Regional slang... inspired by Scott-180...

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caseydog

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I had a playful language discourse with Scott-180 on another thread, and it got me to thinking about the fun ways we say things around the country, and around the world.

So, let's list some things people say that are regional. I'll start.

Y'all. This is what got me started on this thought train, when Scott-180 mentioned it. It is pretty obvious that it is you + all, as in a group of people. My grandparents from Pittsburgh said "younz," and back when I was kid in the Northeast, it was "you guys."

Fixin. Big time Texas thing. It means "getting ready to..." "I'm fixin' to make a pot of chili."

That dog won't hunt. Basically means, that's Bulls--t.

All hat, no cattle. That is someone who talks big, but can't back it up with results.

Tump. To tip something over or dump something out. "Bubba done tumped that pot of soup on the floor."

One of my favorites, It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Hard to explain. It is like saying something isn't too bad, but not good either. In cooking terms, if you overcook a ribeye steak, you might say, "It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."

Okay, let's get this train rolling!

CD
 
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BTW Scott, and you other Brits. I used to be a senior manager of a software company owned by a corporation from Newcastle. The board came to Dallas for meetings, and one of the board members used the term, "Keep your peckers up." The room froze. Perhaps one of you Brits can explain that. :LOL:

The board member explained it to us, and we all had a good laugh. Words have different meanings in different places.

CD
 
My first wife was a country girl.. Her family came to California during the Oklahoma dust bowl.. ( Think Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck )


One of her slang sayings, which always cracked me up..
When people were talking about something and someone told her, "You can't do that", she would reply, "You just squat and watch"..


I loved that and so many other things she came up with.. :LOL:


Ross
 
Era - late 60's
My late BIL (from OK) drew a room full of shocked silence when he looked at one of the babies at a family gathering (in Toronto) and said:- "Well, ain't you just the cutest little bugger."

Here the reference would be to say the person practiced buggery and was a horrid insult.

I'm not sure it hasn't lost some of its stigma but...
It is also used as an expletive single word that used to carry the same implication that the British expletive "bloody" used to carry.

With global media, world travel and people relocating miles from their birth places it is hard to distinguish what is 'colloquial' anymore.
 
BTW Scott, and you other Brits. I used to be a senior manager of a software company owned by a corporation from Newcastle. The board came to Dallas for meetings, and one of the board members used the term, "Keep your peckers up." The room froze. Perhaps one of you Brits can explain that. :LOL:

The board member explained it to us, and we all had a good laugh. Words have different meanings in different places.

CD
Not vulgar as far as I know. It's similar to "Chin up!"or "Be Brave" or just "Cheer up"

Where my uncle by marriage came from (South Derbyshire - Ilkeston area) a general term of greeting is or was until relatively recently "Eh up, mi duck" Mostly used by a man greeting a man or woman of his acquaintance, usually met in the street or on the bus, etc. ("Mi duck" being translatable as "My Dear" & used when addressing males, females and children, either family or well known to the speaker, such as a neighbour or workmate)
 
Growing up in NJ we would say we were going “Up the country” which meant upstate NY rural areas. Or “Down the shore” to the beach areas. Not very good grammar but oh well. LOL
 
Era - late 60's
My late BIL (from OK) drew a room full of shocked silence when he looked at one of the babies at a family gathering (in Toronto) and said:- "Well, ain't you just the cutest little bugger."

Here the reference would be to say the person practiced buggery and was a horrid insult.

I'm not sure it hasn't lost some of its stigma but...
It is also used as an expletive single word that used to carry the same implication that the British expletive "bloody" used to carry.

With global media, world travel and people relocating miles from their birth places it is hard to distinguish what is 'colloquial' anymore.

:ROFLMAO: my extremely religious great aunt used that term all the time in reference to something adorable, to the absolute horror of my Canada-born mother!
 
I had a playful language discourse with Scott-180 on another thread, and it got me to thinking about the fun ways we say things around the country, and around the world.

So, let's list some things people say that are regional. I'll start.

Y'all. This is what got me started on this thought train, when Scott-180 mentioned it. It is pretty obvious that it is you + all, as in a group of people. My grandparents from Pittsburgh said "younz," and back when I was kid in the Northeast, it was "you guys."

Fixin. Big time Texas thing. It means "getting ready to..." "I'm fixin' to make a pot of chili."

That dog won't hunt. Basically means, that's Bulls--t.

All hat, no cattle. That is someone who talks big, but can't back it up with results.

Tump. To tip something over or dump something out. "Bubba done tumped that pot of soup on the floor."

One of my favorites, It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Hard to explain. It is like saying something isn't too bad, but not good either. In cooking terms, if you overcook a ribeye steak, you might say, "It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."

Okay, let's get this train rolling!

CD
"That dog won't hunt" I'm trying to remember the British version of that. Perhaps one of my fellow Brits will supply it

"All hat - no cattle" - equivalent in GB = "All mouth and no trousers".

"It's a bit black over Bill's mother's" = "It looks like rain" (another saying from my Ilkeston uncle.

