These should be sayings and quips that we have heard or used in our past. Not some that we saw printed elsewhere.
We have come up with over 700 so far but they seem to keep coming. If anyone wants a full list just ask and get your email address to me (you can email it so that you don't have to post it here).
This is a continuation of the list from our old lost discussion :'(
Hi Rammel
Good to see sayings and quips back.
Thank you
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Run of the Mill
Something that is routine or is expected to happen.
The saying was they think used in the mills, perhaps cotton mills in the UK.
But over time used outside of work.
Kelly
702 - Run of the mill.
First one on the "new board".
Footloose and fancy free
Keep your fingers crossed
Adding -
703 - "If in doubt, don't"
704 - Footloose and fancy free
705 - Keep your fingers crossed
I am keeping my fingers crossed that we never lose that internet connection here.
Hi Bubble
So do I.
Kelly
ha ha ha I knew you would too!
Hi Rammel
As The Saying Goes
To say something and bring attention to what you are saying, like if you have had a busy day and are really tired.
Like:
I am, as the saying goes, burned out!
Kelly
706 - As The Saying Goes
Marginal, but added. (IMHO)
Rick, I did not check this with those I have, but is this included already:
Pure as the driven snow.
Mary Ann
623 - As pure as the driven snow
Hi Rammel
Thanks
It is one that I use and others use still to this day.
Kelly
707 - I stand corrected.
Hi Rammel
Make Ends Meet.
To live within your income.
So if you have a budget, you live within that and if you are running short of cash or funds you do with what you have.
Meet, we also know means tally, which means to count something. Tally or count your cash or funds to make your budget last. The could be the end of the week or the year. Usually a period for your budget, a weekly budget or yearly budget.
It might be a saying more in use in the UK.
Kelly
708 - Make Ends Meet.
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
Know which side your bread is buttered on
Health is better than wealth.
Hi Rammel
Anything for a quiet Life
This saying has been used such the 17th century.
Meaning, you are resigned to do anything thst will ensure you a peaceful life.
Kelly
Good morning....
I didn't know about this discussion until JeanneP and Bubble mentioned it this morning on Norm's site.
I really enjoyed reading today's entries as I grew up with all of them and it's like stepping back into the past :).
Mary
I'm new to this discussion, grew up with most of these sayings. Has -- Marches to a different drummer---already been counted?
Hi Andie
Welcome to this discussion.
Kelly
Adding -
710 - Know which side your bread is buttered on
711 - Health is better than wealth.
712 - Anything for a quiet Life
713 - Marches to a different drummer
To the newbies - WELCOME. If you want a full list, which is about 713 lines, I can email it to you (if you get an email addy to me). The list is in a RTF format on Microsoft's Word Pad (comes with the Windows operating system)
Rammel, I would like a full list. My email addy is in my profile.
Thanks.
Mary
Rammel, could you put the next added as #709 please? So as not to have an empty spot in the list :D
Hi Rammel
I know you sent me a list, but silly me cannot find it!
Could you send me another please.
Thank you
Kelly
You must have rocks in your head
Do not upset the apple-cart
709
709 - Chasing ones tail
Will add the others and send list.
714 - You must have rocks in your head
#347 is Do not upset the apple-cart
neither here nor there
meaning it really makes no difference either way. :)
715 - neither here nor there
Now I printed the list out up to number 642 and it is 20 printed pages . each page hold 26 of them. So I am now 67 short. bringing me up to 709
Do you need them sent to you?
Rammel, I did that for Jeanne. You have so much already with keeping that list up to date :)
Hi Rammel
The Long and Short of It
When you want to explain the general situation about something, but give not many details.
Kelly
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
Hi Rammel
A Little Bird Told Me
Something you are told in confidence or secretly and not to be passed on
Kelly
My mom used to say "my little finger told me", while putting her pinkie to her ear
Hi Rammel
Off His Own Bat
If you do something individually.
Kelly
Talking through your hat lol
Good one Bubble!
Kelly
You reminded me of it because I miss-read 'bat'
That's how the cookie crumbles.
Fit as a fiddle
Flat as a pancake .... (my former sister-in-law would say "flat as a fritter" when she meant she was "flat broke")
Hi Rammel
Burn the midnight oil
I used that as others did when on the night shift.
It was meant to mean before electric lighting.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Cross that bridge when you come to it
Used to deal with a problem if and when it becomes necessary, not before.
Kelly
716 - The Long and Short of It
717 - You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
718 - Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
719 - Off His Own Bat
720 - Talking through your hat
721 - That's how the cookie crumbles.
722 - Fit as a fiddle
#575A Little Bird Told Me
"my little finger told me" A sub of 575
More to come.
Hi Rammel
Don't give up the day job
Said when we are not very good at something.
Basically because we could definitely not do it professionally.
kelly
Hi Rammel
How goes your day?
Kelly
723 - Flat as a pancake
724 - Burn the midnight oil
#288 Cross that bridge when you come to it
Quote from: Kelly on April 02, 2016, 07:21:00 PM
Hi Rammel
How goes your day?
Kelly
Busy, busy, busy :thumbup:
725 - Don't give up the day job
606 - It's hard to kill a bad thing. Duplicate of 440 :o
Line it out. I will not renumber.
Hi Rammel
You are always busy on S&F.
And thank you for what you do for us on S&F
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on April 02, 2016, 07:49:34 PM
Hi Rammel
You are always busy on S&F.
And thank you for what you do for us on S&F
Kelly
Thanks Kev. I enjoy doing stuff plus it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble. :2funny:
Hi Rammel
Butter Someone Up
Usually when we flatter someone
Looked to see if any history about the saying, I found this
An ancient Indian custom involved throwing balls of clarified butter at statues of the gods to seek favour.
kelly
Hi Rammel
The short end of the stick
In getting the short end of the stick, is when we come off worst in a bargain or contest.
kelly
726 - Between a rock and a hard place.
727 - Butter Someone Up
728 - The short end of the stick
729 - You want your bread buttered on both sides.
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Alive and Kicking
Being definitely alive; lively and active.
The saying 'alive and kicking' was coined in the late 18th/early 19th century and is still widely used
kelly
Hi Rammel
Excuse my French
Usually said if a swear word was used, meaning 'please forgive my swearing.
I looked to see if I could find where it came from. It says:
A coy phrase used when someone who has used a swear-word attempts to pass it off as French. The coyness comes from the fact the both the speaker and listener are of course both well aware the swear-word is indeed English.
Kelly
730 - Alive and Kicking
731 - Excuse my French
Hi Rammel
Thanks!
Time to retire I think!
Kelly
out of the blue
It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease
History repeats itself
Hi Rammel
Slap up Meal
A large meal of good proportions. It originates from the time of Charles Dickens. And used in His 'sketches from Boz'
Kelly
I often...
Burn the candle at both ends.
And my father said that I used to...
play both ends against the middle. (I think it's another way of saying I knew how to get what I wanted.)
My grandmother said of someone...
She doesn't have all her buttons. (Meaning she was a bit crazy)
We also said that someone who is a little crazy was "Off her rocker".
Hi Rammel
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
In other words, don't criticise other people if you're not perfect yourself.
kelly
Hi Rammel
Under the thumb
It explains it as: It means completely under someone's control.
And
Being 'under one's thumb' is just a figurative expression that alludes to being completely under another's control. The allusion was to a protagonist so powerful and a victim so insignificant that even the former's thumb was strong enough to control them.
kelly
Y'all been busy today :thumbup:
732 - out of the blue
733 - the squeaky wheel gets the grease
734 - History repeats itself
735 - Slap up Meal
736 - Burn the candle at both ends.
737 - play both ends against the middle.
738 - She doesn't have all her buttons.
739 - "Off her rocker".
740 - People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
741 - Under the thumb
742 - It's a rule of thumb
743 - A gully washer
744 - Closing the door after the horses/cows got out.
745 - You can't hold a candle to _____
Hi Rammel
Thanks
Kelly
I have a great saying for today but that discussion has not been opened yet :(
We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
-Maya Angelou, poet (b. 4 Apr 1928)
Fair exchange is no robbery
No holds barred
How about...
Up for grabs. Meaning it's anyone's opportunity
or....Pie in the sky! I think it means...impossible
746 - Fair exchange is no robbery
747 - No holds barred
748 - Up for grabs.
749 - Pie in the sky
How about...
stretching the truth
blind as a bat
mad as a wet hen
Hi Rammel
Joined at the Hip
Inextricably linked, inseparable.
It is a saying I have used and it is used in the UK as well.
Kelly
Kelly - Well used here also.
750 - Joined at the hip.
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
Quote from: JaneS on April 04, 2016, 06:50:44 PM
How about...
stretching the truth
blind as a bat
mad as a wet hen
I guess you already had these?
Here's one I first heard from a teacher in elementary school
...In one ear and out the other!
JaneS - Sorry I missed those earlier
750 - Hook, line, and sinker
751 - stretching the truth
752 - blind as a bat
753 - In one ear and out the other
#141mad as a wet hen
Rammel, I put 750a - Hook, line, and sinker for this one, unless you want to put it as 754?
Please advise, so we keep the same list
How about...
...between a rock and a hard place.
or....three sheets to the wind (meaning very drunk)
Jane these are in 726 and 666 - we have them!
I suspected as much so how about the one I just used to Rammel over in the SS
Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear?
we have it as well ;)
Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
Hi Rammel
Back to square one
Basically back to where we started on something after wasting time.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Balloon goes up
Usually when actions starts after trouble begins.
It dates back to the First World War when observation balloons went up.
Kelly
How about...
Skinny as a rail
and...
Smart as a whip
Up the creek without a paddle! (meaning impossible situation)
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 05, 2016, 01:24:35 AM
Rammel, I put 750a - Hook, line, and sinker for this one, unless you want to put it as 754?
Please advise, so we keep the same list
Hook, line, and sinker
for this one, unless you want to put it as is now 754
Looks like I've got too many irons in the fire.
755 - Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear
756 - Only in the darkness can you see the stars
757 - Back to square one
758 - Balloon goes up
759 - Skinny as a rail
760 - Smart as a whip
#198 Up the creek without a paddle
sharp as a tack
761 - Sharp as a tack
762 - There's no accounting for taste.
Fish always stinks from the head downwards
That did the trick.
or
...carried it too far.
Hi Rammel
Make a long story short
Come to the point - leave out details
Kelly
My dad used to measure time until something was going to happen by saying...
...Only 2 more days and a gitup! (He figured you don't count the day of the happening because all you do is "git up" and it happens.
Hi Rammel
To hear something straight from the horse's mouth
Usually meant to To hear something from the authoritative source.
kelly
763 - Seeing eye to eye.
764 - Fish always stinks from the head downwards
765 - That did the trick.
766 - Make a long story short
767 - Only 2 more days and a gitup!
768 - straight from the horse's mouth
769 - Sounds like a fish story
carried it too far - too much like common talk
Hi Rammel
Thanks
kelly
770 - something up his sleeve
Enough to curl your hair (means kind of scary)
771 - Enough to curl your hair
Clip one's wings
General discussion is close, so no posting and there is no indication where one can post requests.
I would love to see the Daily Quote or Saying revived. It gave food for thinking.
Hi Rammel
On The Slate
It has many meanings, but is like a bar bill, you buy drinks and out it the bill when you order drinks and pay at the end of the night.
Also at your local shop, if your cash runs out midweek you ask the shopkeeper to put what you buy on the 'slate' until Friday when you get paid.
Kelly
Over here in the "states" we put it
On the cuff
I think that saying came from the old days when the shopkeeper actually wrote it on the cuff of his shirt.
Hi JaneS
Never heard On The Cuff, heard On the Slate many times over the past 50 years.
Kelly
Adding -
Clip one's wings
On The Slate / Tab / cuff
On The Slate / Tab / cuff is an interesting statement. Obviously different in different places.
Around here "On the tab" would indicate it were to be paid for later. On the cuff might indicate it was beilg tallied but might vanish later (sort of a hidden thing). "On the slate" not used much around here but might indicate as "On the tab", but also might be a list of things to be done.
Hi Rammel
Thanks
kelly
774 - Worth as much as a wooden nickle.
775 - It comes with the territory.
Hi Rammel
A miss Is as good as a mile
Usually a narrow miss is as bad as a wide miss - they are both misses.
The saying is supposed to go back as far as the 18th century.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Eat my Hat
Eating one's hat is, of course, something we wouldn't want to attempt in reality and the phrase is only used when the speaker is quite certain of the outcome of some event.
Like
You show a display of confidence in a particular outcome; for example, 'He's always late. If he gets that train I'll eat my hat’.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Eat my Hat
Eating one's hat is, of course, something we wouldn't want to attempt in reality and the phrase is only used when the speaker is quite certain of the outcome of some event.
Like
You show a display of confidence in a particular outcome; for example, 'He's always late. If he gets that train I'll eat my hat’.
Hi Rammel
Fell of the Back of A lorry
It is a euphemism for 'acquired illegally'.
Like
When anyone accounts for their possession of an article by saying it 'fell off the back of a truck' or 'fell off the back of a lorry', they may be assumed not to be its legal owner - that is, it is stolen. 'Lorry' is the British version.
In America in the USA at the saying might be, Fell of the Back of A truck
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Get Down To brass Tacks
To deal with the basic facts or reality about something
The expression 'getting down to brass tacks' isn't particularly old as phrases go.
I found online this example.
It first appearance in print in America in 1863, in the Texas newspaper The Tri-Weekly Telegraph:
‘When you come down to 'brass tacks' - if we may be allowed the expression - everybody is governed by selfishness.’
And it is used quite a lot in the United Kingdom.
Kelly
776 - Eat my Hat
777 - Fell of the Back of A lorry / truck
#663 - A miss Is as good as a mile
#7Get Down To brass Tacks
When my dad saw someone driving too fast of eratically he said...
...That's an accident going somewhere to happen.
And if we were a bit grumpy my grandmother asked us if..
we got up on the wrong side of the bed.
When we drank something and choked my grandfather would ask...did it go down your Sunday throat?
778 - That's an accident going somewhere to happen.
#550 - got up on the wrong side of the bed.
Jane we have a similar saying: 'swallowing the wrong way' when drinking something and choking.
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
Quiet in here, isn't it? Should I yell loud enough to "wake the dead"?
fly by the seat of your pants---
779 - The cheese stands alone.
780 - wake the dead
781 - fly by the seat of your pants
How about...
Say Cheese! when you want someone to smile. That's probably been done a long time ago.
I think that saying should read...
LOUD ENOUGH TO wake the dead!
OOOOppsss you woke me up JaneS!
Sorry bubble. Incidentally, I like your surrounding "bubble". Is it a bubble in a bubble?
Sure is! In a soap bubble too :D
Sorry, but all this talk made me think of spoiling one's fun or "busting one's bubble "
"SIT TIGHT" Andie. Someone will be by to rule on that...and on my contribution, too.
Hi Rammel
Beyond The Pale
It means anyone who might be seen as dangerous and fierce.
Originally a 'pale' was an area that had a boundary and was under the authority of an official. And anyone who lived outside the are or pale was seen as I said earlier, dangerous.
Kelly
782 - busting one's bubble
783 - "Sit tight"
784 - Beyond The Pale
#780 - Loud enough to wake the dead!
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
785 - You're skating on thin ice
786 - Don't push your luck.
Thanks for fixing #780
How about...talking through your hat....when you really don't know what your talking about?
Quote from: JaneS on April 09, 2016, 11:07:23 PM
Thanks for fixing #780
How about...talking through your hat....when you really don't know what your talking about?
talking through your hat is #720
Okie dokie, Rammel. Thanks
Inspired by Don's Music Quiz.
787 - Face the music.
788 - No more monkey shines.
My dad used to say...
It's colder 'n blue blazes!
When we asked him how that was possible he said that if you get a fire so hot it looks blue, if you tried to put your hand near it, the blaze actually felt cold.
789 - It's colder 'n blue blazes!
Hi Ramnel
Sign The Pledge
Give up alcoholic drink.
To do with the Temperance movement
Kelly
My grandmother used to tell us that our bedroom was messy and we better...
"Red up that room"
before our mother got home.
Hi Rammel
Start The Ball Rolling
Set an activity in motion or get something started.
Used from about the 19th century
Kelly
790 - "Red up that room"
791 - Start The Ball Rolling
Sign The Pledge (join the scouts, pay the cashier, shut the door, open a window)
Hi Rammel
Thanks
kelly
Hi Rammel
Method to my madness
Despite people thinking an idea has no chance of succeeding, there actually is structure to it.
kelly
792 - Method to my madness
Thanks Rammel
Good night
Kelly
793 - Ran into a stone wall.
My mother used to tell us...
If you don't get to bed pretty soon, you'll meet yourself getting up!
Anyone - everyone
Does this qualify?
If you don't get to bed pretty soon, you'll meet yourself getting up!
It made sense to my mother but I'll await a decision of the panel.
No sure... it seems just a turn of phrase. But for me it is more of a saying that
'Red up that room' for example which seems seems to be just a shortening of 'ready your room' and that is just normal talk; Make a long story short too seems literal enough. IMO of course
a nice saying - not for the list of course:
Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.
-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer
Red up or Redd up is a very old saying. I think it actually came from the middle ages. I did look it up one time but not recently. I'm sure my grandmother got it from her mother and so forth, back a way in the family. If I remember correctly, it meant in part, clean up this mess.
red up
to tidy, clean up; from Scots
"you coming out?"
"aye, but I have to red up in here first"
I looked it up now. So it is an idiom
The verbal phrase “redd up†(also seen as “red up,†“ret up,†and even “rid upâ€) has its roots in a Middle English verb redden, which meant to rescue or free from, or to clear. Today, “redd up†means to clear an area or make it tidy.
It is a vocabulary term from what I understand.
Swing the Lead
Meaning to evade doing something , usually by giving a not very believable reason.
Originally I think it came from 20th military or armed forces slang.
Usually meaning someone 'swinging the lead' was a malingerer.
Kelly
Thanks Bubble, that rings a bell and my grandmother was a MacMurray. Lots of Scottish ancestors in her background.
Hi Rammel
The long and short of it
If you get a detailed report, you will get a brief statement, that will tell you the substance of the report.
Or the long and short of it!
Kelly
Go along on another person's shirt tails. (Means not doing your share...a free ride)
Hi Rammel
Pleased as Punch
Very pleased
Comes from the old Punch and Judy shows on UK beaches for many, many years.
A saying still used today.
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on April 13, 2016, 08:39:56 AM
Swing the Lead
Meaning to evade doing something , usually by giving a not very believable reason.
....................
Kelly
Is "Swing the Lead" one that you have heard or used?
Some of these sayings are not familiar to some of us due to the world being so big. I'm not trying to be difficult, but do want to stick close to the intent listed at the first post of the discussion.
794 - The truth will out.
795 - Go along on (riding) another person's shirt tails
796 - Pleased as Punch
#716 - The long and short of it
My mother used to describe a neighbor who didn't take care of her appearance as...
Looking like she hollered "hang on clothes if you want to go along"!
Hi Rammel
Swing the lead is a well known saying in the UK.
I have heard it used since I was in my mid teens and still do to this day.
It might be more a UK phrase.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Bee in ones Bonnet
Said if you keep on about something. So much that you find it hard to concentrate on anything else, except the idea you keep going on about.
Again a UK saying heard over the years.
Kelly
kelly, what does 'lead' refer to? the metal?
451 - There is a bee in your bonnet
Hi Bubble
It goes back to seafarers who used to test the depth of the water below the ships. So a weighted line was lowered into the water. The weight was lead
So lazy seafarers just waived the leads line in the air as they could not be bothered to test the the depth below the ship.
Therefore:
Swinging the lead.
Evading doing something.
Shirking doing a job
Lazy
Kevin
Kelly, having a "Bee in one's bonnet" isn't strictly UK. I've heard it most of my life. But the meaning might be a bit different. I always thought it meant having something that needed telling and no one to listen. My grandmother used to tell us, "Sit down and talk to me. You look like you have bee in your bonnet."
Hi JaneS
It has a similar meaning here to America.
Kelly
I'm sure this one's been done. A young man wanting to date a young lady gets a "no" answer and he tells his friends...
I struck out with her!
Hi Rammel
One For The Road
It means a last drink taken just before leaving on a journey.
Though the origin is not so mice!
In the UK during middle ages and mediaeval period, the condemned prisoners were taken from London city gaols to Tyburn Hill for execution.
On the way along what is today's Oxford Street in London, the cart stopped and they were allowed one final drink at a country inn situated on the road. The 'one' they were drinking was for the road to the final journey!
Kelly
797 - Swing the Lead
798 - I struck out with her!
799 - One For The Road
Striking out #251
251 - The road is so crooked, it would brake a snakes back. Repeat of #225
Swing the Lead Not used around here. I do understand the origin.
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
Kelly. see my reply to that, in the list
Re: Old Sayings and Quips From our past
« Reply #177 on: Yesterday at 12:52:53 PM »
451 - There is a bee in your bonnet
Hi Bubble
Thank you
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Best Bib and Tucker
One best clothes. The saying has been used since the 1800's
Kelly
Marry in haste, repent at leisure
To run is not necessarily to arrive
How about...
