Phrases sayings and slangs

[RLWP]

Better than hailing taxis

 

Richard

 

My coat, oh yes...

[cheshire~rose]

Better than hailing taxis

 

Richard

 

My coat, oh yes...

 

 

[Bob M]

To the aussie's Gordon Bennett, the general in WW2 who was in charge when Singapore fell to the Japs is a saying more of disbelief and disrespect. He is truly a hated figure down under, having escaped with his life at the expense of many of his men.

[mike phipps]

To the aussie's Gordon Bennett, the general in WW2 who was in charge when Singapore fell to the Japs is a saying more of disbelief and disrespect. He is truly a hated figure down under, having escaped with his life at the expense of many of his men.

well bob i think that dicribese my mext door nieghbours response perfect when his lawnmower wouldn,t start total disbeliffe my spellings getting worse now no more brandys hic

[pete harrison]

A couple of nautical ones:-

 

"Don't let the cat out of the bag" was a sailors expression for keeping something a bit naughty quiet as if he got caught the Cat O' Nine Tails would be removed from its bag prior to a flogging.

 

"Not enough room to swing a cat" has nothing to do with furry pets but is again a nautical expression for a room being so small that a Cat O' Nine Tails could not be swung.

[Bob M]

Being a Bob I have always wanted to know where the saying " Bobs your uncle" came from.

also Booby prize/trap?

[RLWP]

My Grandad would say "Dog Bite", like saying "Oh I say" or "Get out of it"

 

Richard

 

Oh yes, if give a blunt knife my mother-in-law would declare "You could ride bare-arsed to Borneo on this"

[Mac of Cygnet]

Only two occur to me from my childhood: "like one o'clock half struck" which is fairly obviously 'inadequate', but "getting the smit", meaning 'catching something, being infected' just eludes me, although I used it without thinking fifty years ago!

 

Mac

[Catrin]

My Gran (South Wales, born 1903) used to say "He wants his head tied", when someone had done something particularly daft - the implication being that having one's head tied is some kind of remedy for stupidity. I always assumed everyone used this expression, and used it myself - until a boyfriend pointed out that no-one else in London had ever heard this phrase.

 

Anyone got any idea where this one came from?

Cheers

Cath

[soldthehouse]

My grand mother had some choice sayings

 

Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs [ "when suprised"]

 

Its like Hanraty's in here [ meaning it was untidy, as the local scrap yard belonged to Mr Hanraty]

 

My grandfather had some less eloquent sayings

 

Its so hot in here the sweats running down my back and using my arse as a sink.

 

If you dithered doing any thing he used to say, Come here and let me at it your like a sheep shiting razorblades.

 

If you referred to something as being small he said You wouldnt like it on the end of your nose for a wart.

[mike phipps]

My Gran (South Wales, born 1903) used to say "He wants his head tied", when someone had done something particularly daft - the implication being that having one's head tied is some kind of remedy for stupidity. I always assumed everyone used this expression, and used it myself - until a boyfriend pointed out that no-one else in London had ever heard this phrase.

 

Anyone got any idea where this one came from?

Cheers

Cath

not got a cclue where it came from but what a great saying

[alan_fincher]

For many years as a young kid I was convinced that my grandmother, (Norfolk borm, 1885, lived to 103), actually had a neighbour called Mrs "Howdoyouwhat" - I even thought I knew which one it was. even though it was such an unusual "name".

 

I was quite surprised when I finally realised it was just a name she applied to anybody who's real name she had currently "mislaid".

 

A term used by her, and still retained by my mum, refers to clothing or sheets that have nearly worn though....... "It's so thin you can shuffle peas through it" - meaning it's like a piece of muslin and you could use it for sieving food.

 

When Cath first heard this, she thought mum was saying "It's so thin you can shovel peas through it", making it even more bizarre.

 

I think possibly both Mrs "Howdoyouwhat", and "pea shovelling" are rather unique to my mum's family - unless anybody else has ever encountered either!

Edited April 9, 2010 by alan_fincher

[soldthehouse]

For many years as a young kid I was convinced that my grandmother, (Norfolk borm, 1885, lived to 103), actually had a neighbour called Mrs "Howdoyouwhat" - I even thought I knew which one it was. even though it was such an unusual "name".

 

I was quite surprised when I finally realised it was just a name she applied to anybody who's real name she had currently "mislaid".

 

A term used by her, and still retained by my mum, refers to clothing or sheets that have nearly worn though....... "It's so thin you can shuffle peas through it" - meaning it's like a piece of muslin and you could use it for sieving food.

 

When Cath first heard this, she thought mum was saying "It's so thin you can shovel peas through it", making it even more bizarre.

 

I think possibly both Mrs "Howdoyouwhat", and "pea shovelling" are rather unique to my mum's family - unless anybody else has ever encountered either!

My grans name for someones temporarily forgotten name was Mrs Cannyboddy

[Mrs Tawny Owl]

Yep that's one of Mum's

 

A couple of Dad's

 

"A blind man on a galloping horse would be glad to see it", when working on something in the garage and showing him what you'd done.

