|
12 Oct 07 - 10:22 PM (#2170018) Subject: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk We've all heard them from time to time. They are those mysterious expressions which are quintessentially of the UK and sound quite odd to North American ears. They are one of the most endearing traits of Britons, I think. For instance... "tosser" I have been called a tosser on many occasions by a certain member of the British Isles who posts on this forum. It was puzzling. I'm not a baseball pitcher or anything like that. I wasn't sure what he meant, but I gathered from the context that it wasn't anything good. Still, I was not sure just how insulted I ought to be when called a "tosser". Should I shrug it off, or should I get really upset? Should I consider legal action? Should I hire someone professional to quietly deal with the situation? Decisions, decisions. Anyway, "tosser" is definitely a good one. It has staying power. Here's another: "git" It seems to mean something a bit similar to a tosser, but one is never simply a git. One is a stupid git. If there are any intelligent gits around, they are clearly keeping a very low profile. Then there's "gobsmacked". I love that one! So expressive. So we have: tosser stupid git and gobsmacked Three great UK expressions. Would anyone like to suggest some others? |
|
12 Oct 07 - 10:45 PM (#2170023) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TRUBRIT Tosser is certainly not complimentary! Git often has connurtations of meanness.......Gobsmacked is pretty self explanatory. Here's a couple more -- wanker, quite nasty and much like tosser - prat - a bit of an idiot..... |
|
12 Oct 07 - 11:05 PM (#2170030) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Sorcha I like brick myself, so be a brick and get over it already. At least they don't call you a todger! |
|
12 Oct 07 - 11:24 PM (#2170035) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: katlaughing Besides meaning a cat, mog can also mean Miserable Old Git! I love gobsmacked and wanker. In fact, I find myself using them quite often. |
|
12 Oct 07 - 11:43 PM (#2170038) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Oh yes, "moggie". Moggie's a good one. It means a cat, but it somehow conveys a good deal more about the cat, I think, than the mere generic word "cat" does. It suggests a certain homely quality, a raffish sort of informal and neighbourly way of referring to a familiar animal that is often seen in the vicinity of one's digs. "Digs!" There's another one. I think it must derive back to a time when Britons scraped out holes in the ground to live in and pulled some thatched roof or something like that over them. If Sir Francis Drake and the other bold seafaring chaps off "Plymouth Ho!" had not sent the Armada packing in 1588, the Brits might still be living that way! If so, we would be obliged to send them foreign aid, and we're already stretched too thin....so thank you, Sir Francis! Thanks for bringing up the connection between "old" and "git", Kat. It's an important one too. A "miserable old git". Gawd...I love the sound of that! It summons up such a vivid picture in one's mind. You know exactly what it means the moment you hear it. |
|
12 Oct 07 - 11:49 PM (#2170042) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Here's another great one: "Push OFF!" ...and in the same vein... "Oh, sod off!" (great for expressing just how exasperated and completely FED UP one is with some stupid prat...or git...or tosser...as the case may be) |
|
13 Oct 07 - 12:35 AM (#2170059) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Peace I can't be arsed. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:05 AM (#2170066) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,leeneia It took me a long time to figure out what "and then the penny dropped" meant. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:44 AM (#2170073) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak Little Hawk - just to be nit-picky... Plymouth Hoe is not always followed by an exclamation mark (or bang)and is spelled with an 'E'. Westward Ho! is the one with the punctuation and is the only town or village in Britain to be a) named after a novel (many other have had novels named after them) and b) to have an exclamation mark (there is one other town in Quebec that has a bang as part of its official name). I've never been there but I have it from one who knows that it is not really as exciting as the name and punctuation would suggest. Personally I've always liked 'wally' (from the large, bright green, slightly limp pickled gherkin found in chip shops) which seems to have been entirely British in origin. LTS |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:46 AM (#2170075) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave Swan I was not best pleased. D |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:52 AM (#2170079) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John O'L "'Ow's yer farver?" Never knew what it meant but always liked it. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:12 AM (#2170095) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Big Al Whittle you've never had a bit of 'hows your farver?' then? You surprise me - a man of your je ne sais quoi. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:59 AM (#2170111) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: greg stephens "How's your father"(followed by "orl right!" is the rhythmic phrase used to denote a familiar tag ending of a song|: another version isrendered in American as "shave and a hair cut two bits".AS WLD refers to earlier, it is also used to denote a little touch of Harry in the night, hanky panky,Ugandan business,spearing the bearded clam,jig a jig etc. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 04:43 AM (#2170121) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: sian, west wales One evening in a pub, soon after I had moved to Wales, I had to ask the people I was with what they meant by 'slag'. A couple of the guys looked a bit embarrassed but replied that a slag was someone who went out with tossers and wankers. I'd heard 'tosser' before so I asked what a 'wanker' was ... whereupon the conversation immediately turned to something else, completely. Another saying might be, "Don't get your knickers in a twist." That breaks up one of my Canadian friends every time. And in Wales (you did say 'UK') if someone is incredibly angry, you say they're tampin' (tamping) mad. If they're very ill, they're "poorly" or even, "She's bad under the doctor." If they're moving very quickly, they're "going like the clappers" ... although that may be a UK one as well. sian |
|
13 Oct 07 - 04:50 AM (#2170126) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bonzo3legs Go to Croydon any day and you will hear many hideous expressions from the oiks! |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:01 AM (#2170129) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave Hanson What about Birmingham ? how can all those people have the same speech impediment ? eric |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:09 AM (#2170133) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Sapper on the TRU; Doing the Chiltern Line One I recall from my Army days is "AS much use as tits on a bloody bull frog." |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:58 AM (#2170152) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Jeanie Very much like a wally, there's a plonker... The amusement - and bemusement - about expressions also happens between different regions of the UK, as well as from one side of the Pond to the other. Having been born in Wales, and having lived most of my life in southern England, I'm always amused by the Northern expression "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs !" My Scots grandfather always used to welcome people at the front door by saying "Come away in !" I think I speak "normal" English (I suppose we all think that !), but I find that in some schools I have taught in, the children are very amused by my saying things like "Jolly good !" and "Okey dokey" - I think they count that as somehow "posh". They tell me they have never heard anyone say things like that. Oooh, here's one that I've heard and had to have explained to me: lary (as in "a lary (very bright/garish patterned) tie"). Fascinating to delve into language differences and nuances. You never do meet a young git, do you ? I've just looked the word up. It is a variation of the noun "get", meaning a fool/idiot, from Middle English, "get" being a noun for "offspring of animals" (< beget). So really, I suppose, all gits ought to be young. Toodleooo - jeanie |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:24 AM (#2170158) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Jeanie Me again.....Just thinking, what is the younger version of an "old git" ? A young...what ? All I can think of is a "young Herbert", but I'm begining to think I'm very old-fashioned and talk like Bertie Wooster. What about the expression: "Matey" ? I only ever use that in a derogatory sense and for strangers who never hear me saying it, so not for mates at all, and only ever when driving the car, as in: "You wait your turn, Matey !".... Little Hawk: I loved your definitiion of "moggie", by the way. That was spot on. Oh, just thought of some more good expressions: "the bees knees"..."the cat's pyjamas." - jeanie |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:37 AM (#2170159) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail "Don't get out of your pram" to someone who is about to lose there temper and "Who rattled your cage?" to someone who already has. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:39 AM (#2170160) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: David C. Carter "as much use as an ashtray on a motor bike" "have a butchers at this" as in "butchers hook" Look. "leg over" as in-"Did you get your leg over last night?" "He's as tight as a camel's arse in a sandstorm" David |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:02 AM (#2170170) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Oik" has been mentioned above, and I don't think anyone know where it come from. Means much the same as "yob" which is "boy" backwards, and is disparaging. I think a fair number of words that look strange to Americans are shared with Australians - for example "bloke" which is said to come from Shelta. "Digs" used to be "diggings", for example in A Study in Scarlet, when Dr Watson meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time, the mutual friend introducing them says "My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought I had better bring you together." |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:26 AM (#2170183) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: redsnapper "A piece of piss" (= easy) is one I have never understood the origin of. Does anybody know? Pooch is of course a canine moggie. RS |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:42 AM (#2170187) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak We were always 'daft apeths' if we were being silly. I took this to mean we were acting like fools and idiots. Anyone else come across 'apeth', other than as the archaic form of 'apes' - to imitate someone in the manner of Chongo the Chimp? LTS |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:48 AM (#2170189) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave Hanson Lovely Scottish one, " hey Jimmy, whats yer name ? " eric |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:57 AM (#2170192) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Newport Boy "Daft 'apeth" was common for a small person not worth very much. H'apeth or 'apeth was the common abbreviation for ha'penny, or halfpenny. It's the only bit I remember of a children's rhyme: An 'apeth of chips to grease your lips. Anyone know the rest? Phil |
|
13 Oct 07 - 08:00 AM (#2170194) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow I think it's " 'ap'orth" - meaning worth a ha'penny, a half-penny. Then there is the way we use "sod" - "sod off", "silly old sod", "silly young sod". And "bugger" - "buggering around", "bugger me", "do bugger all". None of which have any connection whatsoever with the Friends of Dorothy. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 08:11 AM (#2170202) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave the Gnome I doubt if wankers go out with slags! Aren't wankers, by nature, solitary creatures? ;-) I think tosser has the same origin (wank=toss off? Maybe?) I find wanker is much overused and find myself using it only for persons, usualy white van or BMW drivers, performing selfish acts! Now then, Wassock is a completely different kettle of fish. Originaly a smelly heap of manure that had formed a crust it then came to mean anyone who was particularly unpleasent in any way. What about the great Lancashire expressions 'Yer gurt nog!' (You great noggin - don't ask!) or 'Clowt yed' (Cloth Head). There's hundreds of 'em! :D |
|