You made your bed. Now you must sleep in it!
I take it to mean that you've made your own problems and it's your responsibility to deal with them. I've also heard this one all my life.
I remember my father and Uncle telling me......
" Take me as you find me..."
and another well-known saying was....
" What you see is what you get...."
Jane, I remember being told that as well!
Oil and water do not mix
Hi Rammel
Make a Mountain out of a molehill
Exaggerate on something far more than it needs be
The saying has been around since the 1500's
Kelly
He who refuses to obey cannot command.
Kelly, do you have a book giving all these dates and details on the sayings?
What goes up, must come down
When my husband was feeling particularly unlucky, he would remark...
If I were starving and it was raining soup, I'd be standing there with a fork!
Ha ha ha Jane, a very picturesque one!
Hi Bubble
Regarding saying and quotes.
I know most quotes I use, but research them before I post them.
However, the one I used about swinging the lead, as I live on an Island and where many are fishermen, it is a well used quote and I knew its origin.
Kelly
Y'all been busy again :thumbup:
800 - You made your bed. Now you must sleep in it!
801 - To run is not necessarily to arrive
802 - "Take me as you find me..." Similar to # 307, but different enough.
803 - "What you see is what you get...."
804 - Oil and water do not mix
805 - He who refuses to obey cannot command.
806 - If I were starving and it was raining soup, I'd be standing there with a fork!
807 - I'm up to my neck in alligators.
#46 - Make a Mountain out of a molehill
#190 - What goes up, must come down
#505 - Best Bib and Tucker
#291 - Marry in haste, repent at leisure
483 - The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing that which people say we cannot do
Removed - Duplicate of # 475
Hi Rammel
Thank you
alligators... typo, I remember because they have 2 jaws!
Hi Rammel
In The Twinkling of an Eye
Something completed quickly, a short space of time.
This saying is still used today.
Just resourced the saying, as it could be said it is good to know where the saying came from.
Actually it is from a passage of the New Testament.
Kelly
and we say " in a wink"
Different places, different variations
yes, people seem to think alike, no matter where.
To err is human - is a saying in all countries, even way back in Africa.
Bubble, I think that one might have come from the Bible. I'm not as familiar with the Bible as I might wish but the entire quote as I've heard it is....
To err is human,
To forgive Divine!
Most of my life I've heard that other one...
In the twinkling (wink) of an eye. And I've heard it both ways.
My grandmother also used to say "Quick as a wink".
Hi Rammel
Wide of the Mark
Basically something or someone is wrong.
The word mark is for anything that is set up to be aimed at.
The expression was borrowed from target shooting.
Kelly
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 18, 2016, 02:28:38 AM
alligators... typo, I remember because they have 2 jaws!
Alligator, shmalligator. ---------- The dogg has two jaws too :tickedoff: :2funny:
My sister and I were Mall shopping one day many years ago and she said let's find some place to sit down because....
"I feel like I've worn my feet off and I'm walking around on the bloody stumps."
I know this is a bit gross and I won't be offended if you just ignore it but I couldn't stop laughing when she said it and I've thought it to myself many times since.
808 - In The Twinkling (blink, wink) of an Eye
809 - To err is human. To forgive Divine!
810 - "Quick as a wink"
811 - Wide of the Mark
Quote from: JaneS on April 18, 2016, 10:25:16 PM
My sister and I were Mall shopping one day many years ago and she said let's find some place to sit down because....
"I feel like I've worn my feet off and I'm walking around on the bloody stumps."
I know this is a bit gross and I won't be offended if you just ignore it but I couldn't stop laughing when she said it and I've thought it to myself many times since.
Not ignored, but I don't think it "fits the bill" for the list.
812 - "fits the bill"
813 - Let no good deed go unpunished.
Thanks Rammel
Kelly
How about...
You can get more bees with honey than you can with vinegar.
Or...
A pat on the the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
Both mean the same thing. Be nice and people will help you with your project.
similar to
717 - You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Hi Rammel
Pay Through The Nose
Be charged too much, excessive charge.
It is a saying still used today.
Kelly
it costs an eye!
Over here...
It costs an arm and a leg!
(I don't know which is worse)
814 - Pay Through The Nose
815 - A pat on the the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants,
is miles ahead in results.
#563 - it costs an eye (Arm and a leg)
Talking of body parts.....and not something ever said to me by any of my parents or relations but, I always wonder about the term when someone in the theatre to someone who is about to go on stage is, " break a leg " rather than wish them " good luck...." ???
Hi Jackie, I always heard that in the theater, it's BAD luck to wish someone GOOD luck so they say "Break a leg" instead.
The one I love that I heard on a British comedy show...I forget the name of it but it took place in a department store, was...
Don't get your knickers in a twist.
I know what knickers are and I always got a chuckle out of that one when the older lady said it.
Just remembered the name of the show "ARE YOU BEING SERVED"
That was a saying that Gladys too used ! lol
Mrs.Slocomb .... lol
Funny comedy with John Inman as Mr Humphries.....
They used to show it on Public Broadcasting over here and I never missed it. Now, where are we?
49 - "Don't get your knickers in a twist" (from right here on S&F)
"ARE YOU BEING SERVED", Waiting For God, Keeping Up Appearances, Fawlty(sp) Towers. --- I liked them all. A different type of humor than what we usually get around here.
Hi Rammel
how about
Steptoe and Son
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Money for old rope
getting a profitable return for little effort.
Looked to see the origin of the saying, this is what I found
Money for old rope' is most likely to have originated in a similar manner to 'money for jam'. This was a British Army expression from around WWI. The reference is to the ubiquity of jam in the soldiers' diet and that it had little value. 'Old rope' had the same status. 'Money for old rope' just means 'easy money'.
kelly
I watched them all, too, Rammel. Loved them!
How about ...
"Buying a pig in a poke."
Meaning to buy something sight unseen a poke being a bag.
Quote from: Kelly on April 19, 2016, 08:08:59 PM
Hi Rammel
how about
Steptoe and Son
Kelly
? ? ?
Never heard it. What does it mean?
816 - Don't get your nose out of joint.
817 - Money for old rope
#106 - "Buying a pig in a poke."
Hi Rammel
You were talking about UK comedies.
Like Steptoe and Son
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on April 19, 2016, 09:19:57 PM
Hi Rammel
You were talking about UK comedies.
Like Steptoe and Son
Kelly
OK, I got it now. It presented as an entry here so I misunderstood it's meaning. I hadn't heard of "Steptoe and Son" as a show. Maybe just not presented here.
Quote from: RAMMEL on April 19, 2016, 07:37:03 PM
"ARE YOU BEING SERVED", Fawlty(sp) Towers. --- I liked them all. A different type of humor than what we usually get around here.
We had these too here in Israel. It was fun. I miss that kind of light comedy.
All those old comedies were great in our day, they even bring some of those back as repeats, including Rising Damp with Leonard Rossiter....
I my have posted this Idiom before but, it has to be one of favourites as to remembering my late father....
" I will love you and leave you...."
Always said on parting as if anything ever happened to one of us, at least I knew my father " loved me..." just wished I had returned it back to him, too late now...... :'(
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on April 20, 2016, 04:33:02 AM
All those old comedies were great in our day, they even bring some of those back as repeats, including Rising Damp with Leonard Rossiter....
I my have posted this Idiom before but, it has to be one of favourites as to remembering my late father....
" I will love you and leave you...."
Always said on parting as if anything ever happened to one of us, at least I knew my father " loved me..." just wished I had returned it back to him, too late now...... :'(
I agree Jackie, Rising Damp was brilliant, can't beat the old ones :)
Hi Rammel
Pin Money
The saying was used to say we had extra earnings from usually a part time job
Kelly
Hi Rammel
I think your programme Sanford and Son was a spin off from the UK's Steptoe and Son.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Burning The Midnight Oil
When you stay up late ( like I do) or study late, again like I did when I went back to College in my fifties.
The saying was expressed by Francis Quarles (1592-1644).
And it was probably because an earlier quote which was, something was supposed to be 'smell of the oil', it is bore the marks of labourios study, by working or studying late into the night by the light of an oil lamp.
Kelly
isn't there one about burning both sides of the candle?
If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 20, 2016, 08:11:50 AM
isn't there one about burning both sides of the candle?
He/she is burning their candle at both ends.
Back later to verify and post new additions. Busy now. I'm on pins and needles now waiting for a delivery.
Yes! We were recommended not to do that when we were in College. ;D
A saying my father would say that I still use today is....." what do you think I was born yesterday?...." said when you are trying to pull the wool over someones eyes, or trying to fool or trick them.....they are basically telling you, " do you think I am stupid..."
Hi Rammel
Jump on the Bandwagon
To back an idea usually got monetary gain.
Linked to political electioneering campaign, as it sometimes has been said it is like a circus!
Kelly
Added -
818 - Pin Money
819 - on pins and needles
820 - Over the hill
821 - Cool as a cucumber.
822 - Jump on the Bandwagon
Already on list -
#255 - " I will love you and leave you...."
#724 - Burning The Midnight Oil
#736 - He/she is burning their candle at both ends.
#432 - If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
#119 - do you think I was born yesterday?
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
I love the "Cool as a cucumber." So true! My grandfather used to love peeling and eating fresh cucumbers. In summer he was picking some of the peels and sticking them to his forehead and nap. He used to say it was so refreshing, better than a fan.
Don't like cucumber, they make soggy sandwiches
Kelly
The English ones maybe. Here they are crispy and almost invisible seeds.
Hi Rammel
Grasp the Nettle
Do something with determination, make your mind up about something and get on with it.
It was used as far back as the 1740's and it is still used today.
Kelly
" The clock is ticking...."
Meaning, hurry up and make your mind up, time is slipping away...
Good words are food, bad words poison
Hi Everyone
As I worked for myself this saying so important to me
The customer is always right
Be it a sole trader like me or a large company, it has to be a policy to put the customer first.
Where did it originate from.
In America companies like Marshall fields, Macy's and Selfridges in the UK. It is thought Mr Field or Mr Selfridge coined the saying, but it is not know who it was1
kelly
I thought of this one on the way out of work today. We're in the middle of farm country here and I first heard this one from my father when I was about 6 0r 7 . If one is limping...
"She has a hitch in her git-along."
I was limping due to a childhood accident and he said it to me.
823 - Grasp the Nettle
824 - "The clock is ticking...."
825 - Good words are food, bad words poison
826 - The customer is always right
827 - "She has a hitch in her git-along."
Jane, your dad had some great way of expressing himself.
My dad used to say: 'suddenly there is a smell of violets... ' when one was boasting
Think If I remember rightly, both my mom and gran often told me this.....
" Cleanliness is next to Godliness..."
A message on keeping myself clean, even down to cleaning behind the ears....
Hi Rammel
Pleased as Punch
Meaning, very happy and pleased with oneself.
This is a saying I heard many times at work or in conversation.
Origin, from the the Punch and Judy shows of years gone by.
Kelly
828 - A fly in the ointment.
829 - The best thing to come along since sliced bread.
796 - Pleased as Punch
383 - Cleanliness is next to Godliness
When someone has a little too much to drink he's
Higher than a kite!
830 - Go fly a kite
615 - High as a kite
Hi Rammel
Put wool over other people's eyes
To deceive someone into thinking well of them.
kelly
246 - Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes.
When we pestered our father when we were little he used to say,
Why don't you go play in traffic?
Of course, since we lived on one of the quietest streets in town, our answer was usually, "There isn't any!"
831 - Don't get into water over your head
832 - Why don't you go play in traffic?
832 was/is used around here - - - - - - - and we had busy streets. MMMmmmm ???
My Dad used to always say, "Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent."
833 - Set brain in gear before starting mouth.
See #98 - "Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent."
I like 833 - never heard it before but so well said!
The Belgians have a saying:
Turn your tongue seven time inside your mouth before talking
- similar meaning.
??? Who had #98 before Rick?
What do you mean Angel? Do you want the complete list? I can mail it to you if that is what you imply.
Hi Rammel
Ties up the loose ends
Finalising matters, concluding something.
It came from a nautical origin. As sailors had to make ropes shipshape, they tied up the loose ends.
But it was then used on a broader scale.
Kelly
I always tell my dogs,
It's no use chasing squirrels until you learn to climb trees.
Just wanted to share that. Don't know if it counts.
Rammel, about the traffic, he said that to my cousins little boy when the were visiting and there WAS traffic. They caught him trying to open the front door and to go do it. My mother gave my father quite a lecture.
Hi Rammel
Make a beeline for
You go somewhere quickly
It is a similar saying as:
'As the crow flies'
As it is thought crows fly directly to their destination.
Both sayings still used in the UK and the Isle of Man.
Kelly
I went back to the beginning and didn't see a list, Bubble. Is it posted somewhere with who posted what saying?
Kelly, I always thought that as the crow flies meant a clearer path as a bird doesn't have to go around obstacles.
Quote from: angelface555 on April 26, 2016, 03:03:09 AM
??? Who had #98 before Rick?
I don't keep track of who submits. But if the submitter recalls the submitting they could respond.
It was "recorded" as
98 - Never duel in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
angelface555 - I can send you the list if you want it. Keep in mind that it is now approx. 900 lines long. It is in RTF format in WordPad
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 26, 2016, 02:31:49 AM
The Belgians have a saying:
Turn your tongue seven time inside your mouth before talking
- similar meaning.
I'm adding "Turn your tongue seven time inside your mouth before talking" as a sub-thought to 833 but not assigning another number.
Keep in mind that many of these have slightly different wording depending where they are from. Some are worded quite differently but have similar meaning.
This whole thing started one day when I heard an old saying and I wondered just how many of these sayings we all have heard in our lifetime. I'm sure so many of these have shaped our lives in ways we never thought about.. That's why I'm looking only for the ones WE have heard. After all, we are a special group ::)
834 - Ties up the loose ends
835 - Make a beeline for
Hi angel
I thought my thoughts on the crow was the same as yours.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
As always thank you for you what do for us.
Kelly
Thanks, Rick, I just thought since that was a special saying to me that I may have submitted it earlier.
Hi, Kelly!
Quote from: angelface555 on April 26, 2016, 10:41:41 AM
Thanks, Rick, I just thought since that was a special saying to me that I may have submitted it earlier.
Hi, Kelly!
That's possible. But since we lost the old S&F and had to re-start there's no way for anyone to tell if they had subscribed to a discussion. We're all counting on our memories ---- HAHAHAHAHA --- Fat chance (mmmm - another)
;D :thumbup:
Here one I can't quite remember. But I recall some of it from many moons ago.
When a kid makes a face someone would often comment about it freezing that way. Now who has the good memory to remember that.
Hi Rammel
The saying similar to the one you mentioned I remember is
If the wind changes your face will stay like that.
Kelly
Whenever we made sad, weird, nasty, glum or whatever faces, my grandmother would say...
Be careful! Your face will freeze and you'll look like that for the rest of your life!
Adding
836 - Fat chance.
837 - Be careful! Your face will freeze and you'll look like that for the rest of your life!
similar --- If the wind changes your face will stay like that.
838 - Go soak - or - Go soak your head.
JaneS - I believe that's as I heard it.
Re: #838 --- Does #838 sound familiar to anyone else? Might have been just local here.
I've heard "Go soak your head" but around here when I was a teenager it was always...
Why don't you go take a flying leap in a rolling donut.
OR
Why don't you go take a long walk on a short pier!
Or.
I wish you were on the radio so I could turn you off!
I recall all three of those. Will work at entering them. They are all the same BUT different.
839 - Drop dead or Drop dead twice.
840 - Why don't you go take a flying leap in a rolling donut.
841 - Why don't you go take a long walk on a short pier!
842 - I wish you were on the radio so I could turn you off!
843 - You should be on the stage ------ It leaves soon.
844 - Don't bite off more than you can chew.
These are a few I've heard locally (maybe very locally) but don't know that they would fit on the list.
Opinion PLEASE
Dag nab it.
Taint funny McGee.
No kidding dick tracy
Can't say ,not knowin
More chins than a Chinese Phone Book
Better than it was.
Adding
845 - Never a borrower or a lender be.
Hi Rammel
On these:
Dag nab it.
Taint funny McGee.
No kidding dick tracy
Can't say ,not knowin
More chins than a Chinese Phone Book
Better than it was.
Not ones I have heard of. They might be local to a town or city.
kelly
I've heard all but the "Chins" and "can't say"
Tain't funny McGee, came from the old "Fibber McGee and Molly show. I think it was Molly who said it to Fibber and it was used almost every week on the show.
My dad used "Dag Nab it" when any kids were around. I never heard a swear word come out of his mouth until I was a senior in high school and he was in the cellar trying to fix the furnace. Something heavy fell on his fingers and SOB (the real words) drifted up to where I was standing. He came up the steps and saw me and said "How long have you been standing there"? My answer...."Long enough". He chuckled But I never heard a swear word again.
Thanks for the input so far. I'll wait for a while longer for more comment.
Will add "Dag nab it." My wife's dad also used it. Must be from the older generation :2funny:
I think I'll use "Taint funny McGee" even though it was from a radio show. It has been fairly well used around here.
No kidding dick tracy We used it as teenagers. A comment about an obvious comment by someone.
Probably will NOT use the following - too local
X - Can't say ,not knowin
X - More chins than a Chinese Phone Book
X - Better than it was. Used by repair people my son knows. Sort of accepts sub-quality work or incomplete repair.
adding
846 - What in the Sam Hill (or similar). Several variations.
Around here they also use...
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
Around here they use...
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Often used when you can't find the problem and it seems to be working OK.
1
Hi Rammel
Go Back to the Drawing Board
Restart planning again.
Its origin is from a cartoon from the New Yorker in WW2
Kelly
Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand
There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest. African saying
Hi Ramnel
Method in ones Madness.
When it seems something is a silly idea, some good comes out of it.
Like a number of sayings in the UK this one is attributed to William Shakespeare. It s a line from Hamlet.
The saying is still used today.
Kelly
Adding
847 - "Dag nab it."
848 - "Taint funny McGee"
849 - No kidding dick tracy.
850 - Cooking with gas
851 - Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand
#205 - If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
#680 - Back to the Drawing Board
#430 - There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest. African saying
#792 - Method in ones Madness
Strike out 656 - Knowledge is power. Repeat of 653
Thanks, Rick!
Hi Rammel
thank you
Kelly
Rammel, I've heard of Dag nab it and Tain't funny Mc Gee (still use that one), but not the others.
Mary Ann
I remember my father using "Dag nab it!" He used it in a humourous way whenever we kids caught him doing something he shouldn't have.
Money can’t talk, yet it can make lies look true.
# 20 and #75 are the same. - “Money doesn’t grow on trees!â€
I'll strike out #75
How about...
Any old port in a storm!
Means (I think) If you desperate and someone offers help, take it.
:thumbup:
JaneS, I use that expression "any port in a storm" for "whatever works".
Mary Ann
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 27, 2016, 01:47:36 PM
# 20 and #75 are the same. - “Money doesn’t grow on trees!â€
I'll strike out #75
Agreed --- I already had it "deleted".
Good evening all ---
Adding
852 - Money can’t talk, yet it can make lies look true.
853 - Money talks.
#113 - Any old port in a storm!
I heard someone say...
He tap danced all around the subject.
Meaning, he wouldn't answer directly.
Adding
854 - He tap danced all around the subject. - He danced all around it.
Hi Rammel
Fifteen minutes of fame
This saying used today is from a quotation from Andy Warhol.
It actually comes from a longer saying he said, 'n the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes'.
kelly
855 - Fifteen minutes of fame.
Hi Rammel
Thank you
kelly
One I don't especially like -
856 - The gorilla in the room.
I'm sure this one's been said...
May you be in Heaven and hour before the divil know's you're dead!
As an Irishwoman, I've known and used that a time or two.
Added
857 - May you be in Heaven and hour before the divil know's you're dead!
Strike out 63 - Heavens to Betsy!! It repeats #22
How about that old saying about, "There's only so many somedays to a customer?"
And to the kids who always wish they were older.
Don't wish your life away!
Hi Rammel
Butter someone up
To flatter someone.
I have heard this many times, never the origin though.
It is an ancient Indian custom to throw balls of clarified butter at statues of the Gods to seek favour.
Kelly
Kelly:
727 - Butter Someone Up
Thanks Bubble
Good to put the origin of the saying
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Unkindest cut of all
The most hurtful action or words
The history of the saying goes back to Julius Caeser and Mark Anthony's speech, the unkindest cut was made by Brutus who Juilius trusted.
Kelly
This one was probably already done...
Beauty is as beauty does!
also
Practice makes perfect!
Hi Rammel
Practice what you preach
Basically do what you tell others what to do
Jane, it seems we don't have these two.
Hi Rammel
This saying below is a Manx one, it might not be acceptable.
Foolish spending is a father of poverty
Kelly
Bubble, I'm surprised! I thought they were pretty universal.
So was I Jane... I hope I didn't err in checking.
