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Odd Sayings

My most humble apologies Mrs Z. It, shall not happen again.

It's a strange situation of warmth with rain at that time of the year. I always have a delicious guilty feeling that My Mum will yell out "Come back in here you little bugger - don't you know that there are names for people who don't know when to come in out of the rain!"

I cannot thank my Parents enough for emigrating out here. It's been 'Boys own' adventures all my life.

No apologies required :)
 
87c0405c8ee7efc5f46252e1f7c2bd45.jpg
Ahh, Mad Max's dinner of choice, if I'm not much mistaken...
 
There's a saying, 'im as speaks 'as no teeth.

Dunno if this is local to my area or a if it comes from heavy industry generally but it always used to induce great hilarity in the pub.

You need a quiet background for it to work.

So it goes thusly,
A : *farts with a whining upward tone, suggestive of a voice asking a question*
B: (hard of hearing from years working in a noisy environment) Pardon?
A: 'im as speaks 'as no teeth!
B: *pretends disgust*
All: hilarity

OK, it's not Waiting for Godot. But I bet Beckett would'd've put it in if he'd thought of it.

Anyway, t'other night I got Techy with it. :evillaugh:

I was hysterical for about an hour and he thought I'd gone mad. :rollingw:

This is how I salute my heavy engineering forebears. :salute:
 
Is the colloquial Welsh term for a microwave (and is the second most looked-up Welsh term after the notorious longest place name).

I have also read of microwave meals called 'ding dinners' in South Wales. This tickled us and we still use the expression now and then.

However, where I first read this expression wasn't funny. It was in an account of the terrible 2001 explosion at the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Three men died. They were on a break and were eating 'ding dinners' when the incident began -

Galsworthy, Hutin and their friends, sitting about 40ft below the point of explosion, were swamped by the tidal wave of molten iron as it crashed, white-hot, over their heads.

Galsworthy and Hutin stood no chance; they were embedded in a sea of hot metal.

Andrew Hutin was only 20. I had kids around that age. Awful.

Here's the Observer article about it -

Life of a community under threat after steel plant tragedy
 
I have also read of microwave meals called 'ding dinners' in South Wales. This tickled us and we still use the expression now and then.

However, where I first read this expression wasn't funny. It was in an account of the terrible 2001 explosion at the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Three men died. They were on a break and were eating 'ding dinners' when the incident began -



Andrew Hutin was only 20. I had kids around that age. Awful.

Here's the Observer article about it -

Life of a community under threat after steel plant tragedy
I have called microwave meals things like 'chicken ding' and 'prawn ding' for a many years and im from Hampshire :)
 
A saying sometimes I use to express admiration is 'Ohhh, he/she looks a cutter!', meaning they appear clever or sharp.

Said this to someone today about a photo they showed me and was asked what it meant.

These days a 'cutter' is a person who self-harms and I certainly didn't mean that.

I heard this saying, and the more straightforward 'He/she's a cutter!' for someone you know or had met personally, a lot as a child and vaguely thought it a nautical expression. Seems not, so where does it come from?
 
My brother and I picked up a lot of what I think is army slang, from our dad, who did his National Service in the mid fifties. I still sometimes find myself using it and some of the Indian words he used that they brought back from the locals. He used 'imshi' to mean 'hurry up', 'oppo' was your friend (short, I think, for 'opposite number') and I can still count up to five in Malay...
 
A saying sometimes I use to express admiration is 'Ohhh, he/she looks a cutter!', meaning they appear clever or sharp.

Said this to someone today about a photo they showed me and was asked what it meant.

These days a 'cutter' is a person who self-harms and I certainly didn't mean that.

I heard this saying, and the more straightforward 'He/she's a cutter!' for someone you know or had met personally, a lot as a child and vaguely thought it a nautical expression. Seems not, so where does it come from?


I heard this from My Mum who was a WRN, Escargot, and we knew the word as describing a type of light sailing boat which used an abundance of sail.
 
I heard this from My Mum who was a WRN, Escargot, and we knew the word as describing a type of light sailing boat which used an abundance of sail.
Did she call people 'cutters'?

