NationStates Jolt Archive

Greetings, dear community!

When reading posts in this forum, ever once in a while a very interesting figure of speech comes to my attention, often something that I haven't heard before.

English is not my first language, but since I'm constantly improving on it for the last 17 years it's come as close as it can get - so far, at least.

I'd like you to help me find and identify interesting speech acts (and the context in which they are applicable if it's not selfexplanatory).

So far, I have found these two in the last couple of days:

- To do the Nixon

- To pull a Lazarus

Hope you get the idea :D

my favourite is
" the full monty" originally meaning to wear the full suit, tie and hat etc. but now thanks to the movie meaning being totally naked. I like the way that's evolved. It also seems to just mean "everything" sometimes. Flexible language English. It must be a bitch to learn.

Flexible language English. It must be a bitch to learn.

I find German sometimes easier than my own language.

A particular part of english slang, that i think would be difficult to learn is Cockney slang.
eg Apple and pears = stairs
Having a bath = having a laugh or joke
Half inch = Pinch or steal

the full monty - that's a good one! Loved the movie and always wondered what a full monty would be... Now I know, thank you ;)

English is actually pretty easy for my taste - most cases are not represented any longer: I'd hate to learn German... French sucked though, took it for 7 years and only dare to speak it under the influence.

Cockney seems to be a whole nother (another whole, whole another? help me here!)... different language - like everything is coded.

I'm facing serious problems in German sometimes, because the English equivalents pop up when I'm looking for the German words! Sometimes, it's just fifty-fünfzig "up there"... right information uttered through the wrong channel.

Yeah, Cockney is fucking weird... And if you wanna know, it's "a whole other", meaning "completely different".

Yeah, Cockney is fucking weird... And if you wanna know, it's "a whole other", meaning "completely different".

Exactly what I meant! (See, I have rarely seen those things written, let alone spelled them myself - spoken word is so much easier. Word!)

People are having a ball when they hear me speak, though: Slight German undertone with a heavy North Carolinian accent.

How yawl doin?
Dscheed yet?
Nope!
Yawnto?
Aight!

An I juzz luv t' dreyve muh reeed peek-up truhk :cool: !

English is not only a profession but more like a hobby to me :D

- To pull a Lazarus

I think means to come back from the dead as in Jesus rising from the dead

An example of doing a Lazarus is when you football team come back from 3-0 down to win 4-3

As for a Nixion :confused:

I think means to come back from the dead as in Jesus rising from the dead

An example of doing a Lazarus is when you football team come back from 3-0 down to win 4-3

As for a Nixion :confused:

Thank you! I figure that to do the Nixon is to completely screw up or be caught doing something because of your own stupidity?

As for "How'ya doin?" - I love the way New Yorker Italians (mmh... afia!) speak :p

Met a couple of those guys in New Jersey and had a hard time not to crack up about the way they talked... I really didn't wanna visit the Hudson that much!

Well, I crack up when people from the "Deep South" talk, so I guess we're even!

...Though I don't sound like a New York Italian. Still.

Dscheed yet?




I got the others its just this one i don't understand

"The whole nine yards" -- meaning to go "all the way," or go to every length in an endeavo(u)r.

"Cat got your tongue?" -- The person you're asking this is silent, presumably because he has been surprised or proved a liar.

"Yellow-belly" - Someone who is "yellow-bellied" is a coward. Also equates to "Chicken." Associated with the Old West. Never call Marty McFly this.

There are lots of these idiomatic expressions in English, just to confuse the foreigners. When my then future wife first arrived in the UK, she was greeted by the headline in the University newspaper:

"Fancy a Shag?"

which caused confusion, particularly if you go look up the word Shag and discover that it is a type of tobacco or a sea bird, but not, unless the dictionary is good on slang, sex.

One for our American cousins: What would be meant by saying:

I asked some easy ones, then I gave him the googlie?

I asked some easy ones, then I gave him the googlie?I have no fucking idea what you're saying. Who are you? What are you? What are you doing here? What strange, archaic language are you speaking?

I just read it, so I remembered that I really like the term "to duke it out" which comes not from Duke Nukem, but from John Wayne, nicknamed The Duke, and means that a conflict is solved in a "manly" fight. ;)

Fran

I come from a family that collects odd sayings, metaphors, figures of speech, etc. etc. We call them sayings, and when anyone of us hears a new one we share it with eachother. We also make up own from time to time. Its a little weird and we're all known for our "colourful language".

Here are some of the better ones :

He doesn't know if his ass is planked bored or reamed out. (trans: he's really ignorant)

Off in a cloud of chickenshit and small stones. (what happpens whenever you leave the farm in hurry)

The whole kit and kaboodle (EVERYTHING)

Misplaced c*mshot (self explanatory)

So full of sh*t his eyes are brown (slf-explanatory)

Only opens his mouth to switch feet (he's always putting his foot in his mouth = evrything he says is idiotic)

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey (Its REALLY cold)


I'll add more as I think of them

peace n' respect
The Void

-snip-

Might I ask... Where the fuck are you from?

