Curious Expressions Three

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Robin2
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 07:26 PM

In my husband's family, when you can't move at all you're "fast"

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Mike Byers
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 06:30 AM

I've heard of "pitching a coniption" or a "coniption fit"; it's about like "pitching a hissy with a crepe tail". My grandfather used to say "pigs are running around with sticks in their mouths" as an indication that he thought is was going to rain, but even though I grew up on a farm I never saw pigs actually do this. And speaking of pig-related sayings, there's "like a pig on a chicken" for going after something with great fevor, "the most fun I've had since the pigs ate my little sister" for an ironic reference to a good time and "he went to s**t and the hogs ate him" for somebody whose location is unknown. Evidently porcine behavior was a major source of literary inspiration around here before television came along.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 01:00 AM

My Dad says "I've heard ducks fart before" about someone who's all talk, and when questioned explains "but they never shit"

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Chip2447
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 12:47 AM

As useless as tits on a bore hog.
Dad likes to say FART IN A BUCKET. Usually when he's mad about something.
Grandma was slow but she was old.
Piss up a rope?
Drain my brain.
The "see a man about a dog, is generally heard around here as "see a man about a horse".
Dad also uses "The little boys room" for any bathroom. Do the big boys pee wherever they want to?
What about "spanking the monkey or choking the Chicken"
That'll go over like a fart in church.

Okay, I'll quit now.
Chip2447

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Dec 01 - 12:21 AM

Here's another link: Roger's Profanisaurus, a compilation of "amusing euphemisms for the sexual organs, sexual activities or bodily functions." Do you know what it means to "drop the kids off at the pool"?

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 09:55 PM

well..ask and ye shall know!...thank you, sir!....(this place is like a Delphic oracle..(what is the concept of collecting a critical mass of knowlege?..I remember hearing it, but not since Mom said "toot sweet".... ;>))

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Amos
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 09:44 PM

It comes directly from the French "toute suite", which literally means "all in following" or something like that but which means in actual usage "immediately, all at once". The expression was Anglicised -- probably as far back as the 17th century I imagine-- and shows up in the jargon of soldiers, smugglers, and old folks. :>)

A

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 09:34 PM

funny this thead should pop back up,,,I just today had an online friend type that they needed to get out of here "toot sweet"...meaning right quick..I have heard this many times, but not in many years. (my mother used to use it)

A search finds many hits, but only music stores and brass bands..*grin*...anyone have any idea of the origin and how it got that meaning?

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Robin2
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 09:17 PM

Jim,

I have to agree about cows coming home..Grandma lived on a dairy farm with 200 head, and every day at the same time they would head for the milking barn, all in several straight lines. Maybe just dairy cows have this much brains?

On that note, Gramma had two sayings she would use a lot. "Them's as poor as Paddy's pigs"
"there ya go, thinking you're Astor's pet"
"she's pitchin a coniption"

Anybody else heard of these?

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Amos
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 08:29 PM

Funniest thing I ever saw in my life: I was walking down the dirt street in the middle of a jungle village way up the Mekong River in Northern Thailand, near Burma. There was a cross trail -- another dirt street -- up ahead of me, and suddenly this gigantic buffalo stuck his head around the corner, looked both ways, and confirming it was all clear, he trotted on around the corner and up the street toward me, surrounded by a whole herd of friends, about twenty or so huge water buffalo with gigantic heads and huge shoulders and horns. A lot of beef (or whatever you call it) on the hoof, trotting happily around the corner and up the street, minding their own business and not a human anywhere around. They seemed perfectly content and knew where they were going -- didn't need anyone to help them, thanks, very much! I watched them move on down toward the center of this little village, thatched homes on stilts with little piglets living under them in the shade, and they came to another cross trail and they all stopped at once. Seems a couple of elephants were coming down the cross street heading for the river, also unaccompanied by driver or herdsman, perfectly tamely going about their business. The buffalo waited patiently until the elephants had gone by, and then started up again like a mess of lorries at a green light. I wish I had had a video camera. It was surreal.

A

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 07:54 PM

Amos: When visiting my uncle's dairy farm as a kid, I remember seeing cow's come "home" on their own (although they were never very far away to begin with) and lining up at the barn door, waiting to get milked. Maybe they're breeding stupider cows nowadays.

I also remember my uncle complaining about the advent of Daylight Savings Time. "How am I going to make my cows come in an hour earlier to be milked?" he said. And he wasn't kidding.

Maybe they're breeding smarter dairy farmers nowadays.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Amos
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 05:46 PM

'The cows come home' refers to the unlikely event of their coming home on their own. It is common for cows to be rounded up and fetched home. They don't have a lot of initiative, even when in need of milking -- they stand about and low for someone with brains to come find them, in my experience.

A

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 04:11 PM

Many moons ago I asked about 'shebang'. In OED I read, to paraphrase, that at one time it meant a dwelling or a vehicle or a base of operations. Mark Twain used it in Roughing It.

Now I wonder about ' I'm not leaving until the last dog is hung.'

'When the cows come home is more direct. I surmise that it means when the cows come home to be milked.