13 Oct 07 - 08:20 AM (#2170210) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Pillock" is very handy sometimes. "Thanks very much", meaning the reverse. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 08:34 AM (#2170226) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Newport Boy Thanks McGrath, "a'porth" is right. The wealthy would have a penn'orth. I shouldn't have read this thread - my brain is now churning. My father-in-law always said of an action which was less than effective - 'As much use as shouting "shit" up a dark alley'. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 11:01 AM (#2170284) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Geordie-Peorgie Makin' love to a 'well-worn' lady (or by an under-endowed male) Like throwin' a bean-bag in The Albert Haall |
|
13 Oct 07 - 11:11 AM (#2170290) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T "I doubt if wankers go out with slags! Aren't wankers, by nature, solitary creatures? ;-) I think tosser has the same origin (wank=toss off? Maybe?) I find wanker is much overused and find myself using it only for persons, usualy white van or BMW drivers, performing selfish acts!" Tosser is another word for wanker, and goes back to at least the 1930s. The comedian, Max Miller, used to tell a joke that went as follows:- "I was walking along this narrow mountain ledge the other day, when I came face to face with a pretty young woman. I didn't know whether to toss meself orf, or block 'er passage" ergo Tosser = Wanker. Don T. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:18 PM (#2170356) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rog Peek 'As much use as a nine bob note.' Used to work fine, but now it seems only people over 50 know what i'm talking about. Bloody decimalisation! |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:26 PM (#2170364) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Stone" as in "six-stone weakling" |
|
13 Oct 07 - 01:54 PM (#2170385) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Gedpipes Goodness me Little Hawk. Just look what you have started. I think most of the comments above do appear to have emanated from fairly decent coves, not like the other thread we were privy to sharing where there appeared to be a large number of dull johnies participating. Toodley pip and of course Blue skies |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:35 PM (#2170436) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Har! Har! By God, it's wonderful what is coming forth on this thread! It makes me want to purchase air fare to the British Isles right away. Once there I would scout around, seeing if I could spot any tossers, wankers, and/or miserable old gits...and maybe even meet a slag or two while I was at it. No wonder Chongo has such fun whenever he goes to Britain. Liz, thanks for the tip about Plymouth Hoe. Another important bit of trivia that I can put in my mental storage bin for future reference. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:45 PM (#2170440) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: George Papavgeris More recently you have your "Kevs" and "Sharons" - many of them live in Essex reportedly - as well as your "chavs", your "spotty (H)'erberts" - they usually serve behind the counter at fast food places - and every day you meet "cautious Cuthberts" on the roads. Not that I'm bovvered - me? bovvered? talk to the hand!... |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:47 PM (#2170442) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Midchuck I enjoy those expressions too, but the US can do well on it's own: Useless as tits on a boar hog.... Uglier than death takin' a shit... Crazier than a shithouse rat... That woman was so tall she could stand flat-footed and piss in the radiator of a Chevy pickup... Yo' mama so fat she keeps her diaphragm in a Pizza box... And so on and so forth. Where's Kendall when we need him? Peter |
|
13 Oct 07 - 03:52 PM (#2170443) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk A "spotty (H)'erbert"!!!! Oh, man, I get that picture in my mind as clear as day. If they were in Canada, they'd be working at the Tim Hortons donut shops and variety stores. Is the "cautious Cuthbert" the natural counterpart to the "nervous Nellie"? One could set up a matchmaking service that focuses on bringing such types together in order to make sure that the future supply of spotty (H)'erberts never runs out... I was a spotty (H)'erbert once...years ago. Fortunately, the condition passed eventually. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 04:52 PM (#2170457) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Watch it George! I resemble that remark. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 04:54 PM (#2170459) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rumncoke To be given t' Scarborough warning - that is no warning at all and usually a fist in the face but I think it stems from the time when Scarborough had a tendency to hang criminals for the first offence. Excuse, please the explosive 't' of South Yorkshire that is the substitute for 'the' but more so. Numpty has drifted down from the far north, on the air waves (radio) I think. A numpty is a dimbo. Ackers or Sheckles is money, usually coins which you might divy up with your mates if you had been carol singing round the estate (housing estate) thought if the people had been stinjey they might not have shelled out much cash. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:01 PM (#2170463) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: astro There seems to be sayings in America that imply some impediment in looks: she looks like the back side of a country fence... he looks like 5 miles of bad road... then there's: that dog won't hunt... but, I think we were talking about England.... astro |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:09 PM (#2170470) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave the Gnome On the other bus = Of a different sexual orientation. :D |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:09 PM (#2170472) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Not specifically England, as the thread heading indicates. Where input from across the Atlantic would be helpful is in identifying which every day idioms used here aren't in use over there. For example, am I right in understanding that "slowcoach" isn't, but you'd use "slowpoke" instead? |
|
13 Oct 07 - 05:13 PM (#2170475) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Micca Geordie, I first heard a version of that as like " throwing a tab(cigarette) down Northumberland Avenue ( a wide thoroughfare in Newcastle on Tyne)in South Shields! |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:25 PM (#2170515) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister The north-south divide again - I remember being totally gobsmacked once at university when a friend (Lancashire, I think) went into her room to see what her boyfriend was up to. She came out again and said "We won't bother him now, he's hard on." My jaw dropped. She then explained that it meant he was fast asleep ... How about "collywobbles"? Anne |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:31 PM (#2170517) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Yes, McGrath, North Americans say "slowpoke". (it's not a sexual reference, by the way...) I never heard the expression "that dog won't hunt" until I saw Bobert use it, which he does quite often. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:40 PM (#2170520) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie Git , sometimes rendered in Scotland as Get, and as such is regarded as far more offensive than Git is in England. G, |
|
13 Oct 07 - 06:46 PM (#2170525) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow What a difference a vowel makes. As with "feck". |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:02 PM (#2170532) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Brits might say of an ugly girl, "She's got a face like a slapped arse", or "She looks like the North end of a South bound Camel". I have heard someone described as a "right Prattock", explained as meaning halfway between prat and pillock, a pretty narrow gap to squeeze into, I'd have thought. Don T. |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:04 PM (#2170533) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Or with "shat", as in "Shatner". |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:17 PM (#2170540) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: George Papavgeris Not you, Kevin, LOL! |
|
13 Oct 07 - 07:36 PM (#2170551) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk I always thought that the word "prat" sounded like some sort of small sea animal...like a sardine or a shrimp or something. Iggy "Knackers" Westbourne of 'Ull - "We 'auled in five t'ousand pounds of prat today in under one hour of draggin'!" A "pillock", on the other hand, sounds like something either animate or inanimate that one would find on a farm. Ms. Penelope Rutledge - "The fragrant spring meadows were dotted with pillocks as far as the eye could see." |
|
13 Oct 07 - 08:21 PM (#2170567) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Desert Dancer For the topic of colorful American expressions, here's one link (that came up in the last year, at least): Folklore: Regional expressions ~ Becky in Tucson |
|
13 Oct 07 - 10:46 PM (#2170655) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan Most of the UK expressions above are familiar to Oz speakers and several have been used in Oz; I certainly can't think of any that wouldn't be understood here. Although, "wanker" in Oz is used the same way, it often connotes someone who is, in addition to being your basic tosser, is also a bit up himself. It's usually male oriented and it's unusual for a female to be described as one. But even a woman can be described as "wouldn't know if a bus was up him/her until the passengers poked their heads out the windows." In Oz, the phrase "crazy as a shithouse rat" is usually "cunning as a shithouse rat." And, while I've heard all the "Useless as a ..." mentioned above the following are also common in Oz; Useless as a plough upstairs, Useless as a two-storied tent, and Useless as tits on a bull Cheers, Rowan |
|
14 Oct 07 - 01:20 AM (#2170702) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert A prat is a pussy. Soppy apeth. Silly old git. Daft as arseholes and twice as nasty. Looks like a sack of shit tied up with string. Face like the back of a bus. Yer Father is your dick, or Hampton (wick). O.B. (on the beat) is a hard on. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 03:12 AM (#2170716) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Then there's "spotted dick". It sounds like some sort of really nasty physical ailment which might afflict tossers and wankers, but it's actually a kind of food, I believe. There's another kind of food called "bubble and squeak" which is certainly quite descriptive. And there's another kind I've seen called "pig in a blanket". It's a small sausage with some pastry around it. **** Then there's the expression "rogering", as in, "She's in need of a good rogering, that one...". |
|
14 Oct 07 - 03:30 AM (#2170721) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak 'Pig in a blanket' isn't what they're called in the UK. Ask for a 'pig in a blanket' here and you'll get either a policeman in a duvet or a lump of pork meat wrapped in a bed covering. We call 'em sausage rolls. Thanks for the explaination of 'apeth'.. certainly makes sense now. I've always been fond of 'face like a bulldog licking piss of a nettle' but I've been forbidden to use it at work, where, unfortunately, it is most apt. LTS |
|
14 Oct 07 - 03:43 AM (#2170724) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Oh, I see. Thanks again, Liz. Well, I assumed it just had to be an English expression when I heard it. I've only encountered the elusive "pig in a blanket" on a couple of occasions. "A policeman in a duvet" Ha! Ha! I thought it was only in America that police were called "pigs" (by certain people who usually have a less than cordial relationship with "the fuzz"). |
|
14 Oct 07 - 04:32 AM (#2170739) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie I always understood it to be an affectionate term, and to be spelled Soppy h'aporth, meaning sad/sentimental halfpennyworth. Giok |
|
14 Oct 07 - 04:57 AM (#2170747) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: gnomad I have come across "pig in a blanket" used in the LH way on occasion here in the UK, could be a regional thing. We also have dogs in blankets, which is a sort of sultana pastie, looks a bit like a dog product wrapped up, but tastes good. Other ones that may not have skipped the pond might be "Jobsworth", "gormless", and "Twirly". A Jobsworth would be a [generally] minor official hiding behind a probably foolish or imaginary regulation. Its characteristic refrain is "That's more than my job's worth." To describe someone as gormless would be to say they lack drive, sense, and generally connectedness with what is happening around them. It is often applied to teenagers [see spotty 'erbert above, he is almost bound to be gormless]. Twirlies are those who turn up before an event opens, hoping to get in early and bag all the best bargains, seats etc, as appropriate. Also used of those with concessionary free passes on public transport which are restricted to use outside rush hours, but who hope to use them right at the busiest time. Both categories seem to be found mostly in pairs or threesomes, and are characterised by their twitter "Are we twirly?" [too early] knowing full well that they are, but hoping to get away with it. One seldom encounters a solitary twirly. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 07:51 AM (#2170800) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Another delicacy I don't think Americans are familiar with is "toad in the hole". |
