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Fortean Headlines

Goat named Billy ‘in custody’ for property damage, peeing on Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy

https://www.kold.com/2022/09/13/goa...amage-peeing-maricopa-county-sheriffs-deputy/

TONOPAH, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Here’s something you don’t see every day. A few days ago, Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in Tonopah where a goat was reportedly terrorizing people who lived there.

The goat named Billy was being a little rowdy, according to the sheriff’s office, damaging a garage door and an electrical cord. He even chased someone around a car.
 
ChasFink said:
I had to look that up to be sure I understood it; we don't use that phrase in the good old U.S. of A.
The Wikipedia article for "Taking the piss" includes the helpful note "Not to be confused with Urophagia." Uh... Okay.

:botp:
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Another version is 'taking the mickey'. Not sure of the origin of that, but it may have something to do with the Disney character,
 
Mythopoeika said:
Another version is 'taking the mickey'. Not sure of the origin of that, but it may have something to do with the Disney character,
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Apparently "Mickey" is short for the rhyming slang "Mickey Bliss". Exactly who Mickey Bliss is, who knows?
 
ChasFink said:
Yes, but who IS Mickey Bliss? Rhyming slang doesn't make sense if you can't connect the part you keep with the rhyming part you drop.
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From Wikipedia:
"Take the mickey" may be an abbreviated form of the Cockney rhyming slang "take the Mickey Bliss",[8] a euphemism for "take the piss." It has also been suggested that "mickey" is a contraction of "micturition,"[5] in which case "take the micturition" would be a synonymous euphemism for "take the piss." The phrase has been noted since the 1930s.
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But we are still no closer to whether or not an actual person named 'Mickey Bliss' existed in order for his name to be taken as rhyming slang, a la 'Ruby Murray', 'Gregory Peck', 'George Raft', et al.
 
maximus otter said:
https://forum.casebook.org/forum/social-chat/other-mysteries/754390-the-search-for-mickey-bliss

:dunno:

maximus otter
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One explanation I have encountered for "Mickey" is that it is derived from "micturation" — the proper medical word for urination.

I can see this sort of progression:
I'm going for a pee.
I'm going to pass water. (Mock posh)
I'm going to urninate. (Mock posh.)
I'm going to micturate. (Mock technical)
I'm going for a Mickey.

I needed that Mickey. Aaah! Bliss!

I'm going to see Mickey.
Mickey who?
Mickey Bliss.

Meanwhile, separately:
You're taking the piss is a standard saying.

"You're taking the piss" then becomes "You're taking the Mickey."

There are many daft expressions in English for going for a pee. Locally (Nottingham, UK) some older people say, "I'm going to turn my bike round."
 
I have never understood rhyming slang. I like the creativity of it, but don't understand it.
 
brownmane said:
I have never understood rhyming slang. I like the creativity of it, but don't understand it.
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It's simple.
Think of a word......e.g. 'wife'.
Now think of a 2 (or 3) word phrase or name in which the last word rhymes with your 'target' word.
So for 'wife' we use 'trouble and strife'.
But then when using the rhyming slang to talk about my wife, I don't use the word that rhymes, just the one preceding it, 'trouble'.
As in......
"I'd better hide this cash before the 'trouble' finds it"

Then all you need to do is popularise that rhyme amongst a small community so that everyone within that community understands that when you mention your 'trouble' they know you mean your wife.
And everyone else will be baffled.
 
Trevp666 said:
It's simple.
Think of a word......e.g. 'wife'.
Now think of a 2 (or 3) word phrase or name in which the last word rhymes with your 'target' word.
So for 'wife' we use 'trouble and strife'.
But then when using the rhyming slang to talk about my wife, I don't use the word that rhymes, just the one preceding it, 'trouble'.
As in......
"I'd better hide this cash before the 'trouble' finds it"

Then all you need to do is popularise that rhyme amongst a small community so that everyone within that community understands that when you mention your 'trouble' they know you mean your wife.
And everyone else will be baffled.
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Now, if I'd heard you refer to "trouble" I've thought you were referring to yourself:curt:
 
If you had a butchers at my boat you might Adam and Eve that, it's a right 2 & 8.
 
