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Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!
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Subject: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 04:09 PM In another thread, someone said their "Glaswegian" wasn't quite up to snuff and asked for a confirmation on a definition of gobob or some such thing (sorry I forgot, but remember the extra syllable was for emphasis).***NOI/BG*** I love to learn/pick up and use different ways of saying things, i.e. someone else's slang. I think it's fun and I've learned a lot here at the Mudcat. Usually I can guess at the meaning, but not always. And, there are many words, included in lyrics, which are regional and may not be clear in meaning to everyone who reads them, so.... I thought it would be fun, here, if everyone would post some of their favourites, from their regions/songs, for us all to learn/laugh at and, maybe even adopt! PLUS IT COULD ALSO BE EDUCATIONAL thus fulfiling a role of this wonderful site. (We all want to know what we are singing, right?) Anyway, one I know which really isn't all that colourful or unknown here in the West is "crick", which is not a pain in the neck, but a small stream of water. if you are a native, esp. of Western Colorado, you will NOT pronounce is as written, i.e. "creek"! It is "crick". Another one I noticed when living back East: out here for a neice's wedding, my son's girlfriend from New Hampshire was telling a joke and kept talking about someone looking for "root" such and such. Finally, one of my Colorado friends looked at me and asked me what kind of plant she was talking about! Out here, we say "rowt". Those are not exactly the types of things I was thinking about tat I've seen in the threads, but maybe they will get you all to thinking and remembering and posting, eh?! Can anyone tell me what got the expression "spot on" started? Thanks, katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 07 Apr 99 - 04:46 PM Kat, I assume that 'spot on' derives from the science of mensuration. There, that should get you some responses. Who's going to be first with the jokes? Art or Catspaw? Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: dwditty Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:05 PM To get (understand) something - "It just grafted to my head." To not get something - "It just complexifies my mind." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:05 PM Oh, BERT!! It's "moontime"! And, I had speculated that it meant someone's dawg named "Spot" was in love with your leg! A command or warning, ya know, "Spot! On!" My second guess would've been from having the spotlight of a bobby on you or center stage light. There, now I've cleaned it up a bit! Too right! katl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:06 PM dwditty: out here a "possible, fer sure, maybe" is a done deal! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:09 PM NO Kat, You're BAD!! I said mensuration NOT menstruation. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 07 Apr 99 - 05:11 PM here's some |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 06:26 PM Bert: MOI??? A BAD KAT???? Watch me flounce off with my tail held high!****SMILE**** Hey, ya' can't blame a gyrl for assuming typos in this place! And, I love the site you linked in. Thanks! Now, was that gobbo, gobbom, cobbom...conbom...no...conDom! Yea, that's IT! call 'Spaw and tell him I've GOT IT! CONDOM!!!! How 'bout some of the references in songs which may not be readily apparent? Anybody? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Banjer Date: 07 Apr 99 - 06:41 PM Spot on to me meant "to the point", hit the nail smack on the head, so to speak. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 07 Apr 99 - 07:14 PM BERT>>BERT>>BERT>>>>> I LOVE YOU MAN !!!!! I've been fascinated with Cockney R.S. for years and it's very tough to find out anything about it here. Truly many thanks ... already on my favorites. I have a feeling this thread may go to many parts, like 2,3,4. Lots to be said I'm sure fromall corners of the world. I think a lot of words in songs will come up, but let me say one, more about the writer than the word. Paul Simon is a true wordsmith and I always enjoy his work. He is also the only guy I know that will put "crapped out" in a BALLAD/LAMENT type song lyric. Makes his work very identifiable. Duty calls...gotta' go ...See you all later!!! catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 07 Apr 99 - 07:38 PM African-American slang often creeps into general usage. One that is moving into such use is "twenty-four seven" as in "I used to be able to do it twenty-four seven". It is just shorthand for "twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week", that is, all of the time. This phrase was unknown to me outside of the African-American culture ten years ago. Now it shows up in newspaper and magazine articles. Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 07 Apr 99 - 07:49 PM Things that fail to work: go belly up; go gunnysack. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Pete M Date: 07 Apr 99 - 10:33 PM Go to custard = go pear shaped = non operational An old one that some youngsters don't seem to know: SNAFU = Situation normal, all fucked up. A specifically NZ insult: JAFA pronounced jaffa, = Just another fucking Aucklander (the rest of the country really loves Auckalnders) Roger the expression 24 x 7 operation has been around in the computer industry for some time, I can't say for sure that thats where it originated but it seems likely. By the way Kat how in your neck of the woods would you pronounce: "by taking the wrong route, the unit was routed."? Pete M |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lion Date: 07 Apr 99 - 10:41 PM At the start of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by George Harrison, you'll hear him say "hey up". Northern England style "let's go". |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:19 PM Roger in B: My daughter heard the 24-7 thing when she went out on an internship with the local sheriff's dept. Don't know where they got it from. Pete M: Since I spent 10 yrs in New England my pronunciations are what you might call SNAFU'ed! I, personally would say, "By taking the wrong root, the unit was rowted" BUT, more likely, I'd say it took the wrong root and got all fucked up! Now, an old timer here whose never lived elsewhere would say "rowt" for both words. Seriously "rout" is not a very commonly used word in these parts, so it's doubtful they'd have a problem deciding how to pronounce each. Good example though! Poor Aucklanders!HeHeHe 'Spaw, glad you like the thread. kat |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Helen Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:27 PM Pete, One of my favourite expressions (I used to work in a bureaucracy for a long time) is WOFTAM, pronounced "woff'-tam". I believe it is an army term. It stands for waste of fucking time and money, and it is often applied to some new work programme which "everyone believes was working okay before, so why do we need a new programme?" or it is applied to people or equipment who don't work very well. I'm sure the Oz-Cateers will come up with a huge selection of words for this thread. Oz-tralian language is built heavily on a foundation of picturesque language. I'll have to think about my favourites and get back to you. Helen Oh, just remembered one of my favourite old sayings: "as scarce as rocking horse shit". I think it explains itself, don't you? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Peter Fisher Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:28 PM I grew up on the East coast, where route 10 and root beer and root for the home team all sounded the same, and rhymed with roof, so I've had a hard time living half way between there and Colorado, and hearing about routes that sometimes rhyme with shouts and sometimes not, and tree roots that rhyme with puts, while still rooting for the home team (rhymes with shooting), and reshingling my roof (rhymes with Woof!). So I'm wondering where exactly is the great divide between the ooohs, the ows, and oofs? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Elizabeth (inactive) Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:38 PM In Tamania, a creek is also a "crick" to the oldtimers. I hadn't heard that particular expression before moving here from Queensland. Another Tasmanian gem is to call anyone who is a bit eccentric, odd, different, quaint etc. a "rum 'un". Again, an expression not widely used in the rest of Australia. One of my personal favourites is "to get up at sparrow fart" meaning very early in the morning!! Thankgoodness it's only sparrows and not something a lot bigger!! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 07 Apr 99 - 11:46 PM Peter Fisher: You had me rolling (rhymes with row, row, row your boat) in the aisles!!! WELL PUT!! Elizabeth: does a sparrow's fart chang with this accursed daylight savings time? ARrrggghhhh! ***big grin*** Helen: you can be sure that WOFTAM will soon be a well-known Rocky Mountain term, as I will spread better than rocking horse shit! Keep 'em coming, phoaks, this is great! katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: BK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:03 AM I grew up in "PA Dutch" country; the one that I always remember is their verb to "rid" - it means clean up, usually in the context of the kitchen or dining room table - to "rid the table." They also say things like "wonderful good." The Cockney link wouldn't work for me; I only remember their saying for hat was "tit fer," (from the expression "tit for tat" -the "tat" rhymes w/hat, see the logic?). It was used a lot by non-Cocknies in the part of England where I was staying (Kent); I tend to still use often myself; it's sort of colorful - all their slang seemed colorful to exotic to me. Not to be outdone, in the Navy we had many unique sayings; for example, a small coffee or snack shop is a "gee dunk," who knows why?? (sometimes spelled "gee donk") When I was in tech school ("class A school") being put "on the tree" meant being forced to spend extra hours studying in the classroom at night. Then there are the sayings like "when Christ was a seaman deuce" meaning a very long time ago; a "seaman deuce" was the first rank after boot camp. "Ropeyarn," if I remember correctly, was time off for personal business, reportedly derived from time to tar & braid the pigtails of sailors of old (from the days of "wooden ships & iron men"). In the Army we called a new 2nd Lt a "butter bars" (gold colored bar for the rank insignia), a Captain had "railroad tracks" (2 paralell silver bars) for the rank insignia. In india the common slang for a proprietor of an establishment, perhaps as small as a single pedal-driven ricksha, was "wallah," pronounced wall-uh, usually combined with another explanatory word, like "ricksha wallah," or "shop wallah." Often a person might be addressed as "babu," not particularily derogatory, though several people I knew - Old India Hands - insisted it was derived from some Englishmen derisively referring to Indians as "babboons." Several years ago we bought onr of those massive old-time near-encyclopedic dictionaries from a flea market in San Antonio. We have on it's own lighted stand, it is one of our prized possessions. It's surprising how many colloquialisms are in it. Also great for looking up interesting words or usages in songs, like "baize" (gaming table cover) & "morroco" (in context meant a certain color cloth) from Stan Roger's "Sailor's Rest." Cheers, BK |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: harpgirl Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:08 AM in the piney woods down here ( relatives of the georgia penal colony recruits) they say "he showed his ass" when someone gets mad or acts rude...Of course the first time I heard it I said " you mean he pulled down his pants???" harpgirl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mark Roffe Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:37 AM West Indians say "Tief a tief make god laugh" which gets shortened to just "tief a tief" ...it means it's cosmically funny to steal from a thief. Mark |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: bassen Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:19 AM Anyone ever heard anyone sing "get your kicks on rowt 66"? *grin* There aren't that many colloquialisms around here in Norway that would make much sense to the great majority of you all in the 'cat, so I guess I should just be lurking on this one. . HOWEVER:English-speaking people in Norway tend to get their mother tongue infected/corrupted by the norwegian they hear and speak every day, so if you visit a friend or relative in Norway and he asks you to "screw up" the stereo, he's not asking you to mess up his electronics, he simply wants you to turn up the volume. We call it norwenglish, broken mouth or mind rot depending on how fed up you are with scandinavian living. bassen |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:44 AM Here's my two penn'orth: wallah and babu are both Indian (from India, not Native American!) words, althiugh I can never remember which language. Wallah is an agent suffix, as in char-wallah, punkah-wallah. Babu means clerk, I think (lots of those in the Indian Civil Service in the old days). Penn'orth? Pennyworth; c.f. ha'porth, halfpennyworth. There's plenty to chew on at this site. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AndyG Date: 08 Apr 99 - 05:05 AM Look here for my home county. I find that most people know SNAFU (see above) but not TARFU (things are really) or FUBAR (beyond all recognition).
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Banjer Date: 08 Apr 99 - 06:30 AM I'm surprised we haven't yet been treated to my old favorite, DILLIGAF?, the angram of Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck? A term used to indicate a gross lack of interest. Thinking on this subject I can think of many things that we say in this part of the country that we take for granted as everyday speech that would be looked upon as quaint in other areas. "More than you can shake a stick at", "Useless as teats on a boar", "Carrying coals to Newcastle", are some of the ones I've heard recently and use myself sometimes. I'll have to find my book, "You All Spoken Here", a collection of Southern phrases and usage. That will be a motherload of information. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Banjer Date: 08 Apr 99 - 06:32 AM I distincly remember putting </b> after that last F. Huh.. Nope, Banjer, you put <b/>. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 08 Apr 99 - 07:50 AM There's a wonderful book called "Mrs Byrne's dictionary". It's American, but available in the UK. Any word that's in any way weird, unusual or just plain entertaining is in it. Example - Rectalgia. A pain in the ass. I't's the only dictionary I've been able to sit down with and read. It has the entire "SNAFU" canon; FUMTU (more than usual), JANFU (joint Army and Navy), etc. Steve |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:10 AM As I was walking down the frog and toad, I decided that I was thirsty. So I got in me jam jar and went home. Walked up the apples and pears, had a dig in the grave and put on me whistle and flute. I told the ol' trouble and strife that I was garn darn the battle cruiser with a few of me chinas. In the Old Nags Head I nearly had a barney wiv a ginger beer, you know, Old Tony him who's an iron hoof. I got totally brahms and list, not to mention borrassic. hehehe sort that one out. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AndyG Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:33 AM As I was walking down the highway, I decided that I was thirsty. So I got in my motor car and went home. Walked up the stairs, had a shave and put on my suit. I told my wife that I was going to the public house with a few of my friends. In the Old Nags Head I nearly had a altercation with a homosexual, you know, Old Tony who's gay. I got totally drunk, not to mention out of funds.
HTH
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:55 AM Well done Andy and your prize is...a weekend with Monica and a box of Havanas. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:05 AM frog and toad = road jam jar = car apples and pears = stairs dig in the grave = shave whistle and flute = suit trouble and strife = wife battle cruiser = boozer chinas = (china plate = mate?) barney = ? ginger beer = queer iron hoof = poof brahms and list - pissed borrassic = ?