|
14 Oct 07 - 08:20 AM (#2170812) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Geordie-Peorgie Aye, Micca! Except it wad be 'hoyin' a tab. And........ a face like a .... Blind cobbler's thumb Slate-hanger's nail pouch Bulldog chewin' a wasp Busted Wellie There's mair! Others aah like tend te cast nasturtiums on a lady's honour, Her knickers are held up with ripcord Ye knaah when she's had an orgasm when she drops her chips When finished havin' sex she says, "What team d'ye aall play for?" |
|
14 Oct 07 - 09:31 AM (#2170834) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Bit concerned to read that a prat is a pussy - it is, in fact, your rear end. Hence the notion of a prat fall, when a performer inadvertently takes a tumble and lands on his or her bottom. Think that the poster who identified it as a pussy was getting confused with the similar sounding "twat" - which is female genitalia, and also a small hamlet in Orkney where we went once on holiday. Meant that when anyone asked us where we were going we had to make a whole sentence out of it in case anyone thought we were being needlessly crude. We do have a photo of the Twat Post Office, however, just to prove where we were. Anne |
|
14 Oct 07 - 09:36 AM (#2170835) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie There is also an island up there called Yell Tabster, so called because it was the last to have phones installed ;) Giok I'll get me coat. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 09:49 AM (#2170844) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Shimrod A somewhat obsolete expression, which I rather like, is "you big girl's blouse!". This is an expression of contempt for anyone displaying weakness. I associate this phrase with the late, lamented Lancashire comedienne, Hilda Baker. I suppose other, equivalent expessions (also to be rendered in a Lancashire accent) would be, "you big, soft 'aporth" or "you mardy little git!" 'Mardy' being an old adjective, still used in the North of England, meaning, something like, weak and/or emotional. A variation might be to describe a crying child as a "whingeing little mard-arse!". In East Anglia any male person (whether nine or ninety) is referred to as a "little old boy". Someone might say, "oi seen that little old boy from Swaffham down the post office. Gor, blast me bor, 'ees a rum 'un!". Of course, that means I have to explain "gor blast me, bor" and "rum'un" - but I'm not sure that I'm up to it! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 09:53 AM (#2170847) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk There's a place in Orkney called "Twat"? Good lord. I'm surprised I haven't seen something on the Net about it. Wait...I'll take a look on Google! Regarding pratfalls, any Canucks recall the beauty that Phil Esposito did in Moscow back in '72? |
|
14 Oct 07 - 09:54 AM (#2170849) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie Cor bugger jagger |
|
14 Oct 07 - 11:58 AM (#2170887) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Making progress here. I found this little snippet of information while looking for all over the net for Twat... Someone on a site about the Orkney Isles says that: "And remember, the folk in Orkney go UP and doon at the end of their SENtenCES..." Interesting. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 12:13 PM (#2170893) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Ah, here it is...but they spell it with a double "t". Twatt And again... Twatt once more... This woman came up under the very same search. I don't know what the connection is... Andrea? As for this man, he's a rude blighter with no respect for archaeological sites.... Standing Stone being desecrated by tourist yobbo... |
|
14 Oct 07 - 12:35 PM (#2170908) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Plenty of UK names for police, LH. Pigs Filth Plods Old Bill or The Bill Rozzers Coppers Probably more, but those are the most common. Hey Geordie, you forgot Lilo Lil. "She goes around wi' a mattress strapped to 'er back, in case she meets anyone she knows". Don T. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 12:39 PM (#2170913) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Another for LH. Bubble and Squeak is left over cabbage and potatoes mixed up together and fried. One of my favourites. Spotted Dick is a stodgy pudding with currants and sultanas. As it is cylindrical, the name becomes both obvious and apposite. Don T. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 12:49 PM (#2170917) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave the Gnome Toad in the hole can also be described as pigs in a blanket I believe but to us pigs in a blanket was always a sausage butty. Unless it was awful sausages on soggy bread in which case it became pigs dick in lettuce! :D |
|
14 Oct 07 - 12:53 PM (#2170919) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dazbo Pigs in blankets is small (cocktail) sausages wrapped in bacon. Oh for the days when you could go to the chippy for an a'puth of chips (the amount of chips worth one half-penny). Nesh is a good one from round Sheffield describing someone who feels the cold more than is usual. Red Snapper - unless you've got an STD or the urinary equivalent of constipation there's nothing easier than urinating or producing urine. Taking the mickey, taking the piss or extracting the urine = making fun of someone (ususally between friend) or of something they have done or said. Cause of violence when not between friends! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 01:07 PM (#2170930) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail Don(Wyziwyg)T Plenty of UK names for police You forgot Bobby. Bob Copper of the Rottingdean Copper Family spent some time in the force. It is a joy to know that there used to be a Sergeant Bob Copper. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 01:17 PM (#2170935) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Wonderful! In the USA police are often called "troopers". They are (or were) also called "the Fuzz", "pigs", "cops", "coppers", and many other such names, I'm sure. Spotted Dick sounds like a rather intimidating food to me, Don. It must take nerve to be the first to carve out a spoonful of that. Cabbage is good stuff, but I have the impression that few people around here ever eat it for some reason. Pity! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 02:00 PM (#2170963) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Do they still call the police "Traps" in Australia? |
|
14 Oct 07 - 03:05 PM (#2171008) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert Sorry Tabster but Pratfall is a much later expression; before that it used to mean pussy. Before pratfall came into use, one would fall "arse over tit". Prat was also used in the same way as C**t is nowadays. "You stupid prat" (Not you Tabster, just illustrating the expression) And cops used to be called bogies. On seing a police car my Uncle Ted would exclaim "There's a bogie's jam jar". Another food delight from Cornwall is Figgy Hobbin which is pastry rolled up with currants in it and baked in the oven. Other UK culinary delights are... Black Pudding Shrimps (Not the prawns they call shrimps in the USA) Winkles Whelks Buckling Kippers Bloaters Jellies Eels Eel Pie Lardy cake Seedy cake Mother made a seedy cake Parley vous Mother made a seedy cake Parley vous Mother made a seedy cake Gave us all the belly ache Inky dinky Parley vous |
|
14 Oct 07 - 03:39 PM (#2171021) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Hi, Bert - not sure where your information comes from, but on a quick Google search all the dictionaries (and the BBC History site) all agree that prat = bottom or buttocks, origin uncertain. One can still fall "arse over tit", which is a little different from a pratfall anyway (which is more of a comic turn fall). And yes, of course people are called stupid prats, which might mean the same as the c word in that context but that's about as far as it goes. Just as you might call someone an arse. I wouldn't, of course. Far be it from me. Show me your dictionary and I'll concede the point happily, but the Oxford English, Webster, BBC History and all the various on-line help for US citizens to understand us Brits all agree on bottom! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 04:07 PM (#2171044) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rasener If your dick is as big as your mouth, you can have me tonight!!! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:14 PM (#2171087) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow You suggesting Bert's a bit of a twit over this, Tabster? |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:23 PM (#2171095) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: gnu ROOOOIGHT! Give us yer lupins! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:26 PM (#2171100) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow You and whose army? |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:34 PM (#2171107) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail Leave it McGrath. He's not worth it. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:36 PM (#2171108) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert My information comes from common usage in London in the Fifties and Sixties. I served a five year apprenticeship as a boilermaker so the usage I encountered may be a little coarser than that which dictionary compilers were seeing. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:41 PM (#2171116) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Bloody 'ell! Wot's this I 'ear? Boilermakers??? You're just the sort of rude sod I'd have thought was 'angin' out wif boilermakers in his youth, Bert. A roight lot of ruffians, they are! Filthy swine, every one of 'em! I'd never let me daughter even talk to a boilermaker. ;-) |
|
14 Oct 07 - 05:57 PM (#2171130) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: sapper82 Hey Bert, you missed a meal of Faggot, chips, peas and gravy! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 06:20 PM (#2171150) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Tasty! |
|
14 Oct 07 - 06:41 PM (#2171164) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan "Pigs in blankets is small (cocktail) sausages wrapped in bacon." I take it that those small cocktail sausages are the ones known to my teenaged daughters as "little boys"? McGrath, I don't think cops in Oz have been called traps since colonial times. But they have been called pigs for quite a while. When I was protesting the Springboks tour in Melbourne (1971) a copper rather aggressively suggested I regarded "all cops as pigs". Being a volunteer in search and rescue I wasn't but I rather took the wind out of his sails with the reply "No! Cops have souls!" And, when the police acquired a Dauphin helicopter (powered by twin gas turbines, I believe) its distinctive sound earned it the name "the pork chopper" from the kids at the sschool I taught. Cheers, Rowan |
|
14 Oct 07 - 06:52 PM (#2171178) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Midchuck Then there's the expression "rogering", as in, "She's in need of a good rogering, that one...". Every year in the ads for the Old Songs Festival in New York, they advertise as one of the attractions, "Roger the Jester." And every year I say, no thanks. Peter |
|
14 Oct 07 - 06:53 PM (#2171179) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Big Al Whittle in the uk, traffic cops call those raised bits on the motorway, that they watch us from - pig perches drivers who clutter up the motorway are called clocs - centre lane owners club members |
|
14 Oct 07 - 06:55 PM (#2171181) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T There was a duo in my area of the UK called "Roger the Chorister", who were always at pains to point out that it was a name, not an instruction. LOL Don T. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 07:30 PM (#2171198) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Grab My folks called sausages wrapped in pancakes "pigs in pokes", but I've heard them called "pigs in blankets" before. (Not sausage rolls Liz - that's sausage in flaky pastry, for them that don't know.) "Toad in the hole" is something very different - sausages embedded in Yorkshire pudding. Yorkshire pudding is a separate subject itself. It's not a dessert - it's a mixture of egg, flour and milk (essentially a thicker version of pancake mix) whipped up so it rises in the oven in a kind of cup shape. Most folk use it as a gravy container/absorber. But Yorkshire folk insist it's a separate item and may eat it on their own. Gravy is something else again too. I was amazed when I found that supermarkets in the US don't sell gravy granules. You can buy stock cubes (expensively) and cornflour to make it from first principles, but gravy granules - nope. Or custard powder - again, must be a first-principles job from egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and milk. Although I don't know anywhere apart from Britain who does custard, and they really don't know what they're missing. There is *nothing* goes so well with a fruit crumble as custard. Graham. |
