Odd expressions you've heard now & then

MountainRa said:
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?
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Great question! I just did some research and there just seems to be a lot of people guessing, with no one really having a definitive answer. From “there’s a good girl” to “there’s a light at the end of the tunnel” (which is a whole other thing) to some even suggesting the sound of the word itself is comforting. So there.
 

I’m not sure how widespread or common this one became, but... In the 1970s, a lot of Vancouver’s young hipsters were reading about Tibet in republished memoirs, article reprints from old National Geographics, historical-romance novels, etc.

One guy I knew a bit, a musician, used to say to his bandmate (when he deemed it was time to leave someplace) “let’s take a yak back to the shack, jack.” He’d say that, though his friend’s name was Joe. (The actual name of the person the impulse was shared with didn't matter.)

Domestic Yak.jpg
 
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JBR said:
I’m not sure how widespread or common this one became, but... In the 1970s, a lot of Vancouver’s young hipsters were reading about Tibet in republished memoirs, article reprints from old National Geographics, historical-romance novels, etc.

One guy I knew a bit, a musician, used to say to his bandmate (when he deemed it was time to leave someplace) “let’s take a yak back to the shack, jack.” He’d say that, though his friend’s name was Joe. (The actual name of the person the impulse was shared with didn't matter.)

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Groovy
 

'Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs’ / 'Well I'll go to our house' - expressing amazement/surprise

'Have you mashed?' / 'Are you mashing?' - making a brew/cup of tea

'Let's have a butchers' - let's have a look

'Use yer loaf' - think for yourself

'Stop skriking' - stop crying

'Will he heckers like' - no he won't

'Chuddy' - chewing gum
 
Quackers said:
'Well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs’ / 'Well I'll go to our house' - expressing amazement/surprise

'Have you mashed?' / 'Are you mashing?' - making a brew/cup of tea

'Let's have a butchers' - let's have a look

'Use yer loaf' - think for yourself

'Stop skriking' - stop crying

'Will he heckers like' - no he won't

'Chuddy' - chewing gum
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Those are great! What region are you from?
 
I was born and raised in the rural Midwest. An often heard comment when it was raining really hard, "it's raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock". A few others, "he ain't got a row to hoe", "he/she has champagne tastes on a beer budget", or when driving down a rural road on a hot day with the windows down, past a cow/hog lot with a strong manure smell, you say " Umm smell that money!".
 
My mother was a vast repository of archaic and obscure expressions. When she was really disgusted, she’d say, “Oh, crow!” This was much preferable to the “Oh s**t” expression you hear bandied about so much today.

When something was old, she’d say “I haven’t heard that since Hector was a pup.” Hector was presumably a dog, not the warrior-Prince of Troy. 🐶

When something was going to take all day or a long time, she’d say it would be done “until the cows go home.” When I’d see cows going home to their barn nearing night, I thought as a boy I was seeing something epic as a result… 🐄
 
Back in the 50's, my grandfather used to smoke a pipe. Most weeks he would ask mum to go to the tobacconists for an ounce of tobacco.
The tobacco was sold in a block (I think it was called a plug) and the tobacconist would cut this with a semi-circular knife and weigh it.

When granddad got it, he would take his knife, that was worn away from years of use, and shave off pieces of tobacco which he rolled between his palms before filling his pipe. Then he would proclaim that it was "all cut and dried". He would use this expression for other small tasks that he completed.

I think it may be a farming expression referring to hay being "cut & dried".
 
An expression that I often heard as a boy but haven't heard now in many a decade: "Many a mickle makes a muckle." A lot of small amounts, put together, become a large amount. Or, look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.

An expression from across the pond that caught on for a while was Diddly-Squat, meaning the least amount.

One of the most cutting expressions in Brit-speak is to name someone a "Tosser." It's slang for masturbate and implies that the person is a moron.

Anyone outside the UK know what a bunch of fives mean?

Telling porkies. From rhyming slang: Porky-pies..........Lies.

You will even here the British police use the term. Wacky-Baccy........Cannabis.

What have you got the hump about? Having the hump is to be right p*ss*d off.

A polite way of explaining the urgent need to pee is: Ladies go to powder their nose. Both ladies & gents need to spend a penny. The latter comes from pre-decimal currency when public lavatories had a one penny coin operated door lock.
 
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Capt Lightning said:
In Scotland there is an expression for a small 2 room cottage which is a 'Butt and Ben'. Ben being the room at the back.
I remember my grandfather using the expression eg. Have you see mother? Aye, she's in ben or she's ben the hoose, meaning she's in the room at the back - the kitchen ?
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Altho' I was born and raised in the west of Scotland where we didn't say Ben the hoose.. my mother was from the East and she did......
 
Granddad was born and raised in Glasgow (Dennistoun). Another of his favourite terms was "Auld bumstick" which I think referred to someone talking rubbish.
Hollydolly, are you familiar with the term "cowp" as "to fall over". Mother used that term quite often. I was only recently re-acquainted with it when reading a 'Para Handy' story. (memories of the Clyde puffers)
 


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