Dukie was the pet name that some women gave their Duke husbands....

Wanker - UK
Hissy Fit - US
Gollevar - UK
Chav - UK

What do thees words mean?
I'm not sure about the spelling of thees words but I hope you understand them.

I'm pretty sure that "Wanker" is a substitute for "dork" and "moron". "Hissy Fit" is an insult to people who get too worked up over things that don't go their way.

"Dscheed yet?" took me the longest to figure out - only when invited to the dinner table did I realize that I had been asked, whether I had yet eaten: Did you eat yet? Or, "Have you eaten yet?" as I would say.

Never call Marty McFly this... - I remember that!!!

Mmh. Nine yards is only a couple of steps - funny it implies "all the way". Wonder if that has anything to do with going to the gallows or so?

Never heard of yellow-bellied before - why yellow?!?

Hell, I'd fancy a good shag whenever I have the chance to :D (Austin Powers made me look up "shag").

Never heard of "the googlie" before - you sure about the spelling?

That reminds me of how the internet changes everyday's language:

to google s.th. - to look s.th. up using google
(even works in German: googlen)

or this one: eBayable (adj.) - sellable on eBay

It gets a lot trickier when an English noun like update is turned into a German verb of the past tense:

Hast Du es schon upgedatet?
Have you it yet updated?

"Cannot tell his arse from his elbow" (He's a moron)

"Drop a bollock/clanger" (make a mistake)

"Taking the piss" (having a laugh)

"Pull the other one [its got bells on]" (Stop taking the piss)

"Buzzing my tits off" (I'm having a really good time)

"Over the moon" (Really happy)

"Dressed up to the nines" (Well dressed)

"Stone the crows" (!)

"Stone cold sober" (Pissed, well amoung some friends and I anyway)

I'm pretty sure that "Wanker" is a substitute for "dork" and "moron". "Hissy Fit" is an insult to people who get too worked up over things that don't go their way.
So you can say 'Stop pulling a Hissy Fit'? What is the right way to put it?

I think it would be throwing a hissy fit.

"Stop throwing such a hissy fit" would be the proper term.

"Stop throwing such a hissy fit, you wanker" whould double the damage.

Wanker - UK
Hissy Fit - US
Gollevar - UK
Chav - UK

What do thees words mean?
I'm not sure about the spelling of thees words but I hope you understand them.

Wanker. - Masturbater, also used as an implicatation of stupidity.

Hissy fit - (also UK) Get hysterical, complain, whinge etc. reminds me of another phrase "He threw his pram out of the cradle"

Gollevar - Never heard this before.

Chav - Southern word describing a young person with little motivation or expectations, materialist, shallow with an inferment they cause trouble. Regional variations being, Scally (or scal), charver, ned plus others.

you can also have a hissy fit, much like you have a cow

googlie

A very British term. They can be wicked as well.

Not that I'll ever really understand the game, mind you -- it's rarely played in this part of the USA.

I just read it, so I remembered that I really like the term "to duke it out" which comes not from Duke Nukem, but from John Wayne, nicknamed The Duke, and means that a conflict is solved in a "manly" fight. ;)

Fran

Are you sure "duking it out" came from John Wayne.

Googlie (it may be spelt googly at times, but it shjould be ie) is also called a wrong 'un by our Australian friends.
It is a type of cricket delivery which spins the opposite way to the expected one. Difficult to defend or hit if done properly. (difficult to do.)

Cockney Rhymming slang is often misrepresented.

The way it works is:
Take a word (feet). Find a common phrase that rhymes with the word (Plates of meat) and then substitute the word with the non rhyming part of the phrase.

"Me plates are killing me" thus means "My feet are killing me".

Here are three expressions in rhymming slang (common ones)

Have a butchers
Nice whistle me old codger
Round the corner and up the apples.

Cockneys never say my, it is always me. (Me old lady is a cockney)

These are Australian English figures of speech: :)

Pig's arse! - Bullshit
She'll be right mate - It works, don't touch it
Half decent bloke - Good guy
As useful as a wooden leg in a bushfire/as useful as tits on a bull - useless
Chuck another prawn on the barbie - Let's make fun of foreign perceptions of us
Fair dink'um - Are you serious?
That's the duck's nuts - That's Good stuff
Chock a block - full
Put a damper on it - Slow or stop something
A dingo ate my baby - Making fun of that poor woman, Lindsy Chamberlain
Fair crack of the whip - Equal opportunity
I'm not bad - I'm OK
Have a burl/crack - To try something hard
I could eat the arse out of a low flying duck - I'm hungry
Off your face/off chops - In a chemically altered mood
On for young an old - A fight is about to break out
Scarce as hens teeth - Hard to find

S'all I can think of for now, gotta go clean the house soon. :(

-Thanks, Fran - that's a good one to remember :p

-Respect and peace to the Void - seems like you like to fill void with sayings! I have to memorize those, especially the "Off in a cloud of chickenshit and small stones" - it's so picturesque! Great!

