BS: How you say the things you say

Subject: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 08:33 AM

The other day my sister pointed out to me that I always say that something is "more than a notion". I thought everybody said that, but I guess not.

I'm struggling to define what 'more than a notion' means to me..
It's not a good thing, that's for sure..I guess it can be translated into mainstream English to mean something that is 'a bit too much', some action that is 'over the top', in other words, something that is a "trip".

In the same conversation my OLDER sister called my attention to my habit of saying "Yeah, that's a trip. That's a ROUND trip".. Again, I didn't think that these sayings were unique to me..

What does 'that's a trip' mean? It means that something is 'more than a notion' and 'that's a round trip' means it is really a bit too much.

{Actually, the referent to 'trip' might have originated as a referent to a person going to the 'funny farm' also known as the 'crazy house'*, but I don't know}.

* no disrespect intended.

All this started me to wondering if folks here have any sayings that you think [or others think] are distinctly you?

If so, what do are those sayings, and what do they mean [how & when do you use them?

Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,rumanci
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 09:09 AM

Hi Azizi
From the other side of the "notion" I'll throw a twopenny halfpenny in *bg*
I won't name my own pet phrases because I'm sure other people here could do that for me !!!
Perhaps what we do not always appreciate is the irritant rating for other people having to hear them constantly
For example .......... if I hear somebody recount a story about a child at school and end it with the stock phrase "Bless (as in their little cotton socks)" one more time .........I shall scream .....I tell you .......S C R E A M   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
;-)
rum x

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Amos
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 09:47 AM

AFAIK, the expression "that's a trip" originated int he 60's during the phase of heavy experimentation with such mind-influencing drugs as LSD and whatchamacallit...psylocibin.

The experience while under the influence was full of interesting distortions and alterations of time, and the effect was something like going on an expedition to WOnderland andthen coming "back". Things that were quirky or reminiscent of hallucinogenic experiences were "trippy". Dealers were often referred to as conductors in some places.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:14 AM

Timothy Leary was Mr. Conductor extraordinaire, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,JennyO
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:25 AM

I had a boyfriend years ago, who was not around very long, thank goodness. The irritating things he did and said were many, but one that sticks in my mind was that at the end of a great number of our conversations was this phrase "Never mind, it'll all come out in the wash" - which means, I suppose, that whatever the problem is, it will eventually resolve itself. At the time, it seemed such an inane comment to me, because he applied it to everything, and it came to be meaningless. It also effectively meant the end of whatever discussion we were having. Drove me nuts!

There were a few expressions used in my family which I have not heard anywhere else - My grandfather, who did not like swearing, made up an exclamation of his own that he could use - "Great Everlasting Hambone!" I don't say it though. My dad used to say "Every horse to his own nosebag, said the old man as he kissed his cow", which has the same meaning as "To each his own", and I do sometimes like to use that one. I have not yet met anyone who has heard it before, so I do get some funny looks ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Raparie
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:26 AM

And then there are the ones Watergate made popular: "at this point in time" and "stonewalling."

I use neither. I might use the first if folks also used "at this point in space" but no one does. Both, to my mind, sound pretensious.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Layah
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:36 AM

I don't know of any saying unique to me, but unique to my family maybe. Close but no cigar. It came from a tv show. Some gameshow or something? I don't remember, it was a very old show and I never saw it. But I do say that. And I've never heard anyone outside of my family say it. Not quite the same thing, but I and some of my family also tend to leave prepositions with no object, like "I'm going to the store. Do you want to come with?" People tell me I should say "with me" but I never remember to. There's some other saying that only my family says from a tv show, but I can't remember what it is right now. Dang.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Alba coming in throught the backyard door:>)
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:37 AM

Sad to say Amos some "day trippers" didn't return from their "Trips" in the 60s and stayed away on permanent vacation..lol...I know a few quite well....and while gentle and kind Spirits they are tad.... dare I say another over used phrase....out there!!!
My annoying expressions (which I am sure there are more of but these two stand out as the biggest culprits and which I have begun to use less and less are)..."Now we're suckin Deisel" or "that's a riot"
I used "the diesel" for Sessions that were flying, projects that were going well and just too damn much really. The Riot got an airing for stories that made me laugh or news items I found to be blatantly off the Truth Path and witha bit of sarcasm when I found soemthing that was said not funny (usually under my breath though...Guilty face:>(.
I am working on not abusing these particular two so much....lol...much to the relief of my buddies and fellow Music makers.
One expression that really rubs me though...is the much used and totally redundant "get a Life will you!" It is used for everything from insult to humor to smart arsed rebuff!
That one has been done to death and should be buried along with Groovy!!

