# Expressions that no one uses but you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249 "2004-04-27T06:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/21 "2004-04-27T13:26:42Z")
Similar to **plnnr** - I used to call something I wasn’t sure of the name of, the “cere”. Gramma used to use it all the time - “Get me the book off the cere” (pointing at the table), “Take the towels off the “cere” in the bedroom and put them in the bathroom” (towels were on the bed). Ergo, “cere” was a word for “object you cannot remember the name of at the moment”. I was a clever kid, figuring out a new word on my own. \ Didn’t dawn on me til a long time later that “cere” was a verbal corruption of “this here”. \ ---
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/22 "2004-04-27T13:26:52Z")
I use the phrase ‘what flavour?’ as in ‘what sort?’ e.g. “Do you want to play cards?” “What flavour?” I don’t recall if I have met anyone else who uses this … ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/23 "2004-04-27T13:53:37Z")
When I want to threaten to kick someone’s ass, I say I’m going to give them a Thom McAnn enema. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/24 "2004-04-27T14:01:43Z")
I frequently say “not especially” for “not really”, but I got it from a movie so it can’t be just me who uses it. I’m just the only one I know who does. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/25 "2004-04-27T14:08:15Z")
I tend to use “Hooly-Booly!” as an expression of surprise or awe. If a situation neccessitates the use of the term “man” as an expression of being speechless; I tend to say “man - o - man - o - manischewietz”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/26 "2004-04-27T14:21:06Z")
All right! Keep 'em coming; I can use some of these. I’m going to see if I can get “You got it, Pontiac!” to catch on locally. I will probably point and make one of those winking-with-ancillary-tongue-clicking noises when I say it, because, well, how could you not. I also sometimes use “It ain’t no Christmas ham, Pepe!” But that one was made up by _The Onion_, so it doesn’t really count. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/27 "2004-04-27T14:41:38Z")
When someone doesn’t know anything about something, I say they don’t know Jack _Chick_. I once knew someone who, when he wanted to just say “Sh–”, would say “Muslim”. I.e. Muslim–\>Shiite–\>… But he was trying to break himself of the habit. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/28 "2004-04-27T14:48:10Z")
> [@GrizzRich](#): > > “man - o - man - o - manischewietz”. I have vague memories of a radio jingle from my deep, dark past that went something like:'Man, oh Manischewietz, what a wine!" ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/29 "2004-04-27T14:50:59Z")
> [@thetruewheel](#): > > Also, start saying “what’s-his-melon” more often, so I don’t feel like a freak. I say “what’s-his-nuts”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/30 "2004-04-27T14:53:11Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > I say “what’s-his-nuts”. Close enough; I’ll take it. ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/31 "2004-04-27T15:13:02Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > Wicked! Jake?! ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/32 "2004-04-27T15:16:53Z")
I say, As ASAP As Possible. I also say, ‘quel es der placer’ for ‘what’ if I don’t understand what someone has said. It’s basically made up to sound like a foreign phrase I heard on an old coffee commercial… it’s meaningless as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/33 "2004-04-27T15:27:43Z")
Stan Freberg did a parody of Johnnie Ray’s “Cry” that was called “Try”. There’s a lyric in it that I’ve heard nowhere else. He uses the word “George” as a synonym for “cool” : “_'Cause it’s real George to cry_” (you have to hear the way he enunciates this line, it’d put you on the floor!) So I have occasionally proclaimed something to be _real George_, but people have no idea what I’m talking about, and look at me like I’m from another planet. ---
**Author:** ![marky33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@marky33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marky33)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/34 "2004-04-27T15:30:55Z")
I’ve got into the habit of saying plausibly instead of possibly/maybe - it sounds pompous as hell but once it gets in your head … Also I once knew someone who called the remore, the pe-chewer (as in _pe-chew_, \*pe-chew \* - a lame impression of a gun firing) ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/35 "2004-04-27T15:37:37Z")
> [@mallocks](#): > > I use the phrase ‘what flavour?’ as in ‘what sort?’ > e.g. > “Do you want to play cards?” > “What flavour?” > > I don’t recall if I have met anyone else who uses this … I use that one all the time, generally referring to animals. Random stranger: “I have three cats.” Dogzilla: “What flavor?” Only we spell it differently… You must be British or Canadian. You can say it with your spelling and I’ll say it with mine and we can both say nobody uses the expression but us… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/36 "2004-04-27T15:55:55Z")
A _betterthinker_ is a person who thinks they’re better than everybody else. _Malkovich_ means “okay” or “fine”, as in “Is everything Malkovich with you?” or “Malkovich, thank you. And how are you?” And I’m trying to get people to start referring to the airport currently known as Newark Liberty as “Ikea International Airport”. If you’ve looked out the window while flying in or out of Terminal C, you know why. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/37 "2004-04-27T15:59:23Z")
Q: How are you? A: Fine, as fine as frog fur. A: As fine as powdered sugar. I suspect this is not so much unusual as some sort of symptom. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/38 "2004-04-27T16:07:49Z")
One that I use, that I rarely hear, is “goings on” i.e. “Just stopped in to see the goings on” ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/39 "2004-04-27T16:13:39Z")
I use the word “cabbage” to mean junk. Like when I clean out the garage, that old pile crap in the corner = cabbage. It derived from the word garbage in a really drawn out accent like gaaahhhbaahhge. Heh. I also use dang to mean “have sex with”. Like “I danged this hot chick the other day” or “Man, I’d like to dang that”. Geez, I have a million different expressions and stuff. Most that talk to me (and my brother, we both speak the same) end up picking it up. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249/40 "2004-04-27T16:14:43Z")
> [@screech-owl](#): > > I use “noon-thirty” to mean 12:30 pm. So do I, and I know I’ve heard it elsewhere. I’ll say “froggy” for “foggy,” as in “It’s a little froggy outside this morning.” It’s a morph from a goofy tape recording my friend’s brothers made when they were kids that involved the word “froggy.” I just started using it in a different context – don’t know why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-no-one-uses-but-you/242249.md?page=3)