Phrases sayings and slangs

[jez1954]

Our variation on that was -

 

'He/she's got a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp'

 

And another variation being that used by mate -

 

"He/she's got a face like a cow licking piss off a thistle"

[sociable_hermit]

Enthusiastic agreement: "Not many, Benny!".

 

About someone who boasts: "If you've got a black cat, he's got a blacker bastard".

 

About liars: he/she "lies like a cheap watch".

 

Kronenbird: looks 16, actually 64.

[Moley]

“It's a bit black over Bill's Mother's” seems to be quite widespread, why is it always Bill's Mom's?

Blunt knives: “You could give yerself a nasty bruise with that.”

Hungry: “I'm 'ungry as a Gyppo's whippet” or “I could eat a jed oss (dead horse) between two mattresses.”

Thirsty: “I'm as thusty as a cactus.”

Constipated: “I'm as clammed as a rook.”

Shock: “Oh my giddy aunt.”

Amazement: “Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs” or “Well I'll go to Brierley Hill”

 

Brierley Hill (close to Dudley, notable for the ”Nine Locks”, of which there are eight) is often referred to locally as Brierley Bonk (bonk = bank = hill) but I've never once heard it said “well I'll go to Brierley Bonk”.

 

And can someone please explain “You'll be laughing on the other side of your face in a minute” ?

[mike phipps]

“It's a bit black over Bill's Mother's” seems to be quite widespread, why is it always Bill's Mom's?

Blunt knives: “You could give yerself a nasty bruise with that.”

Hungry: “I'm 'ungry as a Gyppo's whippet” or “I could eat a jed oss (dead horse) between two mattresses.”

Thirsty: “I'm as thusty as a cactus.”

Constipated: “I'm as clammed as a rook.”

Shock: “Oh my giddy aunt.”

Amazement: “Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs” or “Well I'll go to Brierley Hill”

 

Brierley Hill (close to Dudley, notable for the ”Nine Locks”, of which there are eight) is often referred to locally as Brierley Bonk (bonk = bank = hill) but I've never once heard it said “well I'll go to Brierley Bonk”.

 

And can someone please explain “You'll be laughing on the other side of your face in a minute” ?

was talking to my brother last night he said if you had done somthing wrong and you was going to get a wallop of your dad it was just that you,ll be laughing on the other side of your face another was if you left all the lights on " it,s like blackpool eluminations in here

[Osprey Sprinkler]

As for the spellings, a guy I worked with 30 years ago used to say, "At one foul sweep".

 

 

... and I thought it was one swell foop.

 

I quite like the Glaswegian "wally close" (wally rhyming with galley) meaning "posh" - so posh they could afford to live in a tenement flat with the communal entrance hall (the close) decorated with ceramic tiles (wally). Wallies are also (ceramic) false teeth.

 

And the standard request to sling your hook - "Away raffle yer doughnuts".

 

(Aye, an' I hope yer next shite's a hedgehog!)

[NBMike]

What about ' You look like a bundle of rags, tied up in the middle' and 'Pull a comb through your hair, it looks like the wreck of the Hesperus'

[oasistoo]

What about ' You look like a bundle of rags, tied up in the middle' and 'Pull a comb through your hair, it looks like the wreck of the Hesperus'

 

My Grandma's two most used were'

 

'You look like you've been pulled through a hedge backard's' and 'You don't know your luck till a dead Horse kicks you'

[Petew]

My Grandma's two most used were'

 

'You look like you've been pulled through a hedge backard's' and 'You don't know your luck till a dead Horse kicks you'

 

Yes, my mum used to think that I had traversed several hedges in my time.

One thing I heard many years ago from a man who was commenting on his daughter. He said, "She's as dim as a TOK H lamp".

 

Pete

[Laurence Hogg]

"It looks black over Bill's mothers"

 

"The back of Rackhams"

 

"I'll go to the foot of our stairs"

 

Richard

 

"The back of Rackhams" referred to the area frequented by the street version of "Cut side Sally's", ladies of vendable virtues

[madcat]

Leg of louse and lop sauce,the ansewer you got if pestering about what was for dinner or tea.

[Mrs Tawny Owl]

My Gran used to like her tea much stronger than we did, so when presented with a weak cup she would comment "it's like cats pee and pepper"

[mike phipps]

My Gran used to like her tea much stronger than we did, so when presented with a weak cup she would comment "it's like cats pee and pepper"

well whatbgreatbsayings we have still chuckling over tawny owls blunt knife " you could ride bare arse to borneo " and osprey sprincklers " hope yer next shites a hedgehogg

[romarni123]

Colder than a witches tit is what we say when its freezing

[Hairy-Neil]

'Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire', was another of my mother's.

 

....the answer you got if pestering about what was for dinner or tea.

 

The inlaws used the expression, 'Bread and look at it.' often followed with, 'I'm having the bread and you can look at it'.

[Catrin]

Well, I'm deeply shocked!

 

A lot of the language in this thread would have been completely unacceptable when I was a child - I must have led a very sheltered childhood!

 

When we asked what was for dinner, the answer was invariably "Lumpit". From, "like it or lump it" - ie, like it or put up with it.

 

My mother was told by her parents "Them as don't ask, don't want, them as ask, don't get".

Cath

[RLWP]

Another from my in-laws.

 

"What's for pudding"?

 

"Windmill pudding. If it goes around you'll get some"

 

Richard

[Hairy-Neil]

Should we leave the door open behind us, we were always, "Born in a field with the gate open".

[Laurence Hogg]

Two of my mothers: "A blind man on a galloping horse wouldnt miss it" - "Its a bit black over bills mothers"

[MoominPapa]

As an admonishment when failing to see or find something in plain view: "If it had teeth, it would bite you!".

 

MP.

 

 

My favourite (very rude) phrase from my time in Geordieland (look away now if of a nervous disposition):

 

hadaway and shite, man!

 

roughly translated as "go away", better translated as "bugger off!".

 

MP.

Edited April 15, 2010 by MoominPapa

[barroca grande]

We used to get

 

wait and see pudding

 

a lot!

 

oh and my mother got into a lot of trouble on the mine in Portugal when she referred to something or someone as being

 

'as old as the hills'

 

The General Manager and wife were called Mr and Mrs Hill!

 

Oops

[Machpoint005]

And there I was, sat like Piffy on a rock bun.

[mayalld]

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

 

It is sometimes claimed that Bob is Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and that the phrase came about when "Bob" indulged in a little nepotism, when as Prime Minister in 1887 he appointed his nephew Athur Balfour to be Chief Secretary of Ireland.

 

The implication was that Balfour was not regarded by the establishment as being even an outsider for the role, and that he only got it because Bob was his uncle.

[Guest wanted]

'A face on her that would scare a police horse' Just learnt that from Gibbo in another thread! Genius

[mayalld]

And there I was, sat like Piffy on a rock bun.

 

Yes, that is one that step-daughter uses all the time.

 

Another one round these parts, in response to any protest that something isn't where it logicaly ought to be;

"It says Lanry on the side of buses, but they don't sell it"

[Athy]

Yes, that is one that step-daughter uses all the time.

 

Another one round these parts, in response to any protest that something isn't where it logicaly ought to be;

"It says Lanry on the side of buses, but they don't sell it"

 

In my family it was "like Patience on a rock bun".