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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 27, 2020 16:45:09 GMT
As a generic greeting, it's usually a (alightly mumbled) "awright?*" If someone spelt out the whole phrase, I'd understand it as indicating I was looking unwell or unhappy. It was usually enunciated to me, because after the initial "awright?" I generally responded with, "Pardon?". I eventually figured out that it was just good old "how are you" and that a full report on my well- or ill-being was not expected. Funny skit. Thank goodness I don't have to transcribe it! Say 'ayup, orryte' to Cheery. What will she reply? Maybe, 'Am orryte'? Or maybe, 'middlin'? Admit it -- y'all talk funny!
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Post by patricklondon on Aug 28, 2020 5:47:49 GMT
Funny skit. Thank goodness I don't have to transcribe it! Try looking for clips of Catherine Tate as Nana Taylor.....
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 28, 2020 16:00:13 GMT
Ha ~ I've watched two of them now. They're outrageous, but brilliantly observed and funny.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 28, 2020 17:08:35 GMT
Say 'ayup, orryte' to Cheery. What will she reply? Maybe, 'Am orryte'? Or maybe, 'middlin'? Here! I'm not from Brum you know!...I may reply 'fair to middlin' but around here the correct reply to 'awrite?' Is simply 'awrite' back. More often people greet each other with 'hiya'(pronounced 'eye-er') Jeff is a southerner (Bedfordshire) and he's more likely to greet someone with 'Wotcha'
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 28, 2020 17:10:37 GMT
Love Catherine Tate...brilliant Doctor Who companion too....
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 28, 2020 20:06:57 GMT
Cheery, you married a southerner!? Traitor. As long as he treats you well I'll forgive you.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 28, 2020 20:39:50 GMT
Couldn't help it. At least he moved to Leicester with me We had an Irish neighbour called Lettie when I was a little girl...she used to come out with all sorts of sayings..the ones I remember are "Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs" "Well cut off my legs and call me shorty" I think it was instead of swearing, a sort of verbal scribble but they came tumbling out of her mouth when she was gossiping with my Mother or the other housewives on the street...all formidable women.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 9, 2021 19:48:41 GMT
This was written on another forum, and I had never encountered this expression before. The subject was finding a restaurant for a midnight birthday celebration at the Eiffel Tower. Someone had suggested the places around Trocadéro and I had disagreed, saying it was not a "midnight sort of place particularly in December" which is when this event was scheduled to take place.
The internet defines "crab-pot" in an unsuspected way.
WTF?
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Post by htmb on Nov 9, 2021 20:20:58 GMT
I’ve never heard the expression. Could the person have equated the phrase with the word "curmudgeon," as in someone who’s crabby, grouchy, grumpy? My mother often referred to us children as "grouch pots" if we were having a grumpy day.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 9, 2021 20:26:37 GMT
I'm quite sure that's what she meant, but the word "crackpot" must have floated through her mind at the same time.
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Post by htmb on Nov 9, 2021 20:28:59 GMT
Some people just have no sense.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 9, 2021 20:40:44 GMT
Was she englishspeaking ?
In French, being 'un crabe' equals to being a low lifer. No idea for the pot though.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 9, 2021 20:43:01 GMT
She is purportedly from Boston.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 10, 2021 3:26:06 GMT
A crab pot is a trap for catching crab, usually two iron rings, a one-way entrance and some netting. Fish heads/guts are traditional bait but I always had better luck with rotten canned dog food. I'm quite sure you were just being called "crabby" in a colorful Yankee way.
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Post by onlyMark on Nov 10, 2021 7:04:36 GMT
In German a "Stinkstiefel". Grump, grouch, party pooper. I know this because I'm called it by the family.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 10, 2021 17:18:35 GMT
The mods at the other site must have looked up "crab-pot" like I did because the post has been deleted as "inappropriate." Of course a lot of people seem to think that criticising any post by the great kerouac2 is inappropriate. Jeez, what is the world coming to? I spout so much crap that I am never surprised when a site deletes me.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 10, 2021 22:39:47 GMT
Did they think crabs was referring to pubic lice? I've never heard such a meaning of crab-pot.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 11, 2021 8:21:28 GMT
Of course a lot of people seem to think that criticising any post by the great kerouac2 is inappropriate. . 😅😅😅 I would never dare.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 11, 2021 16:26:18 GMT
Oh! you know he is the most huggy-bear teddy ever....
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 18, 2021 16:07:03 GMT
A very common expression that I don't understand is "walking on eggshells" used in the context of having to be nervously cautious around another person. An example would be, "He acts like everyone is out to get him, so I always feel I have to walk on eggshells around him."
Maybe I am wrong, but I always thought that the correct expression was "walking on eggs". That implies that there is something at stake, i.e., you wouldn't want to step on an egg wrong and break it. But who would care about breaking an eggshell, something which is already broken and meant to be discarded?
I bring this up because it seems as though the "walking on eggshells" version of this expression is now universal -- wrong, but universal.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 18, 2021 16:12:02 GMT
I have only known the "Walking on eggshells" as a description of not saying or doing anything to upset a certain member of. lets say , a family member or office worker, and such-like. In other words, tip toeing around them being very cautious.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 18, 2021 16:17:27 GMT
Well, yes -- that is how it is used. My beef with it is that to me it seems the expression logically should be "walking on eggs", not eggshells.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 18, 2021 16:23:52 GMT
I think egg shells crush easier....
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 18, 2021 16:42:53 GMT
Walking on eggplants might feel good on bare feet.
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Post by questa on Nov 23, 2021 7:13:26 GMT
I think that this is pure creative metaphor, not an action in real life. Everyone knows how delicate egg shells are so it was an image presented by the speaker to describe the fragility of the other person.
e.g."Mother had a big fight with her neighbour, he was picking her flowers. She came across the lawn all guns blazing and chased him out of here."
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Post by questa on Nov 23, 2021 7:18:27 GMT
Well, yes -- that is how it is used. My beef with it is that to me it seems the expression logically should be "walking on eggs", not eggshells. Surely you are not trying to put Logic and English grammar in the same sentence?
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