Good thread Azizi, I am interested to see what people come up with....maybe I will pick up a few new catch phrases and how to use them appropriately...shouts of "oh no" from the Gallery...*bg*

Blessings to all
Jude

After Thought: An another word that urks when used in a particular context...'whatever"...it's so Valley Girlish..:>)

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Amos
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:49 AM

I've mentioned in another thread that my grandmother had a fine up-country expression for letting me know she was skeptical about something I was telling her. She'd nod and say with a twinkle, "Ayeh. I hear you talkin'". By which I was given to understand that she saw the communication plainly enough but elected not to take it on board.

She was a tough old bird from upstate New York, and brooked little nonsense from anyone.


A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Micca
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 10:55 AM

The one that is getting up my nose in the UK at the moment is the (frequently used by politicians as the build up to the General Election announcement) phrase " up and down the country" it turns up in every bloody speech or comment at the moment.
As for me, one of my oft used expressions that has caused annoyance in the past is "six of one and eleven point 32 of another"

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,JennyO
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:05 AM

Oh yes Micca, that last one of yours is similar to another one of my dad's. He used to say "Six of one and half a dozen of the other", but I don't think it was original, and certainly not as original as yours.

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:11 AM

Speaking of family sayings, if the television was on and a child happened to accidently block someone's view of the TV screen,
my mother would say:

"Was your father a glassmaker?"

We weren't expected to answer {We'd better not!!}, but since we knew the answer was 'No', we'd move out of the way of the TV screen.

I suppose a wife of a real glassmaker would have to come up with another saying to tell her kids to "Move out of the way."
****

Thanks for them responses. I'm enjoying them. But I'll deny that I'm ever irritating when I use MY sayings. At least..um..maybe..well if I do sound like a broken record sometimes, It's all good..and my bad and it's more than a notion to find new sayings to say..

Oh wait..I'll just read this thread!!

****

BTW Amos, thanks for the info on the origin of the saying "It's a trip"..But what does AFAIK mean? Does it mean "As far as I know?"

And Rumanci and Alba does *bg* mean 'big grin'??

Just wonderin..


Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Alba still coming in throught the backyard..
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:14 AM

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:17 AM

So maybe I was wrong about the meaning of "more than a notion"
Maybe it means "it's difficult"...or maybe both meanings apply at the same time or at different times.

Notice I said "It's difficult" and didn't say "It's hard".

"It's hard" brings up other images and I won't even go there..

;O))

Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,OOOOOOOps Alba
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:18 AM

Yes Aziz *bg* is big Grin.
I am not too familiar with a lot of the scaled down vocabulary...but I know LOL..laugh out loud and few others....which too are possibly annoying to some...* BG*
if I stood in front the Tv at my Grandmother's House she would say....while your there put it off and will watch you instead...lol
I got that message loud and clear.
Blessings
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,rumanci
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:19 AM

well I do hope so Azizi - considering I spend a lot of my time posting one after irritating contributions in Chat and occasionally on threads
:>o
rum x

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,jeffp
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:22 AM

In our house if you paused in front of the TV you would be told, "You make a better door than window."

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:40 AM

Well Rumanci,
since I'm in FULL procrastination mode...

May I ask what you meant by your last post:
"well I do hope so Azizi - considering I spend a lot of my time posting one after irritating contributions in Chat and occasionally on threads"

I hope so too, but I don't know what I'm hoping for...

However, I do vehemently believe in the sentiment behind the saying "Keep hope alive". The problem is everytime I hear this saying, which was often used by the good or not so good Rev. Jesse Jackson, I think of this "In Living Color" television show skit:

Jesse Jackson is the first Black president of the USA, and he's having his first press conference. At the end of the press conference he leads the journalists in the chant "Keep hope alive". As everyone stands up and enthusiastically chants this saying, Bob Hope is being escorted into the room, sitted in wheelchair and connected to lots of IVs..

{I know-I have a sick sense of humor}, what can I say?
Nothin' you can hear..

Ok. That does it!! I'm back to the salt mines...maybe.


Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:42 AM

Boy oh Boy!

This back door thingy is more than a notion!!