Crumbs are also bread. (Don't ignore the small things)
Quote from: Kelly on April 28, 2016, 09:53:43 AM
Hi Rammel
This saying below is a Manx one, it might not be acceptable.
"Foolish spending is a father of poverty."
Kelly
If it's a valid one (you've heard it in your life), it's good.
Adding
858 - "There's only so many somedays to a customer?"
859 - Don't wish your life away!
860 - Unkindest cut of all
861 - Beauty is as beauty does! - (stupid is as stupid does)
862 - Practice makes perfect!
863 - Practice what you preach
864 - Foolish spending is a father of poverty (Manx)
865 - Crumbs are also bread. (Don't ignore the small things)
Hi Rammel
Thank You
Kelly
858 - "There's only so many somedays to a customer?"
Hi Rick, I don't think there's a question mark after customer.
Quote from: angelface555 on April 29, 2016, 10:07:06 AM
858 - "There's only so many somedays to a customer?"
Hi Rick, I don't think there's a question mark after customer.
I did a copy/paste from - http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=51.msg11595#msg11595
I often don't verify for spelling or grammatical correctness. Come to think of it I'm not very good at those capabilities. I often use my wife as my spell checker (she's good).
Sorry, I think I was posting it as a question for its being already listed.
Hi Rammel
It never rains but it pours
Basically it means when troubles come they come together.
I wreathe origin was this,
A proverbial phrase. The origin is unknown but the phrase itself was known by the early 18th century; for example, this item from a work by John Arbuthnot, 1726:
It cannot rain but it pours; or London strow'd with rarities.
kelly
#36 - It never rains but it pours
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
Never stoop to someone's level because then they'll beat you with,(or their?); experience. :thumbup:
Similar to earlier saying about not dueling with an unarmed opponent.
Hi Rammel
Another Manx saying and it is still used today.
The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing that which people say we cannot do.
Kelly
866 - Never stoop to someone's level because then they'll beat you with,(or their?); experience.
#475 - The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing that which people say we cannot do.
Hi Rammel
Not only a Manx saying, but worldwide it seems
Thank you
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on April 30, 2016, 09:16:39 PM
Hi Rammel
Not only a Manx saying, but worldwide it seems
Thank you
Kelly
Can''t argue that point. Looking back, I should have kept track of where each came from. I never thought we would come up with this many. And to my surprise every once in a while someone gets one we hear every day.
867 - Sweep it (or don't sweep it) under the carpet.
Show me your friend and I will show you your character.
The fool speaks, the wise man listens
Hi Rammel
At the drop of a hat
To do something straightaway
I read it is supposed to have come from the American frontier when a hat was dropped to signal the start of a fight or battle.
Also before horse races had any form of starting gates, the drop of a hat was used to start races.
Kelly
Let your hair down
Good one Bubble!
Must get mine trimmed :)
Kelly
Don't mistake activity for achievement.
That's a good one Angel!
My boss at Sears always seemed to say that at store meetings. We were convinced that our middle management actually ran things between clerks and the front office but his was a cautionary voice. ;)
Hi Rammel
A foot in the door
An introduction or way in to something, made so that progress may be made later.
Looked to see if there was an explanation for the say, it said:
The early uses of the term 'putting a foot in the door' are straightforward literal ones. It may just describe someone who steps over the threshold of a property, or someone putting a foot in the door in order to prevent it from closing and so continue a conversation.
But, we nowadays use 'foot in the door' in a figurative sense, with a similar meaning to 'the thin end of the wedge'. It was the technique of jamming a foot in the door to prevent it closing, used by door-to-door salesmen and political canvassers, that gave us this figurative use of the term.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Seeing 'the thin edge of the wedge' made me think that I used to hear that saying often when younger, not so much now.
I take it to mean, anything that is not seen as important in itself that might indicate the beginning of something much larger.
Say we bend the rules for someone a couple of times, it would be seen as the thin edge of the wedge.
kelly
From another discussion I used "The cheese stands alone". Kevin asked if it was a saying. Thinking about it I would say it qualifies - any comments? I see it as saying that someone did something (or was) different enough from the others that he was separated from the group, as someone smelled like a cheese would be avoided - thus, "The cheese stands alone".
I'm working on the others.
Hi Rammel
It gets a yes from me!
kelly
#779 - "The cheese stands alone". - Already on list
Adding
868 - The fool speaks, the wise man listens
869 - At the drop of a hat
870 - Let your hair down
871 - Don't mistake activity for achievement.
872 - A foot in the door
873 - Bending the rules
Show me your friend and I will show you your character.
Added as a sub to #369
Some good ones tonight.
874 - Still wet behind the ears.
There is practical knowledge and then there is book smarts.
Carl Jung said "I'm not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become."
Never heard these so I'll ask -
875 - There is practical knowledge and then there is book smarts.
876 - "I'm not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become."
They are ones you've heard, right? Not read in a book.
Practical knowledge is from my Dad, (Some people call it common sense); and the Carl Jung quote is from my Psychology class at the University. It stuck in my mind as an affirmation.
Better little than too little
Hi Rammel
With 875
The saying I have heard is,
There is practical knowledge and there is book knowledge.
So it is a yes from me on 875.
Kelly
Around here, when frustrations abound, someone inevitably says....
If it's not one thing, it's another!
(Sounds little like Yogi Berra but I first heard it long before I ever heard of Yogi)
Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone
That's a poem that my grandmother used to recite in part to us when we were kids. it's called "Solitude"
It was written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox and has 3 verses
Solitude
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
LAUGH, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of it's own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
877 - Better little than too little
878 - If it's not one thing, it's another!
#116 - Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone
Yes, we humans are famous for taking bits and pieces until no one remembers the whole.
One example is "Curiosity killed the cat." But what few remember is the remainder of the quote or saying was, "But satisfaction brought it back."
Quote from: angelface555 on May 02, 2016, 02:03:38 PM
Yes, we humans are famous for taking bits and pieces until no one remembers the whole.
One example is "Curiosity killed the cat." But what few remember is the remainder of the quote or saying was, "But satisfaction brought it back."
I remember the second line, ---- and have used it.
See #130
Perhaps someone should send me the list as I'm new to the thread.
Check your mail, Angel :)
Hi Rammel
Another Manx saying still used
How good to be forward, but how bad to be too forward'
kelly
How many pages long is that list?
Quote from: JaneS on May 02, 2016, 08:21:53 PM
How many pages long is that list?
It's just short of 900 lines in a WodPad RTF format. The number of pages (if printed) would depend on the font size you use.
It would be about 20 pages in an Arial 14 pt font. ??? I just open it on my puter when I use it.
The is a long list Rammel
the word long has made me think of a saying with the long in it!
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Honest as a Day is long
Is a very reliable person
Kelly
#482 - "How good to be forward, but how bad to be too forward"
#558 - Honest as a Day is long
Hi Rammel
Thanks, I thought my two posts might have been posted already
Kelly
How about...when you've told them everything you know about a certain subject, you finish with...
And that's the long and the short of it!
Go ahead and send me the list.
#716 - that's the long and the short of it!
Quote from: JaneS on May 02, 2016, 11:13:22 PM
Go ahead and send me the list.
It's on it's way.
Rammel, I hope you don't mind that I jumped in and sent the list to Angelface? I try to help: keeping this list up to date is a real job already. :)
I know I appreciated it! :)
A friend who has several cats reminded me of the old saying, "Dogs have masters. Cats have staff." Although that has probably been listed long ago.
A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
Quote from: so_P_bubble on May 03, 2016, 02:22:14 AM
Rammel, I hope you don't mind that I jumped in and sent the list to Angelface? I try to help: keeping this list up to date is a real job already. :)
No problem with a bit of help. --- Thanks
Adding
879 - "Dogs have masters. Cats have staff."
#815 - A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
Strike Out #523 - Raining cats and Dogs Duplicate of #39
When I strike one out, I do NOT renumber --- Too much work. If I had started on a spreadsheet I could renumber and sort. But then not everyone would be able to view the list.
Hi Rammel
Drastic times call for drastic measures
Usually when you are extremely desperate you need to take drastic actions.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Not a spark of decency
Basically someone with no manners
Kelly
880 - Drastic times call for drastic measures
881 - Not a spark of decency
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
Time to retire me thinks, Wednesday 2.15am.
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on May 03, 2016, 09:11:27 PM
Time to retire me thinks, Wednesday 2.15am.
Kelly
Sleep well.
Hi Rammel
Hopefully!
Enjoy the rest of your evening.
Kelly
An oldie --- and seen on another discussion.
#882 - "shoot the breeze"
Hi Rammel
High and Dry
Meaning stranded
This one is a sea faring one. A ship gets caught on a sand bank say and had to wait for the next tide, so it is left high and dry.
Kelly
Callie in the soda shoppe called yesterday a "white rabbit morning, (day)."
Hi angel
White rabbits?
Kelly
From Lewis Carroll's,"Alice in wonderland." Remember the white rabbit looking at the big pocket watch and saying he was late?
Yes!
I thought it meant something else
I had one of those days yesterday, too.
I have them days most days
Kelly
Hi Rammel
On the wagon'
Not drinking or abstaining from alcohol. 'Off the wagon' - returned to drinking after an attempt to give it up.
One thought is, suggested explanations of the origin of 'on the wagon' focus on actual wagons that were used to transport people; for example, condemned prisoners who had taken their last drink in this life and were transported to the gallows by wagon.
kelly
Adding -
883 - High and Dry
884 - "white rabbit morning, (day)."
885 - On the wagon
886 - His/her/your name is mud
However long the night, the dawn will break
The friends of our friends are our friends
Hi Rammel
A Fool and his Money are soon Parted.
A person spends recklessly and end up with nothing
Kelly
When we were kids and we ran in and out the door a lot my grandfather called us
In again, out again Finnegan!
Baptism of fire
Pour oil on troubled waters
She's so excited, she's beside herself!
Hi Rammel
Shut That Door, Were You Born In A Barn
Often said on the Island.
When someone continually leaves a house door open, so they are chide me for being lazy
Kelly
One of my dad's that we all use on dreary days...like today!
Someone forgot to turn on the Sunshine Pump!
887 - It went kaput
888 - The friends of our friends are our friends
889 - In again, out again Finnegan
890 - Baptism of fire
891 - Pour oil on troubled waters
892 - It mixes like oil and water
893 - She's so excited, she's beside herself
894 - Someone forgot to turn on the Sunshine Pump
895 - Shut That Door, Were You Born In A Barn
#361 - However long the night, the dawn will break
A Fool and his Money are soon Parted. Similar to -
#373 - A fool and his gold are soon parted.
Strike out 408 - " You were born under a gooseberry bush, "
repeat of #76
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
That list is growing!
Reminds me of one:
That baby is growing so fast- they feed him yeast?
Good one Bubble!
Kelly
Bubble, my grandmother had a similar saying...
She's growing like a weed!
Another good one Jane
Kelly
After me, the flood!
Apres moi le deluge!
To thine own self be true
(else thou canst be true to no one)
Hi Rammel
A Foregone Conclusion
Which is, a decision made before the evidence for it is known. An inevitable conclusion.
Actually is origin is from Shakespeare's Othello
Still used to day!
Kelly
Good morning from a partly cloudy Interior!
On # 888 - The friends of our friends are our friends?
The way I knew it as was "The enemies of our enemies are our friends."
Hi Rammel
Get your dander up
Getting annoyed or agitated
It is said it is a Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwynisms.
He is said to have said 'it gets my dandruff up', shortened to dander.
Kelly
Quote from: angelface555 on May 06, 2016, 02:21:57 PM
Good morning from a partly cloudy Interior!
On # 888 - The friends of our friends are our friends?
The way I knew it as was "The enemies of our enemies are our friends."
Me too. I'll add that as a sub of the first one, but no new number.
There are variations of so many of these.
896 - That baby is growing so fast- they feed him yeast.
She's growing like a weed.
897 - To thine own self be true.
898 - A Foregone Conclusion.
899 - Get your dander up.
Quote from: so_P_bubble on May 06, 2016, 11:06:05 AM
After me, the flood!
Apres moi le deluge!
Can you clarify?
this is a fine kettle of fish
knee high to a grasshopper
Adding
890 - Don't be a bird brain
891 - this is a fine kettle of fish
#371 - knee high to a grasshopper
After me, the flood!
Apres moi le deluge!
Should the world come to an end after me I wouldn't care or worry.
Hi Ramnel
Lick and a promise
Something done quickly, sometimes used as a satin when having a quick wash
Still used today on the Island and in parts of the UK
Kelly
Still used in my family, too, Kelly, My grandmother used to add, "sooner or later, you have to keep your promise!"
Hi Jane
It shows some sayings or used in many countries around the world
Kelly
If you are pretty sure something is about to happen...
You have a sneaking suspicion
Good one Jane
Kelly
Touch wood and cross fingers
against bad luck
Hi Ramnel
Keep your shirt on
Don't lose your cool or temper.
Been around for years, mentioned as early as the 1850's in America.
It was thought it came from times when those who got annoyed took their shirts to fight. And theey were advised not to fight and keep their shirts on.
Kelly
That reminds me of one I've heard all my life...
He's so generous he'd give you the shirt off his back!
Hi Jane
I like that one!
Kelly
892 - After me, the flood - (Should the world come to an end after me I wouldn't care or worry.)
893 - A Lick and a promise
894 - A sneaking suspicion
895 - Touch wood and cross fingers
896 - Don't lose your cool (or temper).
#3 - Keep your shirt on
#164 - he'd give you the shirt off his back
My Mother in Law used to say quite often...
If we live that long and the rivers don't rise.
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
Quote from: JaneS on May 07, 2016, 07:56:15 PM
My Mother in Law used to say quite often...
If we live that long and the rivers don't rise.
Okie (remember him? )had a similar on all his posts. "The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise"
I remember and miss his posts!
897 - a run for its money
898 - If we live that long and the rivers don't rise.
"The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise"
Strike out 214 - Up the creek without a paddle. Duplicate of #198
Hi Rammel
Yes I only posted with Okie for a short time.
He won't be forgotten
Kelly
I remember Okie Bloke! I miss his postings. He was one of a kind!
Okay how about...
One of a kind!
It was a familiar saying in my family the way Okie said it "The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise".
Mary
899 - One of a kind
Tennessee Ernie Ford had a similar saying about the "creek don't rise" but I don't remember enough to quote it.
Mary Ann
Hi Rammel
Stick Your Neck Out
Is basically taking a risk.
But it is thought it comes from many, many years ago and about capital punishment.
Kelly
Put on one's thinking cap!
890 - Stick to your guns
#5 - Put on one's thinking cap
#485 - Stick Your Neck Out
Thanks Rammel as always
Kelly
Goodnight everyone
Kelly
Goodnight Kelly. Off to bed early tonight .
Rammel, I think you meant
900 - Stick to your guns
we will soon be 1000!
Hi Rammel
Yes early retiring last night as a bit of business to see to today.
Kelly
Hi Rammel
Push the Boat Out
The saying came from seafarers from about the 1930's when someone bought a round of drinks.
But now it means if we spend a bit more money than we want to, like an extravagant purchase.
Also breaking a bottle over the bows of a ship to launch it and maybe a drink after to celebrate the launch.
Kelly
Quote from: so_P_bubble on May 09, 2016, 02:45:11 AM
Rammel, I think you meant
900 - Stick to your guns
we will soon be 1000!
Right you are.
correction of number ---- 900 - Stick to your guns
901 - Push the Boat Out
So scary it'll curl your hair!
Hi Rammel
Thank you
Kelly
Adding as a sub to #771 --- See # 771 - Similar
So scary it'll curl your hair
Hi Rammel
Shipshape and Bristol Fashion
Not sure if this one is a British one, it means in first class order
A bit of a long explanation for the saying!
Bristol has been an important English seaport for more than a thousand years. The city is actually several miles from the sea and stands on the estuary of the River Avon. Bristol's harbour has one of the most variable tidal flows anywhere in the world and the water level can vary by more than 30 feet between tides.
Ships that were moored there were beached at each low tide. Consequently they had to be of sturdy construction and the goods in their holds needed to be securely stowed. The problem was resolved in 1803 with the construction of the Floating Harbour. There's no absolute proof that the term 'Bristol fashion' originates with that geography but the circumstantial evidence seems very strongly in favour of it.
Kelly
I've heard "shipshape" all my life for extremely neat but I've never heard "Bristol Fashion
Hi Jane
It is as I said perhaps a UK phrase or saying.
I have heard it many times used on the Isle of Man.
Kelly
643 - Ship shape and Bristol fashion
Around here it stops at "Shipshape"
Been very busy this week. Not much time for fun and games.
Adding -
902 - Batten down the hatches
Hi Rammel
Thank you
The saying about Shipshape and Bristol Fashion is not used solely in Bristol, but all over the UK and the Isle of Man.
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on May 12, 2016, 04:30:55 AM
Hi Rammel
Thank you
The saying about Shipshape and Bristol Fashion is not used solely in Bristol, but all over the UK and the Isle of Man.
Kelly
Thank God we're all different - in many ways. Can you imaging how it would be if we were all cookie cutter models.
903 - Get a leg up on .....
904 - Tuck that in your bonnet (hat)
Pecking order
285 and 733 the squeaky wheel gets the grease are the same. I am deleting 733
Bring to heel
Hi Rammel
Go For Broke
Taking a chance but with risk involved
Kelly
Blow a raspberry
And I have often been broke :)
Kelly
Or a strawberry
:)
Hi Rammel
Ham Actor
An actor who over acts.
Kelly
I know of ham radio only
I've heard it said that he/she/ or they are hamming or did ham it up.
I just found this:
If you are clumsy or incompetent at something you are also said to be "ham-handed" or "ham-fisted" which gives the impression that your hands are like large unwieldy pieces of meat, unsuited for delicate work.
Bubble, that is interesting but doesn't say much for ham radio operators?
A ham actor is a well known phrase in the UK and especially the English theatre
Kelly
Yes, I know, but why are they called that, (ham radio operators); when it couldn't be from the description Bubble posted?
What does HAM stand for in HAM radio?
Nobody is really sure, not even the authorities and old-timers in the hobby itself. The formal designation for that service is "Amateur Radio". One theory is that H.A.M. is an acronym paying homage to three great radio pioneers: Heinrich Hertz (demonstrated existence of electromagnetic waves), Edwin Armstrong (invented modern FM radio), and Guglielmo Marconi (developed wireless telegraphy).Another theory is when the first amateur radio operators where using CW (Morse Code), that they tended to have a "heavy" (hard) hand, and was called being "ham fisted". This tends to be the most common theory.
Bubble, I would probably agree with that last, heavy handed. Thanks for answering my query.
Hi angel
As it has nothing to do with large or heavy hands.
Kelly
Hi Everyone
I looked up 'ham acting or actor', it says
The word Ham to mean an "overacting inferior performer," apparently dates from about 1882 and orignates from American English. Originally the word was hamfatter, meaning "actor of low grade," and has been linked to an old minstrel show song, "The Ham-fat Man" which dates from about 1863.
And for as long as I can recall the use of the phrase of Ham acting or Ham amor has been used in the UK whether theatre or television.
kelly
Quote from: so_P_bubble on May 12, 2016, 12:29:42 PM
285 and 733 the squeaky wheel gets the grease are the same. I am deleting 733
Ditto
Ham - ? ? ? --- with green eggs?
I'm entering "He's a ham" meaning a poor actor (not necessarily a professional actor), but poor at what or whatever he is doing.
IMHO - I would suspect "Ham" in referring to certain radio operators is a use that has evolved over time.
905 - Bring to heel
906 - Go For Broke
907 - Blow (Give) a raspberry
Or a strawberry
908 - "He's a ham"
Around here - a raspberry (other than a piece of fruit) is a vocal expression of displeasure.
A strawberry (other than a piece of fruit) is a skin abrasion as from rubbing against (often) the floor or street - usually accidental. :smiley6600:
Hi Rammel
on 907 I added Strawberry as a joke.
It is Blow a raspberry
Kelly
Hi Rammel
As always thank you for this discussion
Kelly
Quote from: Kelly on May 12, 2016, 09:02:29 PM
Hi Rammel
on 907 I added Strawberry as a joke.
It is Blow a raspberry
Kelly
I guess I should remove it.
I erased the strawberry from my list.
Kelly, maybe you could use the :) to indicate a joke?
Maybe even on a separate post since you love making multiple ones... :)
Seems what I do does get commented on a lot
Hi Rammel
Hold the purse strings
In the UK it means who had charge of the home expenditure.
The saying is still used today.
Kelly
909 - Hold the purse strings
Hoist by one's own petard
Pass the buck
Hi Rammel
thank you
Kelly
910 - Pass the buck
That Rick is a golden oldie!
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hoist-by-your-own-petard.html
''The phrase 'hoist with one's own petard' is often cited as 'hoist by one's own petard'. In the USA, 'hoisted' is preferred so the alternative forms there are 'hoisted with one's own petard' is often cited as 'hoisted by one's own petard'.All the variants mean the same thing, although the 'with' form is strictly a more accurate version of the original source.
A petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical wooden boxes. Whatever the shape, the significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder - basically what we would now call a bomb."
The device was used by the military forces of all the major European fighting nations by the 16th century. In French and English - petar or petard, and in Spanish and Italian - petardo.
"Petar was part of the everyday language around that time, as in this rather colourful line from Zackary Coke in his work Logick, 1654:
"The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your entrances through heavens Portcullis".
Cobbe family portrait of William Shakespeare Once the word is known, 'hoist by your own petard' is easy to fathom. It's nice also to have a definitive source - no less than Shakespeare, who gives the line to Hamlet, 1602:
"For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar".
Note: engineers were originally constructors of military engines."
Interesting! I never heard that. But, what is the message it conveys? What does it tell the recipient?
Basically that any damage done to him, he caused by his own actions and not any others.
In other words, he did it to himself.
911 - Hoist by one's own petard
I never thought that one would be obscure, as it was used freely when I was in college in UK. When someone was trying a trick against another person to gain some advantage and was caught cheating for example.
BTW in France a petard is also a "cracker" that you pull on birthdays or such and receive the little paper hat inside. Nothing to do with the expression.
Adding
912 - A new broom sweeps clean.
913 - Penny wise and pound foolish.
Oh good often heard ones! How did we miss them till now?
Quote from: so_P_bubble on May 23, 2016, 02:53:12 AM
Oh good often heard ones! How did we miss them till now?
I think we're all looking too deeply.
Yes, I am sure you are right. Some collected are probably too "local" or obscure for much use. I am trying to use the 'regular" ones more and am getting some acknowledging smiles.
Another just sprang to mind, " having a lick and a promise...."
In my house think it was mentioned when someone was having a quick but short wash, a face wash, just a quick freshening up.....
Give up the ghost
914 - Give up the ghost.
Already in - 893 - A Lick and a promise
915 - He/she 's a caution (may be local)
916 - Get poppin (popping)
917 - Throw caution to the wind.
Get the bit between one's teeth -
Do we have this.........
" It takes one to know one...."
We don't have that on the list Vanilla! Good one too.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Or " beauty is only skin deep..."
Don : 433 - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is in the list
Vanilla, I cannot see that one.
Jack-of-all-trades: master of none.
I can't keep track of the ones we have...... :-[
" how long is a piece of string..."
One I still say today....
The game is not worth the candle
New
918 - Get the bit between one's teeth
919 - It takes one to know one
920 - beauty is only skin deep
921 - Jack-of-all-trades: master of none
922 - The game is not worth the candle
Already on list
#433 - " Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. "
#385 - how long is a piece of string
The boot is on the other foot
Added as a sub to 578
578 - "Got your shoe on the other foot". Means not being right I believe.
The boot/shoe is on the other foot
It ain't over 'til it's over
swallow hook, line and sinker
923 - Don't cry over spilled milk
924 - It ain't over 'til it's over
#754 swallow hook, line and sinker
The game is up
925 - The game (jig) is up.
Good morning all. This is early for me.
Good morning! You fell out of bed Rammel? ;D
I usually get up (upright) between 7 and 8, but not alert and "with it" till mid-morning.
I am not "operative" before 9.00, but at my best after noon and in the evening. No naps for me - as yet!
" You can tell who wears the trousers in that house..."
Was often said about the boss of the house, be it the man or the woman....
" He is tied to his mothers apron strings..."
Usually said of a man who wouldn't leave his mothers home, to go out into the big wide world....
" She or he, is a gold digger..."
When you know that person is only after yours, or someone else's money....
Put one's shoulder to the wheel
Snow on the roof doesn't mean the fire is out.
" If he, - she, kept his, her, nose to the grindstone..."
He, she, will have achieved more...
Hi, everyone! With the new computer switch over, I lost my list of old sayings and quips. Would someone be able to resend the list to me? Thank you!
926 - You can tell who wears the trousers in that house..."
927 - " He is tied to his mothers apron strings..."
928 - " She or he, is a gold digger..."
929 - Put one's shoulder to the wheel
930 - Snow on the roof doesn't mean the fire is out
#177 - " If he, - she, kept his, her, nose to the grindstone..."
angelface555 --- I'll send it.
Got it Rick and Thanks!!
Re: 703 - "If in doubt, don't"
I wonder if you had also put in "When in doubt, leave it out." referring to the use of commas.
Added "When in doubt, leave it out." referring to the use of commas.
as a sub comment to 703
703 - "If in doubt, don't"
"When in doubt, leave it out." referring to the use of commas.
Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan
Make Hay while the sun shines
A lazy tailor uses a long thread. (-- so as not to have to thread the needle so often, but this usually ends in loss of time and thread, as anyone who has tried to make a long thread behave knows)
931 - Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan
932 - A lazy tailor uses a long thread.
#139 - Make Hay while the sun shines
These two are probably already listed, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And "The spirit is willing but the body/flesh is weak."
933 - "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
#319 - "The spirit is willing but the body/flesh is weak."
We may have had this one before.....but..
" Two wrong's don't make a right..."
139 - ha ha, never a truer word spoken....
Vanilla, we have it in #29. :)
The list is now very large, cant remember that far back which ones we have had, which ones still to remember... :)
There is a "find" that helps locate quickly by using the main word of the saying.
:thumbup: not sure it will work for those we had before we lost S & Fs...guess I could try...
Thanks, Rick, and Bubble!
Also Bubble, I am using Microsoft word, how do you use "find" with that or are you able to?
I use Word Pad. Rammel explained to me where to find it. I cannot see it in "view" but I can in "home". There are icons for find, replace, select all in the editing.
Patricia, I use Microsoft Word too and I click on Home and in the upper right corner is Find. Microsoft Word and Word Pad must be similar.
Mary Ann
Thanks, I'll look when I get back. My formatting is always different from Rick's as well. Any ideas on how to coordinate?
Anything Word Pad can do, MS Word can do - and then some.
944 - Money is like manure. It's no good unless you spread it around.
945 - Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
946 - Raise ______ hackles
934 - Money is like manure. It's no good unless you spread it around.
935 - Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
936 - Raise ______ hackles
Is the right numbering I believe.
I remember being told, " if you go out in the street like that..."
" That will raise a few eyebrows..."
was that with a mini skirt, Vanilla? :o
A good conscience is a soft pillow
Man is the head of the family and woman is the neck that turns the head.
Just for today...
Any man can be a father but it takes a special one to be a DADDY!
Mine was a DADDY and so is my son!
I bet you were the neck, Jane!
Never had the legs for a mini skirt, still dont have the legs... :P
Yep Bubble, I turned my husband's head so far that he walked out on me after 32 years of marriage.
because of a mini skirt I bet...
a much younger woman, you're right about that. But I'd sure hate to see her in a mini skirt. She outweighed me by at least 175 lbs.
You have reminded me of a French saying of my dad when he was seeing a woman with a ... generous "front". He was saying, rolling his eyes: there is feed and drink there!
Quote from: so_P_bubble on June 19, 2016, 05:24:59 AM
934 - Money is like manure. It's no good unless you spread it around.
935 - Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
936 - Raise ______ hackles
Is the right numbering I believe.
Right you are. Too much multitasking :idiot2:
937 - " That will raise a few eyebrows..."
938 - A good conscience is a soft pillow
939 - Man is the head of the family and woman is the neck that turns the head.
940 - Let he without sin cast the first stone.
941 - Indian giver
942 - Fair weather friend
I heard my father describe one of the minions of our small town as
Mr. .... has a big future! Mr.... had a rather large belly! We've used this in our family for years to describe anyone who carries a paunch.
When the cat's away the mice will play
I am sure we have all done this when young.....said to someone, oh I cant wait for a certain day to arrive, wish it was tomorrow....only to be told.....
" Stop wishing your life away...."
the day will be here quicker than you think....
.................................
Another Idiom I remember spoken within the family was......
" I would take that with a pinch of salt...."
often said when you didn't believe someones story, or version of events....
Jackie, my grandmother used that "pinch of salt" one very often, too.
And she also told us not "wish our lives away."
There's one that has a bit of truth in it that I might not have believed 10 years ago...
Your son is your son till he takes him a wife,
But your daughter's your daughter all of her life.
943 - When the cat's away the mice will play
944 - I would take that with a pinch of salt.
Already on the list. 859 - Stop wishing your life away
"Strike while the iron is hot"...and to this very day, I use the expression..I really don't know the meaning, but I like the sound of it..If it has been already named, please excuse me
284 - Strike while the iron is hot
Iron is heated and beat on with a hammer to form it into various things. This must be done while the iron is still hot and has not cooled off. You must strike while the iron is hot. As we would use it, do it now - don't wait till it's too late.
Failure teaches success.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
417 - It’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks.
similar :)
845 - The whole kit and kaboodle.
846 - Failure teaches success.
Thanks for the assist Bubble
Rammel, it is 945 and 946 :D
Quote from: so_P_bubble on June 27, 2016, 03:26:23 AM
Rammel, it is 945 and 946 :D
Right you are :uglystupid2: Typo ----- Haste makes waste :-[
At least someones paying attention - Thanks
947 - One shoe/size does not fit all.
948 - He's an empty suit.
949 - Empty barrels make the most noise.
Shrouds have no pockets
Quote from: so_P_bubble on June 30, 2016, 08:51:53 AM
Shrouds have no pockets
I'll be adding that, but what message does it carry (for my clarification - or - curious minds want to know.)
950 - Too big for his britches.
951 - Deep six it. (nautical - throw it overboard. )
952 - Shrouds have no pockets.
If that guy/gal had half a brain it would be lonely
Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone
953 - If that guy/gal had half a brain it would be lonely
If he had half a brain he would be dangerous (heard around here.)
116 - Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone
Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
A flash in the pan...
derived from old time muskets that had a "pan" for the gunpowder that drove the bullet. Sometimes the gunpowder would only "flash in the pan" and not drive the bullet. Used today to mean something that started big but wasn't worth much.
954 - Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
#133 - A flash in the pan
Interesting source.
I thought so too, Rammel. I've heard that expression most of my life but never knew from whence it came. Now we all do.
Her eyes were bigger than her stomach..I found I used it just today and I'm sure it's an oldie
Her eyes were bigger than her stomach
See 287 - similar - 287 - Your eyes are too big for your belly (stomach)
What can't be cured must be endured
often heard here.
955 - A rose by any other name is still a rose
956 - What can't be cured must be endured
I think that particular quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Quote from: JaneS on July 08, 2016, 11:12:27 PM
I think that particular quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
I'll add it that way as a sub to the other way.
Anyway you look at it a rose is a beautiful thing. :smitten:
This saying has probably already been mentioned? It's one that puzzled me as a kid, and still makes no sense to me, even though I've looked it up a couple of times over the years. 'Spain it to me someone?
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth" :dontknow:
Quote from: Marilyne on July 15, 2016, 11:48:22 PM
This saying has probably already been mentioned? It's one that puzzled me as a kid, and still makes no sense to me, even though I've looked it up a couple of times over the years. 'Spain it to me someone?
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth" :dontknow:
# 373
957 - The other side of the coin.
Patience of Job
Marilyn, my father explained that one to us when we were kids this way...
Ha said, "When you go to by a horse, you always look in it's mouth. You can tell by it's teeth how old the horse is and if the seller might be lying about it's age." Then the saying means, if someone gives you a horse (or any gift) just be grateful and don't question it. Two young kids understood this so I'm sure you will, too.
958 - Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
959 - Patience of Job.
Quote from: RAMMEL on June 30, 2016, 09:52:00 AM
952 - Shrouds have no pockets.
Rammel : Another way of saying that is "You can't take it with you" (because shrouds have no pockets). So no point in hoarding, or gathering riches in this world.
:shakehead:
I was driving through the country this morning thinking of my Dad who grew up on a farm and I was reminded of how he explained MANURE to us. He said.
"It's what comes out of the south end of a cow heading north!"
Made perfect sense to us because we'd seen farmers plowing that under all our lives.
The distance between Heaven and Earth is no greater than one thought.
Mongolian Proverb
960 - No great shakes.
961 - Knock on wood.
962 - Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.
963 - "It's what comes out of the south end of a cow heading north!"
964 - The distance between Heaven and Earth is no greater than one thought.
"You can't take it with you" added as a sub to 952
I love the cow one!!! lol
Hope this hasnt been used already but......
" dont wish your life away..."
....often said when as a young child you couldn't wait for a certain day to happen, you would say, I wish it was today....
Ha ha, that cow one is a new one on me... ;D
859 - Don't wish your life away!
" Don't jump the gun...."
.....often said by parents if I tried to do something too early, and without thinking straight........
This might be very local, but we heard at school:
"Use the elevator if you can, the escalator if you can't, but the surest way to the top is to take the stairs, one step at a time."
965 - Don't jump the gun.
966 - "Use the elevator if you can, the escalator if you can't, but the surest way to the top is to take the stairs, one step at a time."
Never heard that one, ----- but I suppose I haven't heard it all :idiot2:
We had one at work, "Up one, down two", referring to using the stairs. But I don't think it's used enough to qualify.
" Patience is a virtue..."
....often said to me, to calm me down, when I wasn't acting patiently, and giving things time....
Just open ----- "Jokes and Humor"
Stop in and leave a funny story or joke
http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=232.new#new
967 - Patience is a virtue
968 - It speaks volumes.
Rain before seven, fine before eleven
#271 - " Actions speak louder than words.."
#863 - " Practice what you preach..."
#118 - " You can lead a horse to water but, you cant make it drink..."
#862 - " Practice makes perfect..."
Adding as #969 - Rain before seven, fine before eleven.
Jackie -
If you don't have a full list, and would like one, I can email one to you.
RAMMEL......I think it is going to be hard to come up with ones we haven't already got.....seems such a long time ago, since we first started our list.....I shall delete my duplicated 4 or 5...to make room for those we haven't heard...
#273 and #958 are the same.
" Getting on like a house on fire...."
This came to mind this morning when we had ourselves some early morning visiting company, re, other half's oldtime friend from our previous address, who unknowingly had come down for the weekend.......Well myself and friends wife who I had only once briefly met, many years ago, found we had so much in common, we were two chatty ladies who had ourselves some laughs....it was as if we were old time friends....and sure felt that way when we gave each other a going away hug...
#676 - Like A House on Fire
I give up.... :-[ :idiot2:
My husband used to say...
I had to go all the way out around by Jabip.
My father went all the out around Robin Hood's Barn.
My mom told me to eat my vegetables.
My Dad told me be home by midnight.
And many more admonitions.
Quote from: so_P_bubble on September 04, 2016, 03:31:34 AM
#273 and #958 are the same.
Struck out #958 - Did not adjust numbers.
970 - No rhyme or reason.
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on September 04, 2016, 09:01:14 AM
I give up.... :-[ :idiot2:
Never give up. (Used often but doesn't qualify in my opinion)
With 900 + listed they are getting "few and far between". Every once in a while I remember one but by the time I get to the puter the brain is blank ;-(
971 - Few and far between.
RAMMEL, did I almost strike gold with that one? :2funny:
Ahh just thought of another one.....
" Strike while the iron is hot..."
Now if we have got that one, " I shall eat my hat.."
sorry, no cigar. (already on list)
#284 - Strike while the iron is hot.
#776 - I shall eat my hat
What about " striking gold..." ;D
Cigar - :roflBig:
972 - (It's like) "Striking gold".
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Quote from: so_P_bubble on September 06, 2016, 04:40:52 AM
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Take a look at # 635. Is it too similar?
635 - A cat in gloves catches no mice
Lets give this one a try..... ;D
" They give with one hand and take from the other..."
Rammel, I am still looking for that hat to eat.... :eat:
I suppose the meaning is similar if the image is not. The close mouth just seems more realistic than a gloved cat! lol
I am writing it under 635 as an alternative.
The age of miracles is past
Bubble - the minute I saw your post "the age of miracles is past", the George Gershwin song, A Foggy Day in London Town, popped into my head . . .
"A foggy day in London Town
Had me low and had me down
I viewed the morning with much alarm
The British Museum had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
But the age of miracles hadn't passed,
For, suddenly, I saw you there
And through foggy London Town
The sun was shining everywhere".
"Stick me with a fork--I'm done!"
Give him (someone) your little finger, and he'll take your whole hand.
By the way, where does the expression "cheeky little thing" come from? Cheeky= fresh, but why cheeky?
My dad used to say "Give him and inch and he'll take a mile". Similar to what you were saying RUTUMI. And I bet it's already in there.
And by the way, I can't stand it anymore. I have to be a bit "cheeky" and ask about your name. How is it pronounced and where does it originate?
Quote from: so_P_bubble on September 07, 2016, 03:49:23 AM
I suppose the meaning is similar if the image is not. The close mouth just seems more realistic than a gloved cat! lol
I am writing it under 635 as an alternative.
I added it as 635A (right under 635)
Quote from: Marilyne on September 07, 2016, 11:05:44 AM
Bubble - the minute I saw your post "the age of miracles is past", the George Gershwin song, A Foggy Day in London Town, popped into my head . . .
"A foggy day in London Town
......".
A song I've always liked.
A little catching up ---
973 - On the money.
974 - They give with one hand and take from the other
975 - The age of miracles is past
976 - "Stick me with a fork--I'm done!"
977 - Give him (someone) your little finger, and he'll take your whole hand.
#776 - I shall eat my hat
#448 - "Give him and inch and he'll take a mile"
armed to the teeth
go haywire
Quote from: JaneS on September 07, 2016, 06:06:59 PM
My dad used to say "Give him and inch and he'll take a mile". Similar to what you were saying RUTUMI. And I bet it's already in there.
And by the way, I can't stand it anymore. I have to be a bit "cheeky" and ask about your name. How is it pronounced and where does it originate?
If you mean "Rutumi", it's made up from the first two letters of the names of three of my granddaughters (
Runa,
Tuva,
Mica). One takes what one has... :) Oh, and pronounced Roo-Too-mee.
OK, I totally understand that! And that's how I was pronouncing it. Back when I started I used my grandchildren for a password too. Using first letters it was DANK. Got rid of that one!
An interesting discussion might be "How'd you get that name".
Back later with any new stuff.
Sorry Rammel but my curiosity was piqued. I'll be good now!
Quote from: JaneS on September 08, 2016, 12:17:56 PM
Sorry Rammel but my curiosity was piqued. I'll be good now!
I get curious too. I was serious about a discussion on "name" origins. I think we had one in the old discussions, or was it Sr Net?
I have no problem with occasional "wanderings".
Sorry, I don't remember that kind of discussion. Maybe someone else will.
Neither do I...
Hope no one wants to ask my origin of " vanilla..." as I really have no clue as to how or why I chose it.... :shakehead: :scratch:
Rammel, I remember having a discussion on previous names used, especialy the names used on your old senior net...I vaguely remember our members were posting that previously I was known as " so and so..."
Always remember my late father telling me to speak up when talking to my uncle Joe as he was......
" a bit " mutt and Jeff...."
....deaf...
I as a child, always thought father was saying muttton Geoff.... I could never undersatand how a joint of meat came into it...
978 - armed to the teeth
979 - Grit your teeth and bear it.
980 - go haywire
981 - Grab the bull by the horns.
982 - You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
"He's a flywheel" (similar to Bull in a china shop) - is one I hard around here from time to time. But I have a feeling it is not very universal. Has anyone else heard this?
I've heard something similar...
He's a loose cannon!
Heard the loose cannon ball but not the other one.
add insult to injury
put on ice
In my saying, it's not a "cannon ball" that's loose. It's an actual cannon. I didn't understand it when I first heard it but my dad said that on the old sailing warships, they had to keep the cannon from rolling around the deck by using restraints. A "loose cannon" was one that had become free of it's restraints and was rolling around the deck. It became a hazard to everyone. Therefore the "loose cannon".
Play second fiddle.
" Minding ones Ps and Qs...."
Often said when told to be on ones best behaviour, whilst in company....
Vanilla #260 Minding ones Ps and Qs
Quote from: Radioman34 on September 09, 2016, 11:02:45 AM
Play second fiddle.
Don, ------- Is that in a musical sense? :roflBig: Just kidding
I'm in the process of checking and updating.
983 - Button your lip.
984 - He's a loose cannon
985 - add insult to injury
986 - put on ice
987 - Play second fiddle.
#260 - " Minding ones Ps and Qs...."
"He's a flywheel" (similar to Bull in a china shop)
added below "Bull in a china shop" - but no new number
out on a limb
the whole kit and caboodle
put a lid on it
colder'n a well digger's (knees) in springtime
Hotter'n the hinges of hades!
catching up ---
988 - out on a limb
989 - put a lid on it
990 - colder'n a well digger's (knees) in springtime
991 - Hotter'n the hinges of hades!
992 - don't put the horse before the cart
#945 - the whole kit and caboodle
#199 - Get off your high horse with me young lady. (a warning from my mother) is a Duplicate of #33 -
Remove #199 but not reusing the number.
Rememer my gran humorously telling me, and issuing a warning sign, when I was thinking of getting up to mischief or about to do something that she wouldn't be approving of....such as, if I catch you doing that again...
