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10 Jul 07 - 09:11 AM (#2098583) Subject: BS: Cabbage looking From: John MacKenzie The other day someone said to me "I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, ya know", which made me chuckle. When I was a kid my mother always said, "I didn't come up the Clyde on a water biscuit you know",(I am a Glaswegian of course) and I often say, "I'm not as green as I'm cabbage looking" which is another one of those 'I ain't no rube' type sayings. Just wondered what similar phrases you use in you neck of the woods? Giok |
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10 Jul 07 - 09:36 AM (#2098600) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Scotus Didn't come up the Clyde on a banana boat Jack |
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10 Jul 07 - 09:48 AM (#2098608) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: bfdk Similar Danish expressions: I didn't arrive on the 4 o'clock train, you know I'm not entirely green, you know I'm not entirely wet behind the ears (as opposed to being "thick behind the ears", which refers to something quite different ;o)) Best wishes, Bente |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:11 AM (#2098631) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Mrrzy I've read "aint no flies on me" but I think that's British, and what would it mean anyway - I'm not dead? I wasn't born yesterday is another one. |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:14 AM (#2098643) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JennyO Different country from you Giok, but my mother used to say your one - "I'm not as green as I am cabbage-looking". It was in Oz, but my mother's family was from Scotland. Maybe that's where it came from. I like saying "I'm not as dim as I sim." |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:17 AM (#2098647) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Megan L I didny come doon in the last shower o rain. Ahm nae as glaikit as yer gyte :) |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:22 AM (#2098655) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: GUEST,Elfcall Ahhh Giok - one of my Mam's favourite sayings is 'i'm not as green as I am cabbage looking' - it took me back. An irish friend used to say ' i didn't just come up on a sugar boat from Carlow' Elfcall |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:24 AM (#2098659) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Dave the Gnome Not as daft as I look. (No-one could be THAT daft) Didn't peddle up the Irwell on a bike. :D |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:27 AM (#2098664) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Megan L Our old neighbour came from county cork she used to say I'm no as daft as a Kerryman. |
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10 Jul 07 - 11:39 AM (#2098746) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Scotus That should have been, of course - Ah didnae come up the Clyde oan a bananay boa' (glottal T) Jack |
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10 Jul 07 - 11:56 AM (#2098768) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Liz the Squeak Fresh air? You've never been near Manitas when he's been drinking Guinness.... LTS |
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10 Jul 07 - 11:58 AM (#2098770) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: ClaireBear My mama didn't raise no fools. (always said precisely that way, despite grammatical peculiarities) |
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10 Jul 07 - 12:22 PM (#2098802) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rapparee I might be stupid, but I ain't foolish. Or as it reported that the Business Council at the Ft. Hall Shoshone-Bannock Reservation said to a guy peddling a coal gasification plant, "We might be Indians, be we're not dumb Indians!" |
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10 Jul 07 - 12:57 PM (#2098843) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: SharonA But why "cabbage-looking"? What does that mean -- is it intended to be a self-deprecating remark about the size and/or shape of the speaker's head? |
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10 Jul 07 - 01:04 PM (#2098847) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Jim Lad Yer as thick as two short planks. |
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10 Jul 07 - 01:25 PM (#2098882) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: gnu When someone says something odd or stunned in Newfoundland, "I'll pick da bones outta dat fish and see if I can get 'n down me t'roat." |
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10 Jul 07 - 01:48 PM (#2098916) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: GUEST,dianavan Do I look stupid? or There is no shit on my boots! |
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10 Jul 07 - 03:34 PM (#2099023) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Morticia I didn't come up the Shannon on a banana boat my mum says. |
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10 Jul 07 - 03:59 PM (#2099051) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Bizibod I didn't just drop off a Christmas tree |
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10 Jul 07 - 04:07 PM (#2099058) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Wesley S I may have fallen off a turnip truck but it wasn't yesterday. |
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10 Jul 07 - 04:14 PM (#2099065) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Jim Lad As a matter of fact, I do have a roll of quarters in me pocket. I'll shut the door behind me. |
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10 Jul 07 - 04:32 PM (#2099085) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JohnInKansas There is no shit on my boots! Always eliciting the response in my area: "Look on the inside." John |
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10 Jul 07 - 04:51 PM (#2099107) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: van lingle "This ain't my first rodeo!" "Poco loco pero no estupido." |