|
14 Oct 07 - 07:41 PM (#2171206) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Greg B Randy --- in the US-speak, 'horny.' Was my Dickens Faire stage-name, 'Randy Sailor' (oi'll say e' is!) Gobshite - obvious conjunction, but amusing none the less. As it happens, I'm a lunatic for spotted dick for dessert. N'owt better, IMHO, in winter. Or London in June. Try it at the Mitre, not far from Paddington. Ambrosia. Nectar of the gods. Just don't have it served up in the 'gents.' Which gets us on another tangent. 'Gents' 'Ladies' the WC (not a section of London). The 'necessary.' The loo. And you don't so much ask the way as announce that you 'want' it. 'I want the loo.' Or the ladies' or the gents'. 'Pissed' is drunk. In the US, it might be piss-drunk, in an odd attempt to explain itself. 'Pissed' on the other hand, is in the US, angry. My grandma, used the expletive 'musha' every time something went wrong. Though she was a Lancashire lass from Wiggan, it may be that she got it from her Ma or Da (Hamill) who had an Irish connection. What about a 'Glasgow handshake' or 'Glasgow kiss?' |
|
14 Oct 07 - 08:57 PM (#2171234) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Nigel Parsons "Yorkshire pudding is a separate subject itself. It's not a dessert - it's a mixture of egg, flour and milk (essentially a thicker version of pancake mix) whipped up so it rises in the oven in a kind of cup shape. Most folk use it as a gravy container/absorber. But Yorkshire folk insist it's a separate item and may eat it on their own." Indeed, Yorkshire Pudding traditionally served, not as a pudding (dessert) but as a starter course with thick onion gravy. Properly cooked it is a filling meal in itself, and meant that when the main course was served, with meat, the edge had already been taken off the appetite. So a serving of Yorkshire pudding before the main course meant that less meat had to be provided (the costly part of the meal). It has been said that a Yorkshire man is a Scotsman without his generosity! CHEERS Nigel |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:18 AM (#2171334) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak I always get confused with fanny... In the US, it's what they call your bottom, butt, arse, pratt, keister, posterier, derriere, situpon, bum, gluteous maximus etc... In the UK it's in the same general area, but, well... round the front of a female type lady. Explains why Americans wear their fanny packs round the back and they got called Bum bags in the UK. Although I do understand there have been confusions when Americans have been told to 'park your bum' and wondered why they needed to place a hobo in their seat. LTS |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:15 AM (#2171376) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael But then Liz, there's "Fannying about" which means somthing equivalent to being "Like a fart in a cullinder" rathe than behaving in a pudendal fashion. Mike |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:35 AM (#2171384) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: PMB A 'warlock' is a magical person, who would mumble (or 'grunt') spells and charms which would be written in runes. The runic alphabet is the futhark, so a 'warlock' or 'wallock' is a 'gruntfuthark' or 'gruntfuttock'. 'Get' is an illegitimate child, as in a 'whore's get'. I suppose the transferrence to aged idiots is via the unpleasant attributes traditionally associated with illegitimacy. I like the expression 'Gordon Bennett', using the American newspaper magnate's name in vain, thus avoiding direct use of the Lord's (whose Christian name would be pronounced homophonically in the demotic London dialect of the early part of the last century). It also gave rise to Gordon Bleugh queezeen. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:40 AM (#2171385) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie Front bottom! |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:52 AM (#2171390) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy 100 Skipy |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:54 AM (#2171391) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy Swamp donkey Skipy |
|
15 Oct 07 - 06:05 AM (#2171399) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Returning, for the last time (I promise), to "prat" or "pratt" - its original meaning (OED) was a trick or a prank. It's also been used to describe a hip pocket. No one is sure when it became attached to the bottom (sorry) but its first usage in written form was around 1968. So, Bert, your boilermakers may have been inventing its rather coarser meaning, but that hasn't stayed with the word and the meaning that has is the back rather than front bottom. Now I'm off away for a week so I shall turn my attention to higher things ... Anne |
|
15 Oct 07 - 06:17 AM (#2171406) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Boot up the backside" rather than "kick ass" |
|
15 Oct 07 - 06:39 AM (#2171413) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Neither use nor fucking ornament - self explanatory, I think. Fart in a cullander - running round and can't decide which hole to come out of - hence, a person all of a tizzwozz. Standing in a row like pricks at a fair. A harassed person is up and down like a bride's nightie. Were you born a pillock, or did you practise ? Police - 'scuffers' - in Lancashire, polices of sergeant rank and higher carried a walking stick with a brass ferrule, which they scuffed on the pavement to attract the attention of other bogies - hence, 'scuffers'. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 06:40 AM (#2171414) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Stu Crikey - suprise Stone the Crows - suprise too (Hancock popularised this one I believe) Bostin (Brummie) - brilliant, ace I'll go t'foot of our stairs (northern) - suprise |
|
15 Oct 07 - 07:02 AM (#2171422) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael Like a spare prick at a wedding = serving no purpose Mike |
|
15 Oct 07 - 08:19 AM (#2171451) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Toobusybee Descriptions of extreme poverty: On the bones of me arse; haven't got a pot to piss in and to describe someone as not being as poor as they make out - 'hardly on the bones of their arse' |
|
15 Oct 07 - 09:40 AM (#2171507) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak 'All fur coat and no knickers' - meaning the outside is well dressed but the inside isn't so good. LTS |
|
15 Oct 07 - 10:53 AM (#2171552) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh For someone who came from your background, but appears to have gone up in the world - I knew you when your britches-arse was hanging out. For the gambler : there's no such thing as a thin bookie. For the indecisive : if you can't shit, get off the privy. For the despised : if I was a ghost I wouldn't give him a fright. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 12:29 PM (#2171618) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rog Peek Sorry, I know it's off the subject, but you're highlighting the word feck McGrath reminded me of a T shirt I saw in Ireland last year: F C E K Made in Ireland Rog |
|
15 Oct 07 - 12:41 PM (#2171622) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael And speaking of urine - "I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire". Mike |
|
15 Oct 07 - 02:35 PM (#2171726) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: fat B****rd "Bugger my rags" |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:23 PM (#2171767) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: The Sandman Tabster,prat HAS definitely same meaning as Vagina. Going for a Shufti[To have alook at summat]. JIMMY Riddle,to have a piddle. To be on your JackJones,to be on your own. Up Barking creek without a paddle.[scuppered] to go to Beachy Head by way of Barking Creek[take the long scenic route]. Brown Boots and no Breakfast[Applies to certain areas of Coventry,where they could afford brown boots if they went without breakfast] LTS its Lace Curtains and no knickers[where I come from]. Send to Coventry[Refuse to speak to someone]. Take coals to Newcastle[take something where it is not needed] Teach your grandmother to suck eggs[Tell somebody somthing they already know] |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:35 PM (#2171781) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Khazi, bog, loo |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:36 PM (#2171782) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Emma B load of bumf! |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:36 PM (#2171783) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: IWTATBM As a kid in Ambridge I remember Bert Fry sayin' once it was a 'bostin morning' but when pressed he wouldn't say what it meant or where he'd picked it up from. From then on us kids used to sing after him 'There's Bostin Birt in his dirty ol' shirt'. That's probably why he's such a misery today. Word on the street is that he once dated a girl from the West Bromwich. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 03:39 PM (#2171786) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Irene M When I moved to Oban from Sidmouth as a 17 year old, I came a cropper over the use of "bugger", which where I grew up, was a term of endearment. Trouble was, in Devon the gender was always somewhat random. If someone referred to "'ers a daft old bugger" they were probably referring to a bloke, but you could never be sure. In the West Highlands, the term "bugger" caused considerable pursing of the lips! Then I moved to Derby, and have been confusing them ever since, by going out for the "messages". Time to move again perhaps? |
|
15 Oct 07 - 04:02 PM (#2171795) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: John MacKenzie Hit them wi a boattle o' ginger Irene. G |
|
15 Oct 07 - 04:05 PM (#2171797) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST all mouth and trousers daft as a brush he won't make old bones
-Joe Offer- |
|
15 Oct 07 - 04:33 PM (#2171815) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: robomatic I shared a car with an Australian who referred to pretty much any male he even vaguely disliked as a "tool-head" abbreviated to 'ted'. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 04:41 PM (#2171819) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: The Sandman HI, Irene here in Ireland, going for messages is going shopping. just been playing guitar,she is sounding bright.thanks. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 04:52 PM (#2171825) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: sapper82 If our delicate readers would pardon the language, another forces saying about a tendency to panic was "Flapping about like a fanny in a fuck storm"! |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:28 PM (#2171843) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "browned off" means more or les the same as "fed up" (Americans say that don't they?) "brass tacks" - more or less equivalent to "the bottom line" "ratarsed" - drunk |
|
15 Oct 07 - 05:44 PM (#2171853) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Cathie I was cheesed off with her lah di dah ways. The common parlance 'wicked' meaning 'very good' Is that world-wide too? |
|
15 Oct 07 - 07:20 PM (#2171930) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan Liz' "'All fur coat and no knickers' - meaning the outside is well dressed but the inside isn't so good" is also expressed as "Queen Anne front and Mary-Ann behind" around where I grew up. Cheers, Rowan |
|
15 Oct 07 - 07:32 PM (#2171939) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow I've always understood 'fur coat and no knickers" as meaning a lady who is more accomodating than you might think from her lah-di-dah appearance. |
|
15 Oct 07 - 07:46 PM (#2171950) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Here's another good one: "starkers" It means naked, as in stark naked. And what exactly does "knackered" mean? |
|
15 Oct 07 - 08:00 PM (#2171959) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Emma B a "tad tired" |
|
15 Oct 07 - 08:08 PM (#2171962) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Emma B The one I've had a problem with in trans continental dialogue is "shattered" In the UK it usually just means pretty tired or exhausted whereas I guess it has a much more emotive meaning on the N. American continent |