I knew there was a type of nippy ship called that, possibly from reading Treasure Island-type books. It'd be a compliment!
 
I heard this saying, and the more straightforward 'He/she's a cutter!' for someone you know or had met personally, a lot as a child and vaguely thought it a nautical expression. Seems not, so where does it come from?

A cutter is a boat or small ship with a single mast, fore and aft rig, and two or more headsails, and sometimes with a square topsail. Because of the multiple foresails, the mast is stepped further aft than on other single-masted vessels. The effect is lots of sail — therefore lots of speed — but at the cost of reduced carrying capacity.

Cutters are designed for speed. Examples would be a pilot cutter, where pilots would compete to be first to reach an incoming ship to secure the job of piloting her into a channel or harbour; a revenue cutter designed to allow customs & excise people to catch smugglers; or a gentleman's racing yacht.

The term "cutter" is now also used for a fast motor-powered working boat such as one used by the coastguard.

So "He's a cutter" would make sense if you think of a cutter as fast, impressive, and standing out from a fleet of slower, steadier vessels.


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The tan-sailed boat and the white sailed one in the middle of the picture are cutters.
 
Not quite an 'odd" saying but a variant I heard yesterday that I liked.

We've probably all heard, "How long is a piece of string?" as a slightly irritating way of giving a vague, "It all depends" sort of answer:
Q "How much will it cost me to kit out a workshop with tools?"
A "How long is a piece of string?"

Yesterday, a workmate was commenting on something and said, "It's like, how long is a piece of string? Well, it depends where you cut it."
 
Not quite an 'odd" saying but a variant I heard yesterday that I liked.

We've probably all heard, "How long is a piece of string?" as a slightly irritating way of giving a vague, "It all depends" sort of answer:
Q "How much will it cost me to kit out a workshop with tools?"
A "How long is a piece of string?"

Yesterday, a workmate was commenting on something and said, "It's like, how long is a piece of string? Well, it depends where you cut it."
My default answer to the string question is always 'twice as long as half its length' :p
 
So "He's a cutter" would make sense if you think of a cutter as fast, impressive, and standing out from a fleet of slower, steadier vessels.

Exactly. So what I wonder is, where did my landlubber family and neighbours get it from?

Answer: From everyday English.
Britain is a seafaring nation and our language reflects this, as explained in Simon Jonathon Isserlis' highly informative PhD thesis -

THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A CORPUS DRIVEN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF BRITAIN’S MARITIME TRADITION ON STANDARD ENGLISH

From the introduction -

This work forms a part of a much larger study of the effects of British maritime history on the English language. What was the route that took the words and expressions of an isolated, highly specialised speech community, composed in large part of semi-literate, or often, wholly illiterate, speakers and made them into an integral part of the everyday language of the discourse community (Teubert 2007, Swales1990, 1998) that comprises native English speakers throughout the world?

This very paragraph includes a seafaring reference: What was the route that took the words and expressions...
Maritime routes are like road maps for ships.

People born in my grandparents' time (born around 1900) used 'cutter' so it might even have been 1920s' slang.

We've discussed this before somewhere. A fascinating subject.
 
Exactly. So what I wonder is, where did my landlubber family and neighbours get it from?

Answer: From everyday English.
Britain is a seafaring nation and our language reflects this, as explained in Simon Jonathon Isserlis' highly informative PhD thesis -

THE LANGUAGE OF THE SEA: A CORPUS DRIVEN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF BRITAIN’S MARITIME TRADITION ON STANDARD ENGLISH

From the introduction -



This very paragraph includes a seafaring reference: What was the route that took the words and expressions...
Maritime routes are like road maps for ships.

People born in my grandparents' time (born around 1900) used 'cutter' so it might even have been 1920s' slang.

We've discussed this before somewhere. A fascinating subject.
Are we sure (if you've never seen it written down) that it's 'cutter' and not 'cut a''? As in an abbreviation for 'a cut above the rest'?
 
