|
Post by traveler63 on Aug 14, 2009 21:21:15 GMT
Here is another one my mom would use. They are like two peas in a pod.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2009 22:02:38 GMT
Two peas in a pod still sounds normal to me, although I must confess that I can't think of a single instance of actually having heard somebody say it for maybe 20 years.
I am wondering if people still say "you sound like a broken record." Younger generations can't possibly understand what it means, unless they have been watching old movies.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Aug 15, 2009 20:52:49 GMT
Surely, everywhere has strange and rich local colloquialisms. Some are just family things (I was always being told "You'll eat what you're given AND YOU'LL LIKE IT."), some are much more widespread, such as "in and out like a fart in a colander" (which my mother always used to mean someone unnecessarily fussing and busy-busy).
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2009 21:33:56 GMT
In the Deep South of the United States there was an expression that some people would use when they thought that other people were badly dressed. "I wouldn't wear that to a dogfight!" Actually, there was another word in front of dogfight which was a nasty reference to an ethnic group.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 15, 2009 22:08:45 GMT
Gosh, it never occurred to me that the broken record one has ceased to have a meaning in today's world. I think people still say two peas in a pod, don't they?
Patrick, I thought ever parent in the world used the eat what you're given pronouncement, but the fart in the colander simply made my day! Never heard that before -- it's brilliant.
The dogfight saying is a first for me! I have heard "I wouldn't wear that to a catscrew!"
I know a woman hear who refers to anything really poorly made as "hecho por culo" -- made by the anus.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Aug 16, 2009 0:19:23 GMT
Dogfight makes more sense. I was horrified in Amsterdam, seeing rather tough guys carrying about small but sturdy dogs like terriers in their shirts - I thought the toughies just liked showing off their little dogs. Returned (this was under a railway overpass in the working-class East End of the city, but Amsterdam is very sedate everywhere) to see them egging the little dogs on in a fight. I sped along not wanting to see more, though if I'd seen a police constable, I'd have informed him or her as I'm sure that is illegal in the Netherlands.
While a catscrew - cats are most elegant creatures, and would scarcely be less for screwing.
I LOVE hecho por culo - sadly, similar expressions in other Latin tongues don't spring to mine on a hot muggy evening. There are many "de cul" expressions in Québécois French (job de cul etc); don't remember whether that is used elsewhere in the sense of "shitty".
|
|
|
Post by tillystar on Aug 17, 2009 12:46:47 GMT
Hmmm I heard only a few days ago two peas in a pod! That was used in my house a lot too! Also "You'd make a saint swear", like K wondering about living daylight, I often wondered what a saint swear was and how you made one. I just snorted at my desk at “I'm going to rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody stump.” That was a popular one between my brother and I
|
|
|
Post by hwinpp on Aug 20, 2009 6:34:46 GMT
The 'broken record' one is also used in German in exactly the same way.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2009 6:45:34 GMT
In French it is a scratched record.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2009 18:47:33 GMT
It makes sense in French. You can play a scratched record. You cannot play a broken one. I really liked the French expression you mentioned here. Boy, does that sum up how disappointment can feel.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2009 19:12:59 GMT
Can anybody give an explanation for the old expression "It's the cat's pajamas" without Googling?
(This means more or less 'This is as good as it can be' to those who might be using English as a secondary language.)
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2009 19:17:59 GMT
I have no idea how it started, but it has that breezy jazz-age air about it.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2009 20:22:24 GMT
The Urban Dictionary entries for the cat's pajamas are pretty interesting, but none of them explains the origin. For example, one of them says that the bee's knees is the same, and that is perfectly true. Everybody says it goes back to the 1920's, which is almost certainly true, and also that another equivalent expression is the "cat's meow." I am still confused.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2009 20:41:17 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2009 20:43:34 GMT
No one has mentioned "until the cows come home" yet. If it's late afternoon and I say, "I'm prepared to sit here till the cows come home", I'm not saying much, am I?
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Aug 21, 2009 21:08:15 GMT
My paternal grandmother came from Lancashire. If asked to repeat something she had said, she would reply, "I don't boil my cabbages twice."
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2009 21:11:41 GMT
Interesting, because the American version (heard in old films) is "I don't chew my cabbage twice."
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 21, 2009 23:17:37 GMT
Heavens to Betsy! or Heavens to Murgatroyd! Very old, or only since the '40s? I don't believe anyone says them anymore.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Aug 22, 2009 6:48:46 GMT
"Well, I'll be..." ending in silence.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2009 15:13:49 GMT
or:
...... damned."
....... a monkey's uncle."
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2009 3:33:53 GMT
Was reminded today of one of my favorites,"gone pecan", with the pecan pronounced as it always is in the South puh Kahn as opposed to PEE kann, which is Yankee speak .So, the 2 words rhyme. It means a goner. Monday I will be gone pecan. Very Louisiana, like ,"later 'gator". I used to think it meant gone crazy as in "gone nuts" but it isn't.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Sept 6, 2009 3:50:51 GMT
Never heard that in my life!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2009 9:58:43 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2009 10:48:50 GMT
We mustn't forget the undying love of the French and the English for each other.
Taking French leave = filer à l'anglaise (running off the English way)
French letter = capote anglaise (English rubber)
The French disease = le mal anglais (the English disease = syphillis)
|
|
|
Post by hwinpp on Sept 7, 2009 6:51:00 GMT
LOL! I'd like more of those, Jack. I deal with English/Aus and French xenophobes all the time... They don't mix well over here.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2009 21:21:36 GMT
I'm assuming it's Southern but not really sure; "Like White on Rice",refers to very quickly. Synonomous with " NY minute".
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2009 20:26:15 GMT
What about expressions concerning meteorological extremes?
Cold as a well digger's butt Cold as a witch's tit Hot as hell Hot as a firecracker
There must be dozens of them.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2009 20:26:40 GMT
Not to mention raining cats and dogs
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 17:00:21 GMT
Not to mention raining cats and dogs here we say "raining cajuns"
|
|
|
Post by imec on Sept 27, 2009 17:28:27 GMT
Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
Hotter than a pistol.
|
|