" I'll have your guts for garters..."
pay on the nail
sleep forty winks
When someone is trying to do an impossible task he's described as....
Trying to climb a greased pole.
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on December 14, 2016, 05:52:57 AM
To have to admit that you are wrong.....
" to eat humble pie..."
601 - Eat Humble Pie . It's on the list.
" You wait for hours for a bus, then three come along together..."
Ha ha, a bit like us, no postings since September. then three posters come along, one after the other......
Oh dear, trust me to pick another duplication...I will delete it...
Y'er talkin' about Murphy's law. :cheer:
Getting someone to notice me here is like trying to climb a greased wall. I guess that means it's already in the list. But it's OK if you didn't notice me. I tend to be invisible sometimes. This must be one of those times.
Merry Christmas Everyfriend!
Adding
997 - " I'll have your guts for garters..."
998 - pay on the nail
999 - sleep forty winks
1000 - Goodness is it's own reward.
1001 - Trying to climb a greased pole.
1002 - That hits the nail on the head
RAMMEL....
...I would say we must be getting close to our full list....never thought when we started we would be topping 1,000....
JANE S....
...I can see you, well you know what I mean, I can, yet I cant...same as I can hear you...ahh the pleasures of being invisible... :coolsmiley:
RUTUMI....
....Interesting about " laws "....Segal's law....
" A man with a watch knows what time it is.... A man with two watches is never sure...."
Rammel, I don't have entries between 992 and 997. If it is not an omission on my list, then maybe it can be filled by future sayings?
sail under false colors
clean as a whistle
read the riot act
I remember posters on the subway during the war "Button your lip, or you'll sink a ship"
992 - don't put the horse before the cart
993 - Down the hatch.
994 - With bated breath.
995 - Clean as a whistle.
996 - Don't make a Federal case/project out of it.
997 - " I'll have your guts for garters..."
1003 - Youth is wasted on the young.
1004 - sail under false colors
1005 - read the riot act
995 - clean as a whistle
983 - Button your lip.
122 - Loose lips sink ships.
One that has just sprung to mind.....remembering when family members were given something to eat that was too hard or to tough to eat, they would comment that......
" its rock hard, like eating bullets..."...
or chewing bullets, depending on what they were eating...
This one doesn't qualify for this list but back when we were growing up WWII was going on and my grandfather was usually the one who made our breakfast before school. He would give us toast or pancakes or waffles and my sister would say, "the butter's hard." And my grandfather answered, "Yes, hard to get. Eat your breakfast."
My late father would always make me laugh whenever I done a couple of sneezes, by saying....
" what are you doing girl, blowing your brains out...? "
...referring to whether I had any in the first place.... :2funny:
My grandmother told me more than once that....
Sometimes you try the patience of a saint!
I heard that one often enough at school, Jane, and the nuns were raising their arms to the sky.
Bubble, my grandmother was rolling her eyes upward when she said it.
1006 - " its rock hard, like eating bullets..."
1007 - You try the patience of a saint.
Slip of the lip. Letting a secret out.
Bend over Backwards. Will do anything for people.
1008 - Slip of the lip
#470 - Bend over Backwards
Happy New Year -
blaze the trail
red rag to a bull
in a nutshell
to "spend a penny"
Vanilla would know that one!
Oh yes, but it costs a lot more nowadays....not sure about you, but its breaking my bank.... ;D
1009 - blaze the/a trail
1010 - red rag to a bull
1011 - in a nutshell
1012 - "spend a penny"
#108 - " She's - he's like a bull in a china shop...."
Have we had....
" Too much water under the bridge...."
...meaning too much has happened in the past...
Will delete previous duplication....
804 and 892 are the same! Oil and water do not mix
we had " Cold hands, warm heart..." #300.
Deleted.... :thumbup:
Added --- 1013 - Water under the bridge.
892 removed, but not re-numbering
892 - It mixes like oil and water Repeat of 804
Just noticed, I have 890 to 899 twice. What to do - mmmmmm -maybe I'll just make the second batch suffixed with the letter "A". How's that sound?
Or take that block of sayings out and add it to the end of the list?
Lazy overrides ambitious. I used the "A" suffix route. ---
As in -
890A - Don't be a bird brain
891A - this is a fine kettle of fish
892A - After me, the flood - Should the world come to an end after me I wouldn't care or worry.
893A - A Lick and a promise
894A - A sneaking suspicion
895A - Touch wood and cross fingers
896A - Don't lose your cool or temper.
897A - a run for its money
898A - If we live that long and the rivers don't rise.
"The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise"
How many times have we told someone?......
Edited: changed right to real.... :knuppel2:
" I'm making a real pigs ear of it...."
...getting into a right old mess....
Mmmm... why right ear and not left ear??? ;D
grass widow
kangaroo court
at the eleven hour
I think when Jackie says "right" at this point, she means "real" as I'd have said that.
See my edited version... ;D
Vanilla, it becomes puzzling/muddling when you edit a post after getting an answer. It is better to make a new corrected post I think.
a lame duck
" For love nor money...."
....as in....you will never get me picking up that spider, for love nor money...or....I wouldn't give that builder - plumber - electrician a job...for love nor money...
" A bit slow on the uptake...."
....as in, slow picking up on things...doesn't grasp things very quickly...
" I'm making a real pigs ear of it...."
Can someone "splain" for me?
Also - grass widow.
RAMMEL....
....." making a pigs ear of it....."
definition: making a mess of what you are doing.....as in, he has made a real mess of putting up those shelves.....
....." Blowing your own trumpet...."
definition: boasting, being big headed and not letting anyone forget how good you are....as in, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, but I think I done a pretty good job...
Grass widow
1.A woman who is separated from her husband.
2. A woman whose husband is temporarily absent.
1014 - " I'm making a real pigs ear of it...."
1015 - grass widow
1016 - kangaroo court
1017 - at the eleventh hour
1018 - a lame duck
1019 - " For love nor money...."
1020 - " A bit slow on the uptake...."
#517 - " Blowing your own trumpet...."
"Sleep tight - don't let the bedbugs bite!"
(Have we had that one?) :boots:
Adding
1021 - "Sleep tight - don't let the bedbugs bite!"
pull someone's leg
1022 - pull someone's leg
1023 - He/She is good as gold
Hi! Has "crimennutley" been used? I think it means the same as "for crying out loud".
" He - she, is not backward in coming forward....."
....meaning, not afraid in giving ones opinion.....
" I'll give it food for thought...."
....meaning, something worth seriously thinking about...
1024 - " He - she, is not backward in coming forward....."
1025 - " I'll give it food for thought...."
1026 - crying over spilt milk
1027 -For crying out loud.
My email spell checker liked "spilt"
RAMMEL...
We might already have this one....
" Where there's a will, there's a way...."
...think self ex-planetary...if you want to do something that you think you cant, there is always a way...it is just finding it...
Vanilla it is in #53.
below the belt
spill the beans
Bubble OK, lets try this couple, that have refreshed my memory.... ;)
" Bobs your Uncle..."
...meaning, such as, it's easy, just follow these instructions and Bob's your Uncle.....its easy once you know how...
" My neck of the woods..."
...meaning, such as, it was rough where we grew up, but he-she is from our neck of the woods....he-she grew up in the same place...
#584 Bob's...
I did not see the second one in the list.
OK, sounds like......
" I have struck gold..."
.....with my second one....basically meaning...I got lucky.... :)
1028 - below the belt
1029 - spill the beans
1030 - " My/your neck of the woods..."
972 - " I have struck gold..."
1031 - Busy as a one armed paper hanger.
226 - Busier than a one armed paper hanger!
Removed - 1031 - 1031 - Busy as a one armed paper hanger.
I did check the list for that. Don't know how I missed it. :idiot2: I guess that's what happens when you're busy as a one armed paper hanger.
Do we have? cant you see, I'm.....
..... " as busy as a bee..."
we don't! :D
We will ;)
The new 1031 is - - - - - -- - - - TaDaaaaaa
1031 - Busy as a bee.
Yay, success at last... :thumbup:
1032 - Your goose is cooked.
" what’s good for the goose is good for the gander..."
....meaning.... if something is good or acceptable for one person it is therefore good or acceptable for another person...
Perhaps not as nice or relevant today, but my father who wielded his belt upon occasion used to warn us by asking "If we,(or you); were cruising for a bruising?" He never actually hit that hard, but it felt like it at the time. Especially if we had already had one at school! :'(
ANGELFACE...
For me, It was the wide Khaki webbing army belt... :-X
Vanilla #415 what’s good for the goose is good for the gander
And there was me, thinking I was on a roll at last... ;D
Oh well..." its back to the drawing room..." I suppose...
I don't ever remember being disciplined in those manners in school (home was another thing) but my dad told of having a ruler rapped across his fingers in school. He did not see well, sat at the back of the classroom and did not have glasses at the time so it did not set well with him; he never had respect for that teacher. As a teacher himself, I am sure he did not do anything like that to his students. Come to think of it, most of his students were high school boys and probably many of them were bigger than he was.
Mary Ann
1033 - "If we,(or you); were cruising for a bruising?"
1034 - He/she gave me the evil eye.
680 - " its back to the drawing board/room..."
I saw this on a show. A woman was talking about having hot flashes or as they said in the south, "Her own personal summer."
:knuppel2: :knuppel2: :knuppel2:
From Post #1
These should be sayings and quips that we have heard or used in our past. Not some that we saw printed elsewhere.
;) :) ;)
Sorry, but when I saw her on the show, I thought it was a great euphemism! ;D
Quote from: angelface555 on February 09, 2017, 11:59:42 PM
Sorry, but when I saw her on the show, I thought it was a great euphemism! ;D
Not to be sorry. ----
I just thought it would be a good time for a reminder, lest we all start wandering. At times I have a way of coming across stronger than intended. :( :-[
welcome “aboardâ€
learning the “ropesâ€
get at the “helm†of...
" Two heads are better than one...."
....often said by late father when help, or a solution was needed, rather than tackling it alone...
[Reminds me of a cartoon at the movies when I was a kid. A giant with two heads was walking down the street, one foot on the sidewalk, the other on the road, the two heads singing "Oh, you'll take the high road and I'll take the low road..." ]
Adding -
1035 - You can hang your hat on it.
1036 - Get a grip on yourself/it/things
1037 - " Two heads are better than one...."
welcome “aboardâ€
learning the “ropesâ€
get at the “helm†of...
I think these are too much like "offhanded" comments - like good morning, good evening, dinner time, sit down. ---- What say everyone else?
Going back to our subject - topic beginnings...I have tended to stick with the idioms that were said between my family members whilst growing up, then using the same idioms on my daughter as she was growing up, being passed from generation to generation.....I also try to put the explanation as to how, when and why, we would have personally used it, which may not always have been in the same context of the general meaning.....But now I am running out of them...cant think that far back anymore, unless something springs to mind, or someone posts an idiom that jogs my memory.... :D
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on February 28, 2017, 01:18:16 AM
..............I also try to put the explanation as to how, when and why, we would have personally used it, which may not always have been in the same context of the general meaning.
.....But now I am running out of them...cant think that far back anymore, unless something springs to mind, or someone posts an idiom that jogs my memory.... :D
I enjoy and appreciate the explanations. Often the wording or meaning is different than heard locally. Some I've never heard.
"cant think that far back anymore" - bet that fits many of us :)
Once in a while I recall one during the day, but before I get to the ole computer it's "gone". :'(
I often jot them down as I remember the odd one but, then that piece of paper just somehow slips my mind, so I have .......
" gone back to square one......"
as I cant remember it, because I forgot I wrote it down somewhere, so forget the piece of paper...
1038 - under the wire.
1039 - In the nick of time.
clutch at straws
white elephant
white knight
1040 - clutch at straws / Grabbing straws
1041 - white elephant
1042 - white knight
Is that the same as "A Knight in shining armor"?
i never heard "A Knight in shining armor" but I suppose it could be the same.
Bubble yes, it is used quite often here in UK, it means someone coming to ones aid...basically from a difficult situation..Can also be said in humour such as...after my divorce when I was feeling low and helpless, along came John, " My Knight in shining armour..." ;)
We had "Knights in shining armour" around my neck of the woods, too.
Jackie - Thanks for that definition.
Bubble - Do you think they are reasonably similar?
Yes, the meaning is the same. I suppose the difference comes from spoken in different locations.
on the nail
We have that one too, Bubble, only we...
"Hit the nail on the head!"
Now have we had?....
" bury the hatchet..."
used as in, a family feud, if one doesn't bury the hatchet and make ones peace, the feud will carry on and never end, and just cause friction...
449 - It is time to bury the hatchet
I was drying my hair this morning and something popped into my head that my grandmother used to say to us before the advent of personal hair dryers. If we prepared to go out and our hair was still wet and the weather was cold, she would say, "you can't go out with wet hair....
You'll catch your death of darn foolishness!"
How about then....
" there's no flies on you..."
..meaning that person is intelligent and can think quickly, so no getting past him or her...he - she is no fool...
JANE S...we would say...
" you cant go out with wet hair, you will catch yourself a death of a cold..."
similar to ..
" drinking out of wet cups..."
1043 - " there's no flies on you/him/her..."
1044 - you'll catch yourself a death of (you name it).
Never heard - " drinking out of wet cups..." Comments?
No I cant find it either, but it was sure said in my house when I was young and growing up....I was warned if I drank out of wet cups I would catch myself a cold..or was it...if I caught a cold, it was because it was drinking out of wet cups, cant remember which...anyway, maybe it was a family personal thing.. all I remember was it made me laugh when it was said to me...
Put that one in as Jackie's submission because my grandmother did NOT say "yourself". It was simply "your",
JANE S...yes it was a grandma thing, wasn't it? guess it is older than I thought...well I was eleven going on twelve when I lost my grandma..come to think of it, think she said, your catch yourself a death of cold....or was that when I didn't wrap up warm when I went out of the house, particularly in the snow, and possibly on the way to school..... :D
Around here we would hear "You'll catch a death of pneumonia". Same meaning, just a regional variance.
I think what I heard often was a "grandmother variance". She always said we'd catch our death of "darn foolishness". Meaning, I suppose, that it was foolish of us to go out with wet hair or dressed as we were. But that was my grandmother. She had some very apt words.
Sounds like we all had some very wise grandmothers... ;)
That we do, Jackie! Let's appreciate them!
" Between a rock and a hard place..."
...having the dilemma of having to choose between a doubly hard and unpleasant choice...
726 - Between a rock and a hard place.726 - Between a rock and a hard place.
:thumbup: .....so hard in coming up with ones we haven't already had...I guess we have also had..
" be grateful for small mercies..."
and
" practice what you peach..."
Has this one been used? Murder will out.
I've used it for years and probably it was said to me by a parent, but it means if you've done something bad and you want to keep it a secret, somehow or other the deed will become known.
Mary Ann
863 - Practice what you preach
I could not see " be grateful for small mercies..."
Neither could I find "Murder will out"
He is.... " As sly as a fox..."
..someone you wouldn't trust...
and
" I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole..." or some times said...." I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.."
..someone you would want to keep your distance from...sometimes said when he would be the last person you would want to date...
490 - Sly as a fox
No " I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.." on my list...
" He's making a mountain out of a molehill..."
..exaggerating a minor problem...
46 - A storm in a teacup. or making a mountain out of a molehill.
Bubble - "be grateful for small mercies" is where I would say "be thankful for small favors". I have no idea whether either are in the list because I quit keeping track long ago.
Mary Ann
I think ---
1045 - " I wouldn't touch him/her/it with a ten foot pole.."
1046 - "be grateful for small mercies"
1047 - "be thankful for small favors"
1048 - " practice what you peach..."
I know this probably not an "old saying" or maybe it is and was borrowed but one of the handy boys at Girl Scout camp when I was about 13 or 14 wrote in my autograph book...
May your moccasins make tracks on the paths of Ioka for many moons.!
I never forgot Mickey (the handyman), Ioka (my favorite Girl Scout Camp) or the what Mickey wrote even though that autograph book is long gone.
" He - she has a one track mind..."
..When all you focus on, or talk about, is one subject...which could be anything from food, sport, but mainly when talking about the opposite sex...
Dont...
" tar with the same brush..."
...as said when...While its true that most people from that neighbourhood are violent, let’s not tar all of them with the same brush...as in dont class all as the same...
1049 - " He - she has a one track mind..."
1050 - Let’s not tar all of them with the same brush.
Here's a few I've heard or used around here but I didn't add because I think they might be too "local" (used just within my small circle).
Can't say ,not knowin.
Better than it was. Used by repair people my son knows. Sort of accepting
sub-quality work.
As fast as greased lightning
It's like trying to catch a greased pig.
I have a dozen or two more but they don't socially qualify for posting here.
Greased lightning and the greased pig are well known in my area. Don't think I ever heard the other two.
Also used around here...as slippery as an eel
I'm putting "slippery as an eel" as a sub to the greased pig. I've heard them both but feel they are saying the same thing.
Did anyone ever try to catch a small pig - more fun than a person should be allowed to have. Between the squealing and the squiggling it gets one to laughing, which makes it just that more difficult to catch one. I have to laugh every time I think about the day a group of us, as teenagers, were sent to round up a bunch of escape piglets. In spite of not wanting to stop what we were doing, I think we all had a bit of fun.
Changing my mind & list. Adding the following because Jane also was familiar with them.
1051 - As fast as greased lightning
1052 - It's like trying to catch a greased pig.
or - slippery as an eel
Good move, Rammel.
I too am familiar with " as fast as greased lightening..." so its also been around UK as well...
I lost count the times I was told...
" Practice makes perfect..."
..whenever I was in the process of giving up on doing something that I just wasn't getting the grasp of.....
I'm adding the second part as a sub to the first line. Similar, but different enough.
612 - "the cat's pajamas"
That's the cat's meow
I bet we dont have this one... ;D
" A different kettle of fish..."
...would be said in our house by my parents....
...basically meaning, he-she is the odd one out, is totally different...or a different situation..
891A - this is a fine kettle of fish
Oh well, better luck next time...
How about...
Well, that's as clear as mud!
Meaning, I sure don't understand that.
Jane S, go for it, you might be on a roll... ;D
While looking out the window today comes to mind a saying my late husband always used: "He was the type of person who would give you a straw hat in a blizzard"
Jane, I did not see it in the list but loved this one
143 - Uglier than a mud fence.
I don't know how old this one is but I heard oone of the younger girls at WM say it in the break room and I laughed out loud. She said...
She's dumber than glue!
1053 - Clear as mud.
1054 - "He was the type of person who would give you a straw hat in a blizzard"
1055 - She's dumber than glue!
thorn in the flesh
writing on the wall
pearly gates
1056 - I'm up to my neck in alligators.
1057 - thorn in the flesh (one's side)
1058 - see the writing on the wall
Didn't add "Pearly Gates". I've heard of the Famous Gates but don't know it as a saying/quip.
What about..Fine as frogs hair?
Re the mention of "Pearly Gates"....
I've heard "He's so sick he's knocking on the Pearly Gates"
1061 - "He's so sick he's knocking on the Pearly Gates"
1062 - Fine as frogs hair
Never heard that second one.
Isn't there one about a hen's tooth?
My father used to say anything that was hard to find was....
As scarce as hen's teeth.
A funny addition to that one was when I asked him why he said that he asked me if I'd ever looked in a hen's mouth. I said, "No" and the next time we were at the farm, he showed me what is in a hen's mouth. The don't have any teeth. But I found out later, they can peck pretty hard with their beaks.
1058 - see the writing on the wall on post 844 was the last one before your addition Rammel.
Slip these two in there. I must have failed to post them, but they were added to my list.
1059 - Don't get yourself in a lather.
1060 - The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
Also add
1063 - scarce as hen's teeth
Sleep till the cows come home..
Jane, they sure can peck,once a rooster put the run on me but in the end, I put my teeth on him :)
Quote from: Amy on April 20, 2017, 06:05:41 AM
Sleep till the cows come home..
Jane, they sure can peck,once a rooster put the run on me but in the end, I put my teeth on him :)
#65 and a couple of others about the cows coming home.
Put an egg in your/ my boot and beat it.
1064 - Put an egg in your/ boot (hat) and beat it.
1065 - Stick that in your hat and pull it down over your ears.
living in an ivory tower
taking the lion's share
Put that in your pipe and smoke it is probably already on your list?
Or Cattywampus?
1066 - living in an ivory tower
1067 - taking the lion's share
101 - Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Cattywampus as in that shelf is cattywampus. "catty·wam·pus. adjective. The definition of cattywampus, often spelled catawampus, is not lined up or not arranged correctly, or diagonally. An example of something cattywampus are the positions of the items on the top of a coffee table after a two year old has been playing with them and moving them around."
I think that Cattywampus is a word in the dictionary, not an expression or a saying
to meet one's Waterloo
Not sure if these were up before. When one thinks too highly of oneself --
He thinks he's the cat's pajamas, or
She thinks she's the bee's knees.
My husband had one similar to that but it turns my stomach every time I think about it so I won't print it here. It's not bad, just inappropriate. Those are the ones you never forget!
