Strange phrases and their origins.

[mistyoptic]

Lord love a duck!

 

[Cycleops]

Strewth !

Doesn't that originate in Australia?

Another that comes from there is "Chunder" which many might not be familiar with - to be sick, vomit.
Originated from when people were transported to Australia by ship and were sea sick. Started as "watch out under".

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Doesn't that originate in Australia?

Another that comes from there is "Chunder" which many might not be familiar with - to be sick, vomit.
Originated from when people were transported to Australia by ship and were sea sick. Started as "watch out under".

Yes I think strewth is Australian.

 

[tribanjules]

Doesn't that originate in Australia?

Another that comes from there is "Chunder" which many might not be familiar with - to be sick, vomit.
Originated from when people were transported to Australia by ship and were sea sick. Started as "watch out under".

I think it’s a great word, carries more emotion than “vomit” as it’s nearly an onomatopoeia

 

[oldwheels]

Teaching your granny to suck eggs.
No doubt people would have a paloory nowadays but as a child I used to suck eggs more or less straight from the hen.

 

[C R]

Teaching your granny to suck eggs.
No doubt people would have a paloory nowadays but as a child I used to suck eggs more or less straight from the hen.

The galician version, possibly also in use in Portugal and I think Italy, is somewhat more descriptive and accurate: teaching your parents how to make children.

 

[C R]

Jesus H Christ! ona bike

FTFY

Proper fix given the site.

 

[Reynard]

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

An old naval thing, where cast iron cannon balls were kept stacked on a brass frame to stop them from rolling around, but of course, metal contracts when it is cold. And brass contracts more than iron, so the balls would fall off the frame...

 

[gbb]

Speaking of chunder and vomit, i used to love the term...technicolour yawn

 

[Cycleops]

Speaking of chunder and vomit, i used to love the term...technicolour yawn

Another one from Barry Humphries character Barry McKenzie.

 

[figbat]

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

An old naval thing, where cast iron cannon balls were kept stacked on a brass frame to stop them from rolling around, but of course, metal contracts when it is cold. And brass contracts more than iron, so the balls would fall off the frame...

Sorry…

”It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[13] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[14] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[15]”

 

[winjim]

Sorry…

”It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[13] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[14] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[15]”

I was gonna say that that's one of those stories that I've heard many times, and don't believe at all.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Inhabitants of Hartlepool are called 'Monkey Hangers'

And of, South Shields (I think) 'Sand-Dancers'

 

[Reynard]

Sorry…

”It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[13] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[14] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[15]”

Hey ho, every day is a school day.

The materials science behind it is entirely sound, however.

 

[figbat]

Hey ho, every day is a school day.

The materials science behind it is entirely sound, however.

Agreed. I was disappointed when I discovered it was false - it‘s a better reason than the supposedly real one.