 

When up a ladder or on the scaffold tower, if you asked him how to get down the answer would always be "shut your eyes and walk about"

 

And if you asked him how high something should be the reply: "How High's a chinaman"

 

There's loads more, but can't think of them at the moment.

 

Sue

[NB Alnwick]

I grew up in Welford in the 1950s and although the canal was disused and derelict at that time a few canal linked sayings survived. If ever I looked miserable, my gran would say "why the long face, you've got a face like a boat 'oss" - it was only in later years that I learned that a boat 'oss was the animal that hauled the coal boats to Welford Wharf! If we were naughty there was always the threat of "I'll give you to the boaties and you'll have to shovel coal for your daily bread" - so I grew up with a bit of a fear of the mythical 'boaties' and usually hid when the coalman came - though by the 1950s our coal was delivered by Ellis & Everard from Welford & Kilworth railway station - however before and during the Second World War, coal boats were operated by Mrs Gilbert, then licensee of the George Inn (now called 'The Wharf') at Welford Wharf and the 'boaties' unloaded, bagged and weighed the coal by hand before it was delivered round the village with a horse and cart.

[Ange]

Oh yes, if give a blunt knife my mother-in-law would declare "You could ride bare-arsed to Borneo on this"

 

 

Its so hot in here the sweats running down my back and using my arse as a sink.

 

My top two so far - laughed so loud I nearly woke Dave up

[RupertG]

and the same Lewis's was in Leicester too, the Liverpool one was still open last year but I think it was winding up.

 

anyway, back on topic why "dressed up to the nines"?

 

"To the nines" was a general statement of perfection, that's only survived in this phrase. Nine has been associated with perfection for a very long time...

 

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dressed-to-the-nines.html

 

Getting the smit is interesting. It's old and northern, but can't find much about it. Wonder if it's from the same root as smite and smitten?

 

[later edit]

 

'Smit' meaning a mark or blemish goes back to the 11th century

 

1. A sullying spot or stain; a taint or blemish. Freq. fig. of moral taint. Obs.

c1030 Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 4 Se e ingæ butan smittan, swylce wyrc rihtwisnesse. a1100 in Napier O.E. Glosses 93/2 Inluuiem, i. inmunditiam, wom, smittan. a1300 Cursor M. 9462 at sin..nan of left, wit-vten smitt, ateuer was vnder heuen born. c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 867 Blowmand bewte but wane or smyt of sawle and body to-giddir knyt. c1425 WYNTOUN Cron. IX. 1858 Bot qwhat at sal be put in wryte Off falssit sal ber nakyn smyte. a1500in Ratis Raving, etc. (1870) 92 For lesing is sa foul a smyt, That quhay sa euer be taynt with It [etc.]. 1562 A. SCOTTPoems (S.T.S.) i. 220 Smaill sweit smaragde, smelling but smit of smot.

 

but is first recorded as disease or infection in 1829, in Northern and Scots dialects.

 

It seems synonymous with smut, where:

 

1698 J. COLLIER Immor. Stage i. (1730) 4 The Modern Poets seem to use Smut as the old Ones did Machines, to relieve a fainting Invention

 

1664 H. MORE Myst. Iniq. 474 That there is not the least smutt of Antichristianism in Episcopacy itself.

 

Give me smut, and nothing but!

 

R

Edited April 9, 2010 by RupertG

[Guest wanted]

My old man could regularly be heard muttering 'couldn’t hit a cow's arse with a banjo' when he was playing skittles.

Whereas if I was dithering about my mum would refer to me as a 'fart in a colander'

 

It's no wonder I turned out to be the person I am today

[Hairy-Neil]

One of my mothers is, 'As black as newkits knocker'.

 

From the outlaws, two for when you're trying to do the impossible, 'you've more chance of platting fog', and 'It's like poking smoke up a cat's arse with a knitting needle'.

 

A friend's mother used to say, 'D'ya think I was born on a banana boat', when you were trying to, 'pull the wool over her eyes'.....

[rallyfan]

Oh yes, if give a blunt knife my mother-in-law would declare "You could ride bare-arsed to Borneo on this"

 

Thanks for that. It has made my weekend

 

One of my mothers is, 'As black as newkits knocker'

 

My family (me included) always used that expression but "newgit" as opposed to "newkit"

 

I have since learned that it referred to Newgate Prison and hanging

Edited April 10, 2010 by rallyfan

[Athy]

My parents, Derbyshire people, used to describe a very lazy person as "As idle as Ludlam's dog when it lay down to bark". I don't know who Ludlam was, but I do like the image which the expression conjures up.

[imnogeek]

Whereas if I was dithering about my mum would refer to me as a 'fart in a colander'

yes my mum used that although she would add "can't get out for holes" at the end.

If you said "I thought that..." then my dad would say

"you know what thought did, thought he'd s**t himself but hadn't"

[Athy]

"You know what thought did, followed a dustcart and thought it was a wedding" was my parents' variation on that theme!

[Sandra F]

`Back of Rackhams' was where the ladies of the night could be found!

 

And Lewis's Birmingham used to have a roof garden with an Easter Farm till they had to close it for too many suicides off the roof.

 

Another Brummie!

[Bullfrog]

How about "all round the Wrekin" if you weren't being quick or direct.

 

My Mum was a Brummy!