1068 - to meet one's Waterloo
#612 - He thinks he's the cat's pajamas, or
#611 - She thinks she's the bee's knees.
to be trigger-happy
This one just came up in conversations with my sister. FYI: tgere us a white pig call a Chester...sometimes referred to as a Chester White. My grandfather used to tell his boys (my father being one of them)
If you keep eating like that your going to get a bad case of the Chester Whites.
Meaning that overstuffed feeling we've all had on Thanksgiving.
take down a peg
sacred cow
How about when something is a bit tilted...
It's leaning towards funstance?
1069 - to be trigger-happy
1070 - Stuffed to the gills
1071 - take down a peg
1072 - sacred cow
1073 - Don't be a hairbrain
1074 - It's leaning towards funstance (never heard this one, but---)
stumbling block
1075 - stumbling block (It's a. don't be a)
carte blanche
rise to the bait
About the "stumbling block"....
I heard it....You can choose to be a stumbling block or a stepping stone.
I heard it....You can choose to be a stumbling block or a stepping stone.
Was about to add that but found "1075 - stumbling block"
what about post #871? don't think we have them.
They are redoing some of the concrete in front of my WM store and I was reminded of something we always said when anyone put their initials in new concrete....
Fools names and fools faces
Often appear in public places.
This saying has probably been mentioned:
A diamond in the rough...a great person but having no individual style
Quote from: so_P_bubble on June 27, 2017, 11:19:47 AM
carte blanche
rise to the bait
I read those, and read them again, ------ and then again. I concluded that they are getting toward the "edge" of what would qualify. There are so many like "Free hand", "top notch", "good shot", "do your best", "step up to the line".
Any comments - anyone?
Never make a promise when you are happy.
1076 - Never make a promise when you are happy.
Never heard that one but it does make sense.
rack one's brain
the wheel has come full circle
Adding -
1077 - the wheel has come full circle
But not the other. Too much like a common use phrase (shut the door, open the window, be quick).
When the computer I'm using dies I think the list will go with it ???
You can always get a copy from me...
Whats with that big smile on your face. (had a teacher always asking that).
cock and bull story
Talk turkey
(read in a book last week!)
From 3/31/2016
Just a reminder. But others are interesting.
Quote from: RAMMEL on March 31, 2016, 12:30:14 AM
These should be sayings and quips that we have heard or used in our past. Not some that we saw printed elsewhere.
We have come up with over 700 so far but they seem to keep coming. If anyone wants a full list just ask and get your email address to me (you can email it so that you don't have to post it here).
This is a continuation of the list from our old lost discussion :'(
These should be sayings and quips that we have heard or used in our past. Not some that we saw printed elsewhere.
I don't make too many comments here but I'm forced to make this one. "Talking turkey" is an expression I've heard all my life. I've never seen it in print but I've heard it hundreds of times. The first time I heard it was from my mother. She told someone "I think we need to talk turkey about this". It's my understanding that it means plain talk about the facts of a situation.
I hope I'm right about the meaning. I know I'm right about hearing it many, many times.
Also, once when I was a teenager and I tried stretching the truth (there's another one I've heard all my life) my father told me, "Now there's a cock and bull story if I ever heard one". I never tried that again with my father.
Quote from: JaneS on September 14, 2017, 10:41:29 PM
I don't make too many comments here but I'm forced to make this one. "Talking turkey" is an expression I've heard all my life. I've never seen it in print but I've heard it hundreds of times. The first time I heard it was from my mother. She told someone "I think we need to talk turkey about this". It's my understanding that it means plain talk about the facts of a situation.
I hope I'm right about the meaning. I know I'm right about hearing it many, many times.
You should note that Bubble said she read it in a book. Then review the comment I left. Can you see why I didn't add them?
Now you mention that they were used on you. So you must have heard them. That qualifies them and they will be added - soon if not tonight.
1078 - He's/You've got egg on your face.
1079 - Talking turkey
1080 - Now there's a cock and bull story
Quote from: JeanneP on September 13, 2017, 08:07:19 PM
Whats with that big smile on your face. (had a teacher always asking that).
Similar to 540 & 587
To explain it further: I knew these expressions were normally used colloquially - for me, since I am French speaking and never lived long in an English speaking environment, it is harder to hear them or use them. I wouldn't in emails or forums.
But I accept the rules. Akuna matata.
Bubble, you reminded me!
Jane, about Akuna Matata?
No, about talking turkey and cock and bull stories.
1081 - She can't keep two peas in her mouth.
1082 - That'll take the starch out of your pants.
1081 is a funny one :) what does it mean exactly?
Quote from: so_P_bubble on October 23, 2017, 04:43:02 AM
1081 is a funny one :) what does it mean exactly?
It implies she can't keep a secret - has to tell it to someone. Can't keep her mouth shut, thus the peas would fall out.
Is that (the saying, not my comment) familiar to anyone else? Maybe it's a local thing.
Thanks. It's very evocative. I'll try to introduce it in Hebrew.
My mother had her own very picturesque expression for someone with a nice posture: She stands like a poppy in spring.
That's much nicer than the one I always heard....
He looks like he has a ramrod up his back!
I think I'll adopt your mother's if you don't mind!
]I received this in a e-mail today. I have read it before, but it occurred to me that it fits this folder. I don't intend that any of these be added to the long list here, but I thought some of you might enjoy reading it (again!?) Mary Ann
Heavens to Murgatroyd! Would you believe the email spell checker did not recognize the word, Murgatroyd?
Lost Words from our childhood: Words gone as fast as the buggy whip! Sad really!
The other day a not so elderly (60-65, I'd say) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy and he looked at her quizzically and said, What the heck is a Jalopy?†He’d never heard of the word jalopy!! She knew she was old but not that old.
Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle.
About a month ago, I thought of some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology.
These phrases included “Don’t touch that dial", “Carbon copy", “You sound like a broken record†and “Hung out to dry.â€
Back in the olden days we had “A lot of moxieâ€. We’d put on our best bib and tucker to straighten up and fly right.
Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy Moley!
We were, “In like Flynn†and “Living the life of Rileyâ€, and even a regular guy couldn’t accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop or a pill. Not for all the tea in China!
Back when we were kids, life used to be swell, but when’s the last time anything was swell?
Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, and the D.A. ... of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes and pedal pushers.
Oh, my aching back. Kilroy was here, but he isn’t anymore.
We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!" or "This is a fine kettle of fish!"
We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent as oxygen,
have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards.
Poof, go the words of our youth, the words we’ve left behind. Where have all those phrases gone?
Here are a few: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It’s your nickel. Don’t forget to pull the chain.
Knee high to a grasshopper. Well, fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I’ll see you in the funny papers.
Don’t take any wooden nickels. It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff!
We of a certain age have been blessed to live in changeable times.
For a child, each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age. We at the other end of the chronological arc have the advantage of remembering there are words that once did not exist and there were words that once strutted their hour upon the earthly stage and now are heard no more, except in our collective memory. It’s one of the greatest advantages of aging. (I'd like to add that some words' meanings have changed too.)99
See you later alligator ! "In a while crocodile !"
Ok, MaryAnn i know all those expressions but what the heck is a "BLOG" an when do I need a "HASHTAG"?
Jane, I really don't know that much about computer terms, but I think a BLOG is something that you write yourself, maybe have a website that people visit to read your BLOG. I'm thinking of The Pioneer Woman (Food Network) who has a blog (I don't read it). A #HASHTAG I think goes along with Twitter and I'm not on Twitter.
I recognized all of those sayings, too, and probably used most of them and may still use some of them!
Mary Ann
Thought by now I had come to the end of the things my parents would once say to me but, another has just sprung to mind...Often said when I had given lip to someone, guess, by saying something I shouldn't have said when, all of a sudden I got a clip round the ears...followed by..
" You got more than what you bargained for, my girl "
Whenver we started out the door and my grandmother thought we were inappropriately dressed for the weather she'd tell us....
You're going to catch your death of darn foolishness!
One often said within my family was....
..." money speaks volumes " or, " money talks "
...both meaning the same, flash a bit of money around and they will take notice...
I was just about to add that but found " money talks " at #853
Ahh, pipped again...seems I am now running out of family sayings...my father more often said " speaks volumes " rather than" talks "...
Rammel...
...taking another stab at this...I am giving you two for the price of one... :P
" Good things come to those who wait...."
...in other words, be patient...and...
" Patience is a virtue..."
...meaning to wait for something without getting impatient or getting upset...
#967 " Patience is a virtue..."
#174 - All good things come to those who wait
Bubble...think time for me to give up...we must by now have exhausted the whole lot...
not so sure Vanilla...
I was word gaming with friends and we were trying to find expressions with numbers.
Apparently we did not find some of these:
seven years of bad luck (When braking a mirror...)
in seventh heaven
in the third degree
nine day wonder
on cloud nine
fifth column
and they are all well known in daily talk.
Bubble...well - done :thumbup:
When one is daydreaming or distracted, they are said to be
" a million miles away "
If you are trying to explain to someone, but they are not interested...they might possibly say
" I dont give two hoots about it "
Vanilla, see: perseverance :) I see none of yours on the list.
Let's see what Rammel says.
My computer isn't working right and I'm in a grouchy mood so I'll come back to this later.
It seems like we are drifting from the original intent. Are these we heard as younger ones.
Some like those listed - in seventh heaven, in the third degree, nine day wonder sound like everyday conversational statements. Like across the street, down the lane, high as a kite, also a seven day wonder.
FWIW, I saw the original intent to be things that we heard or were said to us in a "constructive" manner/intent.
Why don't y'all bat it around for a while and I'll add those that you decide "fit the bill".
Rick, regarding "Seventh Heaven", I don't know that it was said in a constructive way, but it is something I heard from my early years. When I was young, there was a movie, "Seventh Heaven" starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Ferrell. I think people began to use the expression following that movie - said when things are going well for a person and they are content. I use it on my cat when he purrs; he's in "Seventh Heaven".
I did not know until I did some research on the term that there might have been a TV show by that name, but that program definitely did not start the term.
I hope your computer is working OK now.
Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
I still can't see these short statements as qualifying (sorry). To me they are like "in love", "bone tired", "cute kitty", "crazy man", "it's snowing out", ---- and on and on.
Computer is somewhat better. Did a big clean up, deleted some old stuff, defrag, regestry cleanup. But I think I expect miracles. This is a Win-xp but I resist abandoning the sinking ship. My ISP had an email problem for a day and a half which I thought was my puter failing but it mysteriously just started working again
Rick, I'm glad your computer is doing better.
I don't know that it makes a difference, nor that it even matters, but the only "thing" I use the Seventh Heaven expression on is the cat and I tell him "you're in seventh heaven" when I can hear his motor running. Personally, I don't care if all, part or none of the expression is used, and I do use more than two words. It may be so outdated that no one knows what it means any more.
Mary Ann
Mary Ann, you are not outdated, I often hear that expression around me when utterly pleased. It's like the Nirvana place of some oriental religion :D
Thanks, Bubble. I really don't know any old expressions that have not already been posted, but I knew that one was old.
But I get Rick's point and I don't care if it is used or not.
Mary Ann
1083 - " she-he, doesn't mince her-his words "
1084 - "A woman's work is never done..."
As I've heard it. --- "A man may work from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done".
Rammel...
...guessing we have now exhausted them, they have come to their end, all we seem to be doing now is repeats...and the worse thing is....we are the ones doing the repeating ourselves... :-[
I shall remove them... :(
"Wishing won't make it so." :nanadance2:
adding -
1085 - "Wishing won't make it so."
This is a corrected number.
on the previous page:
1075 - stumbling block (It's a. don't be a)
1076 - Never make a promise when you are happy
1077 - the wheel has come full circle
1078 - He's/You've got egg on your face.
1079 - Talking turkey
1080 - Now there's a cock and bull story
1081 - She can't keep two peas in her mouth.
1082 - That'll take the starch out of your pants.
so this new one should be 1083 methink.
" Left a nice nest egg..."
...when he-she died, he-she left a nice nest egg, a lot of money...so he-she will be well looked after.....
#6 - " good riddance to bad rubbish..."
Corrected the number error above.
1086 - " The calm before the storm.."
Often said when trouble is brewing...something has just been exposed and is about to get bigger...
" It is just the tip of the iceberg..."
1076 - Never make a promise when you are happy
Do you also have "Don't go shopping for food when you're hungry"?
1087 - " It is just the tip of the iceberg..."
1088 - "Don't go shopping for food when you're hungry"
Rammel, what do you have on your list for 1084 and 1085? I did not complete these.
When will our book be composed? about time its starts raking in the money... :crazy2:
Bubble -
1082 - That'll take the starch out of your pants.
1083 - " she-he, doesn't mince her-his words "
1084 - "A woman's work is never done..."
A man may work from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done.
1085 - "Wishing won't make it so."
1086 - " The calm before the storm.."
1087 - " It is just the tip of the iceberg..."
1088 - "Don't go shopping for food when you're hungry"
Thanks! I must have missed these. :(
Oh, just thought of another my father would often joke and say...
..." she's walking around like a f**t in a trance...
...looking lost, doesn't know what she is doing...I bet we haven't got this one... ;)
Do we have this one....
" A blessing in disguise.."
...another expression my father would often say to me, when good comes out from a bad situation...
not on my list.
Bubble, :thumbup: let us hope its not on Rammels list either... ;)
Quote from: so_P_bubble on April 17, 2018, 01:57:34 AM
not on my list.
Will be now :thumbup:
1089 - " A blessing in disguise.."
Good...at last, I done something right... ;D
I am re-reading a favorite author: Nevil Shute.
His title "round the bend" is a used expression I think.
Bubble...
...I go there a lot, ( get driven there, ) both " round the bend " and " up the wall.."
Just happened to drop in, so ----
From above
588 - " You are driving us up the Wall"
I've been busy trying to learn and set up some new electronic stuff.
"I've been up to my neck in alligators". (just checked - that's already listed.)
...Guess we might as well add....
...." Going round and round in circles..."
709 - Chasing ones tail (running around in circles)
There's nowt so queer as folk
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=queer%20as%20folk
If y' can't say good about someone.....say nowt. ;)
1090 - Fight fire with fire.
1091 - If you can't say anything good, don't say anything.
"There's nobody home upstairs". Is this known (to anyone other than me)? Should it be added? This was used to indicate a person wasn't too bright.
Rick, I think it compares to "being a few cards short of a full deck". It means the same thing.
Mary Ann
I think I agree with the last two posts. The term I posted was used among my wife's family and I've heard it locally. As with many, locale does make for variance.
Just found #426 - There's nobody home upstairs.
I'm adding "being a few cards short of a full deck" as a sub to 426
Rammel...best to stay with your version, the way you remember it told by your own family members...if I remember that far back, that was the original topic subject... :)
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on May 23, 2018, 06:21:11 AM
I always knew I take after my late father when he used to say to me...
" she's a chip off the old block.."
Someone said that way back. You?
47 - A chip off the old block.
Hm, I had better not say it again then... :-[
1091 - If you can't say anything good, don't say anything.
My grandchild always wants a kiss on the forehead before going to bed, and we have to say "If you can't have good dreams, don't dream at all"
I don't know where she got that from (she's a third-grader).
Quote from: rutumi on May 25, 2018, 04:30:33 PM
1091 - If you can't say anything good, don't say anything.
My grandchild always wants a kiss on the forehead before going to bed, and we have to say "If you can't have good dreams, don't dream at all"
I don't know where she got that from (she's a third-grader).
Interesting. Life is full of "wonders". It would be interesting, but endless to hear where all these sayings originated.
380 - Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
Removed...now I am giving up...I just keep on repeating myself...repeating myself, repeating myself..
If I had a 'tanner' for every time I'd heard that joke, I'd still only have two 'thrippenny bits'......
RAMMEL, I've heard "nobody home upstairs" most of my life. Must be local around here, too.
Also heards "bats in the belfrey" pretty often. Meaning you
re crazy. I'm sure that's already here.
Quote from: JaneS on June 15, 2018, 07:05:20 PM
RAMMEL, I've heard "nobody home upstairs" most of my life. Must be local around here, too.
Also heards "bats in the belfrey" pretty often. Meaning you
re crazy. I'm sure that's already here.
Just checked --- They both are on the list as 429 & 427
The only reason I even posted about "nobody home" is that you said it must be local to where you live. I don't think I live anywhere near you and I hear it all the time. Sorry, I didn't mean to indicate that I was just offering it. I'll keep my mouth shut and my fingers still!
Quote from: JaneS on June 15, 2018, 09:08:52 PM
The only reason I even posted about "nobody home" is that you said it must be local to where you live. I don't think I live anywhere near you and I hear it all the time. Sorry, I didn't mean to indicate that I was just offering it. I'll keep my mouth shut and my fingers still!
No, no, no ---- you misunderstand :)
I recall asking that, and thanks for the update. As I often do, I went back to the list to check on both. To my surprise they were both there and one after the other.
I've got so many irons in the fire that I often have to check on myself ( :idiot2: )
By the way, I'm just north of NYC
" Give a wide birth to..."
...if one was out and about and you saw someone walking towards you that you want to avoid, you would give them a wide birth by crossing the road, or walking in the opposite direction...
Vanilla, give a wide berth. But is it really a saying?
I think it is like - give good tidings - or -to tide someone over- it would be the use of a word.
Sorry bubble! I've heard that one all my life. And it's spelled "berth". I'm not sure where it came from but it means to avoid any kind of controversy. Stay away from...
I know what it means :) a berth is a sleeping place on a ship and when someone sleeps, you do not get too near, so as not to bother.
Actually, it also refers to the space at the dock which is allotted to a ship. I knew that so I googled and the expression is used by mariners when there is something to avoid. The definition described it's use as "Mariners are advised to give certain islands a wide berth". I suppose for safety's sake.
Interesting...I learned something today. My Daddy would be proud! He used to tell us "If you don't learn something new every day, you might as well turn up your toes and die". I'm not ready to do that so I guess I better keep learning.
Bubble, I have two sayings for myself - You're never too old to learn - and - I learn something new every day.
Mary Ann
Apologies I misspelled Berth...It was an expression used on several occasions within my family...more so if any member of the family ever fell out...family would give them a wide berth until it all blowed over...
I'm adding - Have heard the three used at times.
1092 - (you're,he's/she's) nutty as a fruitcake.
1093 - " Give a wide birth to..."
1094 - You're never too old to learn
But not this one. "learn something new every day". It's like "brush your teeth", "pay attention".
I think we are starting to grasp at straws, so ----
1095 - I think we're "Grasping at straws".
I believe you have all heard "fly off the handle". but it's been a long time since I heard it. Also, one doing foolish or silly things is going 'round the bend'.
English is surely rich in expressions.
My favorite is 'this is not my cup of tea' - we have that one I am sure.
Bubble, think we have both..." up the wall " and round the bend..." I have been to both of these places, and more than once... ;D
Heres one I bet we dont have...
" Pull the other one, ( leg ) it's got bells on.."
...meaning...you dont believe what someone is telling you, you think it is a wind-up, that they are having you on...
adding-
1096 - (don't) "fly off the handle"
Already on list -
#512 - not my cup of tea
" Pull the other one, ( leg ) it's got bells on.."
1022 - pull someone's leg
Deleted... :-[
450 - It is time to bury the hatchet
did we have 'going round the bend'?
Quote from: so_P_bubble on June 27, 2018, 04:38:07 AM
did we have 'going round the bend'?
I'm not at the right computer now. I'll have to try to remember later to check.
Also, would that "fit"?
If we haven't already got this...
..." I will be grateful for small mercies..."
Looking ahead.
I would like a bowl of ice cream.
From Post #978 -
Also, would that "fit"?
It's hot and I'm grouchy :sorry:
Rain before 7, gone by 11..
Quote from: Amy on August 11, 2018, 05:49:59 PM
Rain before 7, gone by 11..
969 - Rain before seven, fine before eleven
I just used this over in Soda Shoppe and thought I'd come by and see if it's here. I often heard my Dad say when he'd been misunderstood,
You should take a man as he means, not as he says!
Rmmel, I guess your just a "hop, skip and a jump" from where I live. I'm in Central PA.
"You should take a man as he means, not as he says!" sounds familiar. Has anyone else heard that?
I think I'll add it.
Adding three now. Had two waiting for a post.
1097 - "Buckle down"
1098 - Put up or shut up.
1099 - You should take a man as he means, not as he says!
Spin like a button on a outhouse door..
Said when slippery outside.
The sun was splitting the rocks/stones.
From my friend from Cape Breton NS
Can you remember being told...
..." go take a running jump..."
If I asked my father for something that I knew I wouldn't get, that was what he would say to me...I could take a running jump..
1100 - Don't burn your bridges behind you.
1101 - " go take a running jump..."
I recall something similar to " go take a running jump..." but it won't come to mind at this time. I seem to think it was one of those I shouldn't post here. I do have a few that shouldn't be posted here (off color or not in good taste) so I keep them separated and at the bottom of my list. Remember, I spent time in the Navy and grew up in a childrens home.
