Strange expressions..

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 07:49 AM

"How's your belly off for spots?"
To which the reply is;
Fine - how's your arse for pimples?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Michael
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 06:06 AM

My Granny Annie used to say 'Up in Annie s room at the back of the clock' we always assumed it was a family thing.

She also said 'A whim wham for a goose's bridle'. for the same reason as Bluegrassman's mother.

She came from Lincolnshire, UK.

Mike

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: MarkS
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 06:37 PM

Throws nickles around like they are manhole covers.
Pinches the penny so tight Lincoln gasps.
Short arms and deep pockets.
Who - me?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Bluegrassman
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 08:53 PM

My mother used to say "Whim Whams For Ducks To Swim In" whenever she was making something we were not to know about.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Joe_F
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 08:27 PM

My mother had immigrant friends who delighted in translating English idioms, such as "I feel like a cocktail", literally into their native languages.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bert
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 06:25 PM

My Granma used to say "He looks like a bundle of arseholes tied up ugly"

and "He wouldn't know his prick from his thumb if it didn't have a nail on it"

Mum used to say "He looks like a sack of shit tied up with string"

If you asked where something was, Dad would say "Up in Annie's room behind the clock"; whereas Mum would say "Under my arm hanging on a kiss curl"

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 12:44 PM

One of my mum's favourites was "he's throwing his money around like a man with no arms..." still don't know if it means tightfisted or the complete opposite.

One I heard a while back that I vowed to steal was "neither arse nor feather nor hole in the ground." What?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 10:05 AM

As a kid, if we were out for a walk, & I asked "How far are we going?" my mum's answer was "We'll go as far as turn-back, where the geese walk barefoot."

And "What's that, or "what are you making?" got the response "A loodle-laddle, for winding up the sun".

Anything that could not be found was either
"Up in Nelly's room behind the wall-paper", or possibly "upstairs in a pie-tent in Ardfert".

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: kendall
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 07:07 AM

Way the hell and gone...

He don't know gee from haw.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: kendall
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 02:40 PM

Had a face like a dollars worth of salt pork.
Ugly as a bucket of ass holes.

Dry as a Baptist picnic.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 03:09 PM

My father would ask me, when I was a kid, "How big would you be if you was twice as big as half ?"

I never came up with a good answer.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Paul Burke
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 05:39 AM

What's that? It's a wheezer for winding the sun up.
Where's Mam? She's in a bottle on the roof.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bert
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:42 AM

How's your belly off for spots?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Crowhugger
Date: 17 Dec 11 - 09:37 PM

My father and his mother both said, "making whim-whams to wind up the sun."

From my dad it could mean anything from "Hi honey; you're welcome to hang out here but quietly please" to "isn't it obvious?" to "isn't it f-in obvious [i.e. "don't expect me to answer a question to which you can figure out the answer for yourself"] to "go bother your mother". From Grandma it usually meant "I'll be with you in a jiffy"

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: gnu
Date: 17 Dec 11 - 05:14 PM

Hank... where are ya to?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bert
Date: 17 Dec 11 - 04:47 PM

MtheGM, When My Mum said it, it was a Gooose's Bridle.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Dec 11 - 11:23 PM

Flash Company has correctly recalled the origin of Whippet [or Whip-it] Quick the cat burglar in Charlie Chester's late 1940s radio show Stand Easy. But nobody has quite got hold of the significance: to 'whip', like to 'pinch', is one of the slang idioms = to steal; so "Whippit Quick" means "steal it fast & adroitly".

In my late wife's family, the response to "What are you doing?" was "Making whim-whams for ducks' bridles."

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,999
Date: 16 Dec 11 - 04:10 PM

Strange expression.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Hank Williams
Date: 16 Dec 11 - 03:57 PM

My mother is the only person I ever knew who,when surprised would say "Well good night Miss Agnes" I have NEVER known where that came from.
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 21 Sep 10 - 07:51 AM

My grandmother would describe an artful but cute child as being 'craftier than a wagon load of monkeys' I've never seen a wagon full of monkeys so I don't know. Also when I was small and she thought I was after something followed up with hugs and kisses she would call it 'cupboard love' meaning I was only after what was in the cupboard.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Guest: HuwG at work
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 09:48 AM

I have heard a Londoner commenting on someone else's sanity, "He's completely Dagenham East." It wasn't rhyming slang. Dagenham East is four tube (US=subway) stops beyond Barking, on the District Line.

Utter lunacy is "Upminster".

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 08:29 AM

"Bob's yer uncle" is usually explained as a slag on Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, who appointed his nephew, Arthur Balfour, to the prestigious post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887. It is also said to originate in the expression "all is bob" (i.e., excellent), found in Francis Grose's 1810 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

I think the appointment of Arthur Balfour gave new life and form to the older expression.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Sep 10 - 01:21 AM

Since I was in a Catholic seminary for high school and college, our high school principal was a priest, a sweet old man who was notorious for using the phrase "as it were." Nice man, but his sermons were really boring. We'd entertain ourselves by counting how many times he could use the phrase in a sermon - most times, it was more than ten.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 11:00 PM

"as it were" - What does it mean?

"bob's yer uncle" - eh what?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 11:27 AM

Loblolly Pines are a resinous tree with gooey sap, and which sheds needles all year long. Perhaps being 'messy', like "after an operation" is the origin. *shrug*

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 10:49 AM

GUEST,Dancing Mom said, in part:

"I went in and cleaned up the whole loblolly mess" (loblolly being a type of pine tree)

In British naval language, at least at the beginning of the 19th Century, the assistant to the ship's surgeon was a "loblolly boy" (not necessarily young enough to be what we'd call a boy), who would, among other things, clean up the mess of blood, guts, etc. after an operation. I have no idea what the connection might be (if there is any) between a loblolly boy and a loblolly pine.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Me. K
Date: 19 Sep 10 - 12:16 AM

Lord willing and the Creek don't rise...