A couple of odd words my Nan used to use were cauncy and cotchel (not sure if they are spelt correctly). She would use the word cauncy to refer to a good looking man. Cotchel was used to mean a lot of something.
I’ll never forget when I took her and my Mum shopping in Herne Bay and me and my Nan were waiting in the car for my Mum. A young man was walking towards the car in a pair of fairly tight joggers and my Nan looked at him and said to me “cor,he’s got a cotchel”. She was about ninety at the time!
 
People from SA are known as Cousin Jacks...which speaks volumes.

They would be Cornish, of course.

Anyhow, Nan had a phrase

"Aint laughed so much un since old leatherarse died."

Who is Old Leatherarse?
 
Are we sure (if you've never seen it written down) that it's 'cutter' and not 'cut a''? As in an abbreviation for 'a cut above the rest'?
That's a bit contrived!
Also rather formal.
With a bow - 'You, Sir, are, may I say, a cut above the rest. Or, to put it briefly, a cutter.'
 
Did she call people 'cutters'?

I knew there was a type of nippy ship called that, possibly from reading Treasure Island-type books. It'd be a compliment!

I vaguely remember Escargot- and yes,it would've been a compliment.
 
They would be Cornish, of course.

Anyhow, Nan had a phrase

"Aint laughed so much un since old leatherarse died."

Who is Old Leatherarse?

Cromwell comes to mind.
 
Are we sure (if you've never seen it written down) that it's 'cutter' and not 'cut a''? As in an abbreviation for 'a cut above the rest'?

By analogy with "cuppa" meaning "cup o' tea"?

I agree with @escargot that that sounds a little contrived — although there are plenty of "contrived" idioms in our wonderful language.

Much as I like the association with the cutter sailing vessel, I wonder if the simplest explanation is that "cutter" is derived from "sharp". Sharp can mean intelligent, quick, or lively minded, and a smartly-dressed person can be described as sharply-dressed.

My Grandma used to say, "If you were any sharper, you'd cut yourself."

It is quite common in English for a longer or more formal word to be used "incorrectly" by association with its more correct meaning, and for this to become a new accepted meaning. For example:
  • When a cricket captain wins the toss and decides to bowl first, he is putting the other side into bat. Many commentators say, "He inserted the opposition."
  • When a solicitor writes a letter meaning that they will "get back to you" (when they have an answer to your question) but they use the word revert. "I will speak to my client and then revert."
Both of these cases strike me as having started out as semi-light-hearted pseudo-formality that has become cliché, and eventually the accepted form.


Change of subject. Many years ago, I met my (now former) partner's daughter outside my office at lunch time. She was at that time in her late teens, tall for her age, and dressed in a manner designed to emphasise her large breasts. When I returned to the office, a colleague asked breathlessly who the girl was that I was "seeing". She commented, "She's a stag."

I have never heard a woman referred to as a stag before or since. The association I made was with the expression "rack". A stag has an impressive rack of antlers, and some people prefer to an impressive pair of boobs as a "nice rack".
 
...that My Mum will yell out "Come back in here you little bugger - don't you know that there are names for people who don't know when to come in out of the rain!"

When you think of the literal meaning of the word, it is surprising that bugger has become acceptable as a light hearted expletive or even a term of endearment. It is one of the few crude sexual words that doesn't need to be prissily asterisked in print unlike f*ck or c**t, or even, sometimes, w*nk.

However, it was also common in my childhood to hear the variant beggar used as the term of endearment. "Come here you cheeky little beggar." This was more likely to be used by older females, perhaps as a nod to the fact that bugger is "not a nice thing to say".

In Nottingham (midlands of England) another variant is bogger. Many people seem to assume that this is just a local pronunciation of bugger.

You might even hear "Bogger me!" as an expression of surprise.

However, there is a tenable theory that bogger was originally a person from the bog: the low flat area between the city and the rivers Trent and Leen that was known as the "broad marsh". Although it is now well drained, built up, and has not flooded for decades, the names broad marsh and the meadows are still used.

People living in the broad marsh when it was still boggy and at risk of flooding tended to be poor and poorly educated and calling someone a bogger would therefore be an insult. However, the association with bog (if that was really ever the case) has long given way in popular perception to the similarity in sound to the word bugger.

