Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!

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!

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

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:-)

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.

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".

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.

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

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..."

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..."

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!"

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...

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?"

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..."

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.

Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Sep 22 - 10:43 PM

Don't just do something, stand there!

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!"

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."

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!”

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".

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..."

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.

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.

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"

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..."

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..."

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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)

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.

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."

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.

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.

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

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!"

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?

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....:)

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.

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.................

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."

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

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.

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

Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!
From: Bugsy
Date: 14 Dec 06 - 06:04 PM

No one?

Nuffin?

'Baht Nora?



Cheers


Bugsy

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."

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

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..."

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