# Phrases you'd think people would know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178 "2009-09-15T15:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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 13, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/141 "2009-12-13T18:51:23Z")
Having only read this far… > [@Heckity](#): > > The expression Tally Ho seems to be gone. When I was flying, I heard ‘Tally-ho’ frequently enough. ATC would advise of traffic, and often the pilot addressed would respond, ‘[Call sign], tally-ho on the [aircraft]’ when he spots it. e.g., ATC: Cessna Zero-One-Uniform, traffic, Piper, one-o’clock low, three miles. 01U: Zero-One-Uniform, tally-ho on the Piper. (Incidentally, flying is just about the only place in the U.S. where I hear G’day. Only instead of being a greeting, it’s a sign-off. ‘Zero-One-Uniform, frequency change approved. G’day.’) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/142 "2009-12-13T23:46:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > When I was flying, I heard ‘Tally-ho’ frequently enough. ATC would advise of traffic, and often the pilot addressed would respond, ‘[Call sign], tally-ho on the [aircraft]’ when he spots it. > > (Incidentally, flying is just about the only place in the U.S. where I hear G’day. Only instead of being a greeting, it’s a sign-off. ‘Zero-One-Uniform, frequency change approved. G’day.’) Interesting given it’s strong association with British English. We don’t say it over here in Australia and it’s something I associate with RAF WWII fighter pilots. On the other hand “g’day” is very Australian. Could be that you guys were saying “good day” so much that it became shortened independently, or maybe the phrase was imported to the states by international pilots. Edit: I’m familiar with the bee’s knees, the duck’s nuts, and the cat’s whiskers and sometimes I feel like I’m being _nibbled_ to death by ducks. ---
**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 13, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/143 "2009-12-13T23:55:20Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:142, topic:510178”] On the other hand “g’day” is very Australian. Could be that you guys were saying “good day” so much that it became shortened independently, or maybe the phrase was imported to the states by international pilots. [/QUOTE] Probably just shortening through use. It’s been in use since at least the early-mid-'70s when I encountered it in one of dad’s _Flying_ magazines; specifically, a humour article wondering how WWII might have turned out had the FAA been defending Pearl Harbor – _Japan 00, Are You Declaring An Emergency?_ Since it was used in the piece, it’s reasonable to assume that it had been in use for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/144 "2009-12-14T00:46:07Z")
How about you look like the cat’s meow, meaning someone is really looking good? My mother used to say it all the time; she was born in 1941. ---
**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 14, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/145 "2009-12-14T00:59:42Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > How about you look like the cat’s meow, meaning someone is really looking good? My mother used to say it all the time; she was born in 1941. I’ve heard of ‘It’s the cat’s meow’, but not the usage you posted. My dad used to say, ‘You look like the syphilitic afterbirth of a Lower-Slobovian gang bang.’ ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/146 "2009-12-14T01:05:23Z")
One that always bothered me was “two bits” in reference to the price of something. I went to buy something when I was a kid (mid-80s) and an older guy told me it was “two bits.” I was extremely confused. What the hell did that mean? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/147 "2009-12-14T01:13:04Z")
> [@Claire\_Beauchamp](#): > > I said something to my boss’s boss (formerly my direct boss) the other day that lately work was like being “bit to death by ducks.” She’s a very smart person, older than me, and had never heard it before. I’m 52 and i’ve never heard it before. But I caught the meaning. Something like death from 1000 paper cuts. > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Apparently no one 'cept me knows why a dog licks his balls. Because he can. 😃 ---
**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 14, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/148 "2009-12-14T01:18:35Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > One that always bothered me was “two bits” in reference to the price of something. I went to buy something when I was a kid (mid-80s) and an older guy told me it was “two bits.” I was extremely confused. What the hell did that mean? Two bits = 25¢, from back when dollar coins might be cut into eight bits. See ‘pieces of eight’. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/149 "2009-12-14T04:19:45Z")
> [@Randydeluxe](#): > > I had a co-worker who was incapable of correctly producing common complex phrases. But for some reason, he insisted on using them… in e-mails to customers. Examples: > > “It’s a doggie dog world, you know.” > > “For all intensive purposes…” > > “Then we saw it was a blessing in the skies.” > > “We’re not going to take it for granite that you trust us with your business.” > > I’m not sure how I didn’t snap. Of course, he was repeatedly promoted and given raises and more authority. Was your co-worker Tim Allen? ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/150 "2009-12-14T06:22:13Z")