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10 Jul 07 - 05:33 PM (#2099155) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Herga Kitty I remember not so green as cabbage looking. A bit worrying because I was a Green at the time. Kitty (nee Green) |
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10 Jul 07 - 06:32 PM (#2099211) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan I also remember 'I may be green but I'm not cabbage-looking" from my youth (in Oz) where, in similar circumstances, it was also said "I didn't come down in the last shower". In times of drought the latter wouldn't carry the intended sting quite as well. And if someone said "There's no flies on ... (me, him etc)" a swift counter often followed; "No? But you can see where they've been!" Cheers, Rowan |
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10 Jul 07 - 08:02 PM (#2099287) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: frogprince I'm in the U.S. My Dad referred to the "no flies", particularly as in the lyric of a 1920's song; something like "There are no flies on Nellie, and I will tell you why; she rolls her stockings to the knee, and when she sits down you can see...Oh, my!" |
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10 Jul 07 - 08:34 PM (#2099298) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Jim Lad As dumb as a bag of hammers. |
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10 Jul 07 - 10:25 PM (#2099377) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Mickey191 Mine is not half as colorful as all the preceding: I wasn't born yesterday. |
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10 Jul 07 - 11:28 PM (#2099417) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JennyO Of course I remember 'no flies' but I'd forgotten about it. The following aren't exactly the same thing - they mean the opposite. Maybe they deserve their own thread. There's probably one somewhere already. As dumb as a bunch of rocks Not the sharpest knife in the drawer |
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11 Jul 07 - 12:53 AM (#2099460) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JohnInKansas Three bricks short of a wagon load? Or in extreme cases: Three straws short of a bale. "short" commonly also as "shy of," and "wagon load" sometimes as just "full load." As we're into slightly different connotations: Beat with an ugly stick. Fell out of the ugly tree and hit all the branches on the way down. John |
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11 Jul 07 - 01:02 AM (#2099463) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan I like them John, but JennyO is right; there is another thread with a collection of just such sayings as yours (the "short of" motif) from US, UK and Oz at least. Meanwhile there is another old "cabbage-looking" lurking behind my ears but I can't yet coax it into view. Cheers, Rowan |
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11 Jul 07 - 01:10 AM (#2099467) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan Well, I just found the other thread; it's Folklore: Regional expressions. I mightn't be the sharpest knife in the drawer nor the brightest crayon in the box but I'm not two bricks short of a wall and the memory hasn't completely failed me yet. Cheers, Rowan |
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11 Jul 07 - 04:07 AM (#2099522) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JennyO And here's a link to that thread. I just refreshed it. Folklore: Regional expressions Jenny - choofing off now. |
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11 Jul 07 - 11:34 AM (#2099842) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: SharonA Still wanting someone to explain just what "cabbage looking" means. |
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11 Jul 07 - 12:21 PM (#2099897) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: ClaireBear I wonder if it bears any relation to babies coming from the cabbage patch? |
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11 Jul 07 - 12:53 PM (#2099926) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: John MacKenzie It's just a bass akwards way of saying, I may look like a cabbage, but I'm not green. G |
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11 Jul 07 - 11:54 PM (#2100469) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: alison Do you think I came down the Lagan in a bubble? (Belfast) slainte alison |
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12 Jul 07 - 12:35 AM (#2100481) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan At last, I remembered it and, as soon as I did so, I remembered another; "I'm not stupid, it's just the way they dress me." was the first and, saying that someone was a bit 'green' or 'wet behind the ears' it was said "He's been shaving since he was 15. And cut himself, both times." Cheers, Rowan |
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12 Jul 07 - 02:35 PM (#2100894) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Geoff the Duck On the Honking Duck website you can hear - They Ain't No Flies On Auntie | Akins Birmingham Boys For some reason I currently have blanked out on any and all local expressions. Quack! GtD. |
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13 Jul 07 - 04:54 AM (#2101387) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Mo the caller We have a family expression when anyone says or does something daft - "whats thick and stupid?" It comes from a mistelling of the joke What's yellow and stupid? Thick custard |
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13 Jul 07 - 02:29 PM (#2101816) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Mrs.Duck 'one sandwich short of a picnic' |
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13 Jul 07 - 02:57 PM (#2101837) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: John MacKenzie Ah Jane, that's a whole other thread that one. G. |
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14 Jul 07 - 11:12 AM (#2102430) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: GUEST,JTT Not as green as I'm cabbage-looking is also very Irish - specifically Dublin - though whether it came from Scotland/Northern England or went there, I don't know. I didn't come up the Liffey on a bicycle also. Thick as a kish of brogues (ie a basket of boots). |