Trevp666 said:
It's simple.
Think of a word......e.g. 'wife'.
Now think of a 2 (or 3) word phrase or name in which the last word rhymes with your 'target' word.
So for 'wife' we use 'trouble and strife'.
But then when using the rhyming slang to talk about my wife, I don't use the word that rhymes, just the one preceding it, 'trouble'.
As in......
"I'd better hide this cash before the 'trouble' finds it"

Then all you need to do is popularise that rhyme amongst a small community so that everyone within that community understands that when you mention your 'trouble' they know you mean your wife.
And everyone else will be baffled.
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It does seem to have something in common with Polari.
It creates an 'in-group' and an 'out-group' (who don't understand).
 
Trevp666 said:
It's w.
Think of a word......e.g. 'wife'.
Now think of a 2 (or 3) word phrase or name in which the last word rhymes with your 'target' word.
So for 'wife' we use 'trouble and strife'.
But then when using the rhyming slang to talk about my wife, I don't use the word that rhymes, just the one preceding it, 'trouble'.
As in......
"I'd better hide this cash before the 'trouble' finds it"

Then all you need to do is popularise that rhyme amongst a small community so that everyone within that community understands that when you mention your 'trouble' they know you mean your wife.
And everyone else will be baffled.
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Yes, in many cases the rhyming word is dropped:

Whistle and flute = a suit (clothing), referred to as a whistle.
Butcher's hook = a look (at something), referred to as a butcher's
Scapa Flow = go, referred to as the verb to "scarper" (scapa with a long south eastern English a)
China plate = mate (friend or pal) referred to as China ("My ol' China...")
Syrup of fig = wig (hair piece) referred to as a syrup

The above are examples of rhyming slang used as a code, to include the in group and exclude the out group.


In other cases, the expression humorously refers to its subject:
Trouble and strife = wife, but they would seldom refer to her simply as My trouble

This style of rhyming slang seems more inclusive and less exclusive.


In other cases, neither seems to apply:
Apples and pears = stairs, but I have never heard someone referring to going up the apples, or falling down the apples.
Pony and trap = crap, as in "I need to have a pony and trap."

I am not sure whether this third category is genuine, or a sort of made up spin off of the real thing.
 
Mikefule said:
Yes, in many cases the rhyming word is dropped:

Whistle and flute = a suit (clothing), referred to as a whistle.
Butcher's hook = a look (at something), referred to as a butcher's
Scapa Flow = go, referred to as the verb to "scarper" (scapa with a long south eastern English a)
China plate = mate (friend or pal) referred to as China ("My ol' China...")
Syrup of fig = wig (hair piece) referred to as a syrup

The above are examples of rhyming slang used as a code, to include the in group and exclude the out group.


In other cases, the expression humorously refers to its subject:
Trouble and strife = wife, but they would seldom refer to her simply as My trouble

This style of rhyming slang seems more inclusive and less exclusive.


In other cases, neither seems to apply:
Apples and pears = stairs, but I have never heard someone referring to going up the apples, or falling down the apples.
Pony and trap = crap, as in "I need to have a pony and trap."

I am not sure whether this third category is genuine, or a sort of made up spin off of the real thing.
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Wife = trouble and strife, maybe just shortened to strife?
 
Mikefule said:
I have never heard someone referring to going up the apples
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I once hear Alfred Hitchcock say it in an interview, but it was shortly after a discussion of rhyming slang, so it was mostly for humorous effect.
 
brownmane said:
I have never understood rhyming slang. I like the creativity of it, but don't understand it.
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As I was passing a bodge of builders on a pavement in London (more likely Westminster), the youngest (~17) felt obliged to loudly declare he needed to call his mate on "the dog and bone". Naturally I had no idea what he was on about.
 
Bad Bungle said:
As I was passing a bodge of builders on a pavement in London (more likely Westminster), the youngest (~17) felt obliged to loudly declare he needed to call his mate on "the dog and bone". Naturally I had no idea what he was on about.
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You’ve coined a new collective noun. Unless it’s actually more rhyming slang - Bodge, short for Bodge Job = Mob.
 
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