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:10 AM When I was a boilermaker something could either be 'spot on' or maybe it would be off 'a gnat's cock' Andy G. You will see FUBAR on Unix machines often as file (or variable) names, when it is split in two, so you will see files names 'foo' and 'bar'. Of course now that computers are the 'in thing' instead of saying 'from A to Z' we should perhaps say 'from bang to tilda' Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:17 AM This thread is addictive. Just heard a colleage here sneeze a few times. It would not be appropriate here for me to say to him "Die you bastard" as I would have done when I worked "on my tools" Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AndyG Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:17 AM barney == fight or arguement (don't know if it's rhyming slang) borrassic = borasic lint = skint = no money Alistair: AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:19 AM Barney= fight
Borassic= (Borrassic lint)=skint= without funds
often I would bunk of school= play hookey I think it's known as in the states
there is also Barnet Fair= Hair I used to give my adult student a class on cuss words and they used to think it was great, this was an extention of slang and colloquialisms lessons that I was giving to advanced students. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:58 AM To follow up a bit on Peter's question about dividing lines........I've thought that we need to re-State the US based on similarities and regions more than the state lines we now have. Florida gets chopped up about 4 ways with some of it going to Georgia and Alabama. We need a long thin state running 30 miles or so inland from Virginia Beach to Jacksonville; I mean what the hell does Charleston and Hilton Head have to do with the rest of South Carolina? I grew up in SE Ohio where the association with West PA is much stronger than the rest of the state in some ways. In others though we are distinctly Ahians...not a typo, that's the way the word is said here. The Ohio State Marching Band is famous for writing script Ohio on the field. One game about 25 or so years ago, the band worked it out, unknown to the director, and they spelled Ahia instead. One of those Pittsburgh words I love is JAGOV for jack-off. Somehow takes the edge off...Watch the movie "Gung-Ho" with Michael Keaton, takes place in western PA. At one point he distinctly uses jagov instead of jack-off and I still wonder if that was good script research or the fact that Keaton is a native 'Burgher. Prior to the days of PC and much before Gay became a descriptive term (BTW, there is a crafts fair in the town of Gay, Georgia--the Gay Crafts Fair...always takes some explaining) the word Queer was a fence straddler. Even for those not wanting to offend, homosexual is just too damn cumbersome. So queer was used by "friend and foe" alike. One night in college, a friend from Pennington Gap, Virginia used the word twice in less than a minute, but said it in two different pronounciations. I asked about it and he explained that where he was from, SW Virginia, that a homosexual was a queer...same way we all say it. But if something was a bit odd or strange it was "kwiar." Has a little "ah" sound mixed with "choir." Ran across others from that neck of the woods said the same. Another one that got me and was in common southern usage was "carry." As in, "My Daddy carried us to the game." I would have said "drove" or "took" instead. Enough for now...I'm enjoying this thread a lot. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Doctor John Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:00 AM how about: for the totally useless- "about as much use as a plastic dog turd" for someone with a wrecked back 'e's assled 'is back. This also refers to breaking off a gear (shift to you Americans) stick at the point of entry. Devonshire- "praper job" means its OK,and huge is not pronounced hewge but hooge, as is toosday.Women are maids regardless of age or appearance and men are byes (boys).All inanimate objects are referred to as 'ers or 'ees. Dr.John |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:06 AM Where i come from in the UK there is a really strange accent and words that you would think are strictly east end London are in common use there (hence my knowledge). Theis came about because of relocation of people from london after the War and the expansion outwards from the capital during the sixties. Also TV has a way of getting words out. A typical London word f'rinstance "Plonker" meaning idiot e.g. "Rodney you are a real plonker." (direct quote from the BBC Comedy 'Only Fools and Horses). Wanker has made it's way to US Shores through the medium of TV shows and Phil Collins in that Miami Vice episode ( Miami Vice sort of suited Phil Collins..bland and without much talent). |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:11 AM Alistair, When I was in England "a plonker" was a kiss. Bert.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:25 AM Bert: never heard of that one...but it also has been used to describe a willy. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:46 AM I've hear a willy referred to as a "John Thomas", also. My husband from New Hampshire says "burree" (rhyl=mes with furry) when he means to put something in a hole in the ground, whereas out here we say "berry". Also, Worcester Massachusetts is properly pronounced (back there) Wooster, as in rooster, when it definitely looks like war-ses-ter! My dad has many colourful expressions. I'll try to remember some and put them in here. Just remembered, this morning he told me an old boss of his once said, "Hudson speaks two languages: English and Profanity. He's not much skilled in English, but he excells in Profanity!" Dad had just gotten done venting to me about the Mormon church, which living in Utah, he is surrounded by. NOI! I've also heard the deragatory term: "down-valley, in-bred white trash". Something can be as "worthless as tits on a boar hog" or as "cold as a well-digger's ass" and people we really value are "salt of the earth". katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:46 AM Alistair, It might have been an expression local to Essex. Oh, and by the way how come I am "not" surprised that you used to "give....students a class on cuss words" Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:00 AM Kat, That's how Worcester in pronounced in England. I remember my wife getting upset once when I pointed out that it was "Wooster Sauce" that she was buying. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:09 AM Bert: oh how people have already come to know me on here. But I believe swearing to be a completely legitimate part of language, i do remember a thread that dealt somewhere with this, but i can't be "arsed'(bothered) to look for it. When you have students that are going to live in the UK for any length of time and they will encounter these words so I always want them to be prepared. The eff-word is a particularly all embracing word that is used as a conjunction,adverb, verb, adjective, noun, phrasal verb and the list goes on. I used to work with a guy who used it in all of the above grammatical senses all of the time, became a bit embarrasing when you went in to a caff for our breakfasts. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Cara Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:26 AM In Ahia, we too used "crick" even though my mother hates it. "Root" and "Rowt" are interchangeable to me. It was a revelation to me that my friends from New York pronounce "Merry Mary Marry" as if the words have three separate and distinct sounds--they are all the same to me (rhyme with berry). One regional difference that I have finally overcome after 6 years here in DC is using the word "soda" instead of "pop" like we said in Ohio. I understand that in the South, the word is "Coke"--(I want a Coke. What kind of Coke do you want? A Sprite.) One that I thought was universal but apparently isn't is "catty-corner", meaning diagonally across from. My friends from the East Coast have never heard that one before. A friend of mine from Dublin describes crowded places as "black" which led to a few misunderstandings when making plans. (Let's go to blah-blah. No, it's way too black.) I was horrified until I thought to ask him what the hell he was talking about. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:08 PM Cara; out here it can be catty corner or kitty corner. And I know what you mean about the soda pop thing! When we moved to New England I thought a soda was a drink with ice cream in it. We always said pop. since my return to the west five years ago, though, I notice people here are starting to say soda, too. My niece when at CU in Boulder had a new roommate from Boston. She was totally floored one time when her roomy said she was going down to the "packy" to pick up a "ringer". She was going to the package/liquor store to pick up a six-pack of beer! A lot of the early pioneers in my part of Colorado were from down South, mine included, I wonder if they brought "crick" with them? katl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:10 PM Phil Collins said "wanker", not "plonker": "You must take me for a right wanker!". He talked about in an interview before the episode was screened over here. He asked the production people if they knew what it meant (wank = masturbate, if you don't know), and they said, no - it's some kind of term of opprobrium in England, isn't it? I watched the series dilligently until he said it, then I stopped watching. Not used in polite circles here (not yet!). How about these: as much use as a chocolate tea pot as queer (gay, tht is) as a chocolate frog as queer as a nine-bob note (WRT the old ten-shilling [50p] note) And finally, a humorous little number using the last above: "Did you know Pavarotti, Domingo and [what's-his-name] have made a record with Julian Clary? It's called Three tenors and a nine-bob note!" Just remembered this: my mmother used to tell us of for calling the canal the "cut" (there's about 200 miles of canals where I come from). Years later, I found out it's called the cut because that's what the engineers who designed canals called them. Now I get my own back by pulling her up over "who" and "whom", and "can't hardly". Steve |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:24 PM Yeah, Cara's right....Crick is what we always say and pop is pop and a soda has ice cream in it doesn't it kat? But Cara, you didn't mention towns....like Lancaster...everywhere else it's generally Lang caster, but here it's Lan cuss ter, no emphasis on any one syllable.....AND CARA, I think I remember you're from Newark, aren't you? That is Nerk to a native. BTW Cara, did you know Bill and Roofus(Ruth) Isenhart? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:07 PM Cara, I had never heard "catty corner" until I met my second wife. She was raised in Opelousas, Louisiana. If something was askew or "cockeyed" she would refer to it as "cattywampus". I England we would have called it "a bit pissed". I suppose when a thread gets off track here we should call it "Mudcattywampus". By the way did any of you ever visit that pub in Kent, England called "The Rorty Crankle"? Generally translated as "The Happy Corner" although rorty means more than just happy. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:15 PM Ya' know, I have freely admitted to the United Staes messing up the language, but somewhere along the line the English need to take a hit too. Rorty Crankle = Happy Corner? Mucky Duck? C'mon now ... 'fess up! catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:18 PM I used to frequent two pubs one known as the the Frog and Rubarhb and the other as the Newt and Cucumber. Anyway here in Brazil there is a certain type of bus called a "Catercorner" which will stop anywhere as long as it's on the corner of a main junction of a busy road. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:25 PM Alistair, we used to use "done a bunk" here to mean "made off with". Heres a wonderful nineteenth century word that means the same thing in reference to money: absquatulate. Here are some other coloquallisms: slick as greased owl shit sweet face -- say whatever the other person wants to hear (as in, 'He's just sweet facing her') I've heard local builders use 'gnat's ass' and 'c**t hair' to describe taking just a smidge off a plank.
And then there's that list that was circulating a while ago from the computer folks. Had 'idea hampster', 'prairie dogging at the cube farm', (popping up of heads to see where the disturbance is), going 'postal'. buncha others. Anyone?
One of our local farmers tells us to plant when the oak leaves are as big as squirrel's ears.
What did your area call a "Chinese Junk Boat Fire Drill", that teenage car game that involved ejecting and rearranging all the passengers at a redlight, hopefully before it changed?
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:34 PM I was chatting to an american guy last week, I met him in a bar nearby he is on holiday and I took the opportunity to speak my native language to him. It wasn't until I saw his eyes glazing over that I thought that the conversation was boring him ( my conversations tend to have that effect if I haven't spoken english for a while). I stooped and asked if he was okay and he said, "I'm sorry (he is from Texas) but I sorta lost interest abround the 5th sentence as I couldn't understand haf o what you was sayin'"Funny how you don't realise that not all english is the same english.
I'm shagged out=tired (or just shagged) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:45 PM Cats, Rorty does mean happy but has tipsy, bawdy connotations - a great word. And the word crankle surves in crank which is a metal bar that has a corner or bend in it. And talking of bent, Steve, our term for "queer as a nine bob note" was "bent as a box of top hats" Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:47 PM One button short of an overcoat and Irn Bru was always said to "Put lead in your pencil"so me granda always told me. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:53 PM Ah!, talking of GrandParents, My grandma used to say "He wouldn't know his dick from his thumb if it didn't have a nail on it" and if someone was scruffy she would say "He looks like a bundle of arseholes tied up nasty" But my Mother on the other hand would say, of the samy guy "He looks like a sack of shit tied up with string" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 01:56 PM my great aunt would say a bag of taters tied up ugly. But she was from the refined part of Manchester. If such a place exists. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: MMario Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:08 PM I suspect it's a VERY local idiom, but "watching for subs (submarines)" was the local term for necking in my home town on Cape Cod. (Still is, according to relatives) The term for "soft Drinks" was split more along age lines then anything else... the oldest folk called it "tonic" - most of the adults called it "soda" - unless they were "newcomers" - who called it "pop" - and most of the youngers ones called it "coke" 'course I'm 25 years out of date now.... MMario |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Cara Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:43 PM Catspaw-- You're right, I am from Nerk. There are people there, even in my family, who have almost southern accents. Never could figure out why. Speaking of towns, how about Lima (like the bean) Ohio? Must have been named after Peru, so why the name switch? Murphy's of D.C., a pub where I work,has a sister establishment in Lima, OH and people try to correct my pronunciation all the time, to the Peru way. Is Bill Isenhart a band teacher at Roosevelt Junior high School? What town do you live in? I bet I have a relative living there. Older people in Nerk tend to pronounce days of the week differently--"Tuesday" becomes "Tuesdee" etc. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:56 PM Cara, Bill and I are old friends clear back to high school days although we went to different high schools. We'd meet at lots of All county and all-state bands and orchestra things and I first met Roofus at an all state seminar in Columbus. They both were clarinetists, I played bassoon. They both became music majors at Capital, I went south to the hills of Kentucky. Met them again, now married, at about age 24 and we shared a lot of mutual interests--sailing, motorcycles. They are two of my closest friends today. I moved back here from Atlanta about 12 years ago and for reasons to long to explain, we moved to Bremen, a tiny village on Rt.37 about halfway between Lancaster and New Lex. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 02:59 PM Cara, Bill and I are old friends clear back to high school days although we went to different high schools. We'd meet at lots of All county and all-state bands and orchestra things and I first met Roofus at an all state seminar in Columbus. They both were clarinetists, I played bassoon. They both became music majors at Capital, I went south to the hills of Kentucky. Met them again, now married, at about age 24 and we shared a lot of mutual interests--sailing, motorcycles. They are two of my closest friends today. I moved back here from Atlanta about 12 years ago and for reasons to long to explain, we moved to Bremen, a tiny village on Rt.37 about halfway between Lancaster and New Lex. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 03:38 PM 'Paw you multiple personalities are forgetting things and send of posts twice. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 08 Apr 99 - 05:23 PM I love this. You guys make me laugh so much! MMario: I'd forgotten, my dear, dear mother-in-law used to ask me if I'd like a "tonic" meaning a soda pop; that was in NH. Cara: another one I just shook my head at, esp. living one town over from Groton (Graw-ton) CT where the Navy is BIG. People there were always getting trasnferred to Norfolk, VA. NOONE ever pronounced it any other way except Nor-fuck and it was always said very fast with the latter part kind of cut off towards the end. Out here everybody says Nor foak, BUT they DON'T say "Foak OFF!" In CT there is also a town named Lebanon, but they pronounce it Le buh nun with no accents on any of the syllables. we'd always called the country Le bah non. Catspaw: since you live in Bremen, does that make you THE town musician of Bremen? My kids want to know ***Grin***. Also, nice to know there is a corner just for us "cats", eh? katlaughing....really! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Pete M Date: 08 Apr 99 - 06:25 PM It amazing isn't it how phrases you use every day go completely out of your head as soon as you try and write them down. Plonker was always kiss in Kent when I were a lad. And "Die yer bastard" is in common use when someone sneezes. Get yer knickers in a twist = become agitated. Who pulled your chain = who asked your opinion. knuckle sandwich = bunch of fives = smack in the gob = require the attention of a dentist as a result of an altercation. Glasgie farewell = the action of applying ones forehead forcefully to anothers nose. Birmingham/Irish screwdriver = hammer In Devon "where's ee to?" = where is he/she NZ Push shit uphill with a pointed stick = thankless task Popular as a pork chop at Jewish wedding = self explanatory As much use as a spare prick at a wedding = self explanatory, Went down like a lead pengiun = rather unsuccessful attempt at humour. Maori PT = have a kip = sleep/rest horizontally Talking of brown hatters and arsehole bandits, I believe the use of the term "gay" for a queer goes back to the nineteenth century. If we get into military slang then there is a whole new range which seems to be largely service specific, US/NZ/UK matelots understand each others slang far better than they do that of pongos from their own country. Two that are also in common civilian usage in the UK are: Can't hack it = unable to stand the pace Loose your bottle = It is the ultimate insult in the services, but is actually quite hard to define. Its a sort of combination of showing excessive fear, not performing adequately because of fear and letting your mates down, but not precisely any of these. Keep it up Pete M