How about things we all heard as kids? Do you have any particularly good phrases? ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/151 "2009-12-14T06:31:53Z")
Recently my youngest son asked me to compile a list of sayings that I heard as a kid from my Dad and Grandma, who were both country folk from the Ozarks of Arkansas. This is the list of phrases from about 1948 to 1960. What in the Sam Hill are you doin’ Now that’s good eatin’ Now, just hang on. I’m fixin’ to take care of it. He looked awful – like he was rode hard and put away wet. That thang’s ‘bout as useful as teats on a boar hog. I’m hungry enough to eat the south end of a north bound skunk. (or a horse) Madder than a wet hen. He’s ‘bout knee high to a grasshopper. Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. I got no dog in this fight. Full as a tick. Set a spell Let me spell ya for a minute Don’t rush on my account That ain’t right Fry up a mess ‘Fixin’ to do somethin’ I’m too pooped to pop. I’m worn to a frazzle. It’s so noisy in here, I can’t hear myself think. If y’all don’t quit that fightin’, I’m gonna whip you so hard you won’t be able to sit down for a week."…with many variations. It came a real gully-washer last night. Pretty as a speckled pup. Cute as a bug’s ear. He doesn’t know his butt from a hole in the ground. You’re gettin’ just a little bit too big for your britches – I may have to take you down a notch or two. Don’t just sit there like a bump on a log. I’m feeling fair to middlin’. I’ll swan, that water is the best… He’s crazy as all get out! You’d better straighten up and fly right. Gimme just a scooch more. That dog just won’t hunt! Look at that long tall drink of water. Can’t carry a tune in a bucket. I haven’t seen one of them in a month of Sundays! Come here, Burrhead. That’s a tough row to hoe. Just ‘cause a chicken’s got wings, don’t mean it can fly. There is more than one way to skin a cat. You guys have more apples than Carter’s got pills! You guys have more apples than Wixie has turnips (Only from my Dad) He ain’t got a pot to piss in. He’s crazier than a June bug. It’s goin’ to hell in a handbasket. She was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Three hairs past a freckle. (Telling time) You don’t know \_\_\_\_ from Shinola. All tuckered out. You said your piece, now I want to say mine! Madder than a wet hen. I’ll knock you into the middle of next week! A wing and a prayer. Mad enough to bite nails Fightin’ mad and Spittin’ mad. So mad I could spit. Living high on the hog. Root hog or die. He’s too “sorry” to work. You haven’t got the sense God gave a rock. I don’t give two hoots and a holler. Looks like two possums in a tater sack. It’s right hot outside. ‘Pert nere’. Bless your pea-pickin’ heart! Crooked as a dog’s hind leg. Beat with an ugly stick. Petered out. For all the tea in China. He’s about as sharp as a marble. Not playing with a full deck. Busier than a one-legged man at a butt kicking contest. Don’t get your panties in a uproar. He’s slower than molasses in January. That battery is deader than a door nail. I’m a’fixin’ to go get me a bite to eat. That sidewalk is slicker than snot on a doorknob. If you don’t stop that crying, I’ll give you something to cry about! That wall is all catywampus. Act like you got some raising. You’re the spitting image of your mother/father. Sunday go-to-meetin’ clothes. Fish or cut bait. She’s a tall drink of water. You’re diggin your own grave. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Grinnin’ like a possum eatin’ corn. He’s as happy as if he had good sense. ‘Nough to gag a maggot. The land of milk & honey… high falutin’. Haven’t seen you in a coon’s age! I need to see a man about a dog. Or horse. Shake a leg! She’s right smart. playing possum. In all my born days. You little cotton-picker! You must not be holdin’ your mouth right. He would complain if he was hung with a new rope. Took off like a ruptured duck. Full as a tick, No flies on him. Air’s a good’un. I’m gonna tan your hide. Couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Puffed up like a banty rooster. Sunday-go-to-meetin’ shoes. Set yourself down a spell. Every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Can’t get blood from a turnip, Your neck of the woods. Gone to hell in a hand basket. Rougher than a cob. I’ll pessle the water out of him. BTW, pessle - pestle. My Dad used this as an expression of the hurt he was going to cause someone. He actually was a very kind man, but equally expressive. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/152 "2009-12-16T03:30:56Z")