I even forgot to sign my name that time, but at least I remembered to put it at the end.

And just for the record, it's Ms. Azizi

or as Bobert likes to say
Mizzi Azizi [or something like that]!!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Amos
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 11:56 AM

AFAIK is as far as I know; IIRC is "if I recall correctly". YMMV is "Your mileage may vary". IANAL is "I am not a lawyer".

There are internet vocab sites where you can find dozens more of these "chat acronyms".


A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: kendall
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 05:43 PM

Whale oil beef hooked

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: gnu
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 05:47 PM

M R fish!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: kendall
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 07:03 PM

No Joe, M R Ducks!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: kendall
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 07:04 PM

correction, M R Trucks...

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 07:48 PM

Well, well, well...

Now here's a subject I can sink my teeth into seein' az I am self trained talker-ologist... Yup, I know more about talkin' than any 100 womenz standin' out front of Walmart waiting fir them doors to open fir the 20% off Gopher's Day Sale...

Yup, little that most of you folks know, me and Al Gore invented talkin'... Sho nuff did... We'd just inveneted the innernet and had another hour to blow so I looked over at Al and asked, "Whad you wanta invent next?" and he says...

..."Ahhhhh, a Social Security lock box" and so I says...

..."Come on, Stiffy, we can do better than that!" and so he comes up with inventin' talkin and so we did it... Only took an hour, too!!!

But now, a few o' things about talkin' has gotten all haywired, what evet hay wirin' is? Like, hey, I thought hay was hay... Ain't like a lamp that needs to be wired 'er nuthin'...

But how 'bout this "fixin'" thing... The P-Vine will say stuff like "Fixin' to rain"... Like if something has to be fixed inorder fir it to rain then somethin' musta been broke up there in rain-burg... What, the clude broke and needs fixin'??? Hmmmmmm, then why do they call it a cloud "burst" when it does rain??? Yeah, me an' the Wes Ginny Slide Rule been on this one fir years...

Then the P-Vine says somethin' like "fixin' to break"??? Hmmmmmmm???
Like what's that all about??? That one has sent both me and the Wes Ginny Slide Rule to the medicine cabinet on many an occasion...

Ahhhh, now lotta folks 'round Mudville from time to time has said some purdy hurin' things 'bout the way I talk here an' some has written me PM'z an' said I was fakin' this and fakin' that an', well, I really hates to tell ya ya all and, themunz as well, but I write the way I talk... Sho nuff... Now that don't mean that when I have these little typo things that that is the way I talks 'cause it ain't... Themz is jus' typos...

I reckon I gotta mix of Southern and Mountain dialect dialectin' me with a whole lotta black dialect since I has spent a lot of my adult life workin' and livin' 'round black folks but I also got a ltttle bit o' red neck mountain having lived 'round a bunch of 'um fir the las' 20 years, tho I get my weekly break from 'um by playing blues down in D.C....

Well, that's 'bout all me and the Wes Ginny Slide Rule gotta say 'cept we'd better hurry up and post this 'cause I got this feelin' that this pudder is fixin' to break...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 08:21 PM

LOL, Bobert!!

You and P'Vine and yawl's Wes Ginny Slide Rule got it goin on!


Ms Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:34 PM

Long ago I had a friend who drove me nuts by beginning every statement with the phrase, "Let me put it this way". After some months (felt like years), I realized that she was literally nuts; bi-polar to be exact, and this "word whisker" was a sign that her mental wiring was not what it should be.

In this part of Ontario, many people like to fill out their sentences with the phrase "in terms of" instead of a good, old-fashioned adverb or adjective. If I were Queen of the World for five minutes, I would make "in terms of" illegal for use by anyone but a mathematician.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Crystal
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:47 PM

I've found people around me have begun to pick up the phrase "Thats the bunny" (or sometimes "that is indeed the rabbit"), which to me means "thank you you have supplied the word/phrase/definition for which I was searching". I've no idea where it comes from, although I heard it on TV quite reciently.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Amos
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 04:54 PM

To fix on something, in that sense, means to intend, or focus on, just as in navigation your attention wanders over the whole area until you get your lines down and then you are focussed on your fix...kind of like that. Or like drawing a bead on somp'n. I'm fixin' to bust that Harper's Ferry sliderule iffen ever I comes acrost it.

LOL!!