@North Island - thanks! I better not put them to use while talking to my English professor?

(Although he should be able to come up with a correct spelling - or should he?)

-Anarchic Conceptions: Good ones too - reminds me of "drunk but sober" from a Pogues song...

-Mmh... about that hissy fit thing - could it also be to have a hissy fit like in to have a fit in addition to throw a fit?

"Leave him, he's just having a hissy fit of raving madness?"

-'He threw his pram out of the cradle' - isn't a pram s.th. like a cradle on wheels?!?

I was once 'accused' of "robbing the cradle"...
Okay, so she was 14 and I was 18 when we first met in 1994 - guess her parents weren't all too happy about something? I'm telling you, it really paid off to be the foreign exchange student - gives it a whole other meaning, doesn't it?

Hehehe *raises pinky to corner of mouth* Shagadelic!!!

Last time I saw her in 2003 she gave me a solid case of the clap... Thank God for antibiotics: everything is alright again - lesson learned! (That was actually something we didn't even consider - especially since we had both been tested negative just the week prior to before anything happened... Crap!)

Which leads to the next uttering:

It feels like pissing lava / rusty nails.

@ Alien Born: Funny you should say that: flatfoot (med.) or flat tire are both termed Plattfuß in German :)

-If anyone could please explain Funny you should say that to me till tomorrow? I don't understand what the should is doing in that sentence...

Funny you say that... sounds better to me - much like Now that you mention it...

Thanks everyone! I'll be off to bed for now, but keep'em coming - I'll read up on them, I promise!

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!

Wankers... *chuckles* Looking forward to talking to you soon!

Thanks, mate! Good to know that downunder is with us :)

I'm off to bed now - It's 4:30 a.m. and I'm dogtired...

and bob's your uncle- and there you have it
the fuck of it- the problem with this or that
sixes and sevens- I think it means crazy

Thanks :)

Could sixes and sevens come from playing poker? It's not bad but not a real good hand either?

EDIT: Nevermind - I was all sixes and sevens - you're right: crazy, mixed up, in a mess...

@ Alien Born: Funny you should say that: flatfoot (med.) or flat tire are both termed Plattfuß in German :)

-If anyone could please explain Funny you should say that to me till tomorrow? I don't understand what the should is doing in that sentence...

Funny you say that... sounds better to me - much like Now that you mention it...


The "should" in this phrase is one of the few remnants of the subjunctive mood in English. The funniness is conditional, in the past, on it having been said. This was originally interpreted as only hypothetical funniness, and thus cast into the subjunctive.

If you want to place it in the indicative, then it would convert to "Funny you said that" (past tense)

Shall was originally used in the modal to indicate hypotheticals, "I shall do it if . . .", and being a past incident it is used as a past tense modal to give this conditional sense.
It is becoming archaic though. Another three or four generations and it will have gone from normal usage, and we shalll be left with just "If I were you" as a remnent of the subjunctive.

English, surprisingly, isn't all that difficult. You just make it up as you go along. It suits us native speakers just fine.

Oh ... and never forget the phrase: Please fondle my buttocks.

There's the South African "just now" as in "I'll do it just now."
It basically means, not now, but not too much later, at some time inbetween... :p

English, surprisingly, isn't all that difficult. You just make it up as you go along. It suits us native speakers just fine.

Oh ... and never forget the phrase: Please fondle my buttocks.
Don't forget the best slang word ever
BOOZE

Please fondle my buttocks.

OK Keruvalia! Sure thing! :p

There's the South African "just now" as in "I'll do it just now."
It basically means, not now, but not too much later, at some time inbetween... :p

Weird...

Weird...
I'm sure we have an American equivalen..hmm
how about "I'll get off my ass when I'm damn well ready."

There's the South African "just now" as in "I'll do it just now."
It basically means, not now, but not too much later, at some time inbetween... :p
Heh, my dad uses it in that sense. Drives my mother up the wall (there's another phrase ;)).

A few more Aussie ones.

Spit the dummy - to lose one's temper. Comes from the baby spitting the dummy out of its mouth just before it has a tantrum.

Barry Crocker - shocker (eg: that film was an absolute barry).

Ordinary - very, very bad. Often used used in a sporting context, eg: pretty ordinary kick, it went straight to the opposition.

Tool - idiot, dickhead.

Bogan - similar to chav in England.

Ripper, beauty - excellent (you little ripper, what a beauty!)

I have heard "Kit and Kaboodle" before...

Shouldn't the only opens his mouth to switch feet mean that he rarely talks, and when he does, its stupid?

One time, my Grandma told my Grandpa to "bite my ass with a brick"... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

My Grandmother(may she rest in peace) used to reply to people like this when they asked how old she was:

"Well...I'm too young for Medicare...and too old for Men to care."
keep in mind she was the poster child for a southern belle.

