# Post slang you don't understand **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312 "2003-08-01T07:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![thinline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@thinline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinline)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/61 "2003-08-02T11:02:41Z")
You Ain’t Nothin But A **Tomato Can**. Always made me think something odd. Like what the hair’s going on here. I never get this either: Like the cow that jumped over the candlestick. I mean why would it? ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/62 "2003-08-02T11:54:51Z")
Uhm, I’ve seen this used quite a few times in this thread alone, but I still don’t know what **WAG** means… Does it have anything to do with the movie “Wag the Dog”? As in, someone’s kinda distracting from the main point, and your WAG is like a counter to their WAG, which means bringing them back to reality? Or is it more probably an acronym, such as: Wrath Against God (I always think of this whenever I see it) War Against Guerillas (as in, the Guerillas of Ignorance!) Witty Advice Given (maybe that’s why everyone likes to reference “my WAG”) Wimpy-Ass Gripe (that’s why it must always be prefaced by WAG?) Someone de-ignorize me please! That is what my WAG says. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/63 "2003-08-02T12:26:44Z")
The only thing that makes sense is Wild-Ass Guess. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/64 "2003-08-02T13:17:13Z")
Could “One will cost you a nickel” have something to do with project Exile? – where if someone commits a felony using a handgun, it’s a federal offense, with a mandatory 5-year sentence. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/65 "2003-08-02T13:44:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Uhm, I’ve seen this used quite a few times in this thread alone, but I still don’t know what WAG means… My **W** ild \*\*A[/A]ss **G** uess is that it means Wild Ass Guess. 😃 My mother, when surprised by something, has a habit of saying “Ye gads and little fishes”. I kinda doubt I’ll ever find an etymology for that one. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/66 "2003-08-02T14:34:04Z")
## quote: ## Originally posted by zoid Would someone on that side of the world pop over to owlstretchingtime’s and give him his medication? Thanks much! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satisfying Andy Licious \* > \*\*Yes, knock him up, will you? \*\* I hope to G\*d that means something different that it does in the states (to get a girl pregnant)! ---
**Author:** ![October](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@October](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/October)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/67 "2003-08-02T14:43:15Z")
It does. It’s simply to knock on someone’s door, or go to visity them. A British lady moved in next door to a friend of mine, and he was going to help her with plumbing or something one Saturday morning. She told him she’d be up early, so he could just come and knock her up whenever he was ready. He thought it was rather forward of her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/68 "2003-08-02T15:20:40Z")
“Ye gods and little fishes” is from, IIRC, the movie _Lifeboat_ (1944). Tallulah Bankhead’s character speaks the line. At least that’s how I remember it. I remember seeing a commercial for the movie when it was to be shown on UHF (!) TV in the early 80s. That line was part of the commercial, and it’s stuck with me ever since. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/69 "2003-08-02T15:23:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mariemarie \* > \*\*Could “One will cost you a nickel” have something to do with project Exile? – where if someone commits a felony using a handgun, it’s a federal offense, with a mandatory 5-year sentence. \*\* Makes sense - Nickel = 5 cents = 5 years. However, why use prison slang (I assume that’s what it is) that few people can understand on a billboard that far more will see? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/70 "2003-08-02T15:25:18Z")
I googled, being the good little boy that I am, and regarding “Ye Gods …” I found this: > [@](#): > > I can help a bit, but the mists of word history obscure its early story. It’s an elaboration of the older ye gods!, an exclamation that dates back at least to the seventeenth century in Britain, a way of calling on higher powers in a mock-heroic way without actually bringing the wrath of the Church down on you for blasphemy. > > However, ye gods and little fishes is characteristically American, an example of the embellishment and ornamentation that was common in the inflated language of the nineteenth century. I’ve found several examples from the 1850s, which suggest that by then it was well known. A good one appears in Early Indiana Trials and Sketches by Oliver Hampton Smith, of 1858: “Mr. Tyler’s friends in their great devotion to their great chief, have compared him to Napoleon. ‘Ye gods and little fishes!’ John Tyler and Napoleon Bonaparte!”. > But why the little fishes? Sorry, I’ve no idea, except there may be a disguised Biblical reference in there somewhere, perhaps to the story of the feeding of the five thousand in St Matthew’s Gospel. My suspicion is that it was a catchphrase from a play or popular song that is now lost to us. Source: [http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-yeg1.htm](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-yeg1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Verick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@Verick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Verick)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/71 "2003-08-02T16:22:12Z")