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 06:32 PM Then we come to bottle our= much the same as lose your bottle Glasgow kiss=the aformentioned forehead meets opponents nose
on the metaphores for homosexuality:
Masturbation: when something is 'cack' it means that something is rubbish where I come from. I also learned a new one that was going around the UK a year or so ago, that when something is 'pants' it's cool. hmmmm...my memory is being stirred |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 08 Apr 99 - 07:33 PM Regarding Norfolk: My brother was in NROTC at Oregon State bu did his summer training in Norfolk. He said the sailors there had a cheer (based upon the pronunciation of Norfolk noted above): NORFOLK! NORFOLK! We're the girls of NORFOLK. We don't smoke. We don't drink. NORFOLK! NORFOLK! When I was in the air force at the end of the Korean War, stationed at K-13 (Pusan), a fighter base, GI's in the last month of their tour wore a ribbon from the neck of a bottle of Canadian Club tied in the collar button hole of their fatigues. This was a FIGMO ribbon: "Fuck it, I've Got My Orders." And, of course, there was George Carlin's famous eleven words you can't say on the radio--particularly the numerous ways f**k and s**t can be used. T**s *s r****y P***tl**s, d**'t y*u t****k? --seed |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:13 PM Pete M: "matelots", "pongos"????? Maybe some you forgot to post the meanings of? And, "gay" for "queer"? Slang for slang? Hey, everybody! Let's hear some that might be usable in FOLKSONGS,too! Not that I don't find all of the above amusing. I DO! I DO! Thanks, katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Pete M Date: 08 Apr 99 - 08:55 PM Hi Kat, sorry pardon, Matelot (pron Mat-low) isn't actually slang although its use is probably restricted to the Navy these days. It's a lower deck member of the RN as opposed to the Merchant service. Pongo = RN slang for a member of the Army (from the latin name for the species commonly known as the orangoutang.) Since someone has asked in another thread about Grey funnel line, Grey funnel line = The Andrew = the RN. Talking of things not being explained you have mentioned a could or so times Kat that you write an "op ed" column. What's one of them when they're at home? Pete M |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:16 PM Thanks, Pete for the definitions. An op/ed is an opinion/editorial piece. I guess I thought most poeple on here had figured out that I do tend to be opinionated: I have an opinion on just about everything!***BG*** katl, who always thinks she has something to say! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 08 Apr 99 - 09:35 PM MMario, we called necking on the riverbank "watching the submarine races" and "getting mud for my turtle" when I went to Michigan State in the 60s. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: BK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 10:40 PM Of course wallaah & babu are from India; that's where I was living when I learned them. The Old India Hands were mainly of British heritage, their links w/India from the days of the British Raj. They always said the origin of Babu was as I quoted. In any case the modern usage, whatever it's origin, was much broader than clerk, of which there are seemingly zillions. Just about anybody could be addressed as Babu, & beggars always addressed people as that; even me, the Pukha Sahib from America. Cheers, BK |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:05 PM Here in BRazil they also say that when you are making out on the beach you are watching the submarine races, did you guys steal it from the Brazilians? :o) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: BK Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:12 PM Forgot: Punkah-wallahs have fallen on hard times since the availability of the electric fan; Punkah was the old-fashioned mannually operated "fan." Like a giant flap of cloth or woven reeds, pivoted from the ceiling, with the help of ropes or rods. course nowadays it can be used for the guy who runs a fan shop.. While I'm thinking of indian words.. consider "jungle," a near pure North Indian word, brought into English, derived from the Sanscrit Jangala. I wonder if it didn't first come into British English as slang perculiar to those who'd lived in India? Seems like some of the Cockney is doing that now in other parts of England. Slang becomes accepted, then standard... Linguistic drift.. American Black terms, like 24-7 (I work in a prison; "12-12" - done ALL my time - is popular there) are coming into the mainstresam.. Like being back in Anthropology classes. Cheers, BK |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Apr 99 - 11:48 PM It just occurred to me, but we ought to ask Art to post some river and riverboat terms that appear in songs. Every activity has it's own language and much of it appears in song. From growing up the son of an engineman, I know some rairoad terminology which has been helpful in a lot of songs. Also sailing has a language all it's own too..."Depower the rig, we got a major blow coming on at 30 true, take another reef on the main, ease the jib halyard, take off the tweak and retrim the sheet, ease the main and put the traveller down, ease the vang; luff up til the reefs in then fall 10 off this heading." And Pete...there's a Detroit Diesel in the keel with the large bulb spinning a specially built Berklee Jet Drive with a remote cover plate. Exhausts thru the water and snorkel runs to the top of the mast. You'll never find it and we be bringin' the auld mug home!!!! catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: LEJ Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:06 AM The Kentucky Country accent is distinctive, lacking the melodic lilt of the deep south accent. If you've ever watched an Ernest P Worrel Movie with your kids(Ernest saves Christmas) you done seen the essence of it. The "ar" sound gets thrown into a lot of words where you least expect it. " We got so dirty harse back riding that I had to clean my face with a warsh rag." My Dad used to love to descrbe an inept individual as someone who " cain't pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the heel." If you hit some gravel on a turn on your motorcycle, you could easily "get all squirrely." Monday was Mondee, and Santa was Santy. Out here in Colorado we lack an Eastern delicassee known as The White Castle Hamburger. I grew up eatin em and suffering the consequences. We used to call them "Gut-bombs" or "sliders." Some friends from Minnesota were familiar with the sliders term, but also had slang for other items on the White Castle menu; french fries were nails, and the fish sandwiches were swimmers.Another Minnesota colloquialism I like is the way buddies call each other "Big Gunnar." Like " You can say that again, Big Gunnar!" A term I use almost unconsciously is "You Bet!" For some reason this really cracks up my wife's English relations. I always wondered about the term "dead nuts", meaning exact, or in close tolerance. Always sounded obscene, but I suspect it's an engineering term.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:14 AM LEJ: in Colorado natives it is also a warsh rag for washcloth. My NH hubby puts an "r" on the ends of words, much as my English landlady did. My daughter's name becomes Jerush er instead of Jerusha. Law becomes the lar. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mikal Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:46 AM Gee, I've been waiting for someone to post some of the ones used in my childhood part of the midwest: just like Acky-vitty=Aqua Vitae, or as bitter as. Pushing a rope= dumb as one can get. Bootheel reader= perpetual loser. Skinned cat= someone always in a bad mood. Haggie= Haggis, or unwelcome in most places, (sometimes used to denote those of us of Scots origin in the area. Then there is the "cut" for any man made watercourse, "Shirty", for a field or any area surounded by trees, and the "dog", meaning any road killed animal. "Flats", mean any catfish, (flat skulled), or anyone of low morals. Gandy, for anyone who worked on steel construction, (possibly from "gandy dancer," the RR term.) And "collar" for a minister of any religion, wearing one or not. My father, the collar, would refer to a smidge, a dolp, and a wham for any small amount of anything. My crooked cousins was a "Slick as spit." My mother's cooking was piling, (in that she cooked a lot.) The local bar was always reffered to as the bucket, (in buying a bucket of beer, I supose.) These all come from living in a town full of Irish and Scots imigrants and a truck load of "sweeps", (coal miner's kids or decendants.) Anyone ever heard these? Mikal |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: searcher45 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:56 AM Loved this thread....some observations..... Hello to my fellow Buckeyes...a quick modification....here in Cleveland Ohio USA, Ohio's prounounced Ohio, not Ahia. Seems like Ohioans become Ahians somewhere just north of Akron....which, post WW2, earned the moniker "Little West Virginia". Reputedly, the Midwest of USA is the most accent-free region in the USA, but I'm not convinced. Some Pennsylvania colloquialisms have rooted (and it is root) in NE OH, with the most memorable being "warsh". As in "I'm going to warsh the clothes now." We've used "jagov" since childhood, and often shortened it too. An oft-used tearm of endearment was "you jag." Lima OH is indeed like the bean. And we have a Worchester, Worcester, or whatever. It's Wooster, the county seat of Wayne County, and to my knowledge, always pronounced "whuster", as oppposed to "woooooooster". Down and over in the tri-state area (Ahia, PA, WV) the town of Bellaire is pronounced "blair". I was on a horseback trail riding weekend down that way once, and asking for the nearest town to buy supplies, was told "blair". I'd never heard of the town, and not making the connection, was too embarassed to ask. Along those lines, the capital of South Dakota, Pierre, is pronounced "pier", as in "take a long walk off a short pier." As opposed to "lucky Pi-erre." Anyone from SD could confirm or refute that. Another one I recall from my youth: listening to CKLW, AM800 on your dial, out of Detroit(in southern speak, hard accent on the DE,as in DE-troit; listen to Bobby Bare's "Detroit City". In Cleveland, it's de-TROIT) Anyway, I was always mystified by one address in the commercials. The DJ would always say, "Grass-shit and 8 Mile Rd...". Turns out it was spelled Gratiot. Only sounded like grass-shit. Sorry for the long post. You got me going, but I'll close now. Bill |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 01:17 AM Gee Mikal, you didn't have to repeat them!!! But yeah, I have heard or used most of them. It's tough to remember all the things you say that sound odd to someone else. I just realized today THAT I SAY Tuesdee instead of Tuesday, thanks to Cara who also explained that the "older" folks all said it that way. Thank you Cara and may a porcupine nest in your underwear! Hi Leej, you're "dead nuts on" about Jim Varney...he's a Lexington boy; a friends wife went to school with him. ...And then there is the Whittay Castille, those fine French restaurants, but with GREAT coffee. Columbus was corporate home to them for years and when we got a National Hockey League franchise, a lot of people wanted to call them the "Sliders" which would have been cute for a lot of reasons. They're calling the team the "Blue Jackets" in honor(?) of an obscure Native American warrior. My personal choice was to stick with the Buckeye state thing and call them the "Puckeyes." This got lots of air time on the radio, but I'm sure it wasn't even on the list so it couldn't be cut to begin with. Christ, I hate hockey anyway! catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 01:32 AM Hey Bill...All True, except the part about Cleveland being part of the state. When I was living in Atlanta, damn near everybody I met from Ohio was from Cleveland! I guess they couldn't stand going into Lake Erie and coming out with Zebra mussels stuck between their toes and three lampreys attached to their ass. And of cours there is the Cuyahoga River...DON'T LIGHT A MATCH !!! Actually, I'm sure you realize I'm just kidding. What Cleveland has done in the past 10 years is truly miraculous...the Flats, the Jake, the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame.......and now the Browns are back...and without Modell, the dumbest ass in 7 states!!! Screw the Bengals...Let them 'Dawg biscuits FLY!!! Truly a beautiful city these days......but there was a time................. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 09 Apr 99 - 01:55 AM Kat--a minor quibble from a one-time newsman: op-ed is originally the page opposite the editorial page, a page for opinion pieces, usually by regular local and syndicated columnists. Hence, an op-ed piece is an opinion piece. --seed |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 09 Apr 99 - 01:55 AM White Castle Hamburgers were the only opportunity I've had to eat horsemeat. (they were busted for it once when I was a kid) I remember when you could buy one for a dime! And I grew up in DE-troit near Nine mile and LI-ver-noy (Livernois) but the one that always wiped out the visitors was Lahser (said Lasher). And Bill, the radio stations said DE-troit, as in " the Motown soun' of DE-troit City", but those of us who lived there said De-TROIT most of the time. Wasn't CKLW Windsor? At any rate, there was a Canadian station we all got that always ended the news with "Today is Chewsday, Feb-roo-aree third, and all trains, planes and buses are running on SHED-yul. Blessings, Barbara |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 02:36 AM Damnation!!! Here it is at 2:15AM and I should be asleep, but (I know you'll find this hard to believe), I'm damn near ready to drive 45 miles to Columbus for a sack of "greasies".........HELP!!! They now sell them in boxes of 12 at the supermarket, but it just ain't the same! Used to be that they were about the only thing open all night, so the nighttime association is strong. Oddly enough I used to live in Chattanooga, the home of Krystal, the southern White Castle. A friend in advertising went to several wine tasting parties at the Krystal headquarters...Why the hell would they have wine tastings? I mean, were they gonna' put it on the menu? "How about a nice Bordeaux with your greasy pieces of shit?" What.... Almost as bad was when White Castle started serving breakfast. I went in right after they started and ordered the full breakfast. Thank God they have good coffee. There was a small pile of extremely well cooked scrambled eggs, 2 slices of extremely well buttered toast (read: soggy), a potato cake like thing that tasted extremely UNlike potatoes, and 2 unidentifiable things about the same size and color of a small peppermint patty. Throwing all caution to the wind, I popped one of these little suckers into my mouth and hoped for the best. I didn't get it. The thing exploded into a powdery substance on which I damn near choked. But in the midst of coughing and retching while trying to get it down, four words crossed my mind...deep fried sausage patty??? Yep, that was it. I still cannot believe to this day what deep fat frying can do to sausage. And yet the road to Columbus still beckons. I'd be back just in time to get Karen up for work. Christ, she'd never understand! ...but maybe if I brought her some.......... catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: alison Date: 09 Apr 99 - 05:24 AM Hi, If I asked any of you (outside of Northern Ireland) for two pokes, a 99 and a slider... would you have any idea of what I wanted? Slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Ritchie Date: 09 Apr 99 - 06:38 AM It's a funny thing but colloquialisms-slang call it what you will, tend to be associated with a certain class of people and we here in the UK are pretty 'class' conscious. So sadly a lot of local dialect is 'knocked out' of the little ones and they are encouraged nay forced to speak the Queens English. Thanks to various television programmes and actors the Geordie dialect is now acceptable, however we seem to have a fund of special words...my favorite is 'Clarts' this is mud..sticky claggy mud...have you ever put your wellington boot into mud and tried to pull it out ? well 'Clart' is the sound it makes. What I should do is post a few things from the 'Viz' magazine especially from the profanasaurus edition.Sid the sexist et all. Gan doon Darza with Ritchie |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AndyG Date: 09 Apr 99 - 06:39 AM alison, poke - nope So would you buy all these things from an ice-cream van ? AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: alison Date: 09 Apr 99 - 06:49 AM Yes you would Andy,
a poke is an ordinary ice cream in a cone, I made the mistake of saying in front of some Aussies on a hot day that I'd love a poke....... got some really weird looks........ and you can't tell them that you'll have a root around in a cupboard either, (meaning have a look for something.) Ritchie, I still tell my kids they're dirty wee clarts, or dirty wee halians (not sure how that one is spelt.. but pronounce hal-yens.) and I always thought it was brassy glint, for skint... maybe it was just the Belfast pronounciation. slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: The_one_and_only_Dai Date: 09 Apr 99 - 06:59 AM Alison - is a halian the phonetic spelling of hooligan in Gaelic? My mum called me a 'dirty arab' in the same circumstances. This was common in my part of S Wales. Oh, and 'daft apeth', whatever that means. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 09 Apr 99 - 07:24 AM Apeth = 'ap'orth = ha'pennyworth. (See my previous post.) You won't be old enough to remember this, Dai, but before about 1970 we still had 240 pence to the pound; one penny (1d) being two ha(lf)pence, and 1.1/2d being a penny ha'penny or three ha'pence. I tell my kids about doing long division in £sd and they don't believe me. I can still do it too! I suspect poke for ice-cream cornet comes from hokey-pokey, which I believe is still common in Scotland? It's supposed to derive from the Italian hoco uno poco - take a piece - which was the cry of the Italian ice-cream sellers; there was a lot of Italian immigration into Britain around the turn of the century, probably for historical reasons of which I am totally ignorant. So, what's boracic lint then? Presumably some kind of textile impregnated with borax, but what's it for? Steve |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: alison Date: 09 Apr 99 - 07:42 AM Hi, Just looked it up in my 'Speakin' Norn Iron as she shud be spoke.. a guide to the language spoken in the North of Ireland." book...... it spells hallion with two 'l's... it isn't from the gaelic as far as I could see in my Irish dictionary... it's just one of those words you can put a heap of feeling behind. Does anywhere else have "your head's cut" or "he's a thick as champ," (meaning not wise.)?? another I used to like was "that takes me to the fair".. roughly translated as "I find that hard to believe." I used it to an aussie and was asked "which fair?" But they're getting used to me a bit now... they understand "watch out for that shuck" (ditch), and when I'm asked what's for tea and I say "steughey" (pronounced ste-yucky) they know I've created something from whatever was lying around in the fridge. Slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bill in Alabama Date: 09 Apr 99 - 07:43 AM Alison-- In the mountains of East Tennessee, hyperactive, rambunctious, troublesome children were referred to as hellions; that might possibly be the origin of your term halian. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AndyG Date: 09 Apr 99 - 07:52 AM Steve: As I remember it, Boracic Lint is that white medicated cloth that the school "nurse" used to stick over your cut knee with that terrible purple plaster strip that really hurt when it was removed. The lint also meshed with the scab and ripped open the cut again unless you soaked it off in the bath. (This still reopened the cut but didn't hurt nearly as much.)