I always loved that.

The "whole nine yards" comes from WW2. Bomber gunners had long belts of ammo. When they were laid out for the pre-mission check, they were exactly twenty-seven feet long, or nine yards. If you "gave someone the whole nine yards," you shot your whols ammo belt at him. It just came home with vets as a way of saying "to give it your all."

(My grandpa flew in the Pacific.)

I always liked: "at sixes and sevens".

One from New England- It is a Wicket Pissa-A dang good time

One time, my Grandma told my Grandpa to "bite my ass with a brick"... I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Mmh... Maybe some things oughta be left just among them?

There's the South African "just now" as in "I'll do it just now."
It basically means, not now, but not too much later, at some time inbetween... :p

Yeah, like in a jiffy or be with you shortly

@Kervoskia: I always liked booze

-kit & caboodle is a good one, too!

My Grandmother(may she rest in peace) used to reply to people like this when they asked how old she was:
"Well...I'm too young for Medicare...and too old for Men to care."
keep in mind she was the poster child for a southern belle. I always loved that.
That one is really great!!! Your granny must have been a real lady!

The "whole nine yards" comes from WW2. Bomber gunners had long belts of ammo. When they were laid out for the pre-mission check, they were exactly twenty-seven feet long, or nine yards. If you "gave someone the whole nine yards," you shot your whols ammo belt at him. It just came home with vets as a way of saying "to give it your all."
(My grandpa flew in the Pacific.)

Wow! That is very interesting indeed - thanks for sharing. I would never have figured that one out on my own!!!

@ Boonytopia: The German ordinary has been used in a similar way to portray that "we don't wanna behave like the normal people 'cause we're someone better"

More interesting things to come:

Whereas in English you can be on cloud nine, in German you'd be on cloud seven - wonder what's going on on cloud eight?!? Probably reserved for the French or so...

And here two other things I have learned while in the States:

nippy is a synonym for chilly, as in not quite cold yet - and it's not nipply although I like the image behind my misunderstanding...

How embarrassing can it be to learn new words?

In biology I learned that during cell division there is a stage called "cleavage furrow". I knew what a furrow was, but the other one...

The guys just laughed and wouldn't tell me, the girls just went "I can't believe you just asked me that" and I was left asking my teacher - she was a good sport about it though, held up her biology book with the large picture of that particular furrow in front of her chest and said "remind you of something?"

Man, come to think about it - seems that I really enjoyed a good reputation over there!

One for our American cousins: What would be meant by saying:

I asked some easy ones, then I gave him the googlie?
HA HAH HAH HAH HA HAH :D

""Stone the crows" (!)

Stone the Crows!
That Rocks i always used to say that back in Strya!

"you going go stay or you going go stay go?"

I wonder how you plan to master a foreign language, if you are not a master of your own language first? :confused:

my Gran used to say if you're not bread hungry you're not hungry at all usually when I asked her for something to eat and she offered me bread and butter, it was in reply to me saying 'but I dont want bread' - it meant 'dont be picky'

my mother in law says here's your hat, what's your hurry meaning 'I think it's time you left' lol


another one is he's got a face like a slapped arse meaning he looks miserable

and my father used to describe someone who was lazy as walking along with his arse in his hand

minging means someone is ugly

I'll post more tomorrow its 1:20am here and I need sleep lol

One time, my Grandma told my Grandpa to "bite my ass with a brick"... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

My grandad used to say "I know what she wants, 2 cakes and a bun"

never understood what he meant by that ;)

I come north of Birmingham UK - we have our own dialect here but I'm not sure I'm sure I'm fluent. Yam yam.

Yam - You 'are you going down to the pub on friday?' 'yam goo'in down bar friday?'

Youm - You - 'you are mad', 'youm mad'

Ta - Thankyou

Goo'in - Going

Shady - Something bad, unfair.

Then theres 'below the belt', obvious?

'Fit' is sexy - terminology I hate. 'He's dead fit.'

The kids say 'dickhead', 'tit', 'bum-lover'... And the rest.

I know the scottish say 'ned' which is the equvilent of 'chav'.

*shrugs* There is more, I'm just not well aware of the colliqual language.

The "should" in this phrase is one of the few remnants of the subjunctive mood in English. The funniness is conditional, in the past, on it having been said. This was originally interpreted as only hypothetical funniness, and thus cast into the subjunctive.

If you want to place it in the indicative, then it would convert to "Funny you said that" (past tense)

Shall was originally used in the modal to indicate hypotheticals, "I shall do it if . . .", and being a past incident it is used as a past tense modal to give this conditional sense.
It is becoming archaic though. Another three or four generations and it will have gone from normal usage, and we shalll be left with just "If I were you" as a remnent of the subjunctive.

Thank you for this really good explanation - I always meant to ask a native speaker about it. Now Bob indeed is my uncle :D

Ein Deutscher']I wonder how you plan to master a foreign language, if you are not a master of your own language first? :confused:

You have a point there, although... how do you know that I haven't :p ?