Just funnin' ya, Bobert!! I wouldn't do no such thing, and you know it full well.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:04 PM

CENSORSHIP ON MUDCAT LIVES

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Crystal
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:05 PM

That is nice.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Charmion
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:07 PM

Hurray for well-conducted censorship!

It looks to me like editing -- which is a good thing.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Amos
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:08 PM

Crystal,

I would guess it derives from the concept of pulling a rabbit out of a hat....finding something in searching that no-one else could find... but that's just a guess.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,Bill D
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:13 PM

I have been reading, but not replying...had to think a bit.


there are two issues...one is the little interjection phrases that people sometimes don't even realize they are using, like 'like' and like 'yaknowhadimean?' ("in terms of" might fit here)..these can drive listeners batty.

The other is more what Azzizi refered to-- little local or personal bits of slang, cant, euphemisms and colloquialisms. If you have said "that's a trip" for enough years in a certain group, you know it will be understood, as most everyone will get the reference, even if they don't know the origin.

What bothers me is when people have no idea how to speak, write or otherwise communicate without recourse to these personal and local words & phrases. There are situations where you need to recognize that they will be heard & read by folks who have no idea what you are talking about, and if you find yourself unable to translate, you have a problem.

Many years ago, Mad magazine (a silly US humor mag...mostly for kids) would put strange phrases into cartoons...on wall signs & such). One of these phrases was "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide." ...Well, I though that was just cute nonsense, until I tried it in Google, and I find it is a local form of British slang which sorta means( as near as I can tell) "It is a foolish thing to try to bribe a policeman with counterfeit money". There was even a brief discussion of it here (Mudcat) and I don't think even all the Brits could agree....but I DO see regular reference to 'loo' and 'bog', which just don't "ring any bells" for some folks. Words for food get a LOT of variants...the euphemisms for 'sandwich' could fill a book..*grin*.

What's the point? Just that it's a good idea to be aware of where you are, and to try to know what the more universal terms for the vernacular are...just in case you really NEED for others to know "what you're on about".

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Don Firth
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:22 PM

"All saucered and blowed."

From the time and in the social stratum where one cooled one's coffee by slopping it in the saucer and blowing on it. Anything that's "all saucered and blowed" is all set, ready to use as is, in tune, batteries included, no assembly required.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Crystal
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 05:27 PM

Could well be Amos! Dammed if I can remember where I got it from though, I've a suspicion that it was popular in my school about 5-6 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Deda
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:23 PM

The grandmother whom Amos mentioned above also used to sometimes refer to something as "too much of a muchness" -- i.e., overdone, too ostentatious, or too fussed-over. I still say it sometimes.

She was a cool old lady. She taught us to play Canasta (which I've long since forgotten) and she made her own applesauce.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 08:03 PM

Deda,

your Grandmother's saying "too much of muchness" reminds me of another saying I use..

If someone or some agency or government institution should have done something that just makes sense to me to do, but does just the opposite, I say that action wasn't taken because it was "too much like right".

Inherent in this saying is the implication that it is easier for some people [agencies, institutions] to do wrong than to do right.

Of course, since I'm the one using this saying, I'm deciding what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' based on my values.

Others may disagree, but paraphrasing a Bobby Brown song,
"That's their perogative."


Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: mack/misophist
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 10:30 AM

There are a couple of phrases the old folks used in Texas in the 50's that I still use. An especially heavy downpour is a 'regular goose drownder'. 'Crazy as a boar hog in a peach orchard' means unpredictable and possibly dangerous. (Windfall peaches ferment rapidly. Nature's own booze.) 'There's a dead cat on his line' means that things look bad for some one but you don't know what's wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Amos
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 10:47 AM

Those are terrific, Msioph -- thanks for the grins!! Dead cat on his line!! That really captures it.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 11:00 AM

It is the idiomatic stuff--those sayings that mean something other than what the collective word definitions add up to--that make learning any language difficult. I think English is particularly packed full of those kinds of sayings.