I really wish I had no memory of this :)
alison:
Toao_Dai:
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 09 Apr 99 - 09:08 AM The boracic lint that I remember was pink, and yes it was used to cover and protect minor injuries. It looks somewhat like those felt squares that you can buy in craft stores. Also, in the army, Spam was referred to as "pink lint" Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Ritchie Date: 09 Apr 99 - 09:27 AM My eldest son has just come in and said he'd just heard someone use the phrase " Like a dog at broth " he loved it but was n't sure what it meant. We've used that phrase for years. I'll have to give wee Archie our westie some broth to show him. Just wait till the young un comes in and asks what a knee trembler is ..... Steve, a while ago I was in a pub in Islington ( I think it was the Kings Head ) where the landlord still had the prices in 'old money' except they were the current bar prices not pre-decimal so a pint of Guiness was £2.4s.8d . The effect was that you could n't check your change & you were amazed at how much prices had gone up. When we go to any fish & chip shop in Gateshead ,where I live ,I insist on asking for a paper when I want fish & chips.I know in other area's they ask for different things we also ask for chips with some batter. Ritchie. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: The_one_and_only_Dai Date: 09 Apr 99 - 09:28 AM Steve - in the BC, don't they say: a) It's black over Bill's mother's b) Well, I go to the foot of our stairs under various circumstances? Explain please, if you can. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 09 Apr 99 - 10:17 AM My first pint cost me 1/10.1/2d - that's supposed to be "one and tenpence ha'penny". The thing is, when £sd went out, it stopped having inflation: £1 in 1972(?) would be, maybe, £5-£10 today (or even more, God help us!). So paying half-a-crown (2/6d - 12.1/2p) for a pint could be the equivalent of, er ... £2.44 today. That still sounds expensive to me! "It's dark over Bill's mother's", as I know it: I don't know who Bill was, but if I was his mum, I'd move somewhere where the weather was better! "Well, I'll goo [sic] t'aer 'ouse/to the foot of aer stairs/t Cannock Chaerse [Chase]/etc.": I've heard Ken Dodd use it, so it's not just Black Country. No idea where it comes from ...
"Dirty/mucky/noisy Arab" (short "A") are still common round my way. I wonder what they did to qualify for that? How about animal metaphors: mucky pup, daft bat, dirty cat/dog, donkey's years (on 'is yead!). Maybe we could invent some new ones!
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 09 Apr 99 - 10:36 AM Ritchie: when I used to go to the chippie, I would also ask for scrumps. When I first started teaching english out here, I didn't have the refined and cultured accent wot I have now. One evening after one particular lesson a student came up to me and said "Teacher, why are so many people dying when you speak?" "Dying?" Replies yours truly, "No body died tonight." "Yes they did, there was Mondie, tuesdie and also yesterdie." I knew I had problems also with my squashed vowel sounds in words like "Town"..which came out "tewn" and "Brown"which came out "Brewn" so I had a lot of fixing on my accent before I felt confident again. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 10:57 AM Just wanted to say that I survived the night without a trip to White Castle. I especially want to thank Barbara for bringing them up, so to speak, and katlaughing for starting this miserable thread. Actually, I love you both, but a "slider" at 3 AM would have made today an endless blur of Maalox, Pepto-Bismol, baking soda, and Gaviscon. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 09 Apr 99 - 11:17 AM I have read an awful lot recently about White Castle burgers and I am actually willing to sacrifice a day on the loo just to taste these strange and exotic beasts. The burgers are steamed aren't they? And only cost 59 cents from what I can gather. If you want a real arse burner, next time any of you go to the UK after a night in the pub find the nearest kebab van and get a kebab with extra chili sauce, guarenteed to clear the tubes for at least three days. Uh-Oh I feel thread creep coming on...this is turning into a food thread again. Back to colloquialisms, I was talking to a mate of mine last night, who comes from round Barnsley way, and he was talking about a game they played when he was a kid called Tig, it took me a few moments to realise that he was talking about the game I know as Tag. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Apr 99 - 11:44 AM BSeed, you'e right of course, with some papers. The one here that I write for is Wyoming's only statewide paper, but it is also not that grand. Up until the new editor came (who is now living, thank gawd!) my opinion pieces wereon the editorial pages, with letters to the editor being on the opposite page. Now, I am still in the Sunday edition, just on a "Forum" page all it's own across from the editorial page. who knows what teh new editor will do. Out here, I've always heard them called op/ed pieces. In the Liberal Opinion Week (www.liberalopinion.com) it is allreprints of editorial and opinion pieces from around the country. I think, in general, at least from what I've seen, the lines have blurred a little. Our editorial page always has opinion columns on it. As for words: my dad always called the glove compartment in a car the "grub box" meant for food. I didn't realize I did this until the other night, we women are called and call ourselves "gals". Who can forget that famous mountain range the Grand Tetons, which my french speaking hubby says means big breasts and which the uninitiated call "Teh uns" while we call them the "Tee-tawns". Then there are the town and river called Belle Fourche, which in french is mostly said "bell foosh", but if yer a native you say "bell four shay". The Popo Agie River is pronounced "Poe poe shah". I'm gonna have to call dad and get some from him. His language is so colouful. I am so used to these I can't think of any! katl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 09 Apr 99 - 11:46 AM Oh, you mean tick, Alistair! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bert Date: 09 Apr 99 - 11:52 AM Kat, I was talking to someone in Dallas about Tejon, that street in The Springs. She insisted on pronouncing it Tee-John instead on Tay-Hone. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 09 Apr 99 - 11:52 AM aaargh...It's tag damn you, TAG!!! :o) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:03 PM Bert: ROTFLMAO!!!!HEHEHE!!! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Barbara Date: 09 Apr 99 - 12:31 PM I once had this conversation with an upstate NY friend: Me: Going to the store, get you anything? NYer: yeh, get me some baggles. Me: Huh? NYer: A dozen baggles, you know like donuts? but not sweet? Me: Ohhh, Bay-gles. Sure. NYer:That's what I said. BAGGLES. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Cara Date: 09 Apr 99 - 02:42 PM Just thought of another mispronounced Ohio town: Ironton--I knew someone from there who pronounced it with almost no consonants-Ahrn'in. But of course, that's Southern Ahia, and what do they know? (Did you hear they're building the largest zoo in the world in Cincinnati? Yep, they're putting a fence around Kentucky.) I think I may have gotten myself in trouble on that one...
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Dr John Date: 09 Apr 99 - 03:22 PM Katlaughing:- with regard to that unfortunately named English county north of Suffolk, there's a wonderful rugby song where they fall over a precipice, finish it, go to N-r-f-l- and other things I forget. AlistairUK - swearings ok and necessary even but the problem is listening to some of those who stand on street corners, every other word's the f-word - nouns, advs, adjs the lot - which must make their sentences very long. Perhaps that's why they need to stand around. And what do they say when they need to swear (as we all do)? Apart from someone on another thread who doesn't like such words on the web. For a wonderful collection visit: www.viz.co.uk and then onto Roger's Profanaraus. Help please: how to put hyperlinks on the Mudcat. DRJohn |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Apr 99 - 03:42 PM Dr. John: do you know the name of the song? I'd like to hear it or read the lyrics. It sounds like a good'un! For linking, although I've not studied it, but I have printed it out (HEY! my intentions are good!)***BG***, go to the forum search and look for a thread entitled "HTML Stuff". I believe you will find what you are looking for. Thanks, katl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: catspaw49 Date: 09 Apr 99 - 03:57 PM Yes Cara you are. With me...Southern Ahian ... went to college at Berea KY. Just stop now and you'll be OK. catspaw |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lion Date: 09 Apr 99 - 04:04 PM Hey! Bert and Alistair it is great discover that you are English (British, if you prefer) I am from Bournemouth and we have colloquialisms coming out of the ying yang! I just spoke with my sister, who still lives there, she asked me to mention cushty, which you might know, Alistair, since you mentioned Only Fools and Horses, which is where Jan (the sister) heard the phrase. Bert, are you still in England or have you moved elsewhere? It is great to hear all these expressions, which I have long since allowed to rust! By the way, don't you think that the Austin Powers movie (new one) has a rather bad taste title? The Spy Who Shagged Me!!** Can't imagine the US releasing something titled The Spy Who Fucked Me. Or maybe, it won't be released in England, it's too horrifying to imagine, I am not a "maiden aunt" but .... really! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bruce O. Date: 09 Apr 99 - 04:53 PM Good Lord! Katlaughing, you mean I've been pronouncing Popo Agie wrong for about 35 years? One of my favourite spots in Wyoming is a National Forest campground near a the start of a canyon of the river, some 12 to 15 miles SW of Lander. I've been there about a half dozen times on cross country trips, and found it hard to tear myself away each time.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 09 Apr 99 - 07:49 PM Bruce O.: Yup, thet's right, son, but we won't hold it agin ya'!***BG*** That's so cool that you know where Lander is! We go there quite often, to Ethete (say it after me, everyone: EEth ah TEE, Good!), actually to the Reservation for sundances and powwows. The Indians just rebuilt an old hot springs they have there. we haven't been yet, but in its heyday of the last century, everybody who was anybody used to stop there and "take the waters", including Teddy Roosevelt. So conveniently on the way to Jackson Hole, ya' know? Also, Roger, has to go up there a lot because the tv station he works for has a transmitter up there. Have you been through Riverton and past Boysen Reservoir? To the north of Boysen is Boysen Peak. They also have a transmitter up there. It is my very favourite place to go. You can see for hundreds of miles, nobody else is up there, and I always see eagles. One winter everytime Rog went up a coyote followed in his tracks. It was really neat. Just to keep on subject, for the rest of you that's Ri ver ton and Boy sun! katl |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Jack Hickman - Kingston, ON Date: 09 Apr 99 - 08:25 PM Great thread. To the person who spoke of the pronunciation of street names, etc. in Detroit, my folks moved to Detroit in 1952, while I remained in Canada, and eventually they ended living on Puritan at Lahser. I never could figure that one out. Also, having had some exposure to French, I thought it awfully strange that St. Antoine would be pronounced St. AnTOYN and Livernois would be pronounced LiverNOISE. But the strangest of all was in the small city across the river in Canada, Windsor, which officially had a French Canadian population nearing the 50% mark. In that town was a street named Pierre, but pronounced by all, without exception as PEERY. Also a small village outside Windsor, River Canard, known to all as River CanORE. I'm surprised we haven't heard from the faithful Tim Jacques, pronounced JAKES. Jack Hickman |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mo Date: 09 Apr 99 - 08:51 PM How about ICBA - I Can't Be Arsed - pron ICK-BAH. We use it at work quite a lot now. As in - "what about running through some crash scenarios?" "Nah, I'm feeling a bit ICBA today". If you want some good Glasgow colloquialisms try The Patter by Neil Munro - if nothing else, a hundred ways of describing being drunk - pished, blootered,et al... Cheers, Mo |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Anne Date: 09 Apr 99 - 10:51 PM Here's a couple I grew up with: Are Yunz coming? = Are you all coming? Weasel Piss = WD40 or lubricating oil, Useless as tits on a nun = TOTALLY useless. My dad is a real colorful guy... |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Alex Date: 10 Apr 99 - 12:07 AM I was always amused by a Liverpool expression. "I'll gerroff at Edge 'ill" Edge Hill station was the penultimate station on the RR line from London to Liverpool Lime Street. There also being a large number of catholics in the town, to get off at Edge Hill meant you intended to use Coitus Interruptus. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lonesome EJ Date: 10 Apr 99 - 12:41 AM |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lonesome EJ Date: 10 Apr 99 - 01:01 AM Now Cara, about this zoo concept. Unfortunately the folks in Cincy have Newport,KY across rhe river which tends to reinforce the concept that Larry Flynt is the prototypical Kentuckian. We were probably also wrong in saying that the reason there were so many Ohio Tourists in KY was because they had to drive that far to get away from the aroma of Cleveland.(a-hilk hilk) Speakin of town pronunciations, you have to live within 50 miles of Louisville to get the pronunciation right. It's kind of like " LUH'-vul" but that doesn't do it justice. The first vowel has a sound all its own. When I moved to Colorado, I was surprised to find out there was a Louisville here, but pronounced "LEWIS-ville." They also pronounce Pueblo CO as "PEE-yeblo." When I lived in Kentucky we had the most wonderful insect in the world-" the Lightnin Bug." What a beautiful sight on a warm summer's night to see the lights suddenly blinking on and off all around you. I believe these are called "fireflies" elsewhere.On nights like that, we would sit on the front porch of my Grampaws home and tell " Booger Stories"- ghost stories, not tales of nasal exploration.My grampa liked to cook biscuits and gravy in the mornings, gravy so thick he called it " stackin gravy" because you could stack it up on your biscuits. Kat- ever camp in the Wind River Range up by Lander? I lost about 2 pints of blood to the mosquitoes up there one July weekend...LEJ |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 10 Apr 99 - 01:11 AM LEJ: those must not be native Coloradoans! We always said Lou-a-ville and Pooh-eh-blow! My great-aunts, who died of Tb are buried close to there in Niwot (Nigh-watt), named after a Native American chief. I know about Louisville, KY, though. My son lives across the Ohio/Ahia and says it as though he has marbles in his mouth! No never camped in the Wind Rivers, but as I said go to Indian do's over there a lot. Not too bad for skeeters at them, but it's probably because of all the smudging and fires. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 10 Apr 99 - 09:33 AM Lion: 'cushty' as in that car is not quite cushty. or we're cushty now? Also dodgy "'Ere Arfur, you bin sellin' dodgy motors again? You bloody toerag, gertchya." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Penny Date: 10 Apr 99 - 02:29 PM I thought cushty was from Romany, don't know why. And, a long way back up the thread, I saw reference to catty corners meaning diagonal - Sussex dialect has caterways fro the same thing, apparently related. There's a lot of variation in placename pronunciation around here (Southern England), and some of it has to do with class. My parents lived in Rolvenden for a while, and were told the "correct" way to say it was Rovinden. This only works in an upper crust accent, not the broad country accent of the ordinary people. And we have Wrotham - root'm, Trottiscliffe - Trosley, Shipbourne - Shibburn. These follow a rule of being the easiest way to say a long word in the local accent. Bob Hope fogot this on a return visit to his birthplace at Eltham - elt'm. (Caution for Americans not wanting to be laughed at by the natives - ham on the end of names is usually 'm - on Tory candidate sunk himself in Streatham by pronouncing every letter, so crossing the Thames can be as much of a problem as crossing the Atlantic.) My father has moved to the really difficult one - Cirencester. Full version, Sirensester. Other versions - Sister, Ciceter, Cisister, Ciren (the latter by most locals now). I've chickened out, and use the name in full! LEJ, we have glow-worms here, not as wonderful as lightning bugs, because they just sit around on twigs, grasses etc, waiting for a mate, and the flying males only glow a teeny bit when disturbed. I saw my first one four years ago, having thought they had all died out years back. I thought someone had left an LED in the woods! There's a reasonable colony hereabouts, but not as many as people remember. Back to colloquialisms - "there used to be so many glow-worms, they were festooned along the banks, we used to be able to put them in a jar and read by the light. Funny, you don't see them nowadays." Words for chase games can be mapped on Britain, like the words for truce during them - I think the Opies did it, fainites, squits, etc. Something I needed when I started teaching was a lexicon of words for the rubber soled canvas shoes used for physical education lessons, as, if you used the wrong one, you were met with total imcomprehension. I called them plimsolls, but I have also met daps and pumps.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: AlistairUK Date: 10 Apr 99 - 02:39 PM They were always plimsolls to me as well. About place names. There was a village near Luton that was called Flitwick but pronounced 'Flitick' Luton would never be called LuTon by a local it was always Lu'on ( the /u/ as in up) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Joe Offer Date: 10 Apr 99 - 03:14 PM Lahser? Gee, I didn't know it was spelled that way. Until I was ten, I lived near the intersection of Six Mile (McNichols, but nobody called it that) and Grand River in Detroit, which is closer to that street than any of the the rest of ya. I always thought it was spelled and pronounced "Lasher," which rhymes with Santa's reindeer "Dasher." I had to call Mom to get verification on that. Mom says it's pronounced just like it's spelled - "LAH-ser," but that a lot of people with a shorter Detroit heritage wouldn't know that (part of my family claims to have gotten there when Cadillac founded Detroit in 17-aught-something). My dad got laid off from his automotive engineer job in 1958 and we moved to Wisconsin, but my parents never adjusted. We went to Detroit every summer for vacation, and my folks STILL go there (from their home in Florida) every summer. I guess I left Detroit too young, because I didn't learn how to pronounce or spell Lahser. Having lived in my birthplace for only 10 years and Wisconsin for only 11, and the rest of my life in California, I may be a man without a home. Lahser, eh? Well, I'll be damned. The things you can learn on Mudcat never cease to amaze me. -Joe Offer, who useta think he knew what he was talking about- |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Pete M Date: 11 Apr 99 - 05:40 PM A dialect word I learned from a climbing mate from Nottingham was "nesh" = to complain overly about being cold. My mum was stationed in the potteries during the war and remembers people there being "starved with cold". Then of course there's the ubiquitous "it's brass monkies", "Brass monkey weather" etc. And finally "A lazy wind" = one that can't be bothered to blow round you. As you may have gathered, it's finally got round to proper autumn weather here in NZ. One term which was common in Kent but which I haven't heard elsewhere was "Chave" = mate, cobber etc (possibly a contraction / mispronunciation of Chief) On the subject of "hallian" a common description of said mucky infants in Dover was "rapscallion" possibly the same source? As to distinctive pronunciations, for some reason the Froggies pronounce "cinque" as in the Cinque Ports, as "sarnke" instead of the correct "Sink". Which reminds me Steve, I've been thinking about names for furriners, and I can't really think of any that I would consider offensive in intent. Had you any in mind? Pete M |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 12 Apr 99 - 03:50 AM No, Pete - that's why I asked! There's a town in Staffordshire, just up the road from me, called Rugeley. People who were brought up there pronounce it Rudgelee, but outsiders and incomers call it as if it were Fench, to rhyme with rouge. Dr John: abverbs?! Like f*ckly or f*ckingly? The mind boggles! Steve |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 12 Apr 99 - 04:39 PM Steve: couldn't resist one last post to this one, before going on to Colloquialisms II. I think it's absof*ckinglutely! ***just havin' fun*** katlaughing |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Jim Dixon Date: 13 Apr 00 - 04:03 PM Hey, I just found this old thread and decided to revive it because it's fascinating. I live in Minnesota, so I'll tell you the Minnesotanisms I know: "Aunt" is pronounced "awnt" although most of the US pronounces it "ant." (My father, from Kentucky, pronounced it "aint".) Some old-timers call traffic lights "semaphores" and rubber bands "rubber binders." Minnesotans will say "come with" for "come with me" as in "I'm going to the park. You wanta come with?" A very short haircut (crew cut) is called a "Heine" and pronounced "hiney". I'm told it comes from a German name (I don't know why) and is unrelated to the southern term for buttocks. A polite but childish term for buttocks is "hinder" pronounced with a long "I" as in "hind." Sweet carbonated drinks are called "pop." Liquor can be either "on-sale" or "off-sale"; a bar has an "on-sale license", which is short for "a license to sell liquor for consumption ON the premises", while liquor stores are off-sale. (I believe Brits say "off-license" for the same reason.) We use the term DWI for "driving while intoxicated" while in some other parts of the US they say DUI, for "driving under the influence." "Ish" is an expression of disgust, like "yuck" elsewhere. "Uff-da" (with a vowel sound like the one in "book") comes from either Swedish or Norwegian (I forget which - maybe both) and is an expression of dismay, like "Ohmigosh!" or "Oy!" Here in the home of Target stores, a lot of people call it "Tar-Zhay" as if it were French, but that's a deliberate in-joke. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Sailor Dan Date: 13 Apr 00 - 04:25 PM Down here in Miami we have a lot of people suffering from a "rectalcranialinversions"??? Having their heads stuck up their asses.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Caitrin Date: 13 Apr 00 - 04:38 PM My brother's urging me to get off the computer, so I didn't get to read all the thread. Pardon me if I post something that's already been said. It's a peecan, accent on the first syllable, not a p'cahn, to most people around here. If something flew all over you, it made you mad. If you're dumber than a box of rocks, you're pretty stupid. "Crackers" and "trailer trash" are not good things to be. The town of Winterville is "Winnervul", and the town of Pink Hill is more like "Pank Ill." The mountains of NC have more strange phrases, like "the hawk is flying low" to mean it's cold. The most interesting NC accent, though, is what's known as a Hoi Toider, possessed almost exclusively by Harkers Islanders and Hatteras Islanders. I'm told it's very similar to Elizabethan English. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 13 Apr 00 - 05:07 PM Place names are interesting:
Lancaster, Pennsylvania is LANN-KASTER
Here in Indiana there are a lot of old-world place names, with our own Hoosier pronunciations:
Then of course Cairo, Illlinois (like the Egyptian city) is always KAY-ro.
If you ask for a mango in a Southern Indiana grocery, you're likely to get a green pepper, not a tropical fruit. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Billy the Bus Date: 13 Apr 00 - 05:27 PM Here's a wee yarn I used 25 years back, in NZ, to take the piss out of (make fun of) Americans' use of the term "I'm pissed" (annoyed) - If I was "pissed" I was drunk. _________________________ It was pissing-down (raining hard), and I was pissed-off (annoyed), so I pissed-off (went) to the pisser (pub) to get on the piss (have a drink). I was pissing-up-large (drinking a lot), so pissed-off to the pisser (toilet, dunny, dyke, shithouse, outhouse, long-drop, crapper, etc NOT bathroom - that's where you have a bath) for a piss (leak, slash, etc) in the piss-tin (urinal). The piss (beer) was getting to me, and I got as pissed as a parrot [newt, chook etc] (very drunk). I went on to a piss up (party). And.... Wheww... This old piss-pot (drunkard) was piss-crook (hungover) in the morning. Stop pissing yourself (laughing) and piss-off (go away) - it wasn't funny! Cheers - Sam |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Billy the Bus Date: 13 Apr 00 - 05:49 PM Ok, me old Auzzie cobras out there, who can remember the words of that wonderful old ditty of the 50s "Chunder in the old Pacific Sea", about the noble art of vomiting, when piss-crook? All I remember is... ______________________________ I had a mate called "Murph", we were sitting in the surf.... I've had liquid laughs in bars, and I've hurled from moving cars. I've chundered when and where it's pleas-ed me. But if I could choose the spot, to regurgitate the lot, I would chunder in the old Pacific Sea.
Cheers - Sam |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Rex Date: 13 Apr 00 - 05:53 PM In southern Louisiana, inhabited largely by "Cajun's", (that is, people descended from Arcadians, who came from Arcadia in Canada), it is customary to "make groceries", meaning go grocery shopping at the local supermatket. Also, if a Cajun wants to call you over to discuss something, the expression is likely to be "Hey Joe, come see". And if a Cajun mentions "eating tails and sucking heads" he is talking about feasting on crawfish, which are essential on any true Cajun menu. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: kendall Date: 13 Apr 00 - 06:45 PM Numb as a pounded thumb Useless as a trap door in a canoe " " " a screen door in a submarine Popular as a wet dog at a wedding Screwed up like a Chinese fire drill
Cudgel..club
Harder than a brides bisquets
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Billy the Bus Date: 13 Apr 00 - 06:47 PM Forgot to add to the "Piss" item above - it's all really just piss-and-wind (bullshit)
Sam |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,BeauDangles Date: 13 Apr 00 - 07:04 PM In my Mom's family, when they needed to have a serious family talk about something it was called a "Come to Jesus." Also, when something is located diagonally opposite you, it was not "kitty cornered", but "cattywumpus." And if something was really far away, it was "way out yonder in plum nelly," which I have decided comes from "plumb nearly." BeauD |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Hotspur Date: 13 Apr 00 - 07:50 PM The soda/pop debate rages on...here in Eastern NY state, we call it soda, but west of Syracuse they say pop, or even soda pop, to cover all bases. I've heard old folks call these drinks "phosphates" too. Sounds poisonous, doesn't it? Colloquialisms: some people still call a small stream a kill, from the Dutch. Otherwise, it's a creek, pronounced crick. We also have lightning bugs, not fireflies. If you have a hankering for something, you have a sudden desire for it. My grandmother says somehting is "the berries" when she means it's the best. One of my teachers used to use the expression "God returning on a shingle," but i never figured that one out. Anyone know this one? We have a Worcester here in New York, too, but it's pronounced Worster. We also have towns called Chili (Chy-lye)and Pulaski (Poo-las-kye). My favorite, though, is Skaneateles, pronounced, "skinny atlas." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Gary T Date: 13 Apr 00 - 07:53 PM I remember growing up with "Don't get your bowels in an uproar"=don't get all upset--seems along the same line as "Don't get your knickers in a twist", knickers here being underdrawers (but we always said underpants). You can find catercorner (=diagonally across the corners of an intersection) in the dictionary. I grew up (U.S. east coast) with "wait for"=bide your time, while "wait on"=serve, as a waiter in a restaurant. Here in the Midwest, "wait on" is used both ways, "wait for" is seldom heard. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Helen Date: 13 Apr 00 - 08:17 PM Jim, Did you notice that the post before yours is April 12 1999 and yours is April 13 2000, so it continues with hardly a blip on the screen exactly a year later. Billy the Bus, PML (pissing myself laughing) here in Oz. Good onya, mate! Helen |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 13 Apr 00 - 08:25 PM Gary T, I don't know where you are in the midwest, but in Minnesota, where I'm originally from, and in central Indiana, where I am now, "wait for", meaning to stick around until whoever or whatever arrives or happens, is what you hear, not "wait on". I only hear "wait on" as in a waiter or waitress.