My grandad used to say "I know what she wants, 2 cakes and a bun"

never understood what he meant by that ;)

I like that picture though. If you break it down, you end up with a lot of luxury (the 2 cakes) and little necessity (the bun).

Reminds me of Marie Antoinette who ended up on the guillotine for stating that if the people don't have bread to eat, they should go for cake instead :headbang:

I think your grampa meant to pamper your granny whenever he could?

I like that picture though. If you break it down, you end up with a lot of luxury (the 2 cakes) and little necessity (the bun).

Reminds me of Marie Antoinette who ended up on the guillotine for stating that if the people don't have bread to eat, they should go for cake instead :headbang:

I think your grampa meant to pamper your granny whenever he could?

LOL
My grandad meant that any pretty girl with a short skirt on just wanted a man to have sex with them and if he wasn't as old as he was he would have done it
EDIT: "two cakes and a bun" being a penis

Okay, here is something that's giving me a really hard time:

"Your destruction manifests,
Lying there, broken, looking up as I still stand."

The construction sounds like an inversion of

"Lying there, broken, looking up as I still stand manifests your destiny."

In short it sounds even more correct: "Lying there manifests your destiny."

How come that the bold version somehow sounds weird, almost like there's something missing (like ...manifests itself in you lying there...)?

Hope you can help me here, writing a term paper on inversion and this one is driving me up the walls!!!

LOL
My grandad meant that any pretty girl with a short skirt on just wanted a man to have sex with them and if he wasn't as old as he was he would have done it
EDIT: "two cakes and a bun" being a penis

Dammit!!! I just knew it but didn't wanna go there... I should have known though... cake batter...

Dammit!!! I just knew it but didn't wanna go there... I should have known though... cake batter...
sorry, he was a dirty old man ;)

Okay, here is something that's giving me a really hard time:

"Your destruction manifests,
Lying there, broken, looking up as I still stand."

The construction sounds like an inversion of

"Lying there, broken, looking up as I still stand manifests your destiny."

In short it sounds even more correct: "Lying there manifests your destiny."

How come that the bold version somehow sounds weird, almost like there's something missing (like ...manifests itself in you lying there...)?

Hope you can help me here, writing a term paper on inversion and this one is driving me up the walls!!!

Its not the best sentence but as I see it I think it means

Your destruction manifests - your end is appearing
Lying there, broken, looking up as I still stand - as YOU are lying there, as YOU are broken, watching ME stand looking down on you. probably with a certain malice

hope that helps

Oh, the meaning is clear to me - the problem is that somehow there appears a gap in the bold, inverted version that has not been there when putting it in the original order... That's the problem!

(Like I put this there into the sentence instead of saying - the problem is that somehow a gap appears in the bold, inverted version...) See what I mean?

Oh, the meaning is clear to me - the problem is that somehow there appears a gap in the bold, inverted version that has not been there when putting it in the original order... That's the problem!

(Like I put this there into the sentence instead of saying - the problem is that somehow a gap appears in the bold, inverted version...) See what I mean?
Indeed I had to think about it and its my first language :D . You speak, or at least type ;) English very well.

The change you proposed might work. The problem to my mind it that the sentence doesn't directly say what is lying there broken. (I get that it is likely the "you", but it reads a little more like the destruction is lying there.) I have absolutely no credentials to give advice, I just read a lot.

Indeed I had to think about it and its my first language :D . You speak, or at least type ;) English very well.

Well thank you :) (But if you check my posts, you will notice that many were edited - and if only for the typical typo...)

The change you proposed might work. The problem to my mind it that the sentence doesn't directly say what is lying there broken. (I get that it is likely the "you", but it reads a little more like the destruction is lying there.) I have absolutely no credentials to give advice, I just read a lot.

Well, dudn't matter all too much - I just stumbled over that sentence when I was looking for an inversion like "Here comes the pain" - that particular weird sentence is from the line below... But then again, what can one expect from Slayer... :rolleyes: except for maybe "here comes the pain"?

Oh Lordy, it's almost 4 am and I need to catch some sleep... I've gotta finish that frigging paper tomorrow - due date has already been on Friday (like I'm gonna hand in a paper on April Fool's, yeah right!!!)

BTW, what happened between posts 51 and 52?!? What did I miss?!?

:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang:

DUH! I just took another look at the lyrics et voilà, it reads:

Here comes the pain your destruction manifests, lying there broken, looking up as I still stand.

Now that sentence makes perfect sense! And it's clear that you are lying broken on the floor because of your destruction since I'm still standing! Yeah, yeah, yeah! :cool:

Stupid is off to catch some sleep now... (This kinda crap happens when I'm working 3 nightshifts in a row with less sleep than 4 hours a day and try to be resourceful, witty, productive and correct while not looking like a freaking zombie each morning :eek: )

Anyone say these yet:

"You got your ears lowered?" You had your hair cut?