I don't remember hearing "running jump" but my cousin often told us girls to "Go take a flying leap".
Like you, Rammel, I've heard a few I won't repeat.
I should imagine by now we have exhausted our list...doubt if we can come up with any that are not already on our lengthy list...Rammel, I too started life in a children's orphanage..
" Living in cloud cuckoo land.."
Not living in reality if one thinks that " harebrained idea " will happen...
Oh yes, my late parents often believed that place was my home...
Quote from: JaneS on February 09, 2019, 05:18:00 PMI don't remember hearing "running jump" but my cousin often told us girls to "Go take a flying leap".
The same thing -- more or less. There's a couple of other "versions" to that.
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on February 09, 2019, 05:22:29 PM...Rammel, I too started life in a children's orphanage..
I hope the place you stated was as good as where I started. Where I went was a large place with somewhere around 100 kids. Probably about 50/50 boys and girls. No, not all together ;D but four large houses for the kids and houseparents. It also was on part of farm area so there was barns and farm animals (cows, chickens, some turkeys, pigs, and misc other in small amounts. As the boys became the right age they did do some of the farm work. During WWII we had a fairly large vegetable garden in which everyone did some weeding. Milking and some slaughtering was left to the pro's. though our regular Saturday job was to pluck chickens that would often be our Sunday dinner.
We complained then but now I realize and appreciate that it was a good way to grow up.
1073 - Don't be a hairbrain
I'm amazed that there are over 1100 old sayings. I know I say I have a saying for every occasion, but I don't have 1100.
Mary Ann
This one is probably on the list already, but I thought I'd mention it, because I notice that I say it a lot! "I'm beside myself" . . . with worry, or anger, or concern. Or you can turn it around and say, I was "beside myself" with happiness or laughter. I recall that my mother said it when she was annoyed or upset about something, or when she was talking about someone else. She was just "beside herself" with anger, about something or other. It's a weird saying, because how can you be "beside yourself"!! ??? ha ha!
The one I mentioned once before that always puzzled me, and still does, is, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth". I understand what it means, but it still makes no sense.
Rammel...
...I cant answer that question as it was during my first 18 or 24 months of my life, I just know where the orphanage was...It was during the time it took my natural birth father to legally adopt me, he was already married to " my mother " who couldn't have children...I know, sounds complicated but these strange things happened 60 plus years ago....
...Same as I have a cousin who's mother is her sister and her grandma is her mother...Her father was my fathers brother, my uncle but they never got married...There was such a stigma in those days...
Marilyne...I too remember that one..." beside herself..." or " beside myself..."
Quote from: Marilyne on February 10, 2019, 03:45:52 PMThe one I mentioned once before that always puzzled me, and still does, is, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth". I understand what it means, but it still makes no sens
If you were going to buy a horse you might look into it's mouth, check it's teeth - probably an indicator of the horse's health and care. But if someone gave you a horse you should accept the gift without challenge. Such as --- if your child gave you an old 78 record, would you check it to be sure it wasn't scratched, or just gratefully accept it?
Jackie,
My stay was from about 5or6 to 18 yrs of age. I don't recall ever asking others about why they were there --- nor did the others.
After reading your post I thought this link might be interesting (for everyone).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXU-ZdmzNmo
No 4 and 229 are the same so I am vacating #229.
I have a few numbers that have been vacated due to duplication so now I plan to use those numbers for any new entries that might come up.
Rammel...
...I do vaguely remember that song and guess like others, could never fully understand it, a bit gobbledegook to me... ;D
I had an uncle and an aunt living together who produced three children, older cousins than me... it was only later I found out they weren't actually married to each other but, were " cousins. "....I always wondered why they had separate surnames...
Staying on the subject of Idioms and sayings...
Who remembers parents saying?
" Hes got bigger fish to fry..."
In other words, more important things to do...
188 - I have bigger fish to fry.
I just want to comment on being "beside oneself" I was a very curious youngster and if something puzzled me. I asked questions. I remember my grandmother using that expression and after about the third time, I said, "Gramma, how can you be beside yourself". She said, "Oh, I can't really. But I'm mad enough to be two people". It satisfied a curious 7 or 8 year old and maybe it'll d0 the same for some old folks.
Quote from: RAMMEL on February 12, 2019, 12:30:23 AM188 - I have bigger fish to fry.
Quote from: JaneS on February 12, 2019, 11:39:31 AMI just want to comment on being "beside oneself" I was a very curious youngster and if something puzzled me. I asked questions. I remember my grandmother using that expression and after about the third time, I said, "Gramma, how can you be beside yourself". She said, "Oh, I can't really. But I'm mad enough to be two people". It satisfied a curious 7 or 8 year old and maybe it'll d0 the same for some old folks.
Sounds good to me. I tend to forget, but try to remember, that different spoken words mean different things to different people. (I think that's what I meant to say).
" cant see past the end of their nose..."
and ...
" to cut off your nose to spite your face..."
I am sure many are aware of these two..
Two new ones -
1100 - " cant see past the end of their nose..."
1101 - " to cut off your nose to spite your face..."
Rammel...you mean I have actually found a couple that we dont already have, hallelujah...
Jackie, --- You were trying too hard. When they're ready they just come :2funny:
I've thought of some during the day as I'm doing things around here but by the time I go on line I've lost (forgot) them :'(
Rammel...write them down on a piece of paper as you remember them, then save them for later... then forget where you put that piece of paper, or forget you wrote something down on a piece of paper to save for later, this usually works for me... :idiot2:
;D ;D ;D
Jackie
Or even worse, you find the piece of paper at some later date, and you have no idea why you wrote it down, or what the message refers to? :-[
Been there! Done that!
Been where, done what, can I come too?
Wrote notes and lost them. Believe me, Jackie, you don't want to go there or do that!
Well I have been round the bend and up the wall, and been there and back just to see how far it is...guess going anywhere else wont make any difference.....
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on February 18, 2019, 02:05:50 AMRammel...write them down on a piece of paper as you remember them, then save them for later... then forget where you put that piece of paper, or forget you wrote something down on a piece of paper to save for later, this usually works for me... :idiot2:
The first part usually works on me ???
I am leaving all my money to dogs charities or the RSPCA...
" when I pop my clogs..."
Another one springs to mind...
" looks can be deceiving " or " appearances can be deceiving.."
...said when ones parents didn't trust your new found friend or boyfriend - girlfriend...And you know what? they were often right..
I found myself saying one yesterday that my mother often used when I was little....
I'm worn to a frazzle....
Meanig, I'm REALLY tired!
Another one often said...
" When in Rome, do as the Romans do.."
Adapt yourself to the customs...
Jane, my mother was often "worn to a frazzle", and sometimes she was "beside herself"! I remember that she would sometimes look into a mirror, and say, "I look like something the cat dragged in!"
Marilyne, I look in the mirror and feel like I've just "gotten off the boat". Every day seems to be a "bad hair day".
Mary Ann
Mary Ann - When I look into the mirror first thing in the morning, "I look like death warmed over"! Another one my mother used to often say, "I look like The Wreck of the Hesperus", which I found out years later, was a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, about a shipwreck.
Marilyne, I have heard those expressions over the years and I knew about the Wreck of the Hesperus. If I could read all of the old sayings, I'd bet I've heard most of them. I say to my family that I have a saying for every occasion and I do say some saying often.
Mary Ann
Jackie, Marilyne, Mary Ann, I've heard all of those all my life. I just don't think about them unless I am one of them. And yesterday, I was definitely "worn to a frazzle"....whatever a frazzle is!
How about...I'll be...
" Up the creek without a paddle.."
In a right mess - in a difficult situation..
I think that most of the recent postings with possible entries are not quite within the ORIGINAL intent of the collection. (Original intent is no longer the No.1 post since our crash). So, --- at this point I am going to stop adding to my list as a regular thing. I will continue to watch and if I see a good one will add it to my list - but will not number and post. Feel free to keep posting because they are all interesting. If anyone wishes to take over the numbering and posting --- shout it out. Also, as in the past, I can send the list as I now have it to anyone who wants it.
Thank you, Rammel, for all the time you've put into this. It's very interesting to find that others in very different areas use the same expressions we've grown up hearing and using. This was fun and if anyone thinks of a good one please share it. I'm glad you're not going to ditch the list!
Rammel...
...I agree with you, you have done an excellent job over the past few years and we have excelled our list, plus it must have been very time consuming for you to have done so...It is now time for us to stop trying to add to it, as you say we can still add pieces of snippets from our memories, but as from now...our book is closed... :thumbup:
I hope this folder doesn't close. Too many discussions in S&F are no longer active, and I hate to see this one join the list.
Rick, you've worked hard for many years here, keeping track of the "Old Sayings and Quips from our Past", and I agree that we are probably now starting to repeat those sayings, that have already appeared here. You've done a great job! :thumbup:
I just hope that this can turn into a conversational folder, and it won't matter if we repeat and use idioms that have already been listed. I think we're the last generation who will remember them and who still use them, so we might as well keep them alive, as long as we are alive! :)
Quote from: JaneS on March 03, 2019, 11:41:51 PMThank you, Rammel, for all the time you've put into this. It's very interesting to find that others in very different areas use the same expressions we've grown up hearing and using. This was fun and if anyone thinks of a good one please share it. I'm glad you're not going to ditch the list!
I'm on the wrong computer now but I think that later when I'm in the right place I will attempt to post the whole list. It may be too long.
I also found it interesting how widespread most of the "sayings" are. Most of the unknown ones to me were from other than the USA.
As far as I'm concerned this area will "stay open" and continue.
Yes stay open for business but close the book..maybe time to get our book published..
I tried to post the whole list and got ---
"The message has the following error or errors that must be corrected before continuing:
The message exceeds the maximum allowed length (20000 characters). "
So, it will have to be sent by email if wanted
Just for old time's sake, I have a friend who will state, "Oh dear! My hair's all anyhow". This is usually when she gets up in the morning.
Just wondering....Rick, could you post the list in parts? We could then make our own copies if we choose.
Quote from: JaneS on March 04, 2019, 10:55:55 PMJust wondering....Rick, could you post the list in parts? We could then make our own copies if we choose.
Yes, I can do that. Maybe I'll get started later. Obviously there are more than 1000 lines. I'll start with a large number of lines and then reduce till it accepts.
I couldn't wait :idiot2:
1 - You're a sketch.
2 - Keep your nose clean.
3 - Keep your shirt on. or Keep your hat on.
4 - Hold your horses.
5 - Put on your thinking cap.
6 - "Good Riddance, To Bad Rubbish!"
7 - "Come down to brass tacks!"
Get down to brass tacks
8 - "Six of one, half dozen of another"
9 - "If wishes were horses, beggars could ride."
10 - Be careful what you wish for!
11 - "Habit doth make slaves of us all"
12 - "A job worth doing is worth doing well."
13 - "Many hands make light work."
14 - " a penny for your thoughts. "
15 - " I wish I had a £1 for every time you said that, I would be rich by now. "
16 - " every cloud has a silver lining. "
17 - "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
Similar - An ounce of example is worth a pound of advice. 17
18 - "Pretty is as pretty does"
19 - "Look, Before You Leap!"
20 - "Money doesn't grow on trees!"
21 - "I'd stretch a mile if I didn't have to walk back".
This was when yawning and stretching.
22 - Heavens to Betsy.
23 - He got more grunt than do.
24 - Every silver lining has got a big black cloud in the middle of it.
25 - I'd like to buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth.
26 - Does a cat have a tail?
Or - Does a he dog have a hang down?
Said when asked an obvious question.
27 - " Don't count your chickens before they hatch "
28 - " Don't put all your eggs in one basket "
29 - " Two wrongs don't make a right. "
30 - " Too many cooks spoil the broth. "
31 - "A stitch in time saves nine."
32 - "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."
33 - "Come down off your high horse"
34 - " all fur coat and no knickers. "
Which was said of one young female member within our family as being elegant on the outside, but tarty on the inside.
35 - " all mouth and no trousers. "
When someone talks or boasts but can't back oneself up.
36 - " It never rains but it pours. "
37 - " Theres no smoke without fire. "
also "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
38 - "champagne taste and a beer pocketbook"
39 - "It's raining cats and dogs"
40 - "Beggars can't be choosers"
41 - When you made an excuse to my mother that, "I thought it would (or something similar)" She would invariably reply "You know what a thought did once? It backfired and blew a man's brains out."
42 - My stars and garters.
43 - "If it had been a bear it'd have bit ya!"
44 - Often when I borrowed small amounts of money from my late father, or as on one occasion my late uncle Sid lending me a small amount. On returning it to pay them back, they would tell me...
" rub it in your hair. "
What they were saying was, I gave you that money, keep it, I don't want it back.
45 - Sometimes on asking my late mother, where are you going? she would reply with..
" There and back to see how far it is. "
Think mother was trying to tell me to mind my own business, or to not be so nosey. ;D
46 - " a storm in a teacup. " or " making a mountain out of a molehill. "
47 - A chip off the old block.
48 - The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.
49 - "Don't get your knickers in a twist" (from right here on S&F)
Or "don't get all hot under the collar,"
50 - " I don't have a magic wand. " or " wish I had a magic wand. "
51 - If I asked for something, my parents would say, we cant just conjure it up.
52 - " I'm a bit long in the tooth. "
Was said to imply, I've been around too long to fall for that one.
53 - " Where there's a will there's a way. "
54 - If wishes were fishes, we'd have some fried.
55 - "We can plan the party but not the outcome."
56 - You've got, I've got, "...too many irons in the fire".
57 - Zip your lip. - Mum's the word.
58 - "Hitch your wagon to a star"
59 - Easy come, easy go!
60 - A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
61 - Seek and ye shall find.
62 - Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance.
63 - Heavens to Betsy!!
64 - "When I was your age. . ."
65 - Waiting until the cows come home.
66 - Walk a mile in my shoes
67 - Well begun is half done.
68 - "If you can't say something nice don't say anything."
69 - 'Tempest in a teapot.'
70 - If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
71 - Necessity is the mother of invention
72 - Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.
73 - Some day my boat will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport
74 - That'll happen "When pigs fly" or "When Hell freezes over".
75 - repeat of 20
76 - When I asked where I was born, I was told..." under a gooseberry bush. " or, "in a cabbage patch."
77 - When I asked about how babies get here, I was told..." a stork brought them. "
78 - "let the doorknob hit you where the dog should have bit you."
Don't let the door hit you in the a**.
79 - Monkey see, monkey do!
80 - If I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all!
81 - A friend in need is a friend indeed.
82 - Keep it under your hat.
83 - Step on a crack, break your mother's back.
84 - Eat an apple. It'll clean your teeth.
85 - An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
86 - He who hesitates is lost.
87 - "They're so good when they're sleeping."
88 - "Let sleeping dogs lie." When someone brought up a taboo subject.
89 - "Mezzo mezzo" when some one ask how you are it means so so or in the middle
90 - "That dog don't hunt" My grandfathers favorite. Meaning That doesn't make sense.
91 - There are starving kids in China who would like to have that to eat.
92 - When you didn't want to clean you plate. You'll have to sit there until you clean your plate.
93 - waste not, want not.
94 - "Better to be safe, than sorry".
95 - "Don't go off on a wild goose chase"
96 - The pen is mightier than the sword.
97 - He who strikes the first blow admits he lost the argument.
98 - Never duel in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
99 - when mother was surprised or shocked, she would say:
"Goodness gracious, me!"
100 - My mothers saying: "If you do not eat the crust, your hair will not curle"
101 - Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
102 - A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you.
103 - Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying.
104 - Childhood isn't all its cracked up to be.
105 - And from one aunt who when surprised would always say, "Lord love a duck!"
106 - a pig in a poke
107 - Don't let the cat out of the bag.
108 - "like a bull in a china shop"
Similar - He's a flywheel
109 - "closing the gate after the horses ran out" (what's done, is done)
110 - "too little, too late"
111 - "Old too soon, smart too late"
112 - "You think I just fell off the turnip cart?" (similar to "I wasn't born yesterday"
don't try to fool me or I'm not naive)
113 - Any port in a storm (for whatever works)
114 - If the shoe fits, wear it.
115 - Like it or lump it.
116 - Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you will weep alone.
117 - You never miss the water, till the well runs dry!
118 - "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
119 - I wasn't born yesterday.
120 - I didn't just get off the bus.
121 - You're preaching to the choir.
122 - Loose lips sink ships.
123 - I before e except after c, or when sounded as A as in neighbor or weigh.
124 - skedaddle
125 - Vanity thy name is woman
126 - Host by my own petard
127 - assumptions make you an _ss
128 - Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
129 - The cat is above all things a dramatist.
130 - curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back
131 - Bite the bullet.
132 - Red sun at night, sailors delight.
Red sun in the morning, sailors take warning.
133 - A flash in the pan.
134 - The older I get, the behinder I get!
135 - Put on your Sunday go to meeting clothes.
136 - Rome wasn't built in a day.
137 - Time heals all wounds.
138 - "Spot On!"
139 - Make hay while the sun shines.
140 - One day a peacock, next day a featherduster.
141 - Madder than a wet hen.
142 - Mad as a hornet.
143 - Uglier than a mud fence.
144 - Not worth a plug nickel. Not worth a plugged nickel.
145 - It runs like a sewing machine.
146 - Deader than four o'clock.
147 - Deader than a doornail.
148 - Run like a scalded dog.
149 - Caught red handed.
150 - Jumped on like a duck on a junebug.
151 - Not for all the cows in Texas.
152 - He got his plow cleaned. (beaten badly at a game)
153 - Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies.
154 - Better late than never.
155 - The early bird gets the worm.
156 - Worn to a frazzle.
157 - It's an ill wind that blows nobody good.
158 - Time goes by fast when you're having fun.
159 - What in the Sam hill.
160 - They're spinning more tails than a tuxedo factory.
161 - I'm happy as a clam at high tide.
162 - Slow as cream rising on buttermilk.
163 - The higher a monkey goes the more he shows
164 - "He'd give you the shirt off his back"
165 - You can't get blood out of a turnip. (or a rock)
166 - A watched pot never boils.
167 - I'll dance with you till the cows come home!
or You'll wait till the cows come home!
168- "Life is simpler when you plow around the stump."
169 - "Every path has a few puddles."
170 - "When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty."
171 - "The best sermons are lived, not preached."
172 - Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
173 - Pistol Pete is watching.
174 - All good things come to those who wait
175 - "Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway."
176 - A penny saved is a penny earned.
177 - Keep your nose to the grindstone.
178 - Beating a dead horse--Navy slang for paying off a pay day loan.
179 - "You've made your bed, now you've got to lie in it".
180 - That's beyond my pay grade.
181 - Idle hands are the devil's workshop.
182 - Money is the root of all evil.
183 - The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions.
184 - "I (You) look like the wreck of the Hesperus".
185 - Lies can travel around the world before truth gets its boots on.
186 - As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.
187 - The grass is greener on the other side.
188 - I have bigger fish to fry.
189 - What goes around comes around.
190 - What goes up has to come down.
191 - Never trust a skinny cook.
192 - Dead as a door nail. Dupe of 147
193 - Out of sight, out of mind.
194 - There's more room on the outside than on the inside.
195 - Throw a hissy fit
196 - Have a coniption fit (similar to hissy fit but of longer duration)
197 - Still water runs deep
198 - Up the creek without a paddle
199 - Get off your high horse with me young lady. (a warning from my mother)
200 - If you want to dance, you have to pay the fiddler..... (this has nothing to do with music, but means every action has a consequence)
201 - Fool me once, shame on you. - Fool me twice, shame on me.
202 - Misery loves company.
203 - Smile and the world smiles with you; cry and you cry alone.
204 - Leave well enough, alone!
205 - Don't fix it if it ain't broke - or - If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
206 - Snug as a bug in a rug.
207 - Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
208 - Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
209 - Close, but no cigar.
210 - Cute as a bugs ear
211 - Slow as molasses in January
212 - Snug as a bug in a rug.
213 - Beats a hog a-flying.
214 - Up the creek without a paddle.
215 - One man's trash is another man's treasure.
216 - If you can't beat'em, join'em.
217 - Same old six and seven.
218 - Age before beauty.
219 - The more the merrier.
220 - Add another cup of water to the soup.
221 - Don't take any wooden nickles.
222 - Nothing worthwhile comes easily.
223 - Save for a rainy day.
224 - you have to eat a bag of salt with someone before you know them.
225 - The road is so crooked, a snake would break its back
226 - Busier than a one armed paper hanger!
227 - He's so crooked he could hide behind a corkscrew.
228 - If you got it, flaunt it.
229 - Hold your horses.
230 - All is fair in love and war.
231 - "What this country needs is a really good, 5-cent cigar." - Indiana Governor Thomas Riley Marshall (1908)
232 - "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" - Herbert Hoover - 1928 Campaign slogan
233 - "Don't swap horses in the middle of a stream" - Abe Lincoln (1864)
234 - Enough is enough.
235 - Rise and shine.
236 - When in Rome, do as Romans do.
237 - Put that in your pipe and smoke it! see 101
238 - In for a penny, in for a Pound/dollar!