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Flash Company
Date: 21 Nov 06 - 05:40 AM

Dad used to say 'Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs! when someone said something unbelievable, Grans comment would be 'I'ts all my hind leg and Betty Martin!', If you can make anything of that , you're a better man than I am.
Incidentally, I saw a mention of Whippet Quick way back in this thread. This was from a WW2 show 'Stand Easy', featuring Cheerful Charlie Chester.
Whippet Quick was 'The Master Criminal of All Time', aided and abetted by Ray-Ling (The Chinese Fence). For some reason their adventures took place in a jungle situated on the African border of Japonica.
This gave an excuse for a running joke about the 'dreaded jungle drums' always followed by a chant from the orchestra :-
Down in the jungle, chanting every day,
You can hear the natives all say.......

Followed by a two line tag based on something in that week's news.

Hess lands in Scotland looking for a meal,
Didn't bring us Hitler, No Deal!

The memories of Childhood!

FC

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Scoville
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 11:09 AM

I was thinking of their comparatively weak fingers. You know, new at that whole "grasping" thing and all. Also, once you've been bitten by enough cats, baby teeth don't seem like a very big deal.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Nov 06 - 08:32 AM

Have you actually tried to take candy from a baby?? Once they've got their little Juanitas* round a chocolate bar they won't let go.. I know, I nearly lost a finger to Limpit trying to pry a bag of chocolate buttons from her!

LTS

* Juanita - a tooth - one eater....

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Adrianel
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 09:06 PM

One of the quaintest I've heard is from a friend of ours from Yorkshire. To express great surprise, she'll say "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs". I have no idea of its origin.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bert
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 07:08 PM

Duck's disease, he hits his arse every time he steps off the kerb.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Scoville still at Dad's
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 03:39 PM

Oops . . . "candy from a baby" means something was really easy (often applied to underhanded activities, but I don't know if that's normal or just because it has the association of being a mean thing to do). "Piece of cake" would also apply.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 03:37 PM

Our intern broke us all up when she said that so-and-so was "uglier than homemade sin".

Judiann--"candy from a baby" is pretty common in the U.S. I don't know the specific origins, except that I assume it's extremely easy to take candy from a baby.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: fat B****rd
Date: 19 Nov 06 - 02:20 PM

He/She's got a face like a robber's dog.
Bugger my rags.
??

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Rowan
Date: 18 Nov 06 - 11:43 PM

Midchuck reminded me of
Cunning as a dunny rat.
Flash as a rat with a gold tooth.
He's so low he could dangle his legs off a tram ticket.
and
He's so low he could wear a top hat under a snake's arse.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Nov 06 - 01:48 PM

Once you have mastered the art of appearing sincere, you can do anything.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Nov 06 - 01:42 PM

Why is a leg cramp called a Charley horse? (or maybe Charlie horse)

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Midchuck
Date: 18 Nov 06 - 12:27 PM

That girl is so tall she could stand flat-footed and piss in the radiator of a Chevy pickup. (You have to be old enough to remember when cars and trucks had external radiator caps.)

Crazier than a shithouse rat.

Uglier than death takin' a shit.

(Both from a native Vermonter friend of mine, many years ago.)

P.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Spot
Date: 18 Nov 06 - 04:11 AM

Allo..

            My favourite....   "Sour as a crow's arse"

                         Spot :-)

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,thurg
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 10:28 PM

Here's one my father produced out the blue when we were travelling this summer, although I have the feeling he didn't pick it up from MTV: whenever there was some comment or direction on which way to turn, he would follow it with, "Left to the buggy; right to the wheel." Pronounced in a meditative, wistful manner. Now what the heck would it mean?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Bert
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 07:31 PM

Bent as box of top hats.

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Amos
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 07:11 PM

Certainly not. Hotter than a two-dollar pistol is the equivalent of "red-hot", which happens with cheap pistols when you fire them. "Bent as a two-bob note" is, like the Yank equivalent "fishy as a three-dollar bill", a reference to one's moral turpitude.


A

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Rowan
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 06:41 PM

Is "hotter than a two-dollar pistol!"
the same as
"bent as a two bob note!"?

Around here "Flat out like a lizard drinking" is self explanatory but I remember an ex mother-in-law telling us to "unwrap your rung!" when she meant "get a wriggle on!" and was too polite to say "get yer arse into gear!"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Paul from Hull
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 06:38 PM

A friend's Grandmother has ths strange but amusing expression for someone she has a less then good opinion of:

"Oh, 'e's crummy, & dogs follow 'im"

...I've never heard it anywhere else, but have a feeling its not original to her. Anyone else heard it?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: GUEST,judiann
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 06:06 PM

i want to know where the expression "like taking candy from a baby" originated .It sounds like an american term ?

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Spud Murphy
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 05:39 PM

kitty corner is as Burke describes. Squeejawed is probably a non symetrical diagonal offset, closer to beitng anti-goglin, which is realy bent out of shape.

Spud

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Don Firth
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 12:47 PM

Yeah, I came up with the same thing. That's hotter than a two-dollar pistol!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: jeffp
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 12:36 PM

Believe it or not, kitty-corner is in my dictionary. It comes from cater-corner - diagonal, in a diagonal position [From obsolete cater, four at dice, from Middle English, from Old French catre, four, from Latin quattuor.]

jeffp

Subject: RE: Strange expressions..
From: Burke
Date: 07 Jun 01 - 12:30 PM

Kitty-corner is a diagonal relationship. The house next to the house behind us, is kitty-corner to our house. Also cattywompus. I don't know squeejawed, but I assume that's the same.