Odd expressions you've heard now & then

[PeppermintPatty]

She’s a fine lass

 

[Pepper]

My dad used to tell me I was about as much use as tits on a bull. I guess he meant I was useless.

I'm crushed to read this. I am so sorry and he was so wrong.

 

[DebraMae]

I'm crushed to read this. I am so sorry and he was so wrong.

Yeah, definitely wrong.

 

[JBR]

Here's one that SF member C50 used, reporting that he wants to repaint a room: "I'd rather french kiss Dracula than deal with choosing colors."

I wonder how much currency that has had, in the English-speaking world? Maybe it's original with C50??

 

[Paladin1950]

When I started watching British television shows in the 1970's. I remember there were expressions spoken that I never heard before. And also of course, the British didn't call things by the words or names we did. But I remember hearing expressions like: "Oh sod it!" "Bob's your uncle!" "Sod off!" "The short end of the stick." I remember thinking at the time, "I know the British speak English also, but there is still some kind of a language barrier".

Now after 50 years or so, when I hear Onslow on Keeping Up Appearances, shout to Daisy "Oi!", it seems perfectly normal to me.

 

[JBR]

"put salt on someone's tail" (for instance, "that finally put salt on Timothy's tail". Meaning to pin someone down on something. Not very common in North America these these days, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was in common use 80 years ago.

 

[birdy]

My mom uses some old timey sayings that make me laugh. One had something to do with fleas on a hot griddle.

 

[JBR]

My mom uses some old timey sayings that make me laugh. One had something to do with fleas on a hot griddle.

Interesting. Can you remember any sentence the might have used that in?

 

[birdy]

Interesting. Can you remember any sentence the might have used that in?

I can't off the top of my head but I will ask her. Her friend got such a kick out of some of her sayings.

 

[dilettante]

Maybe something like: "Your Uncle Kenny... Such a good heart, but he has the sense of a flea on a hot griddle."

 

[Rakaia]

Go ogling suggests a brain like a flea on a hot griddle.

 

[JBR]

I've heard a similar one: "he's got the patience of a teenage flea".

 

[Gary O']

Odd expressions you've heard now & then​

Many decades ago, down south, I often heard this triple negative expression;

'It don't make no never mind'

I liked it then
and sometimes use it now

Unlike 'it doesn't matter', it causes one to think

 

[old medic]

My dad used to tell me I was about as much use as tits on a bull. I guess he meant I was useless.

Mine would say, You couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were stamped on the heal.......

 

[Paco Dennis]

"I feel like a million bucks."

 

[JBR]

A good one posted elsewhere on SF by Georgiagranny, re the weather: "It's raining pitchforks and hammer handles"

 

[hollydolly]

When I started watching British television shows in the 1970's. I remember there were expressions spoken that I never heard before. And also of course, the British didn't call things by the words or names we did. But I remember hearing expressions like: "Oh sod it!" "Bob's your uncle!" "Sod off!" "The short end of the stick." I remember thinking at the time, "I know the British speak English also, but there is still some kind of a language barrier".

Now after 50 years or so, when I hear Onslow on Keeping Up Appearances, shout to Daisy "Oi!", it seems perfectly normal to me.

we still use all those expressions on a daily basis... when you say the British speak English also... just a reminder it's our language.. and the USA speaks English Also..

 

[jimintoronto]

My Father used to say..I want another slather of that gravy, on my meat. His pronunciation of the world ELM, was more like ELUM, same with the word FILM, which he said like FILUM. He called a pizza, a pizza PIE. Although he professed to be "Alergic to milk " he loved Butter Milk as a cold summer time drink. JimB. In Toronto.

 

[hollydolly]

My Father used to say..I want another slather of that gravy, on my meat. His pronunciation of the world ELM, was more like ELUM, same with the word FILM, which he said like FILUM. He called a pizza, a pizza PIE. Although he professed to be "Alergic to milk " he loved Butter Milk as a cold summer time drink. JimB. In Toronto.

film and words ending in LM... which are pronounced lum...are from celtic/gaelic language.. so In Scotland and in Ireland we all say ..Fillum... same with Girl ( Girul).. Curl ( Currel).. and so on... ...took me years after I moved to England to learn to say those words without the extra vowels

My father was a great lover of Butter milk in the summer. He would drink it straight out of the bottle. We kids were never offered any...

When I tasted it as an adult.. I was ..

 

[chic]

Deleted. I was on the wrong sub forum entirely. It's Saturday!

 

[JBR]

Does this come from a movie, a comic sketch, ... I dunno. But I overheard women talking in a cafe, and one remarked "He's no more than a dryer ball stuck in a sleeve."

 

[old medic]

My dad used to tell me I was about as much use as tits on a bull. I guess he meant I was useless.

My StepFather always told us we couldn't pour piss out a boot even if the directions were stamped on the heal.

 

[JBR]

My dad used to tell me I was about as much use as tits on a bull. I guess he meant I was useless.

I recently caught these, locally. They're related...
“Now he's as useful as a box full of left-handed gloves”
(He or she...) "He's got the mental range of a windshield wiper”

My guess is the first one is probably old, maybe used by the speaker's granddad or grandma. The second one is probably of fairly recent vintage, though could easily be 20 years old.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

That guy, fuzzybuddy, is the salt of the earth, a saint, a hero, and my idol.
Let's start a go-fund-me "thank you" page.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Fill yer boots