believe “bling-bling” which IMHO is by far the most retarded saying I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing, it refers to the sound effect in movies, television and cartoons that is heard when light glints off of jewels, gold, or anything shiny. And as for “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, this is a very old saying regarding how people tell the age of a horse. You look into the horse’s mouth and see the length of his teeth, or rather it’s really the shortness of his gums, and the longer the teeth appear the older the animal is. So looking a gift horse in the mouth and seeing that it was an old animal would be considered rude, since someone just gave it to you rather than making you pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/72 "2003-08-02T16:32:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by October \* > \*\*Brilliant post, **ccwaterback**. That was funny as shit. Seriously, I almost shit (shat?) my pants laughing at your shit. That was some funny shit. \*\* I found that shit in my spam archive. It seems like it might be some of George Carlin’s shit, but I’m not sure. But anyway, I thought it was pretty funny shit. 😃 \<\<\< shit eating grin. ---
**Author:** ![Verick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ea666f/32.png) [@Verick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Verick)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/73 "2003-08-02T16:34:52Z")
Oh, also, “Full of piss and vinegar.” is a distortion of the original phrase, “Full of pith and vinegar” though I’m not sure what the latter means; I believe it could be a reference to poorly made wine. Pith, being tissue of a plant or fruit, and wine when spoiled or improperly made will turn to vinegar. So saying someone was full of pith and vinegar would be like calling them old and sour. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/74 "2003-08-02T17:07:24Z")
I’ll pick off a few of these. IANAL is I am not a lawyer. It’s a disclaimer, meaning, “I think I know the answer, but it’s not my field.” You’ll see IANA doctor, electrician, Canadian, etc. That’s a hizzle, for shizzle. It’s an irritating little warp used by Snoop Dogg. You glue “izzle” onto the first sound of a word and expect the listener to guess what word you mangled, just from the context. For shizzle is probably for sure. Most of **owlstretchingtime** ’s stuff just whooshed me (zinged right over my head.) ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/75 "2003-08-02T17:35:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > What _did_ “gag me with a spoon” mean, in the days when people said it? It sounds vaguely suspect (not to mention impractical) to me. It was an expression of derision or disgust. Valley Girl #1: Did you see that new boy in school today? Is he like the ultimate pizza face? Valley Girl #2: Fer sure! Like, gag me with a spoon! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/76 "2003-08-02T17:44:03Z")
“Gag me with a spoon” was a Valley Girl-ism meaning, roughly, “Ewww, that’s disgusting.” I’ll take a stab at “me old chinas.” In cockney rhyming slang, sometimes the rhyming part is dropped. So, look is butcher’s hook, or just butcher’s. Mates (friends) is china plates, or just chinas. “It’s the queens, innit?” It’s the Queen’s English, isn’t it? “Strewth.” It’s the truth. I’ve chased “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” round and round. Nobody seems to know for sure. I think it’s just a picturesque image, like the following from Johnny Carson. “It was so cold, they had to start the Bionic Woman with jumper cables.” Fiddler Johnny Gimble, talking about a hot dry spell, said, “I saw my dog chasin’ a rabbit yesterday. They was both walkin’.” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/77 "2003-08-02T18:02:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \*\* > it’s the queens innit? As spoken in Sarf. > > Blimey are you a bit dagenham? i know most lemons are a bit doolally (not to mention completely radio), but strewth, ask your spars when you’re down the nuclear having a few don revies, they’ll give you the coo. Adding to **AskNott’s** explanations. “lemon” = “lemon squeezers” = geezers? “doolally” = crazy “radio” = “radio rental” (UK TV rental store) = mental “nuclear” = “nuclear sub” = pub “don revie” = bevvy (bevvie?) = drink. Don Revie = late manager of Leeds Utd. and England football teams. But you’ve got me on Dagenham, spars and coo. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/78 "2003-08-02T19:07:09Z")
IANA Bluesman… but Lemon Squeezer is from Robert Johnson’s Travelling Riverside Blues. As in “Squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg.” I’ll let y’all draw your own conclusion on that! 😛 And, once again, **ccwaterback** is _butter!_\* (Cuz he’s on a roll…) Where does Jesus H. Christ come from? Did our Lord have a middle name? (Must be in The Book of Mormon…) But seriously, Judas Priest or even Jeez are probably like a cleaned up way of swearing. But if you’re going to say JC anyways, what does the H do? ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/79 "2003-08-02T19:19:03Z")
Sorry for the SNAFUs… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312/80 "2003-08-02T19:52:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Ye gods and little fishes" is from, IIRC, the movie Lifeboat (1944). Tallulah Bankhead’s character speaks the line. Ye gads and little fishes, how I love this board! **fairly weeping with gratitude** Ahem. I’ll just get myself under control now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-slang-you-dont-understand/192312.md?page=5)