Colloquialisms & Slang

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kayakerles

Have a nice ride.
We hear all sorts of things on a regular basis that others don’t in their locale. Being part of this forum has sent me to Mr. Google many times. How we communicate is fascinating. Post your thoughts on this thread with related phrases you have found interesting.

This thread was inspired by Drago's Stupid Phrases thread.

I'll start, “Drop me a line.

The “drop” part of the idiom “drop a line” is a usage dating back to at least 1769 meaning “To let (a letter or note) fall into the letter-box; hence, to send (a note, etc.) in a casual or informal way.” (OED) (“I will drop a line as often as I can,” John Quincy Adams, 1777).

As for the youth of today understanding this one… they might still get it as they tweet lines… but who writes or receives LETTERS anymore? Remember them?

Now one I had to look up… KNOB. (I know y'all know this one!)
I came across this tidbit on a site called Not One-Off Britishisms - British words and expressions that have got popular in the US

“The first figurative citation, denoting “An annoying, unpleasant, or idiotic person (esp. a man or boy),” interestingly, is from 1920. All the examples are from British, Irish or Canadian writers, an example of the last being Douglas Coupland in his 1991 novel Generation X: “I’d made all these plans to meet before, but he kept breaking them, the knob.”

Of course there are other descriptive meanings as well… :blush:
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
"Piece of cake" as in something is easy to do (although it can be used in an ironic way when you finish something which took ages). No idea of the derivation, but my father used it regularly, and apparently it was used by fighter pilots in WW2 (he had been a Spitfire pilot, so he'd presumably learnt it then). It's a favourite expression of mine too.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
The use of "CC" on emails. I wonder how many of the younger generation know what this stands for and probably very few have used it in it's original form.
I wouldn't have called that slang though. It is just an abbreviation of something that is no longer relevant.
 

CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
Once in the US many years ago when I smoked I asked a bloke sitting next to me in a bar in LA if they sold 'Fags'. It was ok after explanation but a brief I'm going to get a kicking moment.
Same here, around the late 90s on my first time in the US, I naively asked in a bar/restaurant in Maine NE "Where can I get hold of some fags around here at this time of night". People were properly aghast, you could hear the intakes of breath. Thankfully one guy said "I think he's British, it means something else there" but it did genuinely feel like I was in hot water for a minute.

On colloquialisms, I always liked my Dad's favourite: "You're about as much use as a one-legged man in a bum kicking contest".
 

Donger

Convoi Exceptionnel
Location
Quedgeley, Glos.
"Get your arse into gear".......... Prepare to put in some effort.

"Like a blue-arsed fly" ...... being overworked/asked to do too much and ending up frantic but directionless. Presumably resembling the hectic flight pattern of a bluebottle.
 
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swee'pea99

Legendary Member
Unless I'm misremembering (which is entirely possible) 'easy-peasy' was commonplace in my childhood, but 'lemon-squeezy' was added at some point since - when exactly I really don't know. I like it tho!
 

Donger

Convoi Exceptionnel
Location
Quedgeley, Glos.
"The mutt's nuts". (For our American friends, I should point out that "nuts" is used here in the same way as in General McAuliffe's famous response to the Germans at Bastogne). Meaning: Top quality/one's most prized possessions/held in high esteem. eg "How was your holiday?" "It was the mutt's nuts, mate".
 
"Get your arse into gear".......... Prepare to put in some effort.

"Like a blue-arsed fly" ...... being overworked/asked to do too much and ending up frantic but directionless. Presumably resembling the hectic flight pattern of a bluebottle.

Having read that, I'm now starting to see why my experimentation with hard drugs didn't go as I expected.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
Unless I'm misremembering (which is entirely possible) 'easy-peasy' was commonplace in my childhood, but 'lemon-squeezy' was added at some point since - when exactly I really don't know. I like it tho!
I remember easy-peasy lemon-squeezy from when I was a child (1960s-70s). Looking it up, it appears to have originated in the late 50's or early 60's.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
i always remember my sons utterance...
That's well bad good that is .

As in, its really good....

These things come and go...
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
At some point this thread's going to go horrendously Yorkshire isn't it? It's just bread you know, nobody cares.
 
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