|
15 Oct 07 - 08:31 PM (#2171973) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Yes, in North America "shattered" means "emotionally devastated". |
|
15 Oct 07 - 09:24 PM (#2171991) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e On a good screw --- earning good money "we're screwed" --- no escape from a situation "caa-yed" --- derogatry comment directed about a person from Leagh "Pie eater" --- derogatry comment directed about a person from Wigin Humping --- having sex or carrying a heavy load "in the brown and smelly" or "in the shit" ...... obvious realy Slapper --- Woman of easy virtue, used for men sometimes Shirt lifter --- Gay man "bugger me" --- Exclamation of supprise NOT an invitation nooky --- Sex Matey --- someone who you know or someone who acts as though you do "she's got an arse like a bag of ferrets" --- woman with a nice bum "eyes like piss holes in the snow" ---- said about somone suffering from a bad hangover "sent to Coventry" --- industrial punishment of not being talked to Baps --- a type of barm cake (bread roll) or a womans breasts Bin lid --- a large bap Barm pot --- (Scottish) crazy person .... or just stupid |
|
16 Oct 07 - 12:54 AM (#2172084) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan Folk 1e, all except the last three and the one about Wigan are well used in Oz. Little Hawk, "Knackered"; when a horse had reached the end of its useful life it was sent to the knackery/ knackers yard/ knackers to be slaughtered and butchered. I've always understood "knackered" to be "exhausted", "stuffed", "buggered" or "stuffed"; the latter three in the sense of "no longer operable nor of any use." Cheers, Rowan |
|
16 Oct 07 - 03:59 AM (#2172088) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Big Al Whittle what does shattered mean in America? another one for you down the kermit.... means down the frog and toad....down the road in London currant bun means sun, which confused me the first time I heard it. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:07 AM (#2172092) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Ella who is Sooze I wouldn't give a gnat arse for that! minging - Scottish terminology for horrible (with a hard g not a soft one) Minger - someone who is smelly and horrible cream crakered - knakered |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:12 AM (#2172097) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: David C. Carter The bank raid went"tits up" when the "Bill"arrived,everyone else"scarpered",leaving me"sucking the mop". David |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:17 AM (#2172100) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Brakn Not the full shilling - Sound as a Pound. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:47 AM (#2172122) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Ella who is Sooze sandwich short of a picnic scone short of a dozen ship short of a ship wreck and so on... The lights are on but nobody is in as much use as a chocolate fireguard/teapot it's just not cricket |
|
16 Oct 07 - 06:53 AM (#2172162) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Two teddy bears short of a picnic Farting against thunder Hasn't the nous of a dead bluebottle talks right bay-window All arse and pocket (said of a thin lady) |
|
16 Oct 07 - 07:38 AM (#2172181) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael Gnat's piss = light rain, and therfore also weak beer, not to be confused with 'cat's piss'ie poor beer. 'Mard arse' from Mardy ie whinger 'Lard arse' has a big bum. Also 'Red hat and no knickers',implying women of easy virtue or 'working girls'wore red hats but I don't know why. Mike |
|
16 Oct 07 - 07:44 AM (#2172189) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Ella who is Sooze later developed into red lights when electricketery came in... tee hee |
|
16 Oct 07 - 09:44 AM (#2172275) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Grab Pie-eyed - drunk Batting for the other side - gay A friend from Yorkshire had a nice story about local accents. Most families have somewhere where random crap accumulates, and in their case it was an old biscuit tin. One day a key went missing, Steve's dad asked him if it was in the tin, so Steve looked and said it wasn't. They had a French exchange student over at the time - the poor guy looked totally bemused at this and asked Steve, "What does 'tintintin' mean?" Steve of course said he didn't know. The French guy says, "But you just said it." "No I didn't." "Yes you did." Then Steve realised. Being a Yorkshire accent, the exchange with his dad actually went: "Is't in't tin?" "Nah, 't i'n't in't tin." Which is probably the best introduction possible to the Yorkshire accent! Graham. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 10:12 AM (#2172297) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy Loads of fun in here:- http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3816 Skipy |
|
16 Oct 07 - 11:05 AM (#2172318) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Neil D My dad was stationed in England during the big build-up before D-Day. One of the British expressions of that time that he got a kick out of was used by hotel desk clerks. This would have been before there was a phone in every room, so if you wanted woke up at a certain time a bellhop would come around and knock on your door. Many U.S. servicemen were taken aback when a desk clerk would ask "Shall I knock you up in the morning then?" If the clerk was a young lady the answer might be "Well, you can sure give it a try." Around here I have heard people call cabbage rolls pigs in a blanket. I don't know why because it is ground beef and not pork. Do the English still use the word grotty for grotesque? |
|
16 Oct 07 - 11:17 AM (#2172322) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy Grotty, yes still use. Rare one:- goppin, RAF & RN for vile, dirty, smelly etc. Skipy |
|
16 Oct 07 - 11:31 AM (#2172336) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "pretty tired or exhausted" "emotionally devastated" More or less the same thing - assuming the first was from an English speaker and the second from an American. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 12:25 PM (#2172382) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail ....as opposed to "tired and emotional" which means pissed. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 12:32 PM (#2172384) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert I was doing this when you were running 'round eating bread and jam with the arse out of your trousers! On the job - having sex. Pissed as a newt, or newted - drunk. Tight as a duck's arse, and that's water tight - careful with their money Tight as a nun's c**t - " Bent as a box of top hats - Homosexual. We had one of those and the wheels fell of _ in response to anyone using a long word. OR, We hand one of those and we crossed it with a Flemish Giant. Stever - penny. As in "Ain't worth a stever". or the Rhyming slang version "Ain'twirth a coal" (coal heaver -stever. A coal heaver was the man who delivered coal also known as the coal man) Like a black cat on a coal 'ole. for something that blends with the background. Black as Newgates Knocker - usually applied to God forbids (kids) who come home dirty. God forbids are also referred to as stove lids. A coal hole used to mean the round hole in the pavement (sidewalk) that the coal man tipped the coal down. It was the top of a chute which went down to the coal cellar. But usuall meant the cellar itself. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 12:49 PM (#2172399) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Trevor I gorrup at sparrer fart this morning. And mah nan sed oi ad a vice lark a gratin under a dower. Silly owd fart! |
|
16 Oct 07 - 01:07 PM (#2172422) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert A gnat's cock - something small. Chuffed - pleased or used sarcastically to mean not pleased. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 02:30 PM (#2172481) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Boy, we have tapped into a veritable treasure trove of linguistic culture on this thread. I am positively gobsmacked by it all. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:03 PM (#2172522) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy Fuckwit - idiot Skipy |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:28 PM (#2172547) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy Truffle hound truffle pig truffle donkey = ugly woman (if there is such a thing that is!) Skipy (hiding & shaking a lot). |
|
16 Oct 07 - 04:59 PM (#2172567) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: IWTATBM I remember as a lad sometime in the early 70's, my mate telling George Barford to 'eat my shorts' when he caught us scrumping in Jack Woolley's park. George didn't eat them but he certainly tanned 'em! |
|
16 Oct 07 - 05:12 PM (#2172573) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: The Sandman as Fly as a Fifer.reference to those people from Fife in Scotland,who have a reputation for being extremely cute/tricky/ clever. also you need a long spoon to sup with a Fifer. If you wereto walk up the apple and pears, to clean your hampsteads,and you put your bobby sands in your sky rocket,when you got a call on the dog and bone,just as you were about to have a jimmy riddle,which caused your trouble and strife,to give you a bunch of fives and two black mutton pies.TRANSLATION,youwere going up the stairs,to clean yourteeth,you put your hands in your pocket,when you got a call on the phone,just as you were about to have a piddle,which caused your wife to hit you hard with her fist,and give you two black eyes. |
|
16 Oct 07 - 05:17 PM (#2172574) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Charming! |
|
16 Oct 07 - 05:35 PM (#2172587) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak You'm all puggled! (That's Dorset for 'you are all complete barmpots'). [(barmpots is northern for idiots)]. LTS |
|
16 Oct 07 - 05:39 PM (#2172591) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rog Peek "He wouldn't give you the drippings of his nose, and I wouldn't spit in his best hat." One of my mother in law's favourites when refering to theives was: "They'd take the eyes out of your head." Rog |
|
16 Oct 07 - 05:44 PM (#2172595) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Historically there was "Oversexed, overpaid and over here" referring to US soldiers in the war. (That's World War Two - still generally referred to here as "the war" or "the last war".) |
|
16 Oct 07 - 06:25 PM (#2172614) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan And the same expression was used in Oz to mean the same thing, McGrath. Rog, there was a famous exchange in the Oz Parliament when Bill Hayden commented, of Ian Sinclair, "He'd steal the pennies off dead men's eyes. I find it interesting that, among the examples listed so far, it's only the expressions which rely on regional dialects from the UK that are not commonplace in Oz. Cheers, Rowan |
|
16 Oct 07 - 06:44 PM (#2172625) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: George Papavgeris Nessie's Mum always said that I could talk the hind legs off a donkey... LTS, I know "puggled" from Hants too. Hey how about "he couldn't organise a pissup in a brewery" for bad management skills? |
|
16 Oct 07 - 07:43 PM (#2172662) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: skipy I wouldn't piss in his mouth if his plywood teeth where on fire!:- Distain, to say the least. Skipy |
|
16 Oct 07 - 10:22 PM (#2172669) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan I'm sure, George, you've also heard (and possibly used) the cruder "he couldn't organise a f**k in a brothel", or even the less impolite ""he couldn't raffle a duck in a pub" for similar bad management skills. "Puggles" in Oz are baby echidnas. And I have been accused of being able to "talk the leg off an iron pot!" Cheers, Rowan |
|
17 Oct 07 - 03:53 AM (#2172778) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Trevor I remember my mother asking my pregnant wife whether she'd 'had the quickening yet'. Anybody else heard that? And 'like a fairy on a gob o' lard', meaning somebody being not very steady on their feet. My house looks like a bomb site. Is that used over the pond? |
|
17 Oct 07 - 04:48 AM (#2172800) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak I HAVE organised a piss up in a brewery - our wedding reception was held in the Eldridge Pope brewery before it closed. I've used the phrase 'cock up in a brothel' which is slightly less offensive and takes a while for some people to work out. My mother had a disparaging phrase for men who insisted on wandering around with their flies undone. She'd look down and say 'well, dead birds don't fall out of nests'. When I had enough experience to realise what she meant, I had to be taken away to a darkened room and have a lie down. A word that's in use in my office (I may well have introduced it) is knacky - a cross between knackered and tacky - used to describe an item that is less than pleasing to the eye and so kitsch as to be almost, but not quite, fashionable again. LTS |