I’ve had to explain the concept of having something or some quality “in spades.” Everyone assumes I’m talking about a card game. I also have had to explain the meaning of a “come-to-Jesus talk” (it’s nothing to do with Christian witnessing). Luckily, there have been only a handful of folks for whom I’ve had to break that down. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/153 "2009-12-16T05:26:58Z")
So… is “caught short” meaning pregnant (and unmarried) old fashioned or a regionalism? It’s [in the dictionary](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/caught), but you don’t hear it often, which makes me wonder… I used it in a story, but will readers know what it means? ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/154 "2009-12-16T21:47:44Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So… is “caught short” meaning pregnant (and unmarried) old fashioned or a regionalism? It’s [in the dictionary](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/caught), but you don’t hear it often, which makes me wonder… I used it in a story, but will readers know what it means? I’ve never heard it, but then my Gramma always said “the first baby always seems to come early, but the second takes the full 9 months.” Mama’s baby, Daddy’s maybe. Sunstone: I use a disturbing amount of those phrases. None of which sprang to mind while reading this thread. When folks ask me how I’m doing, I respond “bright eyed and bushy tailed.” I use phrases like cupcake, “sock it to me,” “getting my ducks in a row,” Sport, “if you’re feeling froggy.” I recently heard the phrase “no bigger than a minute” and declared it my new favorite. Of course, I’m slap in the middle of BFE where there is a shitload of folks that I can’t verify are actually speaking english, so I’m likely to find more. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/155 "2009-12-16T22:03:24Z")
This thread is making me feel really old. I’ve heard almost all of these phrases. Well, except the turtle one. ---
**Author:** ![WPA-Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/156 "2009-12-16T23:16:04Z")
I explained my co-worker’s absence from her desk to the boss. “I’m sorry, she’s indisposed right now.” Another time someone said to the boss, “Our finances are good because of Bob’s sharp pencil.” The Boss pulled me aside and asked me what both those phrases meant. The Boss has a PhD in English. I did have to ask my Irish cousin what he meant when he said “That guy’s from the other side of the aisle.” It means he was a Protestant. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/157 "2009-12-17T10:09:23Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So… is “caught short” meaning pregnant (and unmarried) old fashioned or a regionalism? It’s [in the dictionary](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/caught), but you don’t hear it often, which makes me wonder… I used it in a story, but will readers know what it means? I’ve always thought of “caught short” as meaning left unprepared in a general way, I hadn’t been aware of the specific pregnancy angle. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/158 "2009-12-17T17:04:08Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > “I don’t have a dog in this fight”. > > I thought it was a phrase everyone knew, until I used it at a party (in the City) and no one knew what I meant. Once I explained it, they were all delighted by my quaint country turn-of-phrase. > > I still think I must have been in a room full of halfwits. Everyone’s heard “I don’t have a dog in this fight”, right? It’s not even an Aussie expression! It’s travelled internationally to get here, I hardly think it bypassed the metro areas and only caught on in these rural parts. I know most of the ones here so far, and my husband uses that one quite regularly. I use “Cheese it guys, it’s the cops!” all the time, usually when an authority figure comes by, but I don’t even know where I picked it up. Probably an old 30’s gangster movie. People look at me weird. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/159 "2009-12-17T17:28:21Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > Recently my youngest son asked me to compile a list of sayings that I heard as a kid from my Dad and Grandma, who were both country folk from the Ozarks of Arkansas. This is the list of phrases from about 1948 to 1960. I know, and/or have used probably 95% of those. My dad’s family is from that region, too. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178/160 "2009-12-18T03:34:45Z")
Ok, I had to put this somewhere, though it might not quite fit the description of the OP. My husband was grading statistics essays, and he found the construction, ‘‘From the gecko, we can see…’’ It took him a minute to figure out the author meant, ‘‘from the get-go.’’ From the gecko? _Really?_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youd-think-people-would-know/510178.md?page=9)