

Subject: RE: BS: Fossilised phrases
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Sep 11 - 10:17 AM

Shooting fish in a barrel - why would anyone do such a thing?