Where expressions come from. Share yours.

[Tom Bomb]

"Pickle me grandmother!" (Well I never!) Ted Bullpit

"Leave your money on the fridge" (Responding ironically to a thank you) ibid

"I hope your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down" Barry Mackenzie

"Point Percy at the porcelain" (to relieve oneself) ibid

"Havin' a Barry" (Barry Crocker - rhyming slang) a shocker


"All piss and wind" (full of it) hometown Sydney vernacular

"Come the raw prawn" (pretend to be innocent) WWII diggers

 

[TOOL460002]

I get a lot from my dad, who got them from relatives and growing up in Southeastern Missouri. "Drunken than Cooper Brown" was popular there, but I've heard that one from other places in the south (I have relatives from Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas and texas). That one has a large footprint.

And my uncle always says "stay single and teach your kids to do the same." That one is great.

"Bigger than a baseball bat" is a term for something that looks huge but wasn't that big or scary at all. It has a very specific origin.

But, yeah, we do have some regional and family specific terms that tend to come out at holidays and reunions. A beer doesn't hurt.

 

[FunkHead]

How about "Get a Grip" where did that one come from?

 

[catcauphonic]

Not mine personally, but 'cut to the quick' refers to the sensitive inner part of a nail that you're not supposed to cut. Here's an example using cats paws >

 

[jmattbassplaya]

People in the South saying "might could" in a sentence.

"I might could use more bass in the wedge."

What the hell?

I've lived in several southern cities and can say I've never heard someone say that.

 

[FunkHead]

I've lived in several southern cities and can say I've never heard someone say that.

I have heard that a bunch. My old boss was from Texas and I asked him if he could play this one song on his guitar. He said " I use ta could, I might can learn it again right quick"

 

[Grumry]

I've lived in several southern cities and can say I've never heard someone say that.

I've only heard it from 2 different people, the first time I wasn't sure and the second time confused me just as much.

 

[ZenG]

"That cliff on the side of the road is so long and steep you've got time to eat your dinner on the way down"....'Moonshiners'.

 

[shadowtippy]

A tiny unit of measure of distance: a red ---- hair, as in...move it to the left about a red ---- hair and it'll be perfect. No other color is ever used, to my knowledge.

 

[catcauphonic]

A tiny unit of measure of distance: a red ---- hair, as in...move it to the left about a red ---- hair and it'll be perfect. No other color is ever used, to my knowledge.

Never heard of using a specific color of hair to move, but i have heard 'just a (female public) hair' form used as a measurement

 

[FunkHead]

How about "Fly off the Handle"?

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Fly off the handle'?
Lose self control.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Fly off the handle'?
This is an American phrase and it alludes to the uncontrolled way a loose axe-head flies off from its handle. It is first found in print in Thomas C. Haliburton's The Attaché; or, Sam Slick in England, 1843/4:

"He flies right off the handle for nothing."

 

[TOOL460002]

"Hella" doesn't come up as much anymore, but I lives the bulk of my life in northern California, so "hella big" etc have come out of my mouth.

I also like my uncle's saying of "Stay single and teach your kids to do the same." He has a lot of corny lines but there are gems to be had once you get talking. Cool guy. Very.

I also get "stoked" about stuff often. But, again, that's more vernacular than saying.

I don't think I use many sayings. I think I speak less and am more direct and attempt to be precise. If typing I ramble though.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Not mine personally, but 'cut to the quick' refers to the sensitive inner part of a nail that you're not supposed to cut.

Thanks, didn't know this one!
(Apologies to you guys if it's common knowledge, but) "quick" used to mean "alive, living" (two of its Indo-European cognates being Greek "bíos" and Latin "vīvus").
Still used that way in the King James Version: "...who shall judge the quick and the dead". It already meant "intelligent, keen" in Old English, but the metaphor was that of "possessing a lively intelligence" rather than "swift at understanding". In "quicksand" and "quicksilver" too its sense is "alive-like, active, moving" rather than its modern, more restricted meaning "moving fast, speedy, rapid".