Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Sep 22 - 10:43 PM

Don't just do something, stand there!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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!