|
17 Oct 07 - 05:49 AM (#2172825) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Trevor Liz's post reminds of that great line in The Royle Family where Barbara points out that Jim's flies are undone - "the cage is open but thye beast is sleeping" Jim Royle is probably responsible for the rebirth of "my arse", said with gusto. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 07:10 AM (#2172850) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail I remember my mother asking my pregnant wife whether she'd 'had the quickening yet'. Ah yes, pregnancy. In the club, bun in the oven, up the duff. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 07:46 AM (#2172870) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael Trevor - quickening is the first movements of the unborn baby so she was asking "have you felt it move yet?" which in 'olden days' was proof it was alive. Mike |
|
17 Oct 07 - 08:50 AM (#2172907) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Big Al Whittle as in 'the quick and the dead' and the 'quick' of your nail |
|
17 Oct 07 - 09:11 AM (#2172924) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Trevor She explained it meant about the baby moving, I was wondering where it came from and whether it was a widely used expression. maybe it was covered in domestic science, when they were making those gingham dresses! |
|
17 Oct 07 - 09:57 AM (#2172952) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh For incompetence, the local phrase was 'couldn't organise an orgy in a knocking-shop'. The term 'bag-shanty' was used in place of 'knocking-shop', as was 'leaping-academy' |
|
17 Oct 07 - 11:20 AM (#2173010) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Quickening" has been a normal term used in this context for hundreds of years - and I'd be surprised if it isn't used in other English-speaking countries as well. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 04:51 PM (#2173177) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Blindlemonsteve Oh how the family love to tuck into the sunday "JOINT", then when we have finished, its not unusual to light up a "FAG" or two. joint meaning a roasted piece of meat, and Fag meaning cigarette. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 06:45 PM (#2173237) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Used to describe someone known for his bad luck... "If he fell in a barrel of tits, he'd come out sucking his thumb". Don T. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 07:29 PM (#2173265) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anniecat Are these the same sort of thing? Well - I know it's not the same as the above.... Well - love a duck, duck (as a term of endearment) She's got a face like a bag o' spanners Get cracking, crack pot, won't crack a grin etc Spend a penny Cheesey grin, cheesed off etc Rat-bag, feeling ratty etc Give you a good hiding, on a hiding to none etc |
|
17 Oct 07 - 07:43 PM (#2173276) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: robomatic H.L. Mencken was once comparing the English and the American penchent for naming things. He felt the Americans were more imaginative and his example was the English expression for locomotive 'bumper' versus the American 'cowcatcher'. But methinks he would not last long in this forum! |
|
17 Oct 07 - 08:12 PM (#2173293) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Either you're misquoting Mencken or he got it wrong. Trains here don't have "bumpers", they have "buffers". And they aren't there to do the same job as "cowcatchers", largely because cows aren't too much of a hazard for trains over here. |
|
17 Oct 07 - 08:45 PM (#2173307) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e "the playpen's open but the beast is asleep" ---- Flies open Humping --- having sex "going tits up" --- going wrong putting the "mocca" on something ---- cursing or causing something to go awry "bustin" --- in need of as in I'm bustin' fer a pee! Dump / No2 / crap --- shit pee / jimmy (riddle) / slash --- urinate chuffin'/ chuff --- fanny/ arse Snek lifter --- burgular or stranger Gradley ---- good / well Gangly / lanky --- long limbed built like a brick shithouse ---- a rather large guy lilo lill --- lady of easy virtue Vinegar Vera ---- lady of no virtue at all go like the clappers --- fast like shite of a shiny shovel --- very fast gormless --- thick |
|
17 Oct 07 - 10:11 PM (#2173346) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan "Bumpers" in Oz are what Americans call fenders, when fore & aft on cars. Again in Oz, "Your medals are showing" = your fly's open; now unused due to zips rather than buttons on bloke's trouser fly. It often brought the response "Yeah! VD & scar!" sinking the sausage --- having sex "going tits up" --- going wrong putting the "mockers" on something ---- cursing or causing something to go awry "bustin" --- in need of as in "I'm bustin' fer a leak!" Dump / No2 / crap --- shit pee / jimmy (riddle) / slash --- urinate; also "straining the spuds", "splashing the boots", "shaking hands with the wife's best friend" Gangly / lanky --- long limbed; also (when the person is lean) "great long streak of pelican shit", "built like a yard of pump water", "turn side-n and s/he'd disappear", "got to stand up twice before you see him/her" built like a brick shithouse ---- a rather large guy; also one of those solidly-built women who can use her superstructure to muscle crowds aside at a glance Lilo Lill --- lady of easy virtue go like the clappers --- fast like shit off a shovel --- very fast, also meaning nothing can stick to them like shit to a blanket --- sticks fast and can't be removed gormless --- not much gumption or initiative Cheers, Rowan |
|
18 Oct 07 - 01:17 AM (#2173398) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert Pozzy arsed bastard. Pozzy being sticky, bread and jam is called bread and pozzy 'cos it gives you loose stools. Jimmy Riddle is also known as James Conundrum. Piss is also a hit and a miss. Cold is 'taters in London, Parky elsewhere except Kent where it's Hucky. Hot is also 'taters ('taters in the pot) so is late ('taters on the plate) and dark ('taters in the park) One has to rely on context to differentiate them. |
|
18 Oct 07 - 01:44 AM (#2173402) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Liz the Squeak Certainly in Tudor times, the Quickening was the first time a baby was felt to move and so confirmed the pregnancy. It averages at about 3-4 months so the woman might only just have started to 'thicken at the waist'. It signified the definate end of 'congress' between the husband and wife as it was considered dangerous to make love whilst pregnant, if not positively sinful. Quick in this case means alive. Anyone who ever watched a 'Highlander' film has a different understanding... : ) LTS |
|
18 Oct 07 - 04:41 AM (#2173453) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: David C. Carter Shrapnel-a pocket full of extremely small coinage. Weighs more than it is worth! David |
|
18 Oct 07 - 08:05 AM (#2173533) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Having stopped a few going bad last night, this morning I'm feeling as rough as a bear's arse/ duck's chuff /split clog . . . |
|
18 Oct 07 - 11:52 AM (#2173693) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: David C. Carter Woke up this morning with a head like a concrete coal bunker. Woke up wearing a concrete wig. I'm all out of oily rags-fags-cigarettes. |
|
18 Oct 07 - 01:34 PM (#2173780) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rog Peek One of my dad's favourites was: If he fell down a sewer he'd come up in a brown suit. Rog |
|
18 Oct 07 - 02:31 PM (#2173842) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: The Sandman In Nottingham,The friendly term used to adress people of both sexes,ay oop me duck,the first time it happened to me, I thought I was being propositioned,by a gay bus conductor. |
|
19 Oct 07 - 12:18 AM (#2174198) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Gurney I once called LH a nong. He was delighted, and added it to his armoury. On food. Starry-gazey pie. A fish pie, the heads of the pilchards poking up through the crust. It tastes OK, but you wont get the kids to eat it. |
|
19 Oct 07 - 12:42 PM (#2174567) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e There are a raft of non - PC terms that I will not use here, not because of the "PC" issue but because they are not nice. Spaz was one of them but it was taken up by a disabled American for his own brand of wheelchair. |
|
19 Oct 07 - 01:18 PM (#2174596) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine Apparently there are more words & prhases for sexual activity and getting inebriated, in every language that has been studied. A favourite expression: "talking to God on the big white telephone" (ie with your head down the loo after a few too many) |
|
19 Oct 07 - 01:28 PM (#2174604) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: David C. Carter "Yodeling down the great white telephone"Chucking up. "Parking a pizza" Same as above. "Yodeling in the valley"a certain sexual activity! I think these are mostly of Australian origin. |
|
19 Oct 07 - 05:39 PM (#2174800) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e ..... Talking to Hughey |
|
19 Oct 07 - 06:16 PM (#2174823) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Till checkers and barmaids calling you "love". More recently I've been coming across "my lovely" - language keeps changing. |
|
20 Oct 07 - 12:21 AM (#2175066) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan "Technicolour yawn" has to be one of the more evocative descriptions of chundering, ie Chucking up. And it always seems to contain pieces of carrot, no matter how long since you ate any. Cheers, Rowan |
|
20 Oct 07 - 05:39 PM (#2175509) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e in Cornwall it is "my lover" ...... usually from a woman to a man! |
|
20 Oct 07 - 05:45 PM (#2175514) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Little Hawk Perhaps it should be called "carrotating". I think I've invented a new expression. Don't chunder...it's crude and uncouth. Instead, carrotate violently into the nearest receptable. |
|
20 Oct 07 - 06:03 PM (#2175523) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e ..... projectile Carrotating?? how about "Carroting" or even " 'Roting"? or even spewing, hurling, barfing, upchucking ..... |
|
21 Oct 07 - 04:16 AM (#2175753) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Michael Morning after:- Mouth like a ferrets armpit. Mike |
|
21 Oct 07 - 05:14 AM (#2175780) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Micca one I remember "Does your mother know your out" Implying the person being spoken to is too dumb/inexperienced/naive to be out and about unless accompanied by an adult. |
|
21 Oct 07 - 05:15 AM (#2175781) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,sparticus Tight fisted - "Wouldn't give you the steam off his piss." |
|
21 Oct 07 - 06:21 PM (#2176069) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan MIcca, you reminded me of "He's been shaving since he was 15.................; cut himself both times." Usually applied to a callow youth or one a bit older who has just demonstrated ignorance of a life skill he should have already had under his belt. Cheers, Rowan |
|
21 Oct 07 - 06:26 PM (#2176079) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Does your mother know you're out" Also used as a way of suggesting that a lady looks a lot younger than may actually be the case, as a rather clumsy attempt at flattery. |
|
22 Oct 07 - 01:00 AM (#2176258) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Azizi Thanks for an interesting read! I've learned a lot of words and phrases that I didn't know before reading this thread. I'd like to focus on two posts: The first one is Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: weelittledrummer - PM Date: 16 Oct 07 - 03:59 AM ...another one for you down the kermit.... means down the frog and toad....down the road -snip- My question is "Does this saying pre-date Sesame Street which started in the late 1960s, or did that saying come about because of Sesame Street's Kermit the frog? Also, I was surprised by the use of "talk to the hand" in this post: Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: George Papavgeris - PM Date: 13 Oct 07 - 03:45 PM ...Not that I'm bovvered - me? bovvered? talk to the hand!... -snip- I'm not sure what "bovvered means" {does it mean bothered?}, but my real interest is the "talk to the hand" phrase. I've heard this phrase and seen it used as a gesture among African American females. As a result of George's inclusion of that phrase in his post, I wrote a longish comment about it on this Mudcat thread: thread.cfm?threadid=105642&messages=35#2176257 "Sayings you say to yourself or to others" Btw, I put a hyperlink to this thread in that post. I'd be interested in hearing how widespread the "talk to the hand" saying and gesture is in the UK. Thanks. |
|
22 Oct 07 - 08:36 AM (#2176336) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Morning after : mouth like a vulture's crotch. |
