Odd expressions you've heard now & then

hollydolly said:
awww that's not funny.. Australian Lindy Chamberlain's baby was eaten by a Dingo... how crass of them to use it in a Comedy show...
Click to expand...
Yes, I remember. At the time, people believed the mother made up the dingo story to cover her own action. That TV show was based largely on sarcasm. I think it took 32 years before the mother was finally exonerated. So yeah, not funny now.
 
RadishRose said:
Yes, I remember. At the time, people believed the mother made up the dingo story to cover her own action. That TV show was based largely on sarcasm. I think it took 32 years before the mother was finally exonerated. So yeah, not funny now.
Click to expand...
actually no she was exonerated after 6 years... in 1988.. and received over a Million $ in compensation..so if that show was made after '88 then they were very wrong..
 
hollydolly said:
actually no she was exonerated after 6 years... in 1988.. and received over a Million $ in compensation..so if that show was made after '88 then they were very wrong..
Click to expand...
Sad story. I dunno... maybe there's an expression about redressing a horrible mistake, that could be a segue back to the thread's theme? (Just a suggestion, not a demand. I don't own the thread.)
 
Last edited:
hollydolly said:
actually no she was exonerated after 6 years... in 1988.. and received over a Million $ in compensation..so if that show was made after '88 then they were very wrong..
Click to expand...
In December 2011 the NT Coroner’s office announced that there was to be another inquest, and on 12 June 2012 Coroner Elizabeth Morris delivered her finding that Azaria had indeed been taken by a dingo. Even though Lindy’s conviction had been quashed in 1988, it was not until 2012 that the public felt that Lindy had been fully exonerated at last.

The Story | Lindy Chamberlain – Creighton

That line showed up in several comedy shows. I don't think people believed she was innocent back then.
 
On September 15, 1988, the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously quashed all convictions against Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. A month later, the Chamberlains held a victory feast for invited guests at the Avondale College cafeteria. Among those invited by the Chamberlains were defense witnesses and lawyers, a couple whose daughter was taken from their car by a dingo, and journalists and politicians who had supported them during their long ordeal. Lawyer Ken Crispin, in a speech, praised the Chamberlains for being remarkably free of bitterness or self-pity.


The Chamberlains traveled to Sydney to see a preview of the movie based on their experience, "A Cry in the Dark." Lindy, in her book "Through My Eyes," called the movie, based on John Bryson's fine account of the case, 95% accurate and said that "no other actress would have been able" to play her better than Meryl Streep.


Lindy Chamberlain wrote in the last pages of her 1990 book, "And now we wait, we wait for the Northern Territory to pay us what they owe." That day finally came two years later when she received $1.3 million in compensation from the Northern Territory government for wrongful imprisonment.

The Trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain ("The Dingo Trial")
 
On the farm, it was "That pie is singing the Doxology" when somebody asks if there was any pie left. It meant: there wasn't.

The Pennsylvania Dutch would say, "My, that cheese is loud," meaning that the cheese was strong-tasting.
For them, "the pie is all" meant an empty pie plate. There was also, "Redd up the table", meaning set the table.

I would frequently hear my grandmother exclaim, "You KNOW that child isn't goin' off to college already!" or "You KNOW she ain't getting divorced again!" or "You KNOW it ain't time to get tires on that car again!" Her way of saying, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!"

And there was her favorite: "Boy, you get out of my garden before I have to come out there and wear you out with a stick!" which was usually addressed to my cousin, the trouble-maker.

"Carry", of course, didn't mean picking something up in your arms. It just meant taking someone somewhere in your car...."My nephew's coming by Sunday to carry me to church."
 
jujube said:
On the farm, it was "That pie is singing the Doxology" when somebody asks if there was any pie left. It meant: there wasn't.

The Pennsylvania Dutch would say, "My, that cheese is loud," meaning that the cheese was strong-tasting.
For them, "the pie is all" meant an empty pie plate. There was also, "Redd up the table", meaning set the table.

I would frequently hear my grandmother exclaim, "You KNOW that child isn't goin' off to college already!" or "You KNOW she ain't getting divorced again!" or "You KNOW it ain't time to get tires on that car again!" Her way of saying, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?!"

And there was her favorite: "Boy, you get out of my garden before I have to come out there and wear you out with a stick!" which was usually addressed to my cousin, the trouble-maker.

"Carry", of course, didn't mean picking something up in your arms. It just meant taking someone somewhere in your car...."My nephew's coming by Sunday to carry me to church."
Click to expand...
Wow, those are interesting ones.
 
RadishRose said:
Further, they say they'll be "fixing" whatever for supper. Or I'm going to "fix" lunch now.

Why, was it broken? LOL.
Click to expand...

Your ? is a good one, I have said "fixin"my whole life to this day in all kinds of sentences.
I am fixing supper or I am fixing to go to the store, it is a word we use to "get ready or prepare" to do something we have to do.


Being born in Louisiana we pronounce it Lu-wezee-anna lol others not southerners pronounce it Louiseiana or other ways, it is just our southern way,
I now live in Mississippi and it is about the same here in terms of dialect and expressions.
 

​

“Odd expressions you've heard now & then”​


Is “now & then“ considered an odd expression? How about, “Every now & then”, that I sometimes hear people say.

Could I say that I only hear people saying the expression or phrase, “Every now & then”, every now and then?

What does it even mean? Is the word ’every’ and ’now & then’ when put together contradictory?

How do we even measure the expression “every now & then”? Is it referring to something that happens just once in every 100 occasions? Or can it also be applied to something that some might consider more significant. 15 fold of once in every 100 might be considered significant by some. So is 15 occasions in 100 considered outside of the realms of “every now & then”.

This post is probably the most time in my life that I've used or typed, “Every now & then”, as I don’t usually use it, as I don’t know how to measure It. It therefore, to me at least, becomes almost meaningless.

As for, “Every once in a while”. 🤦‍♂️
 
Last edited:
Expressions I hear in my neck of the woods:

* In my neck of the woods. (Sorry, I know I’ve now said it twice in this post, but I couldn’t help it)
* It looks a bit black over Bill’s mother’s.
* Were you born in a barn!
* You are making a pigs ear out of it!
* A blind man on a galloping horse isn’t going to notice that.
* I’m going to see a man about a dog.
* As the actress said to the bishop. :) :D
* It’s time for you to get up those wooden hills.
 
Last edited:
I’ve never understood why when one person it trying to console another person who is upset, the first person will pat them on the back and say “There, there”. Why use the phrase ”There, there” to mean everything will be OK?
Do other countries/cultures use “There, there” or it unique to my area?
 


Back
Top