Must’ve been a gay ol’ bird.
Duh. Of course “put salt on its tail”.
The only time I have ever heard that phrase used was in “The Cruel Sea”.
Don’t drink the cool-aid
Your mother wears army boots >< your mother is butch.
It refers to the fact that GIs overseas used their non-lethal equipment and provisions as trade goods to local young women in return for, er, favors. Even in the U.S., where civililian deprivation was not nearly what it was in Europe or Asia during WWII, access to certain commodities such as nylon stockings was a near guarantee that a man could find some kind of female companionship.
So suggesting that your mother wore combat or Army boots was suggesting that she had in fact engaged in rather indiscriminant commerce in order to acquire them, and possibly that your own paternity might be in question.
Consider me educated. I thought “Flint” was the origin, and had no idea of the earlier Erol Flynn usage. I suppose the In Like Flint move title was playing off of the already established Flynn phrase? I picked it up from my parents, who were of the “Flint” generation.
The one that gets me in trouble is this:
Other person: I am trying to find my X.
Me: (a few minutes later) Any joy?
In many usages over many years, I always get a blank look, so I am giving it up. Unless, of course, one of you kind souls says you have heard it.
Of course I have. I use it all the time.
“I’m looking for my x, but I’m not having any joy”
Two, apparently common, phrases that I have only heard in the past few years:
“If you hold you hand our really still a butterfly may alight on it.” I had no idea what Mrs. Homie was talking about. I would have just said “land on it.”
“I get crabby if I don’t have my coffee first thing of a morning.” I knew right away what the person meant, but I had never heard such a phrase and, to me, it still hits the ear wrong.
Before I have my mountain dew, I can’t channel my skills of an artist.
From start to finish.
In a sentence, “Stanley carefully tracked his shipment from go to whoa using the new online tracking systems.”
And sorry for the slow response, I don’t get much time some times 
A co-worker once asked me what time it was. It was 3:15, and I answered that it was a quarter past three.
He responded, “3:25, huh?”
We’re both in our late 20s, early 30s.
This one is still fairly common in Aviation:
“United 682, Tower, VFR traffic 12 O’clock, 10 miles Eastbound”
“Tower, United 682, We’re looking for him, no joy…”
You’re both multiple ages at the same time? :eek:
OK, I was going to let it go, but since it keeps popping up I’ll go ahead an ask for all of us who don’t know, what does it mean?
Success brings joy. No joy means no success.
Oh, OK. I get it. Thanks.
I’m 29. My co-worker is around the same age, but I don’t know exactly.
My father used this one to describe someone or something being “worked over” and I accepted that as the literal meaning. When I read the actual, historical, meaning (I believe it was in Billy Budd), I was really amazed. That is one heck of a punishment.
Let’s return for a moment to “You mother wears Army boots.” Another version brings in the insult about being “too dumb to pour piss out of a boot, with instructions written on the heel.”
“Oh, yeah, well your mama’s boots have instructions on the heel.”
One I used once in front of my father without understanding the meaning behind it: “beat him like a red-headed step-child.”
Now, here I thought it was just a combination of recognizing that step-parents are more likely to commit child abuse than biological parents with the stereotype of a red-headed boy being the kind of kid likely to get in a lot of trouble and maybe actually do something that merited punishment - you know, like Red Chief in the O’Henry story. (And even that explanation takes all the funny out of the phrase.)
Well, Dad nearly drove off the road he was so shocked I’d said such a thing, and once he calmed down and realized I’d spoken out of ignorance, he explained that no, the red-headed step-child thing came from the fact that red hair often shows up loud and clear in a child of mixed African/European ancestry. The implication being that a black man was beating his wife’s son out of hatred/rage/jealousy that his wife had a child sired by a white man.
Dad was raised in Oklahoma and Arkansas in the 30s. I was a sheltered liberal college student who hadn’t ever heard a racial epithet used purposefully outside of movies. My entire body turned into a blister of shame.