|
22 Oct 07 - 06:31 PM (#2176823) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan Mudcat seems to be having a problem; this is the third time I've tried to post this, to find the server shut down; here goes again. In Oz, a common expression for the morning after is "mouth like the bottom of a cocky's cage" Cheers, Rowan |
|
22 Oct 07 - 06:36 PM (#2176831) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine on the subject of "morning after the night before" expressions, looks like somone's had a party in my hair.. |
|
23 Oct 07 - 09:32 AM (#2177220) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST 'She was slack as a yak; it was like chucking a pencil up the Blackwall tunnel'. |
|
23 Oct 07 - 09:56 AM (#2177231) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Anyone know the derivation of 'honk' for throwing up ? And yes, Rowan - there's always carrots. Faffing about. Fiddling and fartarsing about. For the penurious - tight as a crab's arse (water-tight). 'Crabs' in the context of pubic lice = mechanised dandruff. Also 'Sandy McNabs' in rhyming slang. For the intellectually challenged : thick as a piss-stone and twice as wet. (US : for 'piss-stone', read 'urinal'). A large lady might have an arse like a dray-horse. |
|
23 Oct 07 - 10:25 AM (#2177253) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: MuddleC just going back to the bit about >> Either you're misquoting Mencken or he got it wrong. Trains here don't have "bumpers", they have "buffers". And they aren't there to do the same job as "cowcatchers", largely because cows aren't too much of a hazard for trains over here. >>> I would add,...,'leafcatchers', 'snowcatcher' to the modern British Railway system as they causes more flummox than cows ever did 'see you in a bit' (not said to horsey types)..bye' 'wind your neck in' (pronounced 'whine'd not win'd') .calm down and shut up 'hop out and take a shufty' this confused my american driving companion when checking the size of a parking space |
|
23 Oct 07 - 10:48 AM (#2177284) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: closet-folkie When we were kids, mum would signal that it was time to get upstairs to bed with "Come on--up the wooden hill to blanket fair". I always loved that phrase. Speaking of which... |
|
23 Oct 07 - 11:45 AM (#2177344) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Splott Man My Mum used to say: Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire I later found out the second line: Down Sheet Lane to Blanket Fair. --- For taking a leak: I'm going outside... to turn my bike round; ...point Percy at the porcelain; ...shake hands with my best friend. |
|
24 Oct 07 - 03:53 AM (#2177845) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Blindlemonsteve If you are ever in London and someone asks you if you would like to "come on theyre boat",,,, act with caution!!!! |
|
24 Oct 07 - 09:09 AM (#2178053) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Larkin One I heard recently regarding chavvy girls who scrape their hair back - A Croydon Facelift Also on radio 4 The Drunken Sailor = brewers droop gives a whole new meaning to the song martin |
|
24 Oct 07 - 10:45 AM (#2178131) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,dazbo at work Azizi, Kermit does indeed come from the muppets - cockney rhyming slang has a long history of incorporating up to date references Bovvered is bothered (and bovver-boys used to be thuggish skinheads) As far as I'm aware the "talk to the hand" thing is a highly annoying import from the US (Oprah Winfrey or Jerry Springer shows mainly) When the weather turns chilly it can be said to be a bit "Pearl Harbor" that is there's a nasty nip in the air. |
|
24 Oct 07 - 06:09 PM (#2178464) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan dazbo, Your "nasty nip in the air" has some resonances in Oz as well, although the Pearl Harbour part is rarely used by someone under 50. In the same vein is the phrase "The big rabbi came this morning" referring to a rather heavy dew overnight. Cheers, Rowan |
|
24 Oct 07 - 06:15 PM (#2178476) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bainbo Seen on a greetings card, with a photo of a guy in his 70s or 80s holding up his hand: "Talk to the hand - the hearing aid ain't working." |
|
24 Oct 07 - 06:17 PM (#2178481) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e "Talk to the hand" was a phrase learned and used by Arnie in the "Terminator" ....... so I would guess it was immediately popular worldwide. "Hasta la vista" spitting feathers .... thirsty "me stomach thinks me throat's been cut" .... hungry Draged through a hedge backward ..... scruffy looking Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey Gnats piss .... weak a midges dick .... small A good hiding ..... being hit or in a fight as in "Do you want a ...." Scorching ...... hot or could mean good Swealtering ..... hot Don't forget the silent "G" on the end if you are from "ooop norf" There is a whole lexicon of swearing! I think my favourite is "you can go f%@k spiders" or I wouldn't trust him as far as I could piss backward |
|
24 Oct 07 - 08:30 PM (#2178546) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Silent G is normal throughout England. Including posh people. |
|
25 Oct 07 - 05:53 AM (#2178711) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh Folk1e Thank you for reminding me of 'go and fuck spiders'. The response was 'Big, black hairy ones'. |
|
25 Oct 07 - 08:14 AM (#2178776) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Dazbo at work Would USAians be offended if a small boy was called a cheeky monkey? A phrase commonly used over here for a mischievious child rather than naughty. I've always heard spitting feathers as being furious not thirsty. Can't remember - have we had mutton dressed as lamb for, particulary, an older woman dressing like she's a lot younger than she is or my own variation on this being lamb dressed as mutton for young women dressing like their grandmothers. |
|
25 Oct 07 - 08:42 AM (#2178803) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow "Working girl" where Americans might say "hooker". |
|
25 Oct 07 - 09:36 AM (#2178848) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: The Walrus "...Can't remember - have we had mutton dressed as lamb for, particulary, an older woman dressing like she's a lot younger than she is or my own variation on this being lamb dressed as mutton for young women dressing like their grandmothers..." Just a quick note: 'Mutton dressed as lamb' was originally a butchering fraud, cutting an older sheep carcass in such a way as to allow it to be sold as the more expensive lamb. "...Slapper --- Woman of easy virtue..." Could 'slapper' come from either the excessive use of cosmetics or a comment on the virtue of actresses - "Slap" as the theatrical/circus slang for make-up. "...cream crakered - knakered..." By extension, "Jacobed" as in Jacobs Cream Crackers Another version of "Fur coat, no knickers" is "Red hat, no knickers" Pissed as a fiddler's bitch - Exceedingly drunk Drunk as David's Sow - ditto Fit as a butcher's dog - In fine fettle [I''ve been doing x] Before you got the cradle marks off your arse - effectively, [I've been doing x] long before you started. Dry as a nun's chuff - Excedingly thirsty He'd skin a turd for a ha'penny - He's somewhat avericious. A child in unfortunate circumstaces (injured, sick etc.) might be referred to as a "Poor little bugger" (boy) or "Poor little cow" (girl) or alternatively "Poor little mite" Early in the thread we had mention of "Taking the piss"/"taking the mickey". I think we may have covered this elsewhere, but, I believe that this goes back to "Piss Proud" (an 'faux' erection caused by bladder pressure) The injuction "Piss off" was not, originally a coarse vesion of 'go away' but effective a claim that a comment or position taken was false, pretentious, exaggerated etc. From this "Take the Piss" was to deflate someone's position often by ridicule, thus gaining its present meaning "Take the Mickey" derives from an attempt to 'gentrify' the phrase (Mickey = Micturate = unrine/urinate) W |
|
04 Nov 07 - 03:04 PM (#2186362) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert How's your belly off for spots? |
|
07 Nov 07 - 02:47 PM (#2188514) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bert It's not the cough that carries you off it's the coffin they carry you off in. |
|
08 Nov 07 - 06:21 AM (#2188838) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Chorusgirl My grandma used to say "you've got a voice like tearing oilcloth." Guess that's obselete now. |
|
08 Nov 07 - 07:21 AM (#2188870) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Big Al Whittle running in and out, like a dog at the fair - somebody rather restless in temperament |
|
08 Nov 07 - 09:54 AM (#2188961) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Splott Man "All mouth and trousers." The US equivalent is probably "Full of piss and vinegar". "She's no better than she ought to be!" |
|
08 Nov 07 - 04:31 PM (#2189263) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rowan In and out like a fiddler's elbow reminded me. For a person who's restless, continually sitting down and then getting up, or for when you are trying to sit and concentrate but repeated interruptions require you to get up and attend to something else, there were two phrases common in my youth; Up and down like a bride's nightie and Up and down like a dunny seat at a mixed picnic Cheers, Rowan |
|
08 Nov 07 - 07:41 PM (#2189396) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: TheSnail Up and down like a whore's draws. |
|
09 Nov 07 - 03:59 AM (#2189549) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Splott Man Ants in his pants |
|
09 Nov 07 - 04:34 AM (#2189576) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Bryn Pugh In and out like a blue arsed fly. |
|
09 Nov 07 - 06:27 PM (#2190189) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: folk1e How about the old original ...... to stick two fingers up |
|
09 Jun 10 - 10:13 PM (#2924337) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Joe Offer In this message, Folkiedave said something is "pure horlicks." What's the meaning of that expression? Does it have anything to do with the Horlick Malted Milk Company? The company was founded in 1875 in my home town, Racine, Wisconsin, by William Horlick and his brother, James. The brothers Horlick were apparently born in the UK, and emigrated to Wisconsin. James returned to England and opened an branch there in 1890. The company is now owned by GlaxoSmithKline, and I don't think it has any US operations. My home town of Racine had 90,000 people and a bustling manufacturing economy when I moved there from Detroit in 1958. Now, Racine has 70,000 (aging) inhabitants and a lot of empty factories. Slate.com has some speculation on the meaning of "pure horlicks." -Joe- |
|
09 Jun 10 - 10:37 PM (#2924344) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: olddude What exactly does "cheeky" mean?? can someone explain that one to this Appalachian farm boy? |
|
10 Jun 10 - 02:46 AM (#2924392) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: VirginiaTam Cheeky means brazen, sort of, bold as brass as in say taking advantage of a situation as a small child or animal will do. Think of an organ grinder's monkey, begging or dipping it's fingers into your pocket. I like "gets on me tits" for something that is annoys me. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 05:56 AM (#2924460) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Stu Face like a slapped arse Face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle Stone the crows Crikey |
|
10 Jun 10 - 06:02 AM (#2924462) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow Good to see this revived thread. "Horlicks" in this context is a slightly politer substitution for "bollocks", meaning rubbish. Horlicks the drink is still generally available - it used to be advertised with little mini-stories where a wise family doctor would advise some patient to use it because it helped you get "deep sleep". Curiously enough, while "talking bolllocks" means talking rubbish, "the dog's bollocks" means pretty good - though liable to be used disparagingly in the saying "he thinks he's the dog's bollocks", implying that he isn't. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 06:18 AM (#2924465) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: IanC I'm also very pleased to see this old thread re-surface. I've recently been thinking about bounder ... upper class English slang for a morally reprehensible person (usually male) beloved of P. G. Wodehouse. I'm pretty sure it derives as a shortening of "Outward Bounder" meaning someone who has a one-way ticket to the colonies (i.e. transported as a criminal) as in Maggie May The Judge he guilty found her, he made her an outward bounder :-) |
|
10 Jun 10 - 07:23 AM (#2924494) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Dave Hanson No ! the line is, The judge he guilty found her, Of robbing a homeward bounder, And she'll never roam down Paradise no more. Dave H |
|
