Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!

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

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

Subject: RE: Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 21 Nov 06 - 08:10 AM

I said - "Nora Titoff"

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

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.

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...

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.

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

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?

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...

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.

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."

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.

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.

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 oddly differently.:-)

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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."

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.

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."

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."

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...

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

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

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!

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

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

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

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~

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

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).

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

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