# "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:** 3
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/41 "2006-12-10T03:22:09Z")
49, born and raised in central Michigan, lived in central Ohio for 20+ years. Never heard it before the OP. GT ---
**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 10, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/42 "2006-12-10T14:10:05Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] “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.” [/QUOTE] What’s the difference between “tump” and “tip”? ---
**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 10, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/43 "2006-12-10T15:54:14Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] What’s the difference between “tump” and “tip”? [/QUOTE] I think “tip” implies a gentleness or care that “tump” does not. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/44 "2006-12-10T16:13:32Z")
When I was in high school we said ‘bit the big cookie’. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/45 "2006-12-10T16:21:08Z")
50, Chicago, never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/46 "2006-12-10T17:56:42Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] 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! [/QUOTE] We do - but we’re only a two hour drive away. Still never heard the phrase, even on Canadian TV. West Coast American. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/47 "2006-12-11T16:15:09Z")
Never heard that one in particular, but my mother frequently uses the phrase “had the wienie” in a similar manner, so I’d have figured it out by analogy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/48 "2006-12-11T16:20:03Z")
51, grew up in the Northeast, lived in Utah, traveled around the country. Never heard it, never read it, never encountered it on TV or the movies or the radio. Never heard my Canadians friends say it, or heard it on Canadian TV or radio (we used to get it when I lived in Rochester). First time I’ve encountered it was just now on the OP. I’d be looking at you blankly, too, although the meaning is clear from the context. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/49 "2006-12-11T16:28:30Z")
38, female, Northeast US. Never heard of it or any food variant saying the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/50 "2006-12-11T17:07:01Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Well, [according to this wiktionary glossary of Canadian English words](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Canadian_English_words), they file it under Canadian slang. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that really stuffs the muffin. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/51 "2006-12-11T17:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Yeah, that really stuffs the muffin. [/QUOTE] Hey, now, don’t get your pancakes in a flip! ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/52 "2006-12-11T18:09:58Z")
37, Canadian. Born and raised (and returned) in Thunder Bay, ON. I definitely have heard and used that expression. My dad uses it frequently, in the “this dishcloth” (pair of shoes, swimsuit, ) has had the biscuit. Genreally something that is beyond repair, usefullness, or anything. Sometimes he will say “I’ve pretty much had the biscuit” meaning he’s tired, but generally it was for a worn out item. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/53 "2006-12-11T18:17:11Z")
41 years, mostly in Texas. I guess this is one of those differences between Calgary and here. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/54 "2006-12-12T05:09:47Z")
40 years old, born and raised in Saskatchewan, heard it there, heard it all over the Prairies (also as “had the bun.”) I am also surprised that this is a Canadianism - it seems so common to me. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/55 "2006-12-12T05:18:27Z")
Wait a second, they want to delete that entry because it has no verifiability? From what I read, it’s pretty much accurate. I’m a Canadian, that’s Canadian slang - I just verified it. VERIFIED!!! That should be the new PWNED!!! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/56 "2006-12-12T06:38:23Z")
I grew up in SE Michigan and listened to a lot of Canadian radio (Not just CKLW, but CHYR, CKWW, and a few others) and I never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/57 "2006-12-12T07:12:18Z")
[QUOTE=FRDE] UK, 50, I understand/understood what you meant but am not sure if I’ve heard it before. We have a phrase: ‘That takes the biscuit’ which is a superlative, possibly perjorative. [/QUOTE] Live in New England, native Texan, but grew up in Blighty. As **FRDE** notes, I grew up hearing “That takes the biscuit!” to describe an egregious extreme act. It’s equivalent to the Americanism “takes the cake.” And none of you own The Police’s _Synchronicity_? [QUOTE=Sting] O my God, you **take the biscuit** Treating me this way Expecting me to treat you well No matter what you say How can I turn the other cheek, it’s black and bruised and torn I’ve been waiting since the day that I was born [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dumbest_Guy_in_the_Room)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/58 "2006-12-12T11:18:48Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] _plus papiste que le Pape…_) [/QUOTE] [Yer wot, Dad?](http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22plus+papiste+que+le+Pape%22&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&hs=Ibk&lr=lang_en&sa=X&oi=lrtip&ct=restrict&cad=7) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/59 "2006-12-12T12:33:04Z")
Never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/60 "2006-12-12T13:47:06Z")
Spaniard, have bounced all over the States (OK, I’m exaggerating a bit); I know I’d heard “take the biscuit” instead of “the cake” but don’t think I’d heard the expression in the OP before. Being more Papist than the Pope, that one I know all about. It’s the main accusation us “old timers” have against the Good Ol’ Boys from ETA, other than their illegal activities: most of them are newly arrived but want to be more Basque than those of use whose ancestors were here before the Romans. Sort of like that bf I had, who was born a UK citizen in Jamaica (pre-independence) and who was railing against immigrants to me one week after he’d been sworn in as an American citizen… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=4)