Only recently did I stop to think how very graphic 'being caught with your pants down is.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Amos
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 02:51 PM

Both of those sources are rife with undocumented opinions and amateur assertions which make sit really useless as you ca't tell the wheat from the chaff!

A

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Dec 01 - 02:32 PM

While searching for lyrics, I ran across this:

AmeriSpeak: Expressions of Our American Ancestors.

And that site told me about this one:

Ye Olde English Sayings

They're both part of The Gene Pool which is in turn part of RootsWeb.com, both of which might merit further investigation.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Oct 00 - 12:42 PM

Said of a conceited person:

"He acts like his s**t don't stink."

"He thinks he s**ts ice cream and everybody wants two scoops."

These can also be said of a pampered or mollycoddled person: "She treats him like his s**t don't stink." Etc.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 06:15 PM

If ifs and ands were pots and pans there'd be no need for tinkers.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 06:14 PM

Jim, My Grandmother used to say that.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 05:56 PM

When someone says, "I wish ...", you can answer, "Why don't you wish in one hand and s**t in the other, and see which hand fills up the fastest?"

Not that I would ever say anything that crude, of course.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 05:14 PM

When someone says, "If we had some ____ we could do ___," or the like, in a case where there's no hope of having _____, I like to tell them:

"If we had some ham we could have ham and eggs if we had some eggs."

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 04:42 PM

Bugsy: Where are you from? Specifically, I'd like to know more about where the expression "Going to drop the kids off at the pool" came from. It has become an inside joke among my wife and some of her music partners lately. We thought one of them invented it!

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 04:17 PM

I wonder if 'Charlies dead' has anything to do with Bonny Prince Chalie escaping in drag?

I never did like Black Adder though. It's very difficult to emulate The Goons, many have tried, only to find out that 'just being silly' didn't cut it.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: okthen
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 03:57 PM

re ladies petticoats we used to say "charlies dead" heaven knows where that came from

"if my aunt had whiskers she'd be my uncle," used to quieten someone who keeps on saying if this ,or if that.

okthen, we've had kenneth williams, and spike milligan,how about blackadder,over to you bert.

just to lower the tone of an otherwise excellent thread,the French use the term "the english have arrived" to denote the start of menstruation.no wonder the French laugh when tourists exclaim "les anglais et arrive"

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Harold W
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:43 PM

Back in my younger and sigle days of the early fifties, we used to go to a country club whose cook (nowadys refered to as chefs) at one time was a cook at Sing Sing. We used to bribe him with a bottle of wine to get something special, which we had to eat in the kitchen so that none of the other guests would see it. His favorite expression was, "Not even in Sing Sing do you get such service." I still use the expression today, but if I say it to someone who hasn't heard the story, I have to explain it.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 11:47 AM

There's also "James Conundrum"

And I had an Irish friend who would go to 'Wring his sock out'

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: LR Mole
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 10:30 AM

Sending up an air biscuit, eh? Custom in my house is to glare at the ceiling suspiciously and mutter either, "Damn rats," "Barking spiders," or, "Floorboards".

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bugsy
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 05:29 AM

Also for taking a leak - "shaking hands with the unemployed"
Checking out the wife's wedding present
going for a squirt
Busting for a Snakes (Snakes hiss - piss)
Then of course on a larger scale
Big jobs
going for a Tommy (TOm Tit)
Going to bomb Pearl Harbour
Going to drop the kids off at the pool

the list goes on......and on.

cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 04:56 AM

Back in the days of miniskirts, I recall often hearing "I see a dead rat", meaning a lady inadvertantly exposed her undewear while bending over. I've no idea how it arose.

Steve

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 03:29 AM

Liz, "jimmy" is from "Jimmy Riddle", which is rhyming slang for ... well, I wouldn't expect a nice well brought-up young lady like you to know about these things.

Giac, "blackguard" is usually one word today, and it's always been pronounced "BLAGGard" for as long as I can remember, which admittedly only takes us back to the 1950s.

"Seeing a man about a dog" in my part of the coutnry usually means "going out somewhere, but I'm not telling you where". Alternatives to "jimmy" are "going to turn me bike round", "going to shake hands with the vicar", and the wonderful "going to point percy at the porcelain", which came from Barry Humphries' "Barry McKenzie" cartoon strip in Private Eye magazine in the seventies. BH/BMcK also popularised "chunder" for "throw up"; apparently it comes from the days when convicts were transported to Australia, and every watch one such unfortunate would be picked to do lookout duty in the crow's nest: eventually the motion would prove too much, and with a cry of "Watch under!" they would do the Technicolor Yawn onto the deck below.

Steve

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: MsMoon
Date: 12 Oct 00 - 11:07 PM

"A hell of a note" or " A heck of a note"

When I was young down South, a "note" was a bill: the mortgage, car, or insurance bill was the "car note," "bank note", etc. So "heck of a note" means a surprisingly high bill, and by extension anything surprising.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 08:37 PM

Black-guards Those horse-boys and unmilitary folk, such as cooks with their pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils, which travel with an army, and greatly impede its march.