"He wasn't half mad" = "He was extremely angry"
 
an aussie friend floored us when he first used the expression...

"Let's go knock up Susie."
Yes, I can imagine it would;)

In the northern English cotton towns of the Victorian era (and right into the 1950s in some areas) there was a man employed by the mill-owners to go round to employees houses in the early morning. He carried a long pole with which he would knock on the upstairs windows to wake up the workers, many of whom didn't have alarm clocks at least in the early days. He was called "the Knocker-upper".
 
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Era - late 60's
My late BIL (from OK) drew a room full of shocked silence when he looked at one of the babies at a family gathering (in Toronto) and said:- "Well, ain't you just the cutest little bugger."

Here the reference would be to say the person practiced buggery and was a horrid insult.

I'm not sure it hasn't lost some of its stigma but...

It is also used as an expletive single word that developed from, and used to carry the same implication that the British expletive "bloody"used to carry.

With global media, world travel and people relocating miles from their birth places it is hard to distinguish what is 'colloquial' anymore.
"Bloody" is very old slang (not used in polite company) stemming from such mediaeval curses as "Odd's blood" (= "God's blood")

And "bugger", even in the context used by your BIL, isn't entirely acceptable language in GB even now.

It is still an offence in English law to use the "F" word in public (eg in the street) but a police officer has to hear you and I can't remember hearing of any instance that a Police arrested anyone under that law. It always amazes me that television and films get away with the use of it. Despite it's general usage by anyone old enough to talk, it still offends many Brits so watch your step if you are visiting.
 
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My late FIL favourite... "Don't get your knickers in a knot!"

A girlfriend and I both hate hearing the f... word - under any circumstances - when the other day she said -'You do realize how many times we have both used that word in everyday conversation - not even as an expletive!'
I'm embarrassed and ashamed as I think she started using it more often from hanging around with me. I've found it is coming out in my common everyday speech. :(

I am not impressed with myself :ermm: :mad: :mad:

We are both now trying very hard to clean it up...
 
Giv'er lads!


There is a television series called Letterkenny which is a small town less than an hour from here..It is a good example of what the real locals talk like...I'd post some footage but the language isn't all that sanitary, if you know what I mean..
 
The problem with regional idioms and colloquialisms, at least for me, is that I don't think anything of them when I use them, so I can't just come up with examples easily. A lot of them aren't polite enough for mixed company either. These are a few that I can gather off of the top of my head.

Gully washer - Heavy rain
Frog choker - Same as gully washer
Knee high to a grasshopper - small/young. "I haven't seen you since you was knee high to a grasshopper."
You're about as useful as a screen door on a submarine - This one's pretty self explanatory.
It's slicker 'n snot on a doorknob - It's really slick
You look like 80 miles of rough road - You look terrible.
He's got the manners of a goat - He's rude
Drunker 'n Cooter Brown - That's really, really drunk.
Barking up the wrong tree - If someone is trying to solve a mystery of some sort and isn't on the right path/is accusing the wrong person/etc. then you tell them they're barking up the wrong tree.
 
I like your list phinz. Here's a few more.


Put your big girl panties on.=be brave. (Same goes for big boy undies.)
Don't beat a dead horse.= stop repeating the same thing.
He's/she's been rode hard and put away wet.=worn down, looks terrible.
Were you raised in a barn?=bad manners

Cowboy/girl's don't cry.= same as #1


Fun thread Casey.
 
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I met my wife using the standard NJ greeting of interest with overtones of affection.

I was behind her getting drinks at a bar when she turned her giant head of gravity defying hair, and said, "How ya doin'?"

I replied, "How YOU doin'?"


That was almost 26 years ago.


I could have been out by now...
 
"Bloody" is very old slang (not used in polite company) stemming from such mediaeval curses as "Odd's blood" (= "God's blood")

And "bugger", even in the context used by your BIL, isn't entirely acceptable language in GB even now.

It is still an offence in English law to use the "F" word in public (eg in the street) but a police officer has to hear you and I can't remember hearing of any instance that a Police arrested anyone under that law. It always amazes me that television and films get away with the use of it. Despite it's general usage by anyone old enough to talk, it still offends many Brits so watch your step if you are visiting.

BTW, the F word is bleeped out on all TV shows. Or at least most of them. It depends on the hour of showing.

My English husband explained the "Bloody" to me as a result of using the saying of "By My Lady" considered an insult to the Blessed Mother. Not at all acceptable. It was shortened to "Bloody" once the Americans arrived during WWII. Now as crass as we Americans can be at times, even we knew "By My Lady" was unacceptable in any company. So the Brits, being smart and wanting to keep their own little secret, started to use the word, "Bloody". Made sense to me.
 
Pregnant= one of my faves, up the scooter, knocked up, bun in the oven.
One I discovered in London with English relatives, I was talking about my brother, I said he was a hard case, which here is a real funny likeable guy. In the uk, it's a real,nasty type. Criminal usually. I wondered why the conversation went quiet.
Nz like Australia have our own words. The above is just from thinking locally.

Russ
 
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