Interesting, funny, odd colloquialisms

[Mr. Bonney]

I've heard of "granny gears" for a long time, but never knew why it was called that. Just found out that it was so named because - when shifted into it - the vehicle wouldn't move any faster than ole granny!

"Giving them the whole nine yards" comes from World War 2 bomber crews. The machine guns used to defend the bombers were fed by ammo belts 27 feet (i.e. 9 yards) long, and the phrase meant not to hold back, give them everything you've got.

This one might be a personal creation though I seem to remember hearing it before. "There's another Q-Tip (driver)!" It's what the Mrs. and I say when when we see someone driving super slow and it's an old person at the wheel - because all you can see is the little tuft of white hair poking over the headrest!

 

[Ricksplace]

"Lock, stock, and barrel". -you get everything included. Derived from muzzle loading firearms. The lock is the mechanism that included the trigger and hammer. The stock and barrel are self explanatory.

" A flash in the Pan" Looked good at first, but fizzled out. Derived from flintlock firearms. The hammer would fall, scrape the flint down the hardened steel frizzen creating a shower of sparks, igniting the powder in the pan of the flintlock with the usual flash, but it would not set off the main charge. So instead of "click-swoosh-kaboom" you get "click-swoosh" and no kaboom.

 

[Ricksplace]

OMG. I'm a q-tip driver.

 

[Go-T]

OMG. I'm a q-tip driver.

 

[Mr. Bonney]

OMG. I'm a q-tip driver.

I'll honk next time I see you! lol

 

[Ricksplace]

I'll honk next time I see you! lol

People honk at me all the time. Must be lots of q-tip members out there. And I thought it was my driving...

 

[Russrat]

In Southwestern Louisiana, where Cajun, Texas and German culture amalgamate, we have a few:

1) Someone is really lucky: “He could Sh%# in a swinging jug and never hit the sides”;
2) Someone is on a tough run of luck: “It’s like staring up a mule’s as#”;
3) Someone has put themselves in a difficult and dangerous situation: “Like sandpapering a bobcat’s as% in a phone booth;”
4) Someone has taken on a really tough challenge: “He’s holding a Tiger by the tail;”
5) something that tastes bad: “Like licking a tomcat’s as#;”
6) Someone thinks they’re the stuff: “He’s preening like a peacock;” or “he’s strutting like a banty rooster;”
7) A big talker who never backs it up is: “all hat and no cattle;”
8) A confident storyteller who thinks he’s never wrong but often is: “often wrong, but never in doubt;”
9) Someone with a dislikable personality: “When he walks in the room, it’s as though someone just left;”

There’s a lot more down here, but they do get a bit more risqué.

 

[Villalobos]

When we spent too much time in the house my grandma would say we needed to get out and blow the stink off.

 

[Go-T]

When we spent too much time in the house my grandma would say we needed to get out and blow the stink off.

When I was a kid it was "Blow some Far$s off"

 

[njpaddy]

The fatherly advice from my stepdad when I annoyed the neighbors or peeled out on our street as a teenager was:

"Don't sh%# where you sleep".

Turned out to be good advice. 50 years later and I still slow to 25 mph on my residential street. It annoys everyone wanting to do 40, but that's their problem. And while I don't have much contact with my neighbors, we all get along and respect each other.

 

[Doc4]

So instead of "click-swoosh-kaboom" you get "click-swoosh" and no kaboom.

People honk at me all the time. Must be lots of q-tip members out there. And I thought it was my driving...

And let me guess ... a lot of people with injured index fingers want to tell you that you are "number one" at driving?

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

In Southwestern Louisiana, where Cajun, Texas and German culture amalgamate, we have a few:

1) Someone is really lucky: “He could Sh%# in a swinging jug and never hit the sides”;
2) Someone is on a tough run of luck: “It’s like staring up a mule’s as#”;
3) Someone has put themselves in a difficult and dangerous situation: “Like sandpapering a bobcat’s as% in a phone booth;”
4) Someone has taken on a really tough challenge: “He’s holding a Tiger by the tail;”
5) something that tastes bad: “Like licking a tomcat’s as#;”
6) Someone thinks they’re the stuff: “He’s preening like a peacock;” or “he’s strutting like a banty rooster;”
7) A big talker who never backs it up is: “all hat and no cattle;”
8) A confident storyteller who thinks he’s never wrong but often is: “often wrong, but never in doubt;”
9) Someone with a dislikable personality: “When he walks in the room, it’s as though someone just left;”

There’s a lot more down here, but they do get a bit more risqué.

Rusty:

...the Mrs. and I have heard a few (or words to that effect [wink]), of those in our travels around the
Bayou State!

"The South is more than a region...it’s a state of mind [and some say...an odd way to communicate], and Southerners seem forever returning there". The Book of Southern Wisdom

 

[Mr. Bonney]

Bone shakers - what bicycles were originally called. I guess due to the stiff wrought iron "frame" and wood wheels with metal "tires" over poor roads. Surprising bicycles ever took off!

 

[Benzadmiral]

Noo Awlins has a raft of weird expressions.

"Neutral ground" for "median." (The Creoles and the Americans hated each other, but met on "neutral ground" to do business.)

"Banquette" = "sidewalk." Not heard much today, this comes from the French, "little bank," since the nominal sidewalks were like banks of a river when the streets flooded.

"Makin' groceries" = "going grocery shopping." Probably from the French too -- as I understand it, the French verb "to do" ("do one's shopping") can also mean "to make."

There are others. But the oddest one I know came from my Swedish maternal grandfather, whom I never met. He, and my mother, referred to a Phillips head screwdriver as a "French" screwdriver. Nobody else, Canadian (as my mother was) or any other nationality, has ever heard it. I still use the term now and then. "Hand me the French screwdriver." "Say what?"

 

[EL SOFA]

In this part of the South, if you *have* to say something uncomplimentary, you throw in a "bless his heart."

"Bubba IS an idiot, but bless his heart: he tries and tries!"


AA

That somehow makes it even worse, lol!

 

[EL SOFA]

"I've gotta go see a man about a horse"

Anyone use that one? I do..

 

[Go-T]

"I've gotta go see a man about a horse"

Anyone use that one? I do..

Yep.
How about the one where you ask where did he go. And the answer is, "He went to take a s**t and the hogs ate him.

 

[Go-T]

Just thought of another one.
"Where did you get that?" Answer, "At the gittin place"

 

[natenaaron]

Step out in the hall and dust the crops.

 

[Daiķon]

My dad always calls me "a good spoon"... apparently in Spanish it's a saying for someone with a healthy appetite, LOL. He's always saying Spanish sayings in English and it's the best, haha.