In central Indiana I often hear people taking "license" as a plural, as in "The cop asked for my license, but I'd lost them." Of course there's where you wait with respect to a line of people (a queue, for you Brits): In the east they wait "on line" or get "on line", but where I've been and where I am now you wait "in line". Dave Oesterreich
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Gary T Date: 13 Apr 00 - 08:54 PM Hi, Dave. I'm in Kansas City, MO. I was a little brief in the "wait on/for" thing. Typically, someone will say "I'm waiting for my Social Security check to arrive" or "I'm waiting on my Social Security check", but hardly ever "I'm waiting for my Social Security check". Now that I think about it, it may be more of a Southern thing, imported here from Arkansas. That plural license thing is a new one to me. The only time I wait "on line" is when the Internet is slow (yuk yuk). |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Billy the Bus Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:38 PM G'day Helen, Glad you got a grin, and pissed yourself - howsomever, I really prefer the expression... "I laughed 'til the tears ran down my leg"...;) How about some Strine ones like..... Outback, beyond the black stump, up the boo-aye [sp?] etc (living in a remote area). Haven't heard those in yonks (a long time) Kia ora - Sam |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: wysiwyg Date: 13 Apr 00 - 09:48 PM In PA, if something needs to be done, "It needs done." It needs ironed, it needs fixed, it needs said, or deleted... In N. central PA, "Yes" is "Yepp-er," two equally accented syllables, but "Yep" is "You're welcome." My area of N. central PA itself is sometimes fondly (sometimes not) known as "Pennsyltucky," abbreviated of course "PY." There is a cartoon I have seen, I believe an ancient Popeye one, where that is also the name emblazoned on the side of a large ship. Not sure which is the chicken and which the egg. "Jug milk" here is an old fashioned glass bottle from a home dairy or the home dairy's store, with a deposit paid on the bottle, and the bottles often from old dairies of days long past, the names and logos still bright and evocative on the jug, er, bottle. Oh! and the new jail here is the Blue Roof Inn. (Whereas the one in Illinois, an hour and a half outside Chicago, was the Huntley Pokey Club.) Secretaries and inmates who spend too much time sitting on their "bee-hinds" get "a case of the bubblebutt" --those large bulbous protuberances made famous by Carol Burnett's secretary routine. But you may get another kind of "bubblebutt" at the "dish to pass" (potluck) supper, and be sure to bring your "service" (your own plates and utensils). And in either case, if someone is rude to you about it, you may find yourself with "a terminal case of the red-ass." Going somewhere? "Goin' up the spring (going up to the spring) after (for) water." Visiting a neighbor "up over" the hill? Take the "Road to Cherry Flats" (which does have some real name or other). It's a "hard road" (paved) (not a "road, AKA "a township road" or "gravel road"). If they aren't home, "try goin' over Wallyworld" (going over to WalMart), since everybody's probably there "visiting the World" (shopping or pretending to and just seeing people). "LeafPeepers" (tourists) arrive in fall, second weekend of October. Most "flatlanders" (from outside the mountains of the county) who like to hunt with guns come for "Buck Day" (the Monday after Thanksgiving when deer season opens) but a few show up later for "Environmental Awareness Day" (Doe Day, but I'm not aware of the exact date). The next county over is "God's Country," or at least they say so. But our county has the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, so we're almost even up. BTW, that canyon, with Pine Creek, doesn't flood in the spring and fall-- but the "runs" (creeks, streams) do, so if we've made plans to get together, I'll be there, "Lord willin' an' the creek don't rise." Words we brought with us from the Chicago area, from family conversations, that seem to be creeping around the town and coming back to us, are "AccuSuck" (shop vac) and "Planting" (funeral). And "Gomorrahfied"-- being mortified, horrified, and morally outraged all at once. Also you are not from a dysfunctional family-- you belong to the support group for "People Raised by Dogs from Hell." Oh, and if you aren't supposed to tell me something but it is something I really need to know? Simple. We can have a "nonversation." Otherwise, if you come see me to "have a conversation with me," you are probably coming over to give me a terminal case of the red-ass because I have "sinned" (acted like an arsehole). And since I can't get into the frozen Lapsang Souchong thread, may I express here my longing for what we drank last week in South Carolina-- "sweet tea," which is to iced tea as good espresso is to "hawss piss." Now I wish I had taken a jug-- no, that would be the Igloo cooler, not a glass bottle-- to fill up and carry (bring) home. ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mbo Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:59 PM Dang Caitrin! You done stole most of the good ones! Check these though: Get up with = talk to Heifer dust = women's makeup (Harker's Island speak) Down East = Eastern NC (I always thought Down East was Maine until we moved here!) Inneresting = interesting Elamennery = elementary Impordant = important ruther mald = rather mild (Marvin Daugherty speak) Keerie = Cary Norf Carolina = bizarre dialect thing we have here! Then there's my fam's weird Italian/Philadelphia slang Jeet = did you eat Yeeuh = yes stunod = losing your memory sporcaccone = someone with a foul mouth (literally, a dirty pig) bondole = a weird woman awl-toh = alto We say "pecan" PEEcahn gling-gling = junkfood I'm not sure what the deal is lately with this, but we have always said "horrible" hahr-ibble, not this new hoaribble. What's the deal with that? --Mbo |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: JamesJim Date: 13 Apr 00 - 11:44 PM There's an old saying here in Kentucky - "You can't suck and blow at the same time." I'm sure your thoughts immediately hit gutter level (or perhaps you surmise that Monica must have found this out the "hard" way - sorry, I couldn't resist). Folks, what it really means is that you can't have it both ways. Best to all - Jim |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mbo Date: 13 Apr 00 - 11:54 PM No Jim--doesn't it have to do with harmonica playing? --Mbo |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:28 AM LOL! This is great. I noticed the date thing, too, Helen and was wondering if my eyesight was "plumb gone" 'til I realised the years were different. Well, I didn't remember posting to this on the 12th of 2000! Kinda gave me a deja vu thingie all over. Wonderful new additions, Phoaks! keep 'em coming! And, if you ahven't had a chance to read through the whole thing, lately, take some time, it is well worth it, with quite a few belly laughs. katlaughingforrealabsolutely! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: rangeroger Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:34 AM One of my favorite anagrams is proudly displayed on the sides of the train at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the WGASA Line.Seems when they were building it and couldn't figure out what to call it,someone said"Who Gives A Shit Anyway". rr |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Metchosin Date: 14 Apr 00 - 01:10 AM The bananna belt- south western coastal B.C. (particularly Victoria) Lotus Land -same place chocker block or chuck-a-block - full Kiss-me-arse - the marbled murrelet salt chuck or chuck - the sea skookum - "hell for strong", good Kanakas - Hawaiin Islanders who came to B.C. between the 1830's and 50's jacks - sexually precocious male coho, spring and sockeye salmon returning to spawn before their full weight sticks - "from the sticks" meant from the bush country of the Interior (any place not on the coast), now means any forested place without a paved road. hootch - any inferior liquor usually home brewed porch climber - bad cheap wine CIL Spinner or James Island Spinner - a stick of dynamite used for an easy way of fishing (scooping up stunned fish) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Metchosin Date: 14 Apr 00 - 01:28 AM LMAO at that one rangeroger! "prarie brain damage" - an aphasia that comes about from living in wide open spaces for too long, usually demonstrated by the clearcutting of all the trees on a building lot or property, when retiring or relocating to the coast. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 14 Apr 00 - 01:53 AM LOL, Metchosin! That must be what I am suffering from, all these prairie brain damaged Wyomingites! Today I found myself longing so for a good rainstorm; I wanted it so much I could smell it, feel it, see the lightening, and hear the thunder, but alas, no such luck. I do love the wide open, but right now I am ready for some forest and moisture! kat |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Metchosin Date: 14 Apr 00 - 02:09 AM I wouldn't mind a few days where you are kat, the trees and hills can truly make you feel claustrophobic and unending days of rain can make you overly introspective. Luckily, its been a pretty bright warm spring here, so far this year, but I always feel that a great weight has been lifted from me when I get up to the Interior or into the Rockies. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,John Gray / Australia Date: 14 Apr 00 - 11:37 AM Just a couple. As flat as a shit-carter's hat - depressed. Rock Choppers - roman catholics.And from my navy days; Piss Strainers - braised kidneys, Train Smash - tomato au gratin. Up Top - above Australia, mainly Asia. And when asked what our job was we said "we traveled in steel for the gov't". Goffas - coke / sprite etc. Some nicknames ( maybe a thread on their own ) Opium - slow working dope. Jungles - wet & dense. And yes, down here a "root" is sexual intercourse. Regards / JG / FME. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 14 Apr 00 - 11:44 AM [Reminded by reports of a recent unscheduled stop on an island (?Azores?) with only 14 hotel beds of a plane with 200 passengers including senior lawyers en route from London to Trinidad:]BWIA (British West Indan Airlines) .When we traveled BWIA to St Lucia the locals told us it stood for: But Will It Arrive? RtS |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: sophocleese Date: 14 Apr 00 - 11:57 AM SFAs (sweet f**k alls) the bits they sell in Donut stores that are supposedly the centers of donuts, sold as Timbits or Robin's Eggs, whatever. Rug rat, porch monkey, ankle biter all names for toddlers. Mockage - mockery. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,JULIE Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:03 PM Fascinating - especially as I was brought up in one culture ( Scotland) and have lived for years in another (Yorkshire). I consider myself colloquially bi-lingal. I am fascinated by the use of poke for a ice cream in Belfast in Scotland a poke is a bag - as in a poke of chips and fish and chips would be a fish supper. Does any one have any that they can't stand. I hate poorly - meaning ill and banned it from home conversation. My Dad couldn't get used to the way his male friend addressed him as love when we moved to Yorkshire and my mother couldn't get used to the "are you alright" as the opening greeting. Julie |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Scabby Douglas Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:14 PM How about this one from Glasgow: Ah could eat a scabby-heidit wean. Meaning: I am so hungry I could eat a child with suspicious-looking scalp lesions.. Sometimes not scabby-heidit wean, but just a scabby dug. A one-armed bandit (slot machine) is known as a "puggy" Glasgow has tons... Chanty... |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Caitrin Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:18 PM Living in NC, we have more expressions for the middle of nowhere than just about anything else. The middle of nowhere can be described as: J'bip (I don't know how you really spell it.) the sticks the boonies and, less politely, BFN. (butt f**k nowhere) Also, any cookout can be referred to as a barbeque, whether barbeque is actually being served or not. A pig pickin', however, always has a pig. I've been told (by a friend who used to live there) that there's a Saudi Arabian equivalent called a "goat grab." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lonesome EJ Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:58 PM A word I have always liked, but seems to be fading from usage, is "yonder." The old folks in my Mom's family, who hailed from South Central Kentucky, used yonder all the time. It describes a specific visible point ("do you see that magnolia tree yonder?"or "do you see yonder Magnolia tree?"), or a general area ("the best fishing is yonder behind those hills"). I can recall my Grampaw using the short version, as in "the cat is over in yon Magnolia tree." I always thought it had a poetic feel to it. A mildly perjorative term used in my family for Catholics was "Cross-backs." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 14 Apr 00 - 02:35 PM My dad, to this day, calls the Pope, the "Holy Pappy in Rome" Yonder is a loving word, LeeJ, some old songs make good use of it. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Hotspur Date: 14 Apr 00 - 02:51 PM Arouond here, we may say "the sticks" or "the boonies" for very rural areas, but it's more common to hear "East Elbow" or "East Podunk", as in "she lives way out in East Podunk." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Apr 00 - 03:14 PM [Boofoo] = [Butt-F**k] = [Super-Boonies] = [west of where God lost his underwear] [skimpy glimmers] = a term mudcat friends have used to try discussing a spiritual event perceived with human understanding [Lombosis] = an imaginary (??) disease which is always terminal but never fatal, signified by the onset of Nod Disease, falling asleep in work clothes in the chair at home. [Portagee] = trying to talk when too tired to form language properly in the brain but something sounding almost like a real language comes out the mouth |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Jim Dixon Date: 14 Apr 00 - 04:30 PM There is another branch to this thread! Click here! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: wildwoodflower Date: 14 Apr 00 - 09:01 PM I believe the word "Wallah" mentioned by many as being an Indian (Hindi) phrase may be one and the same with the Arabic phrase, "Wallah" or "Wallahi", which means literally, "By God", used as we would say "I swear" or used when replying in astonishment, such as "Really?" My daddy was from (the "boonies", the sticks") Gibson Co., TN (I say that with a smile). and he had some funny expressions. Here's a few he used and we used growing up (we grew up in Hermitage, a suburb of Nashville, i.e. the "boonies" of Nashville"): Coke, or "Co-co-la" -ANY softdrink, not just Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola products, Pepsi too. "Bri-ches"- my daddy never wore pants, trousers or slacks, just "bri-ches", the ones with his suit were just fancy "bri-ches". Dad always liked to have a "swig" of coffee or iced tea. "Sweet-tea" may as well be one word. "What in Sam's Hill!" -i.e., What the Hell. I always though Sam's Hill was an actual place. It must be "over yonder" -an unspecified distance. "Doomafloggy", "Dohicky", "Thingamabob"- unknown object. -does anyone else use "doomafloggy"? I don't think I've ever heard anyone else use it. We also use the expression "carry", such as "Carry me to the Kroger's or Krystal's", notice the "'s" on the end of Kroger and Krystal ("the" before Kroger's and Krystal's is optional). Don't know why. Nothing is pronounced they way it probably should be around here. "Shell-bee-ville (Shellybyville)" is "She-ba-vul", "Lu-wee-ville" is in fact (ha!) "Lua-vul", "Leb-anon" is "Lebnun" and what should seem to be "O-bee-on" County is "Obi(short "i")n". Memphis is "Mem-fus". My mother, whose parents grew up in the midwest, pronouces Missouri "Missoura". One of my professors called Raleigh, Memphis, "East Jesus"- he was from the north. "Do whut?" is a popular expression. "perty" -pretty "How come" and "Why come" replace "how can it be" and "why is it". When we were children, if we didn't drink our milk we were told we'd, "dry up and blow away". "tee-niny" -really small. "slowpoke"- no doubt from my midwestern maternal grandfather who homesteaded out in California. "You better pack a lunch 'cause it's gonna take all day!"-my dad said this in reply to an obnoxious drunk in a truckstop who tried to provoke him to fight. A classic! "I'm gonna be on you like a duck on a june bug!" -Major Beale, 2nd Mar Div, Camp Lejeune, NC., USMC. "Copycat" -someone who mocks someone else, someone who "copied" someone else -silly! "Goofball"- silly person. "Cornball"- dry humor. I'm sure I'll think of more. Next, someone should start a thread on CB radio expressions.
