# "It's had the biscuit" - regionalism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442 "2006-12-09T07:03:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/21 "2006-12-09T14:44:58Z")
39.4 years old born in Western NY, but has lived in MA, Western PA, St. Louis, SoCal and now CT Never heard it… would probably stare at you blankly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f475e1/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/22 "2006-12-09T15:00:24Z")
Lived in Texas for 35 years. Now in Vermont. Never heard that one until today. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/23 "2006-12-09T15:22:17Z")
27, Missouri, Kansas and Oregon. Crazy Canadians! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/24 "2006-12-09T15:32:59Z")
Lifelong Michigander until last year, now living in the South - never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/25 "2006-12-09T15:56:19Z")
Arkansan with relatives in Tennesse, never heard it. Ya’ll ever have anything tump over? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/26 "2006-12-09T16:26:58Z")
25 in Detroit. Um, nope. Haven’t heard THAT coming through CBC. Replace “had the biscuit” with “shit the bed”. You’ve got a winner right there. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/27 "2006-12-09T16:33:15Z")
Heard it on the original pre-stage show album of JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT - “his amazing garment took the biscuit, quite the smoothest person in the district”- late 1970s when I got the album. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/28 "2006-12-09T17:03:26Z")
I grew up near Toronto as well, and I’ve known the phrase since childhood. I didn’t know it was a Canadian saying, either! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/29 "2006-12-09T17:23:12Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Heard it on the original pre-stage show album of JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT - “his amazing garment took the biscuit, quite the smoothest person in the district”- late 1970s when I got the album. [/QUOTE] I don’t believe that’s the same usage though. “Had the biscuit” means, basically something like “bit the dust” or gone kaput or otherwise has seen better days. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/30 "2006-12-09T17:30:05Z")
Why do I feel like saying, “Sure, I hear it all the time here in Massachusetts”? Congenital dishonesty, maybe. But this is one of those expressions which, even if you’ve never heard it before, is pretty readily figured out from context, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/31 "2006-12-09T17:46:42Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] 24, lived in the northeast US all my life, never heard it. [/QUOTE] Ditto, though I’m 29. I would have known what it meant, though. And how come we don’t get any Canadian TV channels? It’s less than a 3-hour drive to Canada! ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/32 "2006-12-09T18:28:43Z")
Born and raised in BC; never heard it as ‘had the biscuit’ but rather, _bit the biscuit._ **pulykamell** , I’m loving the wiki link-who knew ‘gonch’ was derived from Ukranian? ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/33 "2006-12-09T18:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=Annie] **pulykamell** , I’m loving the wiki link- [/QUOTE] How come some schmoo has nominated it for deletion? ☹ Any wiki-gurus here able to de-nominate it? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/34 "2006-12-09T18:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=zoogirl] Hey, I’ve always wondered it the “biscuit” referred to the Communion bread and the Last Rites? [/QUOTE] Well, [this person](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/31.html) “found an explanation” to that effect, FWIW. 47 years old, lifelong Midwesterner – Ohio until 2001, Indiana since. Don’t recall having heard or read the phrase before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/35 "2006-12-09T18:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Arkansan with relatives in Tennesse, never heard it. Ya’ll ever have anything tump over? [/QUOTE] Raised in Louisiana. Now in Massachusetts. Never heard the phrase in the OP. “Tump” is a very useful word that has no direct counterpart in standard English even though people need to express the idea frequently. My Massachusetts wife says it more than I do now because she finds it so handy. For those of you that don’t know what tump means: Tump - “To overturn suddenly and accidentally” as in, “Quit standing up on that wheelbarrow before you tump it over.” It can also mean to turn something over quickly an deliberately as in “Tump over that bucket of water.” ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/36 "2006-12-09T19:20:00Z")
45, Central PA and I have never heard the expression. Had I heard it, I would have assumed British origins. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/37 "2006-12-10T00:15:13Z")
57, Central Indiana, never heard the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/38 "2006-12-10T00:29:58Z")
25, Canuckistani, and both my parents used it (though, interestingly, more my American mom than my dad, but this may be a case of _plus papiste que le Pape…_) ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/39 "2006-12-10T01:02:32Z")
21, born and raised in Ottawa(with a short stint in Vancouver), can’t recall ever hearing it before(although I did guess what it meant when I read it in the title). ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/40 "2006-12-10T01:41:43Z")
39, raised in Ohio and now living across town from the OP, and today is the first I’ve heard the phrase. (May start using it, though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=3)