English language & interesting phrases

[bernard]

I agree however the stores seem to think we are the 4th emergeny service

Regards Bernard

[arcticmonkey]

in that case my other fave saying is "gone fishing".

[gosully]

You need to watch your P's and Q's!

I heard this a lot when I was a lot younger, but could never figure out what the P & Q stood for.

At the present time, I would rather watch Frank's avatar continue to change.

This refers to being polite....Watch your Ps and Qs = Watch your Please and Thank Qs

[brian_chapin]

Here are some different military ones that I wouldn't mind seeing in civilian use more:

Fire for effect — Literally, the artillery or mortar barrage that is the climax of a single fire mission. Figuratively, an encouraging way of saying "get on with it" or "give it a try," hopefully to a positive outcome - As in "well, son, fire for effect." Also a euphemism for ejaculation.

DA Form ID-10T — a snipe hunt for new soldiers. New soldiers are told to get a DA Form ID-10T from an NCO. Invariably, the soldier says he/she doesn't know what that is, and is told to just write it down, and show an NCO. The new soldier usually doesn't realize he has written "IDIOT" and proceeds to show it to an NCO and asks where he can find one. You can easily modify this for civilian situations.

...getting a range named after you — usually used sarcastically to describe someone who tries to be a hero; this is because rifle ranges are often named after soldiers who get killed in combat or Medal of Honor-winners; i.e., "Don't you go trying to get a range named after you."

High-Speed — a highly-motivated and skilled soldier; often used sarcastically when a soldier is motivated but doesn't really know what he's doing, as in, "Slow down, High-Speed." Often used in conjunction with "low-drag or turbo-charged" essentially meaning the same thing.

Nuts to Butts - Often used in basic when in-processing and standing in line, e.g. to get hair cuts or shots, new enlistees will be told to close up the lines with, "Lets go people, nuts to butts. Make your buddy smile."

PowerPoint Ranger — A term usually referring to a staff officer who spends their whole day giving presentations to the boss using MS PowerPoint. "Death by Powerpoint"

Snipe hunt - also known as a fool's errand or wild goose chase, is one of a class of practical jokes that involves experienced people making fun of newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. For example, inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe as well as a usually ridiculous method of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises. Incidentally, the snipe (various species of shorebirds) is difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one

Soup Sandwich — when something is messed up or not to standard; as in, "This formation looks like a soup sandwich."

Square Away to get something organized, cleaned up, functioning or looking strictly to military standards. Also used as an adjective for anything which is in such a form.

[Contactor]

you cannae shove yer granny aff a bus

Scottish saying, meaning : be nice to your Granny. From Glasgow, where unpopular elderly relatives were once thrown from busses, lorries etc in an attempt to bring about their rapid death.

[US Iceman]

I like the military acronyms of:

SNAFU
TARFU
FUBAR

They seem to fit most systems found in refrigeration work!

Or, Can someone explain where this came from? " The hair of the dog that bit you."
(used to explain a cure for a hangover).

Scottish saying, meaning : be nice to your Granny. From Glasgow, where unpopular elderly relatives were once thrown from busses, lorries etc in an attempt to bring about their rapid death.

You Scots are a tough bunch.

One of my grandmothers would have probably got a shot off first if I had tried this.

[PaulZ]

A few snags short of the barbie. Not playing with a full deck. A few bricks short of a load. As dumb as dog ****. (not too smart) The list goes on.
Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
About as useful as tits on a bull. (useless)
Flat out like a lizard drinking. (working hard)
As dry as a bone. (thirsty)
As full as a fart. (drunk)
Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. (don't lie to me)
A snowballs chance in hell (no chance)
Opinions are like arseholes everyones got one.
I could sit here all day and list 1000's
Paul

[gosully]

Opinions are like arseholes everyones got one.


.....and they usually stink!

[old time fridgy]

Hi all,

AS FIT AS A BUTCHERS DOG.

DO NOT EAT YELLOW SNOW.

YOU ARE ABOUT AS MUCH USE AS A CHOCOLATE TEAPOT / FIREGUARD

Also quoted before but a very common Black Country saying as well:
A BIT BLACK OVER THE BACK OF BILLS MOTHERS.

Another black country one:
AS THICK AS A DINGLE (dingles are Wolves fans)

[coolments]

Hi all

a few interesting ones i know the origin off from recentley doing a day of falconry. all very well used phrases in the uk

Cack Handed: you call it someone who fails a task you ask them to do with there hands or a clumsy person.