"You lose a fight with a lawn-mower?" You had your hair cut and it looks lousy (usually said in a joking sense, doesn't necessarily mean it actually looks lousy)

"Stop raining on my parade!" Stop spoiling my good mood/You're a kill-joy

"It's raining cats and dogs!" It's raining heavily.

"Gaydar" Corruption of Radar, referring to the ability to distinguish closet homosexuals

"Cute as a button" Cute

"Cute as a bug's ear" Cute

"Cool as a cucumber" Cold

"Smart as a whip" Intelligent

"You're on the right track..." Refers to in a discussion, someone gets the gist of what the other is saying or the meaning of what was said and makes a partically correct statement that can lead to the correct answer. (Sorry for wordiness there)

"Close but no cigar!" Close, but not good enough (to win the cigar!)

"Screw-loose" Crazy

"As nice as cherry pie" Friendly

"She has nice melons." Her breast is voluptuos

"Corny" Refers to cliche, unfunny, or stupid jokes and wordplay

"Cornball" Someone who makes many "corny" remarks

"Buttering someone up" Flattering or helping someone, usually so they'll do something in return or give you what you want

"When Life gives you lemons, make lemonade" When something bad happens, make the best of it

"I have to piss like a race horse!" I have to urinate very badly

"I'm prairee dogging!" I have to defecate so badly it's going in and out of my anus.. like a prairee dog (I think this term was coined in the movie RAT RACE)

"badgering" Annoying

"Hounding" To not leave someone alone

"Faster than a speeding bullet." Quick, sometimes in a sexual way

"Shoots blanks" Sterile

"Well... You suck and blow and then get laid in a closet!" Response to "You Suck" or "You blow" or an explanation of a comparison between someone's mother and a vacumm cleaner

"Boner" or "Hard-on" Erection

"Son of a Gun!" Can be used as a curse, an insult, or a complement, or a phrase meaning "You're lucky/amazing/have a way with the chicks(girls)" and can be used both positively and negatively

"Ladies' Man" A guy who has a way with women

"A Man's Man" A homosexual

"Crib" House

"Off your rocker" Insane

"Feet planted firmly on the ground" Unmoving, stubborn

"Herd of Elephants" Liud, often refers to movement

"Ball Buster" Difficult, often refers to an examnination

"Testicular Fortitude" Strong, Able to withstand much pain and hardship, often refering to the ability to take a test or examination considered a "ball buster"

"Thrown out" or "Kicked out" told to leave the premisis

"Pigheaded" Stubborn

"Pain in the [name a body part, usually neck or ass]" Annoying, frustrating

"Gazillion" A lot

"knickers in a twist" Upset

"Watch your back" be careful, lookout

"Heads up" Watch out!

"You're a sight for sore eyes" I'm happy to see you

"I could care less" I dont care what so ever

"In the closet" Homosexual, but not openly

"Skeletons in the closet" Secrets

"Lock him up and throw away the keep" Put him in jail

"Jailbird' Prisoner

"Up the river" In jail

"Up a creek [without a paddle]" In trouble

"The shit hit the fan" trouble started or chaos ensued

"Scout's honor" I sware

"Token black guy" A black actor only cast for poliitcal correctness

"Dumb blond" People with blond hair are said to be stupider

"Trapped like a rat" Caught, Trapped

'Clueless" Scatterbrained, doesn't know what's happening

Lot's of them aren't there?

I teach conversational ESL, so I understand.

And Cockney is made more difficult by the dropping of the actual rhyming word. For example, "apples and pears", meaning "stairs", is abbreviated to just "stairs", leaving an unaware listener confused. There is a fair bit of debate over this being an intentional or accidental development.
The wikipedia article on Cockney slang is a pretty good statrting point if anyone has more interests:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney_rhyming_slang

An interesting subject related to this is the strong cockney influance on "Strine" or Australian slang.

The "whole nine yards" comes from WW2. Bomber gunners had long belts of ammo. When they were laid out for the pre-mission check, they were exactly twenty-seven feet long, or nine yards. If you "gave someone the whole nine yards," you shot your whols ammo belt at him. It just came home with vets as a way of saying "to give it your all."

(My grandpa flew in the Pacific.)

There are difficulties with that folk etymology. For one thing it is attributed to a wide variety of aircraft, including the Submarine Spitfire and the P-52 Mustang. This is a good indicator of an urban legend. Additionally, ammunition belts are not (and never were) measured in length, but by the number of rounds or the weight.

In addition, it seems to have come into the language a fair while after WWII was over (first appearing in print in the mid 60's, according to a number of the sources linked below). WWII was too well documented for the idiom to have originated at that time without having been recorded.