Gifford, in his edition of Ben Jonson, says: "In all great houses there were a number of dirty dependents, whose office it was to attend the wool-yards, sculleries, etc. Of these the most forlorn were selected to carry coals to the kitchen. They rode with the pots and pans, and were in derision called the black-guards."

In the Lord Steward's office a proclamation (May 7th, 1683) begins thus: "Whereas ... a sort of vicious, idle, and masterless boyes and rogues, commonly called the Black-guard, with divers other lewd and loose fellows ... do usually haunt and follow the court. ... Wee do hereby strictly charge ... all those so called, ... with all other loose, idle ... men ... who have intruded themselves into his Majesty's court and stables ... to depart upon pain of imprisonment."

That is from Brewer's Dictonary of Pht=rase and Fable, a source of fascinating information about this kind of thing, and online.

So "blackguard" historically really means a Baldrick type...(As in "Blackadder", which I assume has reached most parts of the planet by now.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: GUEST,Good Time Charlie
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 07:21 PM

My dear old dad used to be fond of "going to get a load of turtles", but he never brought any home...

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 07:02 PM

Mrrzy asked about.."What in the ever-loving blue-eyed world is"

this was a commopn expression in the Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly...I don't know that he 'invented' it, but that's sure where I got it 40 years ago

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: GUEST,Giac, not at home
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 04:14 PM

When my uncle returned from a walk uptown, and was asked where he had been, would respond, "To see a man about a dog." I'm quite sure he meant "not your business" and not that he had been to the facility.

My mother didn't use "ugly" words and her only colorful expression was an exasperated "great gobs of blue mud!"

My favorite expressions from the area where I now live are:

That stinks like c'yarn (carrion) in the road.

and

He's actin' plumb black guardish. This is from people whose ancestors arrived generations ago, and they have no clue about the "black guard" reference.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 02:23 PM

My dad always said he was going for a run out.... or a quick jimmy. Never actually ever heard him say he wanted to go to the toilet.

In bellringing circles the boys used to go and 'measure the buttresses' - girls had to go and look for a headstone.... Of course, now I'm churchwarden I don't do that sort of thing.... besides we have no headstones in our church garden......

LTS

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 10:51 AM

I can't help with an explanation of the expression "you'm a pie can", but if used within my vicinity I would have understood it implicitly. I would group it with calling someone a "pie face" or "pie crust".
I assume the origin has something in common with such good Northern English expressions as "he's as daft as a brush" or "as thick as two short planks" - likening stupid behaviour to that of an inanimate nonthinking object.
Any comments?
Quack!!!

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 10:51 AM

I can't help with an explanation of the expression "you'm a pie can", but if used within my vicinity I would have understood it implicitly. I would group it with calling someone a "pie face" or "pie crust".
I assume the origin has something in common with such good Northern English expressions as "he's as daft as a brush" or "as thick as two short planks" - likening stupid behaviour to that of an inanimate nonthinking object.
Any comments?
Quack!!!

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 05:31 PM

I'm sorry you disagree with that definition, McGrath. I come from a long line of Cockneys and grew of with the knowledge.

Bert.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Naemanson
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 04:38 PM

In my family going to "take a whizz" outdoors is called "kicking a bush". We too use "Seeing a man about a dog" to mean the same thing.

As long as we are at this level how about "trouser trout".

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: sophocleese
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 04:36 PM

My brother used to say he was "going to hang a dead rat". I have no idea where he picked that one up from.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 04:29 PM

Maybe it depends on where you live. Around here, your little, white haired, old, mother would be going out for a whizz.

So let's try interpreting this one:

"He really cut a fat hog in the ass that time."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Greyeyes
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 03:42 PM

That's closer to my understanding, sounds more in keeping with my little white-haired old mother as well.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 03:28 PM

"Seeing a man about a dog" doesn't really follow the rhyming slang conventions. I doubt if that's the origin. Especially since it can mean any number of other things as well - I see it as just meaning it just means there's something I've got to do, and it's my business what it is.

I think it's more likely that it's got its roots in some music-hall routine, maybe about whippets and dog racing or something like that, with that being some character's catch phrase as he dashes off-stage to avoid some embarrassment, such as a creditor or a mother-in-law.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Greyeyes
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:35 PM

Having a butchers, (butchers hook - look)

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:30 PM

There are other rhyming slang expressions that are in common use but not always recognized.

Use your loaf: from loaf of bread - head
Number two: poo
a raspberry: from raspberry tart - fart
Berk: from Berkshire (or Berkley) Hunt - c**t

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Greyeyes
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:22 PM

I'm pretty sure my Mum doesn't realise that, I'd better warn her.

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:21 PM

And the Cockney version of that is "going for a Jimmy"

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:15 PM

That's how I always used it Bert. Along with, "Shake the dew off my lily."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: Bert
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:10 PM

Greyeyes, "seeing a man about a dog" is rhyming slang for "Bog" or as they would say in America "going to the bathroom"

Subject: RE: Curious Expressions Three
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:03 PM

On being missing......I alwyas liked the Great Lakes term for a boat that fails to arrive or goes missing.....They sailed through a crack in the lake.

Stolen/Hot auto parts are referred to as coming from "Midnight Auto Supply" or "Five Finger Auto Parts."

Spaw