Origin: in medieval england the time before a dog was a mans best friend it was birds of prey, the bird had to be caught on your hand by positioning in a special way on landing as they would normally drop there kids off (take a dump). if you were unable to do this task you would get bird cack (crap) on your hand. and were called cack handed.

Under the thumb: called a guy who is "hen pecked" kept under control by there partner, not allowed out to socialise with friends.

Origin: Birds of prey had a leather strap called a teather attached to their foot, this strap would be held under the thumb of the owner to stop it flying off.

Which brings me to the final one.

End of my teather: said when your frustion reaches its pinical over an issue and action is needed.

Origin: the teather attached to the bird would wear down over time to a point where you could not use it to hold the bird to your hand, at that point you had no chioce but to change it.

[captincodeye]

Autographin the pan,

Bending one round the U bend

[gosully]

A favourite of mine for describing someone that is useless comes from an old Rowan atkinson sketch....

Hes as much use as a 1 legged man in an arse kicking contest.

[nh3wizard]

Ive got to piss like a 10 peckered billy goat.

[thermo prince]

I like Brian's " snipe hunt" expression from 2007 post.
Had not heard it called that before .... growing up in Ireland,working in London and NY and Boston during summers,I think there were many snipe hunts!

Like sending the young apprentice " chippy" (carpenter) off to look for a 'skirting board ladder' ....

Like sending the apprentice mechanic to the storeman for " a pint of tail light oil "

or tell him to move a truck out of the workshop saying
" stick her into reverse and back her slowly forwards " .. that will get them panicky every time.....

Like sending 'the labrador' ( slang for labourer) on the building site to pull or tie a wall or column off "a sky hook" ...

there are many more 'to be sure, to be sure'
regards

[fridge doctor]

No room to swing a cat - Refers to the naval use of the cat-o-nine-tails as Bernard told us very early on. In this case it meant that the room or space wasn't big enough for the flogger to perform his duty, and so passed down it simply means "tight space"

From the same era of sailing ships, "Copper bottomed" today meaning well heeled, best quality etc, In the old days the best ships had copper lined bottoms over the traditional wood so as to preserve them for longer against the sea elements.

[frank]

Apparently, the folks from Nottingham have their own sayings. Anyone visited Nottingham?

See a few local sayings here and here

[expat]

This has been a fun thread to read, thankyou all.

One point though, Coolmints, I don't get the bit about the falcon or hawk messing itself as it lands. It is acctualy quite the opposite that is true. Ie, to lighten the load.

There is however an interesting word in English that comes to mind: Cadger. In English this means someone who is trying to get something for little or nothing.

It comes from falconry and means the man who carried the cadge. The cadge being a square frame that the man (cadger) carried around him at waist hight, with straps over his shoulders and apon which the falcons sat.
At the end of the hunt he was paid only with tips. Hence the name cadger.

[IceMan08]

take a butchers at these,while i order a ruby on the dog n bone.
( have a look at the selection of phrases below, I am just using my telephone to order a curry of indian origin, and a naan!)

Does a bear s**t in he woods?
(no!)

Out of the frying pan, into the fire
(something went wrong, and got worse!)

The s**t has hit the fan
(something happened, something bad!)

As rare as rocking horse s**t
(no chance,not available)

As common as muck
(muck is available at various outlets!)


As dry as a nuns..... I cant finish this one as the big man may strike me down where i sit , and I dont mean the moderator!!!

[Chef]

I just love these 2 explantions In England circa 1500 lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up--hence the custom of holding a "wake." England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
Chef

[Don Davis]

We're "Up sh*t creek in a chicken wire canoe."
Hopeless situation

[expat]

Give him enough rope and he'll hang himself.

I'll go to the foot of our stairs. Meaning astonished or outraged I don't know why though.

If brains were dynamite he wouldn't have enough to blow his nose.

I'd rather be in her than in bebt.

Anyone want to know why American GIs called girls poontang in those war films.

[just-chillin]

AS MUCH USE AS A CHOCOLATE FIRE GUARD. ---this was used when talking about an apprentice

DON'T LOOK AT THE FIRE PLACE WHEN POKING THE FIRE.. ---ugly girl friend

[IceMan08]

a sandwich short of a picnic.-not too clever.
he's got a screw loose-not too clever and slightly unstable
away with the fairies-same as above!

If he had a brain cell, it would die of loneliness.