There are a huge number of other folk etymologies for this one: Amrtican football, concrete mixers, burial plots, various articles and suits of clothing, mystic numbers, property measurements in various cities, ship's rigging, and the capacity of coal trucks or wagons. As far as I know, all have either been shown to be entierly false or likely to be false. Some reliable sources do credit it to unclear origin in the US military origin in the 60's.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/nineyards.htm
http://www.word-detective.com/back-s.html#yards
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_252.html
http://www.word-detective.com/072999.html#wholenine
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorw.htm
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=whole

Wow, Bashan, thank you so much!!! Some of those I have heard, others used, but many are really new to me.

Similar to the hair-cut figures, in German you could say "Oh, have you fallen down the stairs?" - or, if you don't like the new haircut and try to be semi-nice: "That lawsuit you're gonna win!"

Much alike to the track...

"When the train's heading in the false direction, every station's gonna be wrong."

Mmh... elons! :D

Are badgers really that annoying? (I have only seen'em twice as roadkill...)

"The copper bolt is showing" - meaning s.th. scares the shit out of you (literal translation from German)

"Testicular Fortitude" = very nice!!! Have to remember that - sounds great...

"Gazillion" - we use "Batzillion", from an old monetary unit "Batzen", more than Batzillion would only be Batzilliarde - or you just keep punching the numbers... 892348972729th to do s.th.

-

Folk etymology is an interesting field of research I would bet. Many sayings are still in use but what they are based on is either forgotten or no longer valid or so - hard to follow up on sometimes.

Thank you for your help and sources - appreciate it!

Suddenly this thread got me thinking of strange footballing figures of speech.

"That was an educated shot"

"He Opened up his legs, and showed his class"

Anyone said 'Pants' yet?
As in "that film was really pants".
A strange little colloquialism from England.

Suddenly this thread got me thinking of strange footballing figures of speech.
"That was an educated shot"
"He Opened up his legs, and showed his class"
Doesn't sound like football to me (or is it just my dirty mind playing tricks on me?)

Anyone said 'Pants' yet?
As in "that film was really pants".
A strange little colloquialism from England.

Not till now :)

Reminds me of one of the worst situations...

"And where the hell are my pants...?"

Besides, another smart saying that plays with its counterpart:

A hard man is good to find! (Not that I would know...)

Going all the way back to the first post -- Nixon was renowned for the way he resigned during an earlier row (ie, pre-Watergate), when he said something along the lines of, "You won't have Richard Nixon to kick around any more." So "to do a Nixon" could mean "to accept the blame in such a way as to make it plain that, in your opinion, it wasn't your fault." On the other hand, he was also renowned for his dubious language, so, for a while after the Nixon tapes, "expletive deleted" came to be a polite way of saying whatever unrepeatable swear word you wanted to imply.

On the subject of Australianisms, have you encountered the classic response to a tourist asking if there were any vacancies aboard an aircraft? "Sorry, ocker, the Fokker's chocker." (Ocker being an uncouth Australian or any close friend -- hence, mate; Fokker being a brand of aircraft and chocker being, as somebody else has already said, full up.)

There's a whole field of study in the way Australians fondly abuse their friends, too. So it's perfectly correct to say, "John Howard (the PM) is a bastard," and mean it; but it's also correct to say, "G'day, Kevvo, y'ol' bastard!" and mean that, too. But to say someone is "a bit of a bastard" is flat-out insulting.

How about shifty?
I have lived in England for a year and a half now, and it seems to me like it means someone who isn't trustworthy. Am I right?

And dodgy (not sure how to spell it) is something or someone who might be doing something illegal. Not quite right anyway...

[QUOTE=German NightmareMmh. Nine yards is only a couple of steps - funny it implies "all the way". Wonder if that has anything to do with going to the gallows or so?[/QUOTE]

The whole nine yards was, if I recall correctly, the length of machine-gun bullets on a belt fed into WWII fighter planes.

Mmh, thanks! I just love déjà-vus! (Just teasing you - haven't read the whole thread, heave we?)

Apparently, from concrete-trucks to ships to football to ammo-belts - everything measures 9 whole yards...

Fixin' to-Texan for about to
Can't find his ass with both hands and a map
Couldn't pour water out of a boot with the direction written on the heel- Both describe stupid people
Nervous as a whore in Sunday School
Nervous as a longtail cat in a room full of rocking chairs-Obvious
Texan is very colorful :D

Edit- I forgot my dad's two favorite sayings when describing me.
You'd bitch if hung with a new rope.
You'd argue with a fence post.

Fixin' to-Texan for about to
Can't find his ass with both hands and a map
Couldn't pour water out of a boot with the direction written on the heel- Both describe stupid people
Nervous as a whore in Sunday School
Nervous as a longtail cat in a room full of rocking chairs-Obvious
Texan is very colorful :D

Edit- I forgot my dad's two favorite sayings when describing me.
You'd bitch if hung with a new rope.
You'd argue with a fence post.

Hey Bitchkitten (one of the rare occasion I may actually write "bitch"), thank you very much for your post, good ones!

