Colloquialisms

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

NE used a phrase that had me stumped....'jump the shark'. All sorted now, but it made me think of a few obscure and funny colloquialisms I know.......you start!!!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

O alright then....I will start.
In Australia you say "She'll be magnolia love" to indicate that everything will turn out ok.

[Ken]

I think "jump the shark" has gone outdated for some NEW way to say something's as good as dead, only I forgot what the new saying is. Man, it's tough to be cool when you're about as out of touch with popular culture as I am.

[Ken]

Oh, yeah. I think you've got it! (BTW, Bunny, you're not "hip," are you? I thought you had to be under 25 to be truly cool.)

Now to think of some things that have "nuked the fridge"...

[Old-Barbarossa]

Heard "jump the shark" was from an episode of Happy Days.
Where does "nuke the fridge" come from, it's new to me.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

She'll be magnolia, love. As in...everything will be fine, dear!
Another one from the other side of the ditch (Aussie) was "fair suck of the sav mate", meaning either 'give me a break!' or 'it's all true without a word of a lie' depending on circumstances and levels of alcohol consumed!!! (Sav is short for saveloy which is a red-skinned sausage....like a cocktail frank but bigger)

[Ken]

Yeah, that scene (in fact, movie) was ridiculous. Cured me of any sentimentality I held for Indy for good. Sorry, Harry-San...

[[deleted user]]

From my days in Jersey ... "goin' down the shore" for going to the beach.

[Leann]

Here in the South, we say "I'm fixing to go to the store" meaning that I'm preparing to or getting ready to go to the store. Basically, "I'll be going to the store in a little while."

And I don't know if this is a colloquialism, but I get made fun of a lot by my husband for saying, "That canoe just 'tumped' over" (i.e., "That canoe just turned over").

[Ruth]

Aha. Preparing to get ready to begin to start.

My specialty.

[Ken]

8th-grade students have patented it.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yes....so have Year 6 kids.....take 5 minutes to find pencil....take 2 more to find sharpener.....then 6 minutes to sharpen said pencil, being careful to break lead at least 3 times.....and so on!!

[Boreal Elizabeth]

but what i want to know leann is
if ya et yet?
don't need to answer right away
i'll get up wit ya later
maybe tuesday next

[David]

Jeet?

No, joo?

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Yes David, I did...tasty scallops. You didn't tell me you spoke Nyu Zild (as she is spoke)!!!

[Gail]

David:
No. Juwanna go an get sumthin?

[Old-Barbarossa]

"gonnae goan gerrih" is Glaswegian for the same.
Also "wotshout erra polis" is Glaswegian for "beware, here come the law enforcement officers"

[Ken]

Juwanna? I think I dated her in the 70s.

As for "gonnae goan gerrih," I'm more than sure that was featured in one of those graphic health films we viewed in high school.

[Ken]

Wicked. It's quintessential New England and wicked cool.

[Boreal Elizabeth]

yes but it was originally
merely
wicked good

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

In Australia they add 'but' to the ends of sentences....."Have you seen the remote but?"

"Yeah, it rained all night but"


Any theories on that one?!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

My but dangles a lot....unless I wear Nancy Ganz!!

[Ken]

How do you wear Nancy Ganz, and why does she stand for it? I'm assuming she's a lightweight!

[David]

I think you are reasoning a posteriori, but I'm just guessing.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Teehee! Nancy Ganz is a brand of foundation garments that middle-aged women are wont to wear!! I won't wear one...I am a rebel....hence the dangling 'but'!

[David]

So you don't have Ganz in your pants?

"With rosy red garters and pink hose on my feet
Turkey-red bloomer with a rumble seat"

--"Richland Woman Blues" by Mississippi John Hurt

[Ken]

Don't know names of pants. Mine have no name. And when they die they will go into an unmarked grave called "Pants." Wait a minute. That would be a mark. OK. My pants' name would be Mark. Gospel truth.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

"I've been through the desert in the pants with no name......"

NE......don't call them Mark!! PLEASE?!!!! BAD connotations!

And David...I love those lyrics :-)

[David]

"Red rooster says,
'Cock-a-doodle-de-doo,'
Richland woman says,
'Any dude will do.'

"Hurry down, sweet Daddy
Come blowin' your horn.
If you come too late,
Sweet Mama will be gone."

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Hahahahaha!! She is willing to 'settle'. Foolish woman!

[Ken]

Re: Mark. Does (your) ex mark the spot?

Correction: my pants have no "proper" (as in noun) name. Still, I allow them a proper burial.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Re: Mark....have you never heard of skidmarks?

[Ken]

Ohhhhhhh. Skidmarks. Have we sunk THAT low? Being a family group, we won't get into the (ahem) proper names of our underwear, will we. But I do wonder what the initials "BVD" stand for...

[Ruth]

Bradley, Voorhees & Day

[Savvy]

BVD

I always thought they stood for...

Barrister's Vampire Deflector :-)

[Ken]

I thought (like the "S" in "Harry S Truman") it stood for absolutely nothing. Wrong. Again.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

OMG!!! Mint is one that is used here too! For a while! Maybe it is a British thing (aren't Bostonians more British than the British?!)

[Ruth]

My family, in So Cal, used the term "lace curtain Irish" to refer to something that was way too gentile for its own good.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

....and my family referred to 'bog Irish' to refer to those who lived in squalor.

[Ken]

Irish lace = cobwebs

Irish twins = siblings born inside a year of each other.

Oh, those language-enriching Irish!

[David]

In my experience, the opposite of "lace curtain Irish" was "shanty Irish."

[Ken]

There's Black Irish...

[Savvy]

and there's Irish Cream!

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Ohhhh yessss baby!!

[David]

An "Irish haircut" is knuckles rubbed sharply across the scalp.

But why single out the Harps? Let's be ecumenical.

Consider:

Dutch treat
talk to someone like a Dutch uncle
French leave
To gyp someone
To jew someone down
To welsh on a bet
Chinese handball (a New York thing, I think)
Indian giver

"In Spain the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and Letts to it,
Let's do it
Lets fall in love."

[Ken]

Letts? From Lettland?

[David]

Latvians. An old-fashioned term, used to make the internal rhyme, I imagine.

[Ken]

Oh. Thanks a Lat.

[David]

Mr. NE:

"Cold Cape Cod claims, 'gainst their wish, do it.
Even lazy jellyfish do it . . . "

[Savvy]

oooh...luv Cole Porter!

"Some Argentines, without means do it
People say in Boston even beans do it..."

(those east coasters...pshaw!) :-)