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mbo Date: 14 Apr 00 - 09:21 PM Cool wildwood! I am just 10 minutes away from Camp Lejuene as we speak! That's "Luh-zhoon", or in the original French "Luh-zhun", but around here folks say "Luh-joon", "luh-zhern". --Mbo |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST Date: 12 Nov 06 - 03:24 PM 'Em!............Fun! Thanks for the PM, Bernard. I had already deleted it, and those that followed. Folks, this references a spam post that had already been dealt with. I have removed the following posts that referenced it. Mudelf |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Scooby Doo Date: 12 Nov 06 - 03:37 PM It should have been all deleted Mudelf!!!!!!! Scooby |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 12 Nov 06 - 08:35 PM Lonesome EJ, (more than six years ago!!!) said: yonder. It describes a specific visible point ("do you see that magnolia tree yonder?"or "do you see yonder Magnolia tree?"), or a general area ("the best fishing is yonder behind those hills"). On the other hand, "over yonder" can mean the after-life, Heaven. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,E.B. White Date: 12 Nov 06 - 10:42 PM Some folks, when they mean to indicate positive regard, "punctuate" their prose with stuff like **smile** and **grin**. Wish they'd quit it, but I realise they're attached to it. It's just cheesy is all. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lin in Kansas Date: 12 Nov 06 - 11:16 PM In Texas, anyone from another state or a far-flung place was probably from "Bumfuck Egypt." Winters were/are "colder than a well-digger's belt buckle," or maybe "cold as a witch's tit," or possibly referred to a brass monkey's anatomy in various ways. "Over yonder" was simply "a ways over there." Could also be "see yonder cow in that field?" "Down the road a ways" meant a little farther on. Might be "on you like a duck on a Junebug," or "like stink on sh*t." And "Y'all come back, y'hear?" really does get used a lot there. More than one person is nearly always "y'all." One I always liked was "If they stuffed your brain up a monkey's butt, it would still rattle like a BB in a freight car." (Usually yelled at my next oldest brother... as long as my mom wasn't around.) In Washington state, place names lie in wait for the unwary all over. There are many Native American names for towns, such as Puyallup (PEW-allup, not POOEY-allup) or Sequim (took me years to figure out it was pronounced "Skwim," not SEE-quim). Whoever refreshed this thread, thanks! And thanks to Katlaughing for starting it. It's been a fun one to read. And BTW, Missouri is not Missoura, it's Miz-ZUR-a! Lin in Kansas |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 13 Nov 06 - 12:50 AM Thanks, Linn. I think the refresh may have been part of a spam attack, bt it's still fun to see it back up.BTW, I'd always heard it "colder than a well-digger's ass." I find myself using one of my dad's, these days, "double tough" meaning excatly what it says. It was high praise coming from him, usually in reference to an ancestor. Guest, E.B. White...using *smile* or even **bg** is a good way of furthering communication in the cyberworld where one cannot see the facial expressions of those they *visit* with, imo. I don't think we are so attached as just wanting to be clear as to the intent of our words. Just my opinion, of course. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: John O'L Date: 13 Nov 06 - 01:16 AM The only time I've heard it was in a Tom Waits song as "colder than a well-digger's ass". I thought he made it up. It's kinda disappointing but pleasing at the same time to find it's a folk saying. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: JohnInKansas Date: 13 Nov 06 - 01:57 AM Having read this entire thread in one sitting, having made copious notes on the expressions that came to mind, and then having seen all my offerings demolished by subsequent posts, I'm left with little to say. In my own inimitable style of brevity and terse wit, this probably won't take more than a couple of pages... An almost ancient expression that I heard used in my youngest rememberable days was "musta seen the elephant." The derivation is quite well known. Mammoth fossils had been found in the Kansas Territory shortly before the opening of the Territory for settlement, and the imaginings of many settlers enroute invented all kinds of "great beasts," possibly still roaming about, and threats that "the elephant 'll get you" probably kept lots of youngsters on their best behaviour. "He saw the elephant" became the somewhat cryptic description for one who didn't make it as a homesteader - i.e. who gave up and went "back East." The very few instances in which a couple of elders used the term were cases where someone "packed up and left," nearly always under some recognized "trial" (of circumstance or reputation). "Like a duck on a junebug" has been mentioned, but it's perhaps worth noting that the term can refer to any "surprisingly eager" act, or as in the case of the DI, as a threat. "Been beat with an ugly stick" usually applied to females, but I've heard it used in applications to males. The meaning probably is obvious enough. "Took a second dose of ugly" is a variation(?) "Fell out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down" is another, sometimes as "hit every branch when she fell out of the ugly tree." "Choke the duck" means go take a piss. "Duck" is an obvious corruption of "duct" as I've heard it used by many, more obviously in the variant "Drain my duck." "Subtle as cow pissin' on a flat rock" needs no explanation. A "Hen Party" was, a generation or two ago, a womens' meeting, most often a quilting bee or ladies society (i.e. organized) meeting. The term probably still pops up, but isn't as common. The term "Biddie Bitch" was also very rarely used - only during periods when there were "nasty rumors" in circulation. The less kind version usually reflected an opinion that an opportunity to gossip about a particular rumor was the real subject of the meeting, and was "pretty strong speaking" for those I heard use it. I can assert that on the banks of the Charles River (Cambridge MA) in the late 50s and early 60s, necking on the riverbank was called "taking her to watch the submarine races." I can also confirm that Worcester MA was called "Wooster" by native New Englanders in the same era; but Dorcester MA was NOT called "Dooster." I lived for a little over a year in Dorcester, on a street spelled on the street sign at one end of the block "Rosseter" and pronounced "ROSS-i-ter" by all those living on the West side of the street. The sign at the other end of the block spelled it "Rosetter" and all those on the East side of the street pronounced it "Rose-ET-er." I never inquired about the difference of opinion, but failure to use the pronunciation appropriate to the street side one was on seemed to spark deeply smoldering emotions. A short distance up the road was a "traffic circle" (roundabout?) named for a famous Revolutionary hero. Five streets entered the circle, each with a sign spelling the name of the hero differently, two signs within the circle spelled it two additional ways, and the monument in the middle was marked with a bronze plate providing an eighth spelling (Kosciuszko Circle, Dorchester MA - I picked a spelling at random.) Some of the info on "odd pronunciations" of place names probably seem a little less "potent" to me after my "Dorchester period." Trade jargon, US: "Where's the dutchmans?" means someone is looking for a pair of "compound-lever, toothed-jawed sheetmetal shears." So named because most of them in WWII aircraft production days at least were made by "Deutsch & Co." Trade jargon again: "What did you do with the dyke's" meant the "diagonal cutter pliers" (wire cutters) had been misplaced. "Carrying a loose load" probably came from the same place as "Three bricks shy of a load" or "A few marbles short of a bagful" or any number of other descriptions of "incomplete (or unused) mental capacity." There are a lot of these but calling them up without specific contexts to jog my failing memory is beyond me at the moment. Maybe "a few straws fell out of my bale." The difference between "kluge" or "kludge" (UK: rhymes with "fudge" - usually derogatory) and "cluge" or "cludge" (US: rhymes with "huge" - frequently a back-handed compliment) could be discussed, but it's in the Hackers' Dictionary. John |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 13 Nov 06 - 02:29 AM LOL, JohninKS, my mom went to "hen parties" though it was my dad who called them such! And, Massachusetts was still that way, in the 80's and 90's, about pronouncing things |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,thurg Date: 13 Nov 06 - 09:09 AM "failure to use the pronunciation appropriate to the street side one was on seemed to spark deeply smoldering emotions." This is really funny - and reassures us, if that's the right way of putting it, that people are the same the world over. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 13 Nov 06 - 12:57 PM I'm not really sure whether these are "colloquialisms", as specified by Kat, but they are speech peculiarities, and might be interesting. Here in Indiana we have a number of place names that are familiar, but "different". Milan, a town in southern Indiana, is not pronounced like its Italian forebear. It's "MY-luhn". Milan, Michigan has this same distinction. Lafayette is SOMETIMES pronounced like the famous Marquis, but it's not too unusual to hear it pronounced "Lay-fee-ette". Or even "La-FAY-ette". Orleans, in Orleans County, Indiana, is not pronounced like the second word in "New OR-luhns". It's definitely, and always, "Or-LEENS". Terre Haute, Indiana (meaning "high ground"), ought to and many times is pronounced "TAIR-uh Hote", but it often loses the second syllable of "Terre" to become "Tair Hote". And worse, "Tair Hut". Or, for conscious humor, "Terrible Hut". Then (not a pronunciation matter, but of interest), there's a "Needmore, Indiana". In fact there's another one of that name in the state. No, there are actually two more, for a total of three Needmores in Indiana. I guess someone thought we needed more or them. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST Date: 13 Nov 06 - 01:27 PM Someone who is quite mean when it comes to spending their money is referred to as being, "As tight as a fishes arse" in my neck of the woods. (Newcastle) Similarly, "He could peel an orange in his pocket." Someone lacking refinement or manners can also be labelled as being, "As rough as a badger's arse." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST Date: 14 Nov 06 - 11:24 AM With reference to unruly children; What ee needs is a slammin good lugwinder. Or to the parents of said children; you mus cobble up yer hounds. Old Nova Scotia, grand but not heard much anymore. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bernard Date: 14 Nov 06 - 06:18 PM He's that mean he wouldn't give a door a slam... Bugger the expense - throw the cat another canary! He's a good lad, but his boots are tight... |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,thurg Date: 14 Nov 06 - 06:32 PM "He's a fine lad, but he'd be none the worse for a hanging." Someone in the family used to say this - but I have this uncomfortable notion that it might have come from Dickens somewhere. Anyone? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bugsy Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:31 PM My neice has been asking me about "Bloody Nora" or "Flippin'Nora" or "Flamin' Nora" or even "F*$#ing Nora". Does anyone know the origins, or who "Nora" was?? Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Don(Wyziwyg)T Date: 15 Nov 06 - 09:22 AM A couple of my favourites: "She's got the kind of personality that makes everyone she meets want to shake her warmly by the throat" "There's nowt wrong wi' 'im as couldn't be cured by slittin' 'is throat" Don T. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 19 Nov 06 - 05:48 AM "es anyone know the origins, or who "Nora" was??" Nora Titoff, that Russian Lady Writer, I suspect... |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's Date: 19 Nov 06 - 03:06 PM In Texas it's New OR-leans, usually run together so it sounds like one word (nuORlins). And it's not a PEE-can (can, as in the tin thing in which you buy beans), but a pe-CAHN, that we put in pies. I had a college classmate from Milwaukee who asked where the "bubbler" (drinking fountain) was. I had never heard this, but my New Jerseyite mother said she had, although she and her friends didn't use it regularly as children. We've also got "icehouses", which are like semi-outdoor bars (some are more like convenience stores that sell a lot of alcohol)--they often have garage doors in the walls. I believe it's derived from the practice of storing and selling alcohol from literal icehouses back when we had them (although I don't know where you'd have a real icehouse this far south since you'd never have any ice to store in it). Rebel-Yankee Language Test. Ha ha! I scored 81% Southern, which surprises me since I learned to talk from my decidedly Yankee parents, even though I've lived on the Gulf Coast for the best part of my life. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bugsy Date: 21 Nov 06 - 02:42 AM So? No one don't know nuffin' 'baht Nora???? CHeers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 21 Nov 06 - 08:10 AM I said - "Nora Titoff" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 21 Nov 06 - 08:16 AM QUOTE like state a booktitle and have the other one guess the name of the author... "Yellow river" by a male Irish author ? I P Daily...or, "Baby's revenge" by a female russian author ? Nora Titoff :-)... UNQUOTE |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Ancient Briton Date: 21 Nov 06 - 01:20 PM Fools round here are sometimes said to have the brain of a chocolate pig. The sound of a cheap banjo was once described as being like a rat in a biscuit tin. Newcomers feigining affluence are described as tuppenny millionaires. Brown and white horses are described a coloured osses. Americans (even those from the deepest south) are referred to as Yanks. Narrow pathways between buildings are called ginnels (but to the east of the district sometimes snickets). Peat bogs are called hags. Lady sheep are called yows and young cattle coves. Baby horses are foiles and adult cattle are beasts (pronounced bee-yasts). Boots are booits. You are called thee and when you're instructed to do something, the address is thou mun (verb)... (pronounced tha'mn...) No prizes for guessing where. AB |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bugsy Date: 29 Nov 06 - 07:52 PM Thanks a bunch Foolstroupe. So? No one ELSE don't know nuffin' 'baht Nora???? CHeers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: OtherDave Date: 30 Nov 06 - 06:06 PM It's a manufactured colloquialism, but I won't let that stop me... a remembered bit of Marshall Dodge, New England humorist, speaking in a solid-maple Maine drawl, a farmer talking about the newly arrived child of neighbors... "I could take a sharp knife and a piece of knotty pine, and whittle a better-looking baby than those two made..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Desert Dancer Date: 30 Nov 06 - 08:13 PM From: GUEST,JULIE - PM Date: 14 Apr 00 - 12:03 PM '...we moved to Yorkshire and my mother couldn't get used to the "are you alright" as the opening greeting.' Oh! That explains it! (Maybe...) I have a coworker who's from Manchester, whose father is from Durham: she often greets me with "you alright?" and I've always wondered if I looked like I wasn't! ~ Becky in Tucson, Arizona |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Gurney Date: 01 Dec 06 - 01:42 AM Sydneysiders have their own rhyming slang, different from(or to) the London version. Two I remember : Septic. = American. (Septic tank) Horses. = Homosexuals. (Horses hoofs, poofs.) If a Kiwi says "You can put a ring around that!" it means s/he agrees wholeheartedly. The matelots of both RN and RNZN refer to their respective airforces as 'Crabs,' due to the colour of their uniform being similar to an ointment used for venereal infestations. "I'm flying home on Crab Airways." