Around here we say “The crack of bird shit”. As in “I have to get up at the crack of bird shit”. I don’t think “crack” means the same thing, though.
“Mad as a box of frogs” : completely bonkers.
“Pardon my klatchian” : Terry Pratchett, variant of “Pardon my french”, said after using a rude expression.
Damn. Lew was here, and I missed him? He owes me 20 bucks.
I just had these two wander across my consciousness and felt the urge to share them.
One had to do with a guy getting cut up really bad. Somebody announced that he came in second in a razor fight.
The other passes the “heard it once or twice” part, but I must confess I don’t use it regularly since I’m no longer around the work buddy who helped me keep it fresh. Another guy at work was a bit challenged in his use of the Mother Tongue and was often at a loss for what verb to apply. Undaunted he would say, when perhaps what was on his mind was, “I wanted to cut those pages out of the magazine and save them” he would provide the shorthand version of “I took and thinged them pages” as if that conveyed much beyond that some action was taken to some object.
The other buddy and I would “take and thing” all sorts of stuff, especially when addressing the other guy. Sadly, the other guy died, so we continued to say it in his memory. If only the occasion would arise here so I could take and thing something nowadays.
‘Natch’ for naturally. I got it from a scifi story (I’m pretty sure it was Heinlein)
‘Yepper peppers’ for yes. I got it from Thundercats fandom - either Snarfer or a prominent fan.
Pretty minor.
Words mutate. Meanings and pronunciations often change over time. If the word “spooge” was used on a mainstream TV show in the sense which I have defined it, then we seem to be considering a case of word mutation. I’ve heard it used thusly quite a lot. I’ve submitted my definition to the Urban Dictionary website- we’ll see if they accept it.
My favorite example of word mutation is mbuki mvuki(Bantu). Meaning “to shuck off clothes in order to dance” [verb]. Brought from Africa to North America by slaves, it became boogie woogie.*
*Source: They Have A Word For It by Howard Rheingold. This book is a fascinating collection of words from other cultures for which there are no English equivalents.
Heehee…the horse’s end one, I’ve always said as, “He looks like the south side of a north travellin’ mountain man.”
I also frequently use (to someone who is whining about something silly) “Call the waaaaahmbulance!”
There are too many good ones already posted just to start a new thread and point to this one, and it is indeed a Zombie of the first water.
But I just wanted to see what new ideas may have come up in the past six or so years.
Shit and two is eight. (I have no idea; use it anywhere)
Couldn’t find his ass with a six-man search team.
[spooge, et al, now has an ‘L’ in it (splooge), thanks to Archer]
“As crooked as a dog’s hind leg.”
Picked it up from JFK. (The movie, not the prez.)
I need to confess that the whole reason I poked this Zombie came from being tantalized by the title of a recent thread So I guess we went and had a baby? that I didn’t want to hijack, and certainly not to make sport of. But the “went and had” made me remember “take and thing” (see above) and also made me curious about how many similar constructions there must be.
Can you add, from your experience, to this list:
up and did something
took and did something
went and did something
off and did something
This is a mighty fine thread to bring back after 6 years.
Whenever folks ask how I’m doing, like on a conference call at work, I answer “I’m just as fine as frogs’ hair!”
Some people respond with “but… frogs don’t have hair.”, to which I answer “see? it’s mighty fine stuff.”
Being in IT, we are an international crowd, so my frogs’ hair comment flies right on by many people.
I also like to use those 20’s slang expressions like “It’s the cat’s meow”, “It’s the cat’s pajamas.”
“Bee’s knees” kind of thing. Those folks (20’s style) would fit right in here, I believe. Only the WWII era slang had more bite than the 20’s as best I can tell.
Stuff like Mairzy Doats, the Hut Sut Song, and dozens more oldies like that on YouTube.
One that’s always puzzled me as to its origin’s time and place is “Fuckin’ A Toochie” (or however it’s spelled).
When I was young, my father occasionally used “keister” (who knows how that should really be spelled? Is it a real word?) to mean “ass”. (Sometimes he said “kazeester.”) I had never heard anyone else use that word before or since . . .
Until Ronald Reagan said it in some press conference. Then the press picked it up and used it a lot.
For me, the version of “couldn’t find,” after I heard it said once, was “couldn’t find his own ass with both hands and a road map.” Truly without a clue…
Also, the first time I heard the phrase “riss like a pace horse,” I stole that.
Just used it today
He’s as useless as tits on a bull
I use this more often when I am joking
*Butter my butt and call me a biscuit
*
One of my great grandmothers, not one I get to use often
You are like a butterfly, you flit from flower to flower then light on a hens turd
She said it to an aunt who didn’t marry well
Another I don’t get to use often enough (although I hear it more than I would like)
*One day your alligator mouth is going to get your canary ass in trouble
*
When my oldest was a toddler she asked for ‘fruit soup’ (to eat). After finally figuring out she was asking for ‘fruit cocktail’, it’s remained fruit soup in our family.
If I go somewhere and get a parking spot right in front of where I’m going, it’s ‘Hollywood parking’. One of the kids noticed that in movies they never have to hunt for a parking spot or walk very far once they park.
Not sure how it started, but in our family ‘oompa loompa’ is ‘code’ for… pinch a loaf. Usually used in public, to discretely convey urgency.
Not just heard once or twice, but in Wisconsin, ‘Bless your heart’ said with sarcasm and snide equals ‘kiss my ass’.
Upon seeing someone bumbling through a task
You look like a monkey f*****g a football
When someone wont shut up
Your mouth runs like a bird’s ass at mulberry time
From my grandfather: “Steady in spurts, like a toad a-walkin’.”
I haven’t backtracked to see if this was mentioned before, but a guy I used to work with said of a co-worker who had just made some serious foul-up on the job, “If the boss finds out about this, he’s gonna fire you so fast he’ll blister his lips.”
That image is hard to shed after 40 or so years…