Edit Two examples found in this forum:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...-isolation-remote-locations.22210/post-544461

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/things-that-make-you-go-wtf.26340/post-1510607
 
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It is one of the few crude sexual words that doesn't need to be prissily asterisked in print unlike f*ck or c**t, or even, sometimes, w*nk.
This reminded me of watching 'Mork and Mindy' back in the 80's and finding it hilarious that their landlord was called 'Mr. Wanker', i take it the term hadnt made it across the pond as a swear word.

 
This reminded me of watching 'Mork and Mindy' back in the 80's and finding it hilarious that their landlord was called 'Mr. Wanker', i take it the term hadnt made it across the pond as a swear word.

I think a lot of people in America would have known the word wanker then, but maybe not network executives. It's probably a case of writers sneaking a ruder than usual joke past standards and practices.

There's a known instance of this with the 1960s sitcom It's About Time, a show about astronauts who travel to the past and befriend a colony of cavemen. The main female character, stereotypically expected to be subservient to her caveman mate, was named Shag. When the network execs found out the British slang meaning of the word, she was quietly renamed Shad.

As for bugger, I doubt most Americans normally think of that word in any sexual context. Its innocent use was common in my family (NYC/Long Island area) at least 50 years ago: my mother and aunt often referred to rascally children as little buggers, and I'm reasonably sure they were unaware of the literal meaning. My wife, who grew up in the same general area, but with well-traveled parents, often responds to oy gevalt/ay Chihuahua situations with nonsense syllables that sound like "bugga", or more fully "ay g'bugga". She doesn't know where it comes from. I tell her to try not to do it, as it might get her in trouble in some parts of the English-speaking world, but to no avail.


Minor edit for clarification ("expected to be subservient") a few hours after posting.
 
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I think a lot of people in America would have known the word wanker then, but maybe not network executives. It's probably a case of writers sneaking a ruder than usual joke past standards and practices.

Musician, comedian, scriptwriter and author, the late Spike Milligan was a master of this. He was a gunner throughout much of World War 2 and encountered and absorbed a good slice of "military humour".

In one Goon Show, a spy's code name was "Pink Oboe". The expression, "playing the pink oboe" is a jokey description of fellatio.
(This episode)

In another Goon Show, someone was threatened with something unspeakable and exclaimed in terror, "No! Not the last turkey in the shop!"

"The last turkey in the shop" was one of various exhibits that one of Spike's army comrades had included in a "puppetry of the penis" (or origami of the organ?) show for the entertainment of his mates.

Both of these expressions, and no doubt many more, made it past the producer and were broadcast in the Goon Show, a popular BBC radio comedy.
 
Childish as it is, when we start watching Buffy again, both my husband and I have a snigger in the credits where there is both a Wanker and an Wankum!
 
This is a fun thread! Sadly, I wasn't really on board with 'Mork & Mindy', so the delightfully named Mr Wanker passed me by, but I do remember some years ago being at a bbq where an acquaintance got a bit pissed and nearly laughed himself unconcious about having watched a Channel 4 repeat of an episode of Irwin Allen's 'Lost in Space' that day which had featured a sort of space policeman who was called Officer Bollix :dsist: On reflection, it's a bit sad that that was the most memorable thing about that bbq :worry:
 
Does anyone know the origin of the (I think) Cockney slang term "rozzer" for police officer? - or "rhino" for money? As in the immortal words of some unknown poet, "It's crackers to bend a rozzer with duff rhino."

Meaning "It's unwise to attempt to bribe a police officer with counterfeit money."

To bend, in this sense, means to bribe or to pay off; as in "a bent brief", meaning a career criminal's tame lawyer.

Then there's the other use of the word "bent", as in "bent out of shape", meaning annoyed or indignant, usually over some minor matter. For example, " 'E'd get bent out of shape if 'is shoelace wuz untied."

In Cheshire, and probably elsewhere, "keggled" means physically bent out of shape, as in "Keggled like a sheet o' corrugated iron that a lorry's driven ower." And then there's "gibbled", which I've only ever heard in use in Western Canada but is most likely more widespread, meaning fairly seriously damaged, or damaged beyond repair, or when applied to a person, "A few boards shy of a load."

Vernacular English is wonderful.
 
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