How about shifty?
I have lived in England for a year and a half now, and it seems to me like it means someone who isn't trustworthy. Am I right?

Well, that's my understanding of the word.

Other good one's (I think these are more Scottish than anything else, but it's all good :) )

"Mince" as in "That was mince!" - exactly the same meaning as "pants" ie "rubbish".

"Squint". If something is "squint" it is not straight. eg "The Leaning Tower of Pisa is squint".

Oh, so many to choose from!

One of my brother's fav's (apologies if it's been posted before):

"As useful as a chocolate teapot!"

Chav - Southern word describing a young person with little motivation or expectations, materialist, shallow with an inferment they cause trouble. Regional variations being, Scally (or scal), charver, ned plus others.

I know it's from way back, but I've been speed reading...... basically someone from a lower class background who always wears white runners, tracksuits and a gold earing.

Your right, shifty is someone untrustworthy, as far as I know it's in reference to their body movements or more specifically their eyes. i.e. Constantly looking around or acting suspicous.

One of my favourite sayings is:
"My luck's so bad, if I fell into a bucket of tits, I'd come out sucking my thumb"

The opposite would be:
"If he fell into an open sewer, he's come out with a mouthful of gold"

Descriptions of people:
"Face like a box of frogs"
"Face like a welders bench"
"Face like a blind cobbler's thumb" (one of my personal favs)
And the all time champ:
"Face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle" (it's so descriptive!)

"He wouldn't score with his pants down in a brothel"

- Used when taking about a bad soccer player!

Wow! Thank you all for posting so much - I don't even know how to comment on all of those phrases.

Here's a nice figure of speech I just encountered the other day.

http://alienlovespredator.com/index.php?id=80

Is that made up or really true?!?

(Nevermind - I didn't want to post before I googled it, apparently it's true:
http://www.ridemetro.org/ifyou/terr.asp)

By the way:

Could it be that the past particples of verbs formed out of nouns like "google" are always conjugated with regular "-ed" ?

Might I ask... Where the fuck are you from?

I'm Canadian, born in New Zealand, of German-Russian ancestry. Makes fo many strange phrases. :)

How's about "S-bend movies"? Also applies to any other artistic event. Means "Movie (play, CD) that should be flushed down the toilet" (hence, S-bend).

Greetings, dear community!

When reading posts in this forum, ever once in a while a very interesting figure of speech comes to my attention, often something that I haven't heard before.

English is not my first language, but since I'm constantly improving on it for the last 17 years it's come as close as it can get - so far, at least.

I'd like you to help me find and identify interesting speech acts (and the context in which they are applicable if it's not selfexplanatory).

So far, I have found these two in the last couple of days:

- To do the Nixon

- To pull a Lazarus

Hope you get the idea :D


Ever heard the saying "Much of a muchness" ???

Well i thought it was weird...

translation for those who don't know what it means is...

Doesn't really matter which one you pick... they're the same in my eyes...

Beat around the bush- procrastinate or avoiding the issue
Catch a breeze- to sleep or relax
Fake the funk- to pretend to be something you’re not
Whole enchilada- everything; similar to the whole nine yards
That’s corroded- stupid, ridiculous

Wow! Thank you all so much - there are so many sayings that are worth remembering - Speech definitely is very colorful to say the least, but some of the sayings you have collected here are so far from the average - I couldn't even have dreamed them up...

I really enjoy scanning for more sayings that I haven't heard of before, some of which are especially useful when talking to people of my age (others I'd rather not use when talking to teachers, profs, parents etc. although they are funny as hell).

It's really great what you guys came up with and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

Thanks again and have a great weekend! (I know mine's gonna be busy...)

Any good sayings for "being busy" while we're at it?

"Busy as a bee"

"Busy as a beaver"

I know there are some other more creative ones, often ones that also imply masturbation, I just can't remember them now...

All your base are belong to us- We have won
Somebody set up us the bomb- We are screwed
WTF, Mates ( Pronounced with an australian accent)- What the Fuck?
Rocket Whore- Somebody who uses rockets too much in video games
Newb Tube- Rocket Launcher, HALO
Lugey Gun- Plasma Pistol, HALO
Same Difference- Same thing

Busy as a one-armed barman

Busy as a one-armed paperhanger (if you've ever tried to put up already glued wallpaper, you'll relate to this one)

Given that "flat out" is Oz slang for "busy", there's

Flat out like a lizard drinking

my favourite is
" the full monty" originally meaning to wear the full suit, tie and hat etc. but now thanks to the movie meaning being totally naked. I like the way that's evolved. It also seems to just mean "everything" sometimes. Flexible language English. It must be a bitch to learn.

no general montgommerey "monty" had a full english breakfast every morning in africa..thats how it got the name

All your base are belong to us

One of the longest running gags in computer history - appeared in Zero Wing's bad English translation from Japanese and was widely spread through the internet. I have encountered that one several times "along the way"...

(Still makes me chuckle whenever I read it :D )