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bugsy Date: 14 Dec 06 - 06:04 PM No one? Nuffin? 'Baht Nora? Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: moongoddess Date: 14 Dec 06 - 06:44 PM Well now, I live in RI where the colloquillisms run rampant. Thank you MMario and Barbara for reminding me of the reference to making out as "watching the submarine races". In North Kingstown, RI, where I grew up, we REALLY DID watch the submarine races when we made out. We went to the beach and looked at the bay where real submarines were lurking about, thanks to the US Navy. We call people in RI who live in "the sticks" Swamp Yankees", meaning their heritage goes way back to the first settlers. They don't need and they don't subscribe to modern ways of living. Then there are the Italian immigrants and their descendants on Federal Hill. If someone disappears on "the Hill" you just say, "and there he was, gone!". If he was gone in a very suspicious way, maybe he was wearing "a cement overcoat" and took a swim in Narragansett Bay. I love Rhode Island! Diana |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 06 Jul 07 - 02:47 PM I grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley, where many of the residents had moved from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, among other places, back in the 1930's and '40's. Some of what they contributed to the language - Speaking of bad behavior: "That's lower'n a snake's belly in a wagon track." Ugly woman: "I wouldn't take her to dog fight if I knew she could win!" Bullshit: "Horse pucky!" "Road apples!" Fast: "Quicker'n goose shit through a tin horn!" (which made it all the way into a line from "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," a famous Broadway musical. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,merrius Date: 03 Nov 09 - 11:16 AM Related to SNAFU, there's: TARFU---things are REALLY fucked up and FUBAR---fucked up beyond all recognition |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: oldhippie Date: 03 Nov 09 - 07:57 PM I have a tie clip from the 70s that reads "YCDBSOYA" which stands for "You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Ass" One of my favorites is "emuff" (pronounced eee-muff) - short for english muffin; "I'll have eggs scrambled, bacon and an emuff with butter and jam." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Mr Red Date: 04 Nov 09 - 06:17 AM Our Black Country family used to used the word tranklements, noun usually used in the plural. these are the ephemera that burden you, cannot throw out, but are by and large without useful function. eg jewelery. The ceilidhnauts of England refer to their genre as E-Ceilidh, specifically English Ceilidh. Dances can be from anywhere but are most likely to be from England &/or written here. Because we are English. Ranting and Hornpipe steps are common, unlike (say) Scottish dancing where Hornpipes don't exist and Ranting means telling the E-Cailidh dancers that stray into Scottish Dances that they should stand still until they are required to move instead of bopping all the time! And improvisation is not a feature of Scottish Dancing (or English Country dancing much neither). Ducks and runs for cover................. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: kendall Date: 04 Nov 09 - 07:13 AM Man to friend whose wife just had a 3 pound baby, "Hell, man, you just about got your bait back". To indicate far away, Way the hell and gone... Rough wea5ther...Savagrus. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,guest Date: 04 Nov 09 - 08:31 AM My favourite from my childhood in Glasgow, My mum never swore and when me and my siblings had exasperated her to retalliation, she would say "Awa tae Banff!!" Although I never quite worked out why a pretty north-east town would be somewhere you would want to banish your children - although it is quite a long way from Glasgow....:) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Bettynh Date: 04 Nov 09 - 11:20 AM Growing up just north of Boston, I called small streams of running water brooks. I know they're kills in southeastern New York (Dutch, right?). They're creeks or criks in the south? Is Bull Run one of these? If so, where are they called runs? Any other names for small running waterways? |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: katlaughing Date: 04 Nov 09 - 02:13 PM They are cricks in the West, too, at least in Colorado. I think that probably came from Southern ancestors, though. Anyone know where "Billy, be damned" came from. My sister still using it as in " The wind was blowing like billy be damned!" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Songbob Date: 27 Dec 09 - 05:09 PM This discussion of localisms and how England and America are two countries divided by a common language leads me to one of my favorite lines from a song, q.v., "Monday Morning," by Cyril Tawney: Where has the weekend gone? Where is the wine and beer I tasted? Gone the same way as the pay I wasted [i.e., pissed away] On a Monday morning. Such a subtle use of a colloquialism, and one that probably slips through the consciousness of most listeners. I love it! BTW, in Appalachia and parts of the midwest, "crick" is used in place of "creek," at least when spoken. My family used it regularly, in Des Moines, but then they came by way of Tennessee, 'way back. And there were three pronunciations of "root, as well. Someone asked about "runs," which is most common in Virginia and West-By-God, though I don't know about neighboring states like N.C. and Tennessee. Pronunciations: The part of a tree is root -- think "ruit," OR "rute"; The highway is a route -- think "rowt" OR "rute"; And the pigs would root -- think "rute" -- in the ground. So there was overlap in some pronunciations, particularly for roads, but the verb was always "rute." I never heard of pigs "ruiting" or "rowting." Bob |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Dec 09 - 02:57 PM "Let's hire it up." Add spice or other flavoring to stew, etc. Georgia. "He's got more money (or whatever) than a carter's got oats." Old Georgia. Carter = wagoneer or trucker. Catercorner. In a diagonal or oblique position. Very old word, originated in England. Wide use in the U. S.; not a colloquialism (See Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's Collegiate); English usage from 1577, as Cater where it also appears as Catercross and Caterways. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Tootler Date: 28 Dec 09 - 03:34 PM Growing up just north of Boston, I called small streams of running water brooks. Where I live in North Yorkshire, they are "becks". The same word is used in Cumbria. The word is Scandinavian in origin. I did a translation check in Google and brook is: "bekk" in Norwegian "bäck" in Swedish and "bæk" in Danish Same word. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: beeliner Date: 28 Dec 09 - 03:34 PM Creeks in Illinois but pronounced 'crick'. Runs in Michigan. Drains in parts of Ontario. Oklahoma: 'Straight-up' for 'o'clock'. "I get off work at straight-up five." Can also refer to the second hand in precise measurements. "It's straight-up 4:23." "Jumbo" is bologna in Pittsburghese. In Illinois, "kittycorner" or "kattycorner" for 'diagonally opposite'. "Kattywampus" for 'at an odd angle or position'. "No wonder it doesn't work, you've got the part in kattywampus." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: beeliner Date: 28 Dec 09 - 03:46 PM Correction: make that Runs in Pennsylvania, Drains in Michigan and parts of Ontario. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Dec 09 - 04:05 PM The old word cater, or catercorner, gets revised every which way but up (kittycorner, etc.). Catawampus has a long history and several meanings and spellings. Dates refer to first known appearance in print. -vigorously or completely. 1834 -vigorously chewed up. Douglass 1857 -a peculiar or remarkable thing. 1833 -ferocious. 1843 -to confuse, injure, or damage. 1839 -to move diagonally. 1902 (derived from catercorner) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Dec 09 - 04:09 PM Drop a clanger- commit a faux pas. Also clangeroo. Clampers- hands. How many terms? Mitts, dukes, etc. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 28 Dec 09 - 04:37 PM He's got more -- than Carter's got pills. Hotter'n a two-dollar pistol Hotter than Kelsie's nuts Dry as a popcorn fart (Something) went over like a fart in a space suit (or diving bell) Slicker than a newborn weasel (or snot on a doorknob) The problem with these things is that they are low-hanging fruit for free association - they just keep on comin'. And a really old western (Colorado?) expression, "Well, don't that take the rag off the bush, though?" The best explanation I've heard for that one relates to crude trail markers left by scouts for those following - a piece of cloth (rag)tied to the branch of a shrub or limb of chaparral. If someone wanted to screw things up royally, they had only to "take the rag off the bush." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 28 Dec 09 - 05:03 PM I seem to remember that Al Capp used the rag off'n the bush expression in Li'l Abner. TJ's explanation is reasonable; I remember the old trick of changing the direction of a signpost, or changing the blaze on a tree. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GerryM Date: 23 Sep 22 - 02:13 AM Just earlier today, I had to explain to my American friends on Facebook that when an Australian dobs someone in, in means he informs on them. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: leeneia Date: 25 Sep 22 - 12:52 AM A saying of my father's comes to mind when I hear Trump trying to rouse his base to violence. "Let's you and him fight." It's terse but packed with meaning. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Sep 22 - 10:41 AM On sighting a bandy-legged chap: "Eeee, look at 'im, 'e couldn't stop a pig in an entry..." Of a footballer missing an open goal: "Bloody 'ell, 'e couldn't hit a cow's arse wi' a banjo..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Sep 22 - 11:07 AM A stressed-out northerner facing a complex and seemingly insoluble difficulty: "Eee, I'm bloody mithered to death 'ere..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: GUEST,Derrick Date: 25 Sep 22 - 11:24 AM A woman's description of her slim teenage daughter's figure to another woman I over heard in our local shop. "She's up and down like a yard of pump water" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Lighter Date: 25 Sep 22 - 08:41 PM The U.S. version I've been familiar with for close to 50 years is "couldn't hit a bull's ass with banjo." It refers to poor marksmanship. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Sep 22 - 08:45 PM He's so bloody useless that he couldn't find his own arse with both hands. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 25 Sep 22 - 08:50 PM "I looked into his eyes. The lights were on but there was nobody driving..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Newport Boy Date: 26 Sep 22 - 04:58 AM One of my father-in-law's, which I've never heard anyone else use. A course of action unlikely to be effective was "As much use as shouting 'Shit' up a dark alley". |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Charmion Date: 27 Sep 22 - 03:46 PM Quote from my mother: “Don’t just stand there with your mouth full of teeth!” |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: gillymor Date: 27 Sep 22 - 04:05 PM A couple of things Southern boys say- "Cut it half in two." "He's as useless as tits on a boar hog." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 27 Sep 22 - 04:55 PM Eee, tha looks miserable - tha's got a face as long as a gas man's mac... Angry teacher: "How DARE you open your mouth when you're talking to ME, boy!" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mrrzy Date: 27 Sep 22 - 10:43 PM Don't just do something, stand there! |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Senoufou Date: 28 Sep 22 - 04:22 AM 'Get yer arse into gear!' (hurry up!) 'Ha yer father got a dickie bor? If he hev, he wants a fewl ter roid 'im. Will yew cum?' ( a 'dickie' is a donkey) He stood there loik a starched fart. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 28 Sep 22 - 04:33 AM A much-venerated geography teacher at the secondary school in Bude (he's an old chap now and one of Bude's greatest characters) sent a group of boys out with clipboards to do a survey in the town. He told them he'd be around to check up on them, saying "...and when I'm in town, I don't want to catch you just standing around on corners scratching your balls..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: gillymor Date: 28 Sep 22 - 07:38 AM An old fishing buddy from West Virginia use to ask "Eyawwn to?" which translates as "Do you want to?" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Dave the Gnome Date: 28 Sep 22 - 01:12 PM When I was in the US I found I got some funny looks when I said I was going outside to roll a fag... |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 28 Sep 22 - 06:27 PM "As Truss med a good job o' runnin' th'economy?" "'As she bloody 'eckers like, yer daft apeth!" |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 29 Sep 22 - 12:50 PM Being cruel to someone whose eyes aren't straight: "Eee, look at 'im - 'e's got one eye on t'pot an' t'other up chimney..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Shaw Date: 29 Sep 22 - 12:54 PM When we took my old auntie, now long gone, for a drive in the country to a nice village in t'Dales, she'd look appreciatively out of the car window at the lovely scene and she'd say "Eee, I could be miserable 'ere..." |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: BobL Date: 30 Sep 22 - 03:21 AM standing around on corners scratching your balls a.k.a. pocket billiards |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: gillymor Date: 30 Sep 22 - 03:57 PM DtG, in the U.S. to "roll a fag" is to rob a gay male incapacitated by alcohol. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: gillymor Date: 06 Oct 22 - 08:14 AM My late WV fishing buddy and I had a routine, when I'd land a nice trout he'd holler out "put it in the poke, Gil" and as I watched swim away he'd say "wuz you kicked in the haid by a mule?". Don was an advocate of "fillet and release" fishing. He visited me here on the Gulf of Mexico once and as we were driving up a barrier island he exclaimed "that stank would knock a buzzard off a shit wagon". |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: gillymor Date: 06 Oct 22 - 08:18 AM In the last sentence I forgot to mention it was at low tide. |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Dave the Gnome Date: 10 Oct 22 - 08:00 AM I know, gillymor but thanks for pointing it out to those that don't. Rolling a fag in the UK, if you did not know, is hand rolling a cigarette:-) |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Steve Parkes Date: 10 Oct 22 - 12:25 PM Steve Shaw: that's a line from this song -- The drummer and the cook |
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Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun! From: Mrrzy Date: 17 Oct 22 - 08:38 AM I was about to point that out, I knew she was one-eyed and had a cockeyed look... Now it's a music thread! |
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