Does anyone remember the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode with Paul Winfield and Patrick Stewart in the most amazing dialog on the surface of a dangerous planet? The Winfield character had beamed Stewart down in order to put them together in a situation where Picard (through the urgency of the situation) was likely to "catch on" to the manner of speech of Winfield's culture. In some ways it was an impossible premise (I know, I know, like any of it is possible!) because it meant that the Winfield culture spoke English and used all of their metaphores in a way that were parallel to how they were used in Picard's English, but grouped differently. But on the other hand, it was a marvelous demonstration of why different cultures on the planet Earth in this day and age have difficulties in understanding each other. Winfield was nominated (but alas, didn't win) the Emmy for that performance.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 12:43 PM

There's a German word that my brother loved when he was picking up the language:
bezeihungsweise (I can't promise to spelling accuracy)
It translates nearest in English to: "that is to say"

So, when he was trying to make himself understood, and in the positional necessities of that language he found he was going wrong and not soon to recover, he would pause, say "bezeihungsweise" and start all over again!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 12:46 PM

Gesundheit!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 01:08 PM

Maggie, that episode is one of my four or five favorites of the whole series.

[Warning: Thread Drift] My all-time favorite is "The Measure of a Man," in which the guy from the Daystrom Institute (computers/robotics) wanted to requisition Data, disassemble him, study him, and make duplicates. When Data refused, the guy told him he couldn't refuse because he was not a living being with rights, he was merely a machine, and a "piece of property" owned by Star Fleet. It wound up in a trial before a Judge Advocate General. It covered some pretty hefty philosophical issues: What is life? What is the nature of consciousness? Does a sentient machine have the same rights as a sentient biological being? It also got into the ethics of building a "race of disposable people"—some pretty heavy stuff. Things we may actually have to face someday—f we don't blow ourselves up in the meantime.   

Science fiction at its best.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 02:17 PM

WYSIWYG re: your post on 31 Mar 05 - 12:46 PM

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 02:46 PM

My mom used to say "it'll all come out in the warsh," too, JennyO

I don't know where I first heard this one, but find myself using it sometimes, "Put that in yer pipe and smoke it!" Usually after a rebuttal or a item of interest.

My friend in Wyoming has a fav. she uses, "put yer shirt in the dirt," which, in the UK, would basically be "gobsmack ya," I think.:-) Or, maybe just come as a big surprise.

Miz Azizi, when you have extra time, you might enjoy this old thread: click here and its continuation HERE.

This is a GREAT thread, thansk for starting it!

kat (I'll be answering your PM by tomorrow. Sorry I've been a bit slow in getting back to you.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 04:56 PM

Katlaughing, thanks for providing a link to the thread you started in 1999 on "Colloquialisms- Post & Define 'Em! Fun!"

I LOVE IT!

I can't think what I was doing in 1999, but I know I had no idea there was anything like Mudcat around...

Thanks for welcoming us newbies into your community.

And I bet there are more great old threads just waiting to be refreshed.

Go get'em!!


Azizi

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Layah
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 07:29 PM

My brother always says "How about them apples!" Which means, how do you like that! My brother is full of strange sayings. I had a friend once and whenever something bad happened to her she would say mournfully "God hates me."

PS Looky! I used html! Italics!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 31 Mar 05 - 07:49 PM

A favourite expression in the mess on board any ship or submarine when a door was left open was 'Were you born in a swing door barn/brothel?'

My father constantly used the expression 'Jesus wept!'

I was allways reminded by my first wife to be careful when getting ah! hem! verbal when I was doing home repairs and things were not going to plan when my then 6 year old son Ross was around.

I had been swearing and cursing *blush* and one day when I was putting up some new curtain rails I dropped the screws, screwdriver and fell off the ladder to boot. Instead of swearing as I picked myself up and saw Ross standing nearby I just said 'Damn', his response to the insicident was 'Thats better dad you did not even say bollocks this time!'

I often now catch myself using shortened Anglicised versions of Chinese sayings.

'It's all monkeys and no tigers'

Shorter for 'It's all monkeys and no tiger in the mountain' (When the cats away....)

'Black cat, white cat, so long as it can catch mice'

I am not bothered either way


'Horses dont eat the grass behind them'

A version of birds dont crap in thoer own nest.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: dianavan
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 12:20 AM

Azizi - When you said, "too much like right" it really struck a chord. My co-workers are always saying to me, "It'll never happen." When I ask why not, they reply, " Too logical. Makes too much sense."

I mentioned before that my brother and I called breasts, "dinners" until I was about 11 or 12 years old. Mom used to put the baby on her lap to give him some dinner so..... How embarassing!

My kids thought "anklebiters" were an actual breed of dogs.