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15 Jul 07 - 01:11 AM (#2102987) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan On the Oz news last night was an item about a student who'd been visiting Pakistan and had, on his return to Melbourne, been diagnosed with polio; it is Australia's first polio case for 21 years, apparently. It reminded me of a description, often used in Oz, of somone who is regarded as utterly lazy; "He wouldn't work in an iron lung!" This then brought to mind a phrase usually used to describe a completely untrustworthy person (and thus often applied to politicians); "He couldn't lie straight in bed!" Sorry for the thread drift. Cheers, Rowan |
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15 Jul 07 - 08:06 AM (#2103167) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Charmion The Ottawa Valley variant is something like this: "I may have come down the river on a raft, but it wasn't just last Tuesday." I remember hearing "not so green as I am cabbage-looking" 30-odd (very odd) years ago in Nova Scotia, but I can't remember if it was from a native-born Canadian or a Brit import. |
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15 Jul 07 - 02:25 PM (#2103493) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Cattail When I worked in engineering the usual reply to "There's no flies on me" was "no, you're too rotten for them to settle" Cheers Cattail ! |
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16 Jul 07 - 03:24 AM (#2103945) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: The Walrus I still use the "Cabbage looking" line (Londoner, born and bread) also "I didn't walk out of the last pea-souper" I've never quite understood that one, other than 'I'm not new', so add to that: "My knees are brown" W |
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16 Jul 07 - 03:26 AM (#2103946) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: The Walrus Correction: also "I didn't walk out of the last pea-souper" I've never quite understood that one, other than 'I'm not new'... should read "I've also heard "I didn't walk out of the last pea-souper" I've never quite understood that one, other than 'I'm not new'... W |
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16 Jul 07 - 03:40 AM (#2103951) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan The following might be better under the Regional Expressions thread, as Americans use "elevator" where we use "lift" but the intent of the story is the same as in this thread. It concerns a bloke from Tibooburra (way out 'back o' Bourke' and well beyond the black stump) who had to go to his insurance company's head office in Sydney. He'd never been to the smoke before and was amazed at the huge buildings. He found the correct building and was, as you might expect, confronted with a wall of glass in which a set of glass doors had signs reading "Push". So he pushed one, it opened and he went in. Just inside was another wall of glass with a similar set of glass doors; these had signs which read "Pull" so he pulled one and it opened and he went through. Inside was a huge atrium with, opposite the glass doors, a wall of marble. Set into the marble was another set of doors and he struggled there for hours; the signs on these doors read "Lift". But you wouldn't dare call him a new chum. Or even wet behind the ears. Perhaps an innocent abroad. Cheers, Rowan |
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16 Jul 07 - 08:25 PM (#2104707) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: The Walrus Rowan, Doubtless he was arrested the first time he met a young lady in a tight sweater wearing a name tag 'Pat'. Don't bother, I've already got my coat... |
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16 Jul 07 - 09:33 PM (#2104756) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: Rowan Funny you should mention it, Walrus. I was standing in a coffee queue on campus a while ago and a young lady (whom I'd never seen before) behind me was wearing a T shirt with "PLACEBO" across it, strategically. Not realising it was the name of a band (ah, such ignorance!) I thought about the word for a while and then asked her, "Do they have the same effect as the real thing?" She didn't immediately realise what I was referring to but, when I pointed to the word, she got the joke and laughed. A few days later I was in the coffee queue again and she was working behind the counter making the coffee; she told me she'd told a friend of hers about my comment and the friend had immediately said, "Oh, that must have been Rowan!" So I 'fessed up' and introduced myself, marvelling at network theory; I was amazed I could be so easily identified. Still in the queue I then told her about the Ag Science student (another young lady) I'd once taught who was wearing a T shirt with a provocative comment about sowing wild oats; I suggested to her that she keep a good supply of Roundup (a popular weedkiller here) but the student hadn't a clue what I'd meant. The coffee maker did though; she wasn't green, just young. Cheers, Rowan |
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16 Jul 07 - 11:45 PM (#2104822) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: JennyO That reminds me - I used to have an apricot-coloured t shirt that had the words "Freshly Squeezed" across the chest area, with a drawing of dripping slices of orange. I liked it and enjoyed the comments - treating it like a bit of fun, until my husband-to-be, who turned out to be a bit of a prude, showed his disapproval. Years later, when we were separated but taking the kids to Australia's Wonderland on an extremely hot (100 degrees C) day, he showed his disapproval of me jumping in the fountain with my kids and lots of other people who were sensibly cooling off (adults as well as children). He said the wet t shirt was 'too revealing', but by that time I didn't care, and laughed it off. I was the one that was cool and comfortable while he was hot and bothered. Ten minutes later everything was just about dry anyway. Thank goodness my kids seem to take after me more than him! |
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17 Jul 07 - 08:50 AM (#2105060) Subject: RE: BS: Cabbage looking From: GUEST,Shimrod I usually say, "I'm not as green as YOU'RE cabbage looking". No self-deprecation for me! |