FYI the OED says “Scottish National Dictionary at nebbie, records the sense in use across a broad swathe of central and southern Scotland in 1963.” and also “Dictionary of American Regional English at nebby adj. records the sense as common chiefly in Pennsylvania.” Presumably its usage in Scotland is older, although the earliest quotation is only from 1860.
Looks like the BottleRocket even has a 70’s themed TV.
From their web site -
What happens when a bunch of 23
year old unemployable film students, creative dropouts, DIY musicians, and comedy nerds take over a bar that’s been left untouched since the 70’s?
We used to hang out at a old bar in Denver. The Campus Lounge. The Cam of Campus burned out. So it was the ‘Pus’ lounge to all of us. It fit.
It looks like it’s still open, but kinda the same place.
The inside bottom, or the outside bottom?
Inside bottom might lead to hilarity, as someone turns the mug over to check, and winds up spilling drips of coffee on his pants.
I’m confused how you could both read the slogan and have liquid in the cup if it were inside. Unless it was on the side, which might make it hard to read at all. Though I guess you are talking very small amounts.
For a number of years, I lived in an apartment that was across the street from a mall. One of the anchor stores was Sears. At some point, the top and middle crossbars of the E on the SEARS sign on the store burned out. The store became known locally as SLARS.
Yeah, Match Game was on.
I never realized it was a regionalism. Nebby, nebnose, nebshit, we’re just things people said. Like jagoff, redd up, slippy, etc.
There’s a school near where I grew up named after local politician Joseph M. Gallagher. But for a long time, one of the letters had fallen off, making the sign instead say “JOSE H M GALLAGHER MIDDLE SCHOOL”. Well, there are a lot more Hispanic students there than Irish, anyway.
OK, I knew that “redd up” was a regionalism, but I had thought that “slippy” was just a ruralism. But yeah, my point of reference for that is western PA, too.
I assumed that it was on the outside bottom; and that people didn’t read it while there was liquid in the cup, but when they washed it, or while it was hanging up, or something of the sort. Some people turn their cups upside down when they’re done, to indicate that they don’t want a refill; or to start with, to indicate they don’t want anything that would usually go in the cup. Some people and places store them that way, to keep dust out. I think I’ve occasionally seen a table setting that started out with cups upside down, especially if it was set well ahead of time.
I would presume the cup to be mostly empty. I’d like to believe that even if it were readable when the cup was full, the sheer weight would tell (most) people that upending it was a bad idea :).
There’s an old Army saying, usually used in description of a well-connected officer, “He couldn’t pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel”.
This one is more frightening than amusing. On the lonely road between Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and Skagway, Alaska, there is a sign at the international border that reads “WATCH FOR SNOW PLOWS APPROACHING IN YOUR LANE”
OK, sure, but what am I supposed to do about it if I see one? I mean other than watch in helpless terror as it rapidly approaches to extinguish my life and smear what remains of my broken body all over the highway.
The snow plows approaching in your ‘lane’ happens on my road. Everyone is moving so slow though, it’s not much of a problem.
Sometimes the plow can move over, sometimes ya gotta try to back up through deep snow.
I think the sign on the road you take to get to my smaller road says ‘Watch for snowplows moving against traffic’
I have never in my life encountered any of those words. Not out loud, not in print, not online. Despite having lived in 6 states on both coasts and in the Midwest including all four US mainland time zones. And spending most of my career interacting with people from, or currently living in, damn near everywhere.
Some parts of the USA seem to have rather few regionalisms, while others seem to be loaded with them. I’ll suggest that PA is pretty far towards the latter end of that spectrum.
And thanks for the new additions to my vocabulary. I don’t mean to suggest any judgmentalism on my part.
Didn’t we have a doper named Yinzer?
Close. @Reeses_Monkey
Yes, that’s the one I was thinking of.
I’ve always wondered that about the “falling rocks” signs. Am I supposed to drive faster to try to get out of the falling rock zone sooner? To drive slower in the hope of being able to dodge one if I see it in time?
(I think I’ve also seen “watch for fallen rocks”, which is clearer: I presume, slow down and watch for rocks that may have already fallen into the road.)
I’ve encountered what I heard as “jack off”, which might have been “jagoff”. I’ve also encountered “redd up”, though not often, and I can’t remember whether I heard it or read it. I’ve never encountered nebby or its variations, and I don’t think I’ve encountered “slippy”, though if the meaning is similar to “slippery” I might have just taken it as loose enunciation.
When I was a kid, “Jack off” was a bad word, while “jag off” was something you could call your mom if she wouldn’t let you go outside.