Quite often odd expressions will pop out of my mouth when I'm teaching or talking to parents. Its when I see the look on their faces that I begin to question the expression. Usually there is an underlying sexual connotation that I never picked up on before. I will get back to you on this. Can't recall any specifics at this time.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Mudlark
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 02:27 AM

Jumping Jehosophat! and Judas PRIEST! were a couple of mild and mildly Biblical sounding exclamations common in my family. Lots of good hill folk phrases from Arkansas: "Oh, it was Daddy and the B'ar!" for a dust-up, usually more verbal than physical; Lie? He'd lie like a rug (always applicable to polititans); I hain't see'd you since Hec was a pup; Well, I swan (for I'll be darned), nearer than dammit (that close).

A lot of the expressions John and I used we picked up from shared hearing of things like Beyond the Fringe ("There's a very GOOD chance, Mr Spiggot" meaning lotsa luck, and "Have you got the picnic basket?"...a sort of rhetorical question); Mort Sahl ("A BIG mistake...don't make it! said of his crazy landlady who's penchant for displaying the flag made people think she was a poling place, his wonderfully sarcastic take of a politician speaking condescendingly of 3rd world people, "To dumb to write their name in the dirt with a stick." And the ever popular "A man has to believe in something, and I believe I'll have a drink."...from a good and very funny author who's name I can't remember at the moment.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Layah
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:37 AM

I picked up from a friend when you spill on yourself while trying to drink "I have a drinking problem" or when someone else does it "Been drinking long?" Also from the same friend, when someone says or does something funny "you're funny. But looks aren't everything."

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: freda underhill
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:49 AM

"you know who I am of course" was my father's mischievous comment about anyone who was full of themselves.

Coome and get it! was my mother's call out the back verandah, when it was dinner time.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 08:57 AM

our get-out-of-way-of-tv line is "Amoret - you are opaque".

Kris

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Layah
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 12:13 PM

One I used to say that got picked up by all my friends "Good Dom, have a cabbage." You say it when someone does something good, usually inserting their name instead of Dom. And you have to pat them on the head also. This came from a movie I was watching once, it was something about a kid, and it had muppets in it, and he had a dragon or something. I don't remember much about it. But he was complaining that you eat vegetables all the time, and get candy when you're good as a treat. He said it should be the other way around, and he demonstrated, patting himself on the head and saying "Good Dom, have a cabbage." (his name was Dom.)

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 08:13 AM

Since I've used it in two other current threads, I guess I should include "That's my perogative" as one of my sayings.

"That's my perogative" is a line from a 1980s R&B song by vocalist Bobby Brown. Bobby Brown is also known as Whitney Houston's husband [At least I think they'd still married. Why?? Go figure!!]

Here are the first lines of that song:

"Everybody's talking all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live?
I don't need commission, make my own decisions *
That's my prerogative"

-snip-

That song's lyrics are here:

That's My Perogative

* I always thought that Bobby Brown was singing "I don't need permission... make my own decisions.." Maybe 'permission' is what he meant to sing and this is an example of an artist's mistatement going 'on record'...

****

Here's another example of a line from a song that I use in a
call & response manner.

If someone says "Who you gonna call?" I say...

"Ghostbusters!"

[I bet everyone knew that one, right?]

For those who didn't, this line comes from the Ray Parker, Jr. song associated with the hit comedy "Ghostbusters".

Here's the beginning of that song:

GHOSTBUSTERS!

If there's something strange in your neighborhood
Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!
If there's something weird and it don't look good
Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

-snip-

And here's the entire lyrics to that song:

Ghostbusters!

Enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 09:46 AM

I don't know if this is original, but I started saying it when our brand-new grandson and his mom came to live with us: when he started to tottle around, frequently falling as he learned to walk, I'd say, "down you went...to Calumet." I know it's supposed to be calumay in pronunciation and I know it came from the type of baking soda we use, but other than that I've never heard it before. He thinks it's funny.

Also, since he was very tiny, I would say, in a drawn out anticipatory kind of way, "Are you my....(pause, then in a rush)Boot-a-full Booda Baybee?!" He still cackles at that one.

Subject: RE: BS: How you say the things you say
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Apr 05 - 09:57 AM

Bobert's thread on what type of range to buy-gas or electric-reminded me of another saying I use:

"Now you're cookin with gas" which I use to indicate that I really agree with what a person just said or did.

I think I got this saying from my mother who uses it as a compliment. Maybe it started out when gas stoves were a new appliance and meant that a person is really doing something well or in the lastest fashion.

???