I thought June bugs were the same as Christmas beetles, but maybe I just made that up.
And there aren’t as many Christmas beetles around as there used to be. When I was a child, they’d swarm around the back porch. Now, you’d be lucky to see one or two.
“Screw the pooch.”
“Twist in the wind.”
I don’t think I’ve told this one here before. I think I may have been in the third grade, in the Girl Scouts. I had missed a meeting, where we were supposed to have been working on some project or something. The next week we all sat and listened to the leader talk for a while about whatever she usually droned on about, and then she said “OK, let’s split.” So I went home.
The next week she said “Where did you go? We were dividing into our groups to work on our project.”
I heard her say “Let’s split.” So I split. I was a very cool kid.
Whar time is it?
Quarter to nine
In this digital word, a lot of young people can’t understand what that means.
1 good saying and we’re all like ‘flies round shit’ - but it makes us ‘as happy as a pig in shit’ - grew up with these sayings - any time I say fly round shit I usually get - never heard of - ‘wasps or bees rounds honey’ - yes. Both mean the same I suppose but its not as much fun to say 
To get a little more specific, it’s about old-style firearms. A Revolutionary War-era gun consists of three main parts: the lock, which is the part that fires the gun (you may have heard the term “flintlock” for some muzzle-loaders; before that, there was “matchlock”. Today this part is called the “action”.); the stock, which is the wooden part you brace against your shoulder; and the barrel, which I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with as the part the bullet cruises through on its way toward the target. So, if you have the lock, stock, and barrel, you have the whole gun.
“Dog in a manger” is one I’ve had to explain a number of times after using it.
A few weeks ago I overheard a woman tell her daughter “First we’ll _______ then we’ll ________, that way we can kill two birds with one stone.” The daughter looked apalled, and said “That’s so mean!” It was adorable.
Well..
..would you mind explaining it just one more time?
I once had a boss who said, on several occasions, “Half o’ six, two dozen of another.” And he honestly thought that was the expression.
No, “cheaters” are sunglasses. You can see other people’s eyes, but they can’t see yours. That’s cheating.
I referenced Rumsfeld’s old “there are known knowns, and known unknowns…” speech/poem yesterday and my suitemate had never heard of it. Barely recognized the name Rumsfeld. She’s maybe two years younger than I am, so it’s not like she’s too young to remember.
My mom likes to use “cattywumpus” to mean the same thing. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone else use even a variation on it before.
Two jobs ago I used the expressions “under the weather” and “powwow” in two different emails. The first one I had to explain to a coworker from Ukraine; the second to a coworker from India*. At least there was a mild language/cultural barrier there.
Slight aside that more properly belongs in that “things you say incorrectly on purpose” thread: the Ukrainian coworker once expressed his frustration with a particular program we were using by writing “XXX is sucks.” “Is sucks” has since entered my and a number of my friends’ vocabulary (with “is rocks” being the opposite).
( * Yep, I explained “powwow” to an Indian guy 
)
I don’t believe that. I know kids are sorta dumb these days but everyone would know what this means.
No, cheaters are reading glasses.
In 6th grade (Midwestern US), we had an exchange teacher from England. On the first day, she was teaching for awhile, then asked “Are there any queries?” Panemonium also reigned!
It’s from an Aesop’s fable. The dog is sitting in a manger (a holder for cattle fodder) and thus depriving the ox of its food. The food is, of course, of no use to the dog. So if you’re holding onto something you can’t use although someone else could, you’re the dog in the manger. Especially if you’re specifically doing it on purpose, for spite.
My mother used to say “all around Robin Hood’s barn” to describe going someplace in a roundabout fashion, difficult to reach, etc. I have asked lots of people if they ever heard this and no one has. Did my mom make it up?
No. But I heard it as Robinson’s barn.
No, that’s traditional. Certainly not common in North America, though.