10 Jun 10 - 03:25 PM (#2924850) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow I'd say it's more likely nthat "bounder" comes from being someone who behaves outside the bounds of decent behaviour, an outsider. Not a term that is very commonly used these days, though the behaviour that would have been implied is common enough. The same goes for a word with a similar meaning, cad. Both would now only be used in a joking manner. For serious comment we'd have to use a term such as "a shit" |
|
10 Jun 10 - 03:36 PM (#2924865) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) A couple from my Nan: "Go have a run", don't be so stupid. "acting the goat", being silly (disparaging). |
|
10 Jun 10 - 04:34 PM (#2924922) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: mayomick The modern use of "git" comes from servicemen's slang , surely. A ghit is a pregnant camel. Did narkey get mentioned so far in this thread ? It means bad tempered .As in "narkey old git" . |
|
10 Jun 10 - 06:03 PM (#2924993) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Gurney One from my youth: If a carefully expressionless guy stands squarely in front of you and calls you 'Pal' it's time to take to your scrapers, or have it away on your toes. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 06:13 PM (#2925004) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,^&* FWIW Partridge ("Historical Slang") derives that sense of "bounder" from "one who bounds offensively about" - as Cambridge University slang , late 19C. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 06:36 PM (#2925034) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow I know he did - but I think he probably got it wrong. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 07:06 PM (#2925052) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: mayomick McGrath, you mentioned pilock earlier . I always liked that one as well. It's a fish of some sort or other - another word for a pilchard . That's what I heard anyway . You used to occasionally hear people say "silly pilchard" as a mild form of abuse around the east end of London. Pilock was harsher ,usually preceded by the word "fucking". |
|
10 Jun 10 - 07:43 PM (#2925078) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: mayomick The UK frequent use of the word "pop" as a casual substitute for either "put" or "go" had to be carefully explained in that tragic Boston court case a few years ago .When a young English baby-sitter charged with killing a baby in her charge said in testimony that she had "popped" him down on the bed ,the prosecution took it as an admission that she had struck the child. |
|
10 Jun 10 - 07:45 PM (#2925080) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: paula t I love the expression, "It's like trying to plait fog!" which always comes to mind when trying to get 25 young children out of the classroom door with all of their belongings at the end of the day. "I'm not as green as I am cabbage - looking", was one of my Grandma's favourite phrases. How about these... Rat - arsed (drunk) Three sheets to the wind (drunk) There's a light on, but there's nobody in.(Not the most intelligent person) Sleep tight |
|
10 Jun 10 - 08:33 PM (#2925107) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow In the same case mayomick referred to there was another similar misunderstanding - when she was asked if a particular meeting was "a regular meeting" she said it was, and this was taken to be a lie, since it was one which she knew would be a difficult one, where she might be sacked. But for an English girl "a regular meeting" would normally mean one which was scheduled to happen at a regular time. Sometimes these different meanings can have major consequences - there was a battle in the Korean War where the British commander communcating with the Americans reported that things were getting "a bit tricky", or words to tat effect - meaning they were pretty desperate. The Americans took it as meaning that the situation was reasonably good, and the needed assistance never arrived, with disatrous consequences for the unit. |
|
11 Jun 10 - 05:29 AM (#2925284) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Tangledwood "Spitting the dummy" - loosing ones temper. Very common in Australia, is it also in use in UK? I assume that it is not American as I believe they use "pacifier" instead of "dummy"? |
|
11 Jun 10 - 06:07 AM (#2925302) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: IanC In the UK it is "Spitting out your dummy" but "throwing your toys out of the pram" is more common. :-) |
|
11 Jun 10 - 07:31 AM (#2925343) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: mayomick What about the the term "good manners" which is an expression used this side of the Atlantic to denote a cultured ,polite attitude to one's fellow diner etc ? Here's another one "taking the occasional bath" I'm sorry old chaps I hope I haven't offended anybody. I've just noticed that last expression "I'm sorry old chaps I hope I haven't offended anybody." is an excellent example of what I referred to above as "good manners". |
|
11 Jun 10 - 07:59 AM (#2925356) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Howard Jones Another American meaning of "regular" is becoming known here since the spread of Starbucks and their imitators. Coffee now comes in 3 sizes - Small (about twice the size of a British coffee cup), "Regular" (meaning very large) and Large (meaning a bucket). This usage seems to be accepted by the young but sneered at by the older generation (someone said in the TV programme 'Grumpy Old Men', "when did the English start drinking coffee by the pint?"). However replying "I don't want to know about its bowel habits" when asked if you want a "regular coffee" is usually wasted on the assistants, who seem to be usually immigrants with only a basic grasp of English. |
|
11 Jun 10 - 11:33 AM (#2925447) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Have to say that when I was teaching in the East End of London I never heard anyone called anything as fun as a pilchard. If only. Mildest form of abuse (for a woman) was to be called a silly or dozy mare. For a man ...probably a wally or a wazzock. I got into trouble once with a pupil who had consistently misbehaved on a school trip to France. On the final day there were yet more misdemeanours and I was short of sleep, lacking in patience and close to throttling the child, but I carefully held my hands behind my back. And called him a wally. His parent complained about me, and my head teacher called me in for a discussion of the incident. After hearing the circumstances he said (and this was not a man noted for his understanding and sensitivity) "I do think on this occasion you were wrong to call him a wally. If I'd been in your situation I would have called him a ***&£*! idiot. The complaint will go no further." And it didn't. |
|
11 Jun 10 - 03:19 PM (#2925649) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Incidentally, my husband (who knows about such things!) says that "git" comes from "illegitimate" rather than pregnant camels, and "pillock" comes from "pillicock" which was a jester, a fool, a dandyprat. So now we know! |
|
11 Jun 10 - 04:32 PM (#2925717) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) "is usually wasted on the assistants, who seem to be usually immigrants with only a basic grasp of English." I don't go to places like StarBucks or their ilk, but I always fancied that the French speaking waitresses and waiters with zero English at places like Cafe Rouge were a poncey 'continental' stylee conceit of the establishment, giving sad social-climbing wannabe wankers with O' Level French a hard on as they ordered their Onion Soup. |
|
11 Jun 10 - 06:02 PM (#2925775) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister I once bamboozled a waiter in Cafe Rouge by ordering in French. Despite whatever pretensions he had he was English and didn't understand me ...oh, bless. (Should say here that my French is fluent. His, clearly, wasn't.) |
|
11 Jun 10 - 06:36 PM (#2925801) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Paul Burke Anne, your husband might know much more than he lets on, but "git" is the same word as "get", which meant a bastard child: Was it in the chamber got, or was it in the hall Or was it in the haystack, or by the barnyard wall... |
|
12 Jun 10 - 05:05 AM (#2926080) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Anne Lister Paul, that's probably what he was telling me ... he spends his working days talking 17th century English and they check word derivations carefully to avoid anachronisms. |
|
12 Jun 10 - 03:23 PM (#2926348) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Tattie Bogle A few from `'`North of the Border", i.e. Scotland, which has a lot of regional variations. Neds = yobs = young men of anti-social behaviour Mingin (already mentioned) -and manky, both meaning dirty and probably smelly. Clarty: dirty. Polis = Police (more emphasis on the FIRST syllable), Fuzz also used. Dreich = wet and miserable weather Pished = pissed = drunk Pished aff = pissed off = annoyed/fed up Scunnered = fed up with something Shite = shit (and past tense shat!) And from Aberdeenshire: "Fit fit does it fit?" (in a shoe shop - "Which foot does it fit") And Tattie = potato Bogle = ghost, but Tattie Bogle + scarecrow! |
|
12 Jun 10 - 05:57 PM (#2926420) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Shimrod "I'm not as green as I am cabbage - looking", was one of my Grandma's favourite phrases. If I think that someone has under-estimated my intelligence I tend to say, "I'm not as green as YOU'RE cabbage-looking". My original source for this phrase is now lost in the mists of history. |
|
12 Jun 10 - 07:54 PM (#2926464) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Tangledwood In the UK it is "Spitting out your dummy" but "throwing your toys out of the pram" is more common. Thanks Ian. Who says that TV isn't educational? We keep up with most of the Pommie expressions by viewing The Bill regularly. :) |
|
12 Jun 10 - 10:40 PM (#2926546) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: ichMael Clever clogs get scragged in the bog. I heard that one once, on some British TV show. Clever clog would be a smartass, and the bog is the toilet. Not sure what scragged means. Some form of punishment, I'd imagine. |
|
13 Jun 10 - 04:59 AM (#2926634) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Shimrod Does anyone know the true origin of the phrase, "I'll swing for you!"? Many people who I speak to seem to assume that it means, "I'm so annoyed with you that I'll swing a punch at you!" But I think that it means, "I'm so annoyed with you that I'll murder you and swing on the gallows for you!" Does anyone know which explanation is correct? |
|
13 Jun 10 - 07:26 AM (#2926680) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Howard Jones A scragging would usually be a gentle roughing up - probably a fairly good-natured going-over rather than an actual beating-up. Although, with the British penchant for understatement, it could mean something more violent, up to and including death. |
|
13 Jun 10 - 07:28 AM (#2926681) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Howard Jones "Clever clogs is always plural. You'd say, "He thinks he's a clever-clogs" not "a clever clog". |
|
13 Jun 10 - 07:49 AM (#2926686) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: McGrath of Harlow I'm certain "I'll swing for you" is a reference to being done for murder. Maybe as the idea of capital punishment recedes into history (apart from places like the USA, China and Iran), the original understanding of this will vanish, and merge with the unrelated meaning embodied in eg "I felt like taking a swing at him", where it is of course abouut punching. |
|
26 Jul 10 - 08:06 AM (#2952375) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Emma B Oh dear, I caught myself saying 'Lawks-a-mussy' today :) |
|
26 Jul 10 - 09:28 AM (#2952421) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Mo the caller So you did. |
|
26 Jul 10 - 10:51 AM (#2952462) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,CrazyEddie "It's like trying to plait fog!" I suppose that's a bit like "trying to herd cats". |
|
26 Jul 10 - 12:25 PM (#2952534) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: Rumncoke Get is the offspring, usually of the sire, in animals as in 'The get of Jaunting Boy tend to have speed but not endurance'. Git is a term used in casting - it is the hole (gate?) through which the molten metal is poured and also the extra piece of metal attached to the casting when it has cooled, and which is knocked off - hence 'useless git'. Anne Croucher |
|
26 Jul 10 - 01:58 PM (#2952602) Subject: RE: BS: Those handy UK expressions... From: GUEST,Shimrod The original mean of 'scragging' was execution by hanging. Henry Mayhew interviewed a London street ballad singer [of murder ballads], in the mid-19th century, who told him that, before a law was passed that prolonged the period between conviction and execution, "there wasn't no time for a Lamentation; sentence o'Friday, and scragging o'Monday." 'London Labour and the London Poor' first pub. 1861 - 1862. |
