# "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:** 5
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/81 "2012-07-28T18:07:13Z")
45, midwest / northeast US. Never heard it used for shot, kaput, toast, or as we say here in Indiana, geshphincto. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/82 "2012-07-29T05:36:57Z")
I grew up in Saskatchewan and I’m familiar with “had the biscuit”/“had the bun”. I don’t think I’ve used that phrase in years, though. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/83 "2012-07-29T06:53:43Z")
24, mid-Atlantic US. I’ve never heard the expression, but I’m pretty sure I’d understand it in context. I would, however, have assumed it was a Britishism and been surprised to learn it was Canadian. I think I would probably say the object had “bit the dust” or “bought it.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/84 "2012-07-29T07:23:05Z")
I would probably just say, “(This has) had it,” which I guess I got from my Grandma. Central US, Midwest roots. Apparently my Ohio-valley ancestors dropped the “biscuit” or whatever? I notice the one Yank who recognized it had Cincinnati/Appalachian roots (like my Grandma). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/85 "2012-07-29T08:25:40Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Well, [this person](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/29/messages/31.html) “found an explanation” to that effect, FWIW. [Now You Know Big Book of Answers](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Y5ZSbj7fW20C&pg=PA266&lpg=PA266&dq=%22had+the+biscuit%22&source=bl&ots=j8a2MmZRvo&sig=eBKeXsgQPhsEytazpKUOGuU-kC4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WfIUUKH2B4WuiQfZ4oHIBg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22had%20the%20biscuit%22&f=false) agrees with more detail. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/86 "2012-07-29T13:59:33Z")
63, lived in Montana, Florida, California, Massachusetts, New York (Buffalo), south Texas-- never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![scrappymonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@scrappymonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrappymonk)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/87 "2013-09-13T19:07:00Z")
Canadian, 34, from SE Ontario. I say it occasionally. My mother uses it all the time (her parents were from the Maritimes); my father doesn’t (parents from E Georgian Bay). I’ve also heard the variants “Bit the biscuit,” and with /biscuit/ said in French. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/88 "2013-09-13T19:23:17Z")
American. Chicago - Washington DC - a and Wisconsin, Never heard it. I have heard buscuit used as slang in two nearly opposite meanings 1. “She’s a buscuit” – very cute 2. “horse buscuit” leterally a piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/89 "2013-09-13T23:29:47Z")
> [@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. Here in Montreal, I’ve heard “_bit_ the biscuit,” but never “_had_ the biscuit.” From the OP I deduce that these two expressions mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/90 "2013-09-14T08:44:49Z")
44, Alabama. Never heard it. As for “tump” I heard this a lot as a kid growing up in Alabama. “Don’t stand up in the canoe. It’ll tump over.” I don’t hear it as much anymore but my wife still says it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/91 "2013-09-14T11:59:45Z")
Go to [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tak3.htm), Michael Quinion’s scholarly website. He suggests that the Canadian version is indeed related to the Communion theory. But the start of the whole thing was American in the 1800s. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/92 "2013-09-14T13:31:57Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Go to [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tak3.htm), Michael Quinion’s scholarly website. > > He suggests that the Canadian version is indeed related to the Communion theory. > > But the start of the whole thing was American in the 1800s. But isn’t it possible that these are two different phrases with two different etymologies? The American phrasing is “take the biscuit” and has a different meaning than the Canadian “had the biscuit.” (And “bit the biscuit” sounds to me like the conflation of “had the biscuit” and “bit the dust” or perhaps its just more poetic alliteration.) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/93 "2013-09-16T02:44:24Z")
1. Grew up in the Midwest (MI/IL/IA), been in New England (CT) for the last 16 years. Never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/94 "2013-09-16T05:07:40Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Go to [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tak3.htm), Michael Quinion’s scholarly website. > > He suggests that the Canadian version is indeed related to the Communion theory. > > But the start of the whole thing was American in the 1800s. But he says that “take the biscuit” in Canada has a second meaning, of worn out. That doesn’t sound right to me. The expression for that meaning that I’ve always heard is “had the biscuit,” not “take the biscuit.” I’m familiar with “take the biscuit,” but always with the meaning that he gives of exceptional behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Tallulah-lu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Tallulah-lu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tallulah-lu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/95 "2016-04-28T10:21:47Z")
It was a common expression in Atlantic Canada when I was growing up. Probably the young today would not know it. It’s equivalent to the similar idiom, “had the bird.” (That is, they mean the same thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Tallulah-lu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Tallulah-lu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tallulah-lu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/96 "2016-04-28T10:29:13Z")
It meant, “it’s worn out, no longer usable, broken.” Like that. ---
**Author:** ![Tallulah-lu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Tallulah-lu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tallulah-lu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/97 "2016-04-28T10:31:20Z")
It had nothing to do with communion. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/98 "2016-04-28T12:01:48Z")
> [@Tallulah-lu](#): > > It meant, “it’s worn out, no longer usable, broken.” Like that. Like this thread that had lain dormant for 2 1/2 years. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/99 "2016-04-28T13:53:16Z")
As long as this thread has been raised from the dead, let me add that the similar in construction, identical in meaning phrase, “had the radish” was actually in use in rural Vermont when I was growing up, and I use it quite often. Vermont borders eastern Canada, so there may be some cross-border fertilization. I have also heard the variant “had the banana”, which may hint at a phallic origin for the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442/100 "2016-04-28T14:08:26Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > ACK! Zombie biscuits! **Brynda** said it. Four years ago. But since we’re here in April/almost-May 2016, I’ll contribute that I’ve never ever heard this phrase, but if I’d heard it in the OP’s context I’d figger it out. 54, lived in Upstate NY, CT and CA. And spent 14 years in the military where you’re thrown together with folks from all over the US. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-had-the-biscuit-regionalism/383442.md?page=6)