239 - Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
240 - Rode hard and put up wet...
241 - Been there, done that.
242 - Are we there yet?
243 - Wake up and smell the coffee (or something else).
244 - Let the good times roll!
245 - Don't air your dirty laundry in public!
246 - Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes
247 - A poor excuse is better than none. And my mother always added "If you had a good one you wouldn't need to use it."
248 - who's she the cats mother?
249 - Kick the can down the road.
250 - Hurry up and wait!
251 - The road is so crooked, it would brake a snakes back. Repeat of #225
252 - Little pitchers have big ears.
253 - Duplicate of #227- Removed
254 - You mark my word.
255 - " I'll love you, and leave you. "
256 - "Lord love a duck" is the first part of a phrase, spoken by two persons, The second part is "who gives a quack, It was spoken at a poker table Ducks are known as deuces, The first party looking for a fourth duck,the reply in sarcasm when he ddn't get it ,
257 - The buck stops here.
258 - "that's a doozie" - dad explained something that is a 'doozie' harks back to what was considered THE finest car of the day .. a Duesenberg .
259 - "he's got short arms & long pockets " - someone who's 'cheap' .
260 - mind your P's and Q's
261 - "buy in haste , regret at leisure ".
262 - Old habits die hard.
Old habits never die.
263 - Put your money where your mouth is.
264 - Give a thief enough rope and he'll hang himself
265 - Great minds think alike.
266 - A picture is worth a thousand words
267 - Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
268 - You can't judge a book by its cover
269 - A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
270 - You'll get used to hanging if you hang long enough.
271 - Actions speak louder than words
272 - God helps those who help themselves
273 - Never look a gift horse in the mouth
274 - You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs
275 - None so blind as those who will not see
276 - Empty vessels make the most noise
277 - Truth is stranger than fiction
278 - A still tongue makes a wise head
279 - Least said soonest mended
280 - Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
281 - All roads lead to Rome
282 - He who laughs last, laughs longest
He who laughs last, laughs best
283 - Talk of the Devil, and he is bound to appear
284 - Strike while the iron is hot
285 - The squeaking wheel gets the grease
286 - When one door shuts, another opens
287 - Your eyes are too big for your belly (stomach)
288 - We will cross that bridge when we come to it.
289 - Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
290 - Haste makes waste
291 - Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
292 - Like father, like son
293 - The apple did not fall far from the tree.
294 - A bad penny always turns up
295 - Barking dogs seldom bite
296 - All good things must come to an end.
297 - Behind every successful man is a woman
298 - If you play with fire you get burned
299 - There is safety in numbers
300 - Cold hands, warm heart
300a Warm hands, warm heart
301 - Man proposes, God disposes
302 - Rules are made to be broken
303 - Silence means consent
304 - " Use your loaf. "
Meaning, to use my brain.
305 - When one poor man relieves another, God Himself laughs outright for joy.
This is an Isle of Man's saying.
306 - " Its swings and roundabouts. "
307 - " Take the rough with the smooth. "
Take the good with the bad
308 - Once bitten, twice shy
309 - Revenge is a dish best served cold
310 - All that glitters is not gold.
311 - " As stubborn as a mule. "
312 - GIGO - Garbage in, garbage out.
313 - His bark is worse than his bite.
314 - The nail that sticks up above the rest will get hammered down first.
315 - Faith can move mountains.
316 - A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
317 - Boys will be boys
318 - None so deaf as those who will not hear
319 - The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak
320 - Birds of a feather flock together.
321 - Never say never.
322 - Beauty is the wisdom of women.
Wisdom is the beauty of men.
323 - Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
324 - Referring to March - In like a lion, out like a lamb
325 - March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
326 - Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
327 - Justice delayed is justice denied.
328 - Hunger is a good sauce.
329 - Every ass likes to hear himself bray.
330 - A rising tide lifts all boats.
331 - "my two pennies worth"
332 - You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
One hand washes the other.
333 - Let a smile be your umbrella.
334 - "There's never a dull moment."
335 - "A danger foreseen is half avoided."
336 - "Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow."
337 - "She / he, hasn't got two pennies to rub together. "
338 - "Ten a Penny."
339 - Re: a "booboo" "This will make it better and it will be all gone by your wedding."
340 - " That puts the nail in the coffin. "
341 - " Putting the mockers on it. " - Bringing / causing, jeopardising bad luck before its started or before its done. Such as, don't say that, otherwise you will put the mockers on it.
342 - " I'll have your guts for garters. "
343 - Ignorance is bliss.
"Ignorance is no recourse"
344 - No news is good news.
345 - If it had teeth it would bite you.
346 - "This will happen on the week with four Thursdays"
or - First Sunday in the middle of the week.
347 - " Don't go upsetting the apple cart."
348 - Seeing is believing
349 - The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
350 - If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
351 - " Giving someone a taste of their own medicine. "
352 - Great oaks grow from small acorns.
353 - Hatred is as blind as love.
354 - Children should be seen and not heard.
355 - It's good to be smart; being too smart is not being smart at all.
356 - As fast as greased lightning.
357 - Opportunity seldom knocks twice.
Opportunity knocks but once.
358 - False friends are worse than open enemies.
359 - " If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again. "
360 - If you give bad food to your stomach, it drums for you to dance. (African proverb)
361 - However long the night, the dawn will break. (idem)
362 - Pretend you are dead and you will see who really loves you.
363 - when two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.
364 - " God works in mysterious ways. "
365 - " You've got to speculate to accumulate. "
366 - If you are hiding, don't light a fire!
367 - Give a smile and you bring the world new hope.
368 - Your left-hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing
369 - Show me your company and I will tell you what you are.
or You are judged by the company you keep.
or Show me your friend and I will show you your character.
370 - Feed the cold and starve a fever.
371 - " Knee high to a grasshopper. "
372 - 'We reap what we sow.'
373 - A fool and his gold are soon parted.
374 - " Charity begins at home. "
375 - The higher the mountain the bigger the fall
376 - " We live and learn. "
377 - A fool empties his head every time he opens his mouth.
378 - A good listener is not only popular, but he learns while he listens.
379 - A gossip is one who has a sense of humour.
380 - Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
381 - Blessed is he who expects nothing for he will never be disappointed
382 - "blessed be her soul"
383 - Cleanliness is next to Godliness
384 - " Its all double Dutch to me. "
385 - " How long is a piece of string. "
386 - " your guess is as good as mine. "
387 - "Why can't we?" or similar query with "Why don't we keep pigs in the parlor?"
388 - "when hen's will grow teeth!"
389 - It's Greek to me.
390 - A person with a green thumb seldom paints a town red.
391 - If you do a favour, forget it. If you receive a favour, remember it.
392 - " You can't have your cake and eat it. "
393 - " There is a smell of violets here..."
394 - The best things in life may be free, but things money can buy aren't bad either.
395 - You can take the day off, but you can never put it back.
396 - A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
397 - Misfortunes never come one at a time.
Or - After two misfortunes expect the third.
398 - It's like water off a duck's back.
399 - No hunchback sees his own hump ( translated from French)
400 - Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
401 - Jealousy is a bad counsellor. ( from French)
402 - "Stop or I'll make you look like a Picasso portrait"
403 - Hope helps in living
404 - You're barking up the wrong tree.
405 - A change is as good as a rest.
406 - Little leaks sink's the ship.
407 - " A stork brings them. "
408 - " You were born under a gooseberry bush, "
409 - " A problem shared is a problem halved. "
410 - Money, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases.
411 - Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.
412 - Whiskey makes you well when you're ill and ill when you're well.
413 - The day of the storm is not the day to be fixing the thatch.
414 - Possession is nine-tenths of ownership (or, the law).
415 - " What's good for the goose, is good for the gander. "
416 - " All good things come in small packages. "
417 - It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks.
418 - "green Christmas, fat cemetery"
419 - Money can't buy happiness
420 - No bees, no honey; no work, no money.
420a - Where bees are there is honey
421 - Two in distress makes sorrow less.
422 - The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
423 - " Live and let live. "
424 - "Keep your side of the street clean."
425 - " You can kiss goodbye to it. "
" You can kiss it goodbye. "
425 - Three shakes of a lambs tail.
426 - There's nobody home upstairs.
"being a few cards short of a full deck"
427 - You've got bats in your belfry.
428 - If you lie down with dogs you will wake up with fleas.
429 - Marry in haste repent at leisure.
430 - There is always a winner even in a monkey's beauty contest. ~African saying
431 - Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
432 - If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
433 - " Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. "
434 - " Wiping the slate clean "
435 - " Now kiss and make up. "
436 - They who travel alone. Travel faster.
437 - "cold feet, no sweetheart"
438 - " You've got your whole life ahead of you girl/boy."
439 - " I'll kick you from here to Canarsie "
440 - It's hard to kill a bad thing.
441 - Talking to ??? is like talking to a wooden bird.
Ex: Talking to Charlie is like talking to a wooden bird
442 - All's well that ends well.
443 - Dead men tell no lies. (tales)
444 - You can't put an old head on young shoulders.
445 - A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
446 - The older the fiddle the sweeter the tune.
447 - A stab in the dark
448 - Give her an inch and she'll take a mile.
449 - As lively as a march hare.
450 - It is time to bury the hatchet
451 - Is there a bee in your bonnet? (or similar)
452 - He who pays the piper calls the tune
453 - Sing before breakfast cry before night
454 - Does the cat have your tongue?
455 - Each to his own and God watching over everyone.
456 - If you don't venture you don't win.
457 - The most beautiful fig may contain a worm. ~Zulu Proverb
458 - That's a red herring
459 - A hair from the dog that bit you.
460 - One foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel
461 - It's a good thing.
462 - He(she)'s a Dodo (Dōdō)
also = "As dead as a dodo " "Dead as a doorknob"
463 - "Time is money."
464 - crazy as a goon/loon
465 - No fool. Like a old fool
466 - tough as leather/nails
467 - "They jumped over the broom" It was uses when people lived together without marriage.
468 - "I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing against you."
469 - "let's show our bottoms" said at closing time in a pub (10:30) means drink up.closing time.
470 - " will bend over backwards for anyone" always there to help.
471 - "[Born with] the gift of the Gab"
472 - Act your age and not your shoe size.
473 - Time and tide waits for no man.
474 - I had back door trots yesterday
475 - The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing that which people say we cannot do.
476 - A bad reaper never got a good sickle!
477 - (Don't) rub (someone/something) the wrong way.
478 - "Get off my Back" .
479 - "See you when I see you".
480 - "Be quiet for peace/Pete's sake".
481 - 'Getting off Scott free'
482 - How good to be forward, but how bad to be too forward.
483 - The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing that which people say we cannot do
484 - 'An albatross around one's neck'
485 - Don't go sticking your neck out.
486 - Dumb as an Ox
487 - "Are you trying to make a monkey out of me?"
488 - (You / Are you trying to) "Get my Goat"
489 - "Monkey On Your Back" I have not heard this one in Years.
490 - Crazy as a fox.
491 - Sly as a fox
492 - I'm as old as me nose and a little bit older than my teeth.
493 - 'He's not as green as he's cabbage looking'
Meaning the person is not as stupid as he looks.
494 - 'A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
495 - A day late and a dollar short.
496 - You/I missed the boat.
497 - All over bar the shouting
498 - As rich as Croseus - Meaning very rich, attributed to Croesus the last King of Lydia who was very rich.
499 - "having the Midas touch".
500 - Make no bones of / Make no bones about it.
501 - Manna from heaven.
502 - 'Grin(ing) like a Cheshire cat'.
503 - Don't give up the ship.
504 - 'As The Crow Flies'
505 - 'Best bib and Tucker' Basically it means putting on your best clothes.
506 - 'Best of British luck. Meaning you can get on with something, but leave me out of it.
507 - Make the fur fly.
508 - Touch wood.
509 - Fresh as a daisy.
510 - As wise as an owl.
511 - I don't want to "Miss the Bus".
512 - Not my cup of tea.
513 - Between you, me and the gatepost (lamp post).
514 - Artful Dodger
515 - At Loggerheads (being in a state of dispute)
516 - (That's) seen better days.
517 - Blow one's own trumpet
518 - Ye of little faith
519 - Kick the bucket
520 - 'Learn the ropes'
521 - he/she/it's A-One
522 - He was Cracker jack.
523 - Raining cats and Dogs
524 - Time to hit the sack
525 - Going from the frying pan into the fire.
526 - 'Put a sock in it'
527 - Chew the fat
528 - Salt of the Earth
529 - Dollars to Donuts.
530 - Lay it on with a trowel
531 - Lay it on the line
532 - At one's Beck and call
533 - 'Laugh up one's sleeve'
534 - Like a daisy in a bull's mouth.
535 - Teaching ones grandmother to suck eggs.
536 - "She is just as pretty as a picture"
537 - "They spend to the last penny" People who waste money..
538 - "Talk about you behind your Back".
539 - " Quit clowning around" My mum's when we were being to rowdy.
540 - "Get that silly grin off your face" When people make fun of you
541 - "Just stop with the Crocodile Tears" When people do fake crying.
542 - Grin and bear it.
543 - "Twiddling my Thumbs"
544 - 'Graveyard shift'
545 - He's got blood on his hands
546 - Spitting image' of someone
547 - Skeleton in the cupboard (closet)
548 - Don't be a 'Wet blanket '
549 - " Will Toss you for it" Used for deciding.
550 - " Got out of bed at the wrong side"
He/she got out of the wrong side of bed this morning,
551 - "Now shovel me another load" When people fibbing to you.
552 - "I double dare you" Getting someone to do something
553 - 'Where there's muck there's brass' - in other words, Where there are dirty jobs to be done there is money to be made
554 - "Born on the wrong side of the blanket"
555 - "Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth"
556 - " Not trying to be goody goody two shoes here"
557 - 'Honest as a day is long'
558 - "Honesty is the best policy"
559 - 'I haven't seen that in donkey's years.' Similar to "A coon's age".
560 - 'Let's have a chinwag.' Similar to #527
561 - 'Fly by Night'
562 - Don't be giving me any of your lip
563 - 'An arm and a leg'
564 - It's a done deed.
565 - In like Flynn.
566 - Banana republic
567 - Viper in one's bosom
568 - Freudian slip
569 - Could sleep on a clothes line
570 - Sleeping with one eye open
571 - It's in the bag.
572 - That sews it up.
573 - Play possum
574 - Rest on one's laurels
575 - A Little bird told me "my little finger told me"
576 - Lay it on with a trowel Spread something thickly or if you are flattering someone, you do so several times.
577 - "I don't give a hoot".
578 - "Got your shoe on the other foot". Means not being right I believe.
The boot/shoe is on the other foot
579 - " You want a Fat Lip" When someone wanted a fight.
579 - "Your mother wears Army Boots"
580 - "My dad can beat your dad anyway".
581 - Bun fight Usually it means a formal party on an important occasion
582 - A word to the wise is sufficient
583 - Don't borrow trouble.
584 - Bob's your Uncle In the UK it means everything is perfect.
585 - " Thumbs Up" Means you did well.
586 - " Go take a Hike"
587 - "What's with the Monkey Face". When, as a child you started to cry
588 - " You are driving us up the Wall"
589 - " Stop Loitering around"
590 - " Left in the Lurch. Abandoned in a difficult position without help.
591 - You are the Apple of my eye"
592 - "Lets not beat around the bush" To get right to the point
593 - "Acts like a Big Wig" Better than other people
594 - "Its like the Blind leading the Blind" When both people doing it wrong, or without knowledge.
595 - " You are silly as a Billy Goat" Billy Goats are always bumping into things and head
Butting each other.
596 - " He has done a runner " Someone gone after doing wrong. (Police said that all the time).
597 - "They did a Moonlite Flit" People moved out of a house late night not paying their Rent.
598 - "Stay as quiet as a Mouse"
599 - " I'll only tell you once"
600 - It's/That's dirt cheap
601 - Eat Humble Pie
602 - Fight like Killkenny cats
603 - Keep your chin up
604 - An Englishmans home is his castle. A man's home .......
605 - Talking to you is like talking to a wooden bird. Duplicate/441
606 - It's hard to kill a bad thing. Duplicate of 440
607 - Turn over a new leaf
608 - "to put in my two cents"
609 - "I have an axe to grind with you"
610 - "a bone to pick with you"
611 - thought he was "the bee's knees"
612 - "the cat's pajamas"
613 - we took for "granite" (granted - "written in stone").
614 - Don't let the cows/flies in. Shut the door
615 - High as a kite
616 - Get your wires crossed
617 - Odour of sanctity means to be seen as better than one is.
618 - French leave
619 - It takes two to tango
620 - "Gone for Burton" (For a drink/ in the drink)
621 - Pardon me for talking while you were interrupting.
622 - "The sweet smell of success"
623 - As pure as the driven snow
624 - Cat among the pigeons
625 - With flying colors
626 - Walls have ears.
627 - As broad as it is wide./As broad as it is long
628 - Never mind the quality, feel the width.
629 - You can run but you can't hide.
630 - "If only these wall could talk"
631 - "Would love to be a fly on the Wall"
632 - "Now does that tickle your Fancy"
633 - Talk is cheap
634 - Wet your whistle
635 - A cat in gloves catches no mice
635A - A closed mouth catches no flies.
636 - Leave no stone unturned.
637 - Spare the rod and spoil the child.
638 - Hold the fort.
639 - The fat is in the fire.
640 - It's a done deal.
641 - No sooner said than done.
642 - You're/he/she's lower than a snake.
643 - Ship shape and Bristol fashion Meaning everything is neat and tidy
644 - He was right, dead right, as he sped along,
but he's just as dead as if he was wrong.
645 - There's no honor among thieves.
646 - The Devil protects his own.
647 - "You are dead wrong"
648 - Get the sack.
649 - Get the hook.
650 - Eating humble pie
651 - Any way you slice it, it's still bologna
652 - Tempus Fugit - Time flies.
653 - Knowledge is power.
654 - If you can't bite, better not show your teeth.
655 - Nineteen to the dozen
656 - Knowledge is power.
657 - Like/As alike as two peas in a pod.
658 - From Strength to Strength
659 - Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians.
660 - Pipe Down. Or stop talking! - lower your voices.
661 - I will wear my heart on my sleeve.
662 - He who hits and runs away lives to fight another day.
663 - A Miss Is As Good As a Mile.
664 - Close only counts in Horse Shoes - similar to #663
665 - It's better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
666 - " three sheets to the wind...."
667 - Take the wind out of one's sails
668 - Read Between The Lines.
669 - He's a Windbag
670 - Like, " ships that pass in the night...."
671 - Like little ships that go to sea, I push my spoon away from me.
672 - What The Dickens
673 - Going to Rack (Wrack) and Ruin
674 - "You little Rascal"
675 - Put One's Oar In Meaning meddling or interfering in someone else's business or affairs.
676 - Like A House on Fire
677 - Over the moon
678 - Only the sufferers know how their bellies ache. (on experience)
679 - He/she/they "are not out of the woods" (said of badly injured people)
680 - Back to the Drawing Board.
681 - The pot calling the kettle black.
682 - Pride Goes Before a Fall.
683 - Old age and treachery win out every time.
684 - Experience is the best teacher.
685 - Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
686 - The shank of the night.
687 - Walk the straight and narrow.
688 - Don't stick your head in the sand.
689 - Good guys finish last.
690 - You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.
691 - Take a powder.
692 - Keep your powder dry.
693 - (That's) Nothing to write home about.
694 - Not worth his salt
695 - Watch like a hawk.
696 - Spending is quick; earning is slow.
697 - A Cross to bear
698 - Stick In The Mud
699 - dragging one's heels
700 - Carved in stone.
701 - "Chomping at the Bit"
702 - Run of the mill.
703 - "If in doubt, don't"
"When in doubt, leave it out." referring to the use of commas.
704 - Footloose and fancy free
705 - Keep your fingers crossed
706 - As The Saying Goes ? ? ?
707 - I stand corrected.
708 - Make Ends Meet.
709 - Chasing ones tail (running around in circles)
710 - Know which side your bread is buttered on
711 - Health is better than wealth.
712 - Anything for a quiet Life
713 - Marches to a different drummer
714 - You must have rocks in your head
715 - neither here nor there
716 - The Long and Short of It
717 - You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
718 - Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
719 - Off His Own Bat
720 - Talking through your hat
721 - That's how the cookie crumbles.
722 - Fit as a fiddle
723 - Flat as a pancake
724 - Burn the midnight oil
725 - Don't give up the day job
726 - Between a rock and a hard place.
727 - Butter Someone Up
728 - The short end of the stick
729 - You want your bread buttered on both sides.
730 - Alive and Kicking
731 - Excuse my French
732 - out of the blue
733 - the squeaky wheel gets the grease See 285
734 - History repeats itself
735 - Slap up Meal
736 - Burn the candle at both ends.
737 - play both ends against the middle.
738 - She doesn't have all her buttons.
739 - "Off her rocker".
740 - People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
741 - Under the thumb
742 - It's a rule of thumb
743 - A gully washer
744 - Closing the door after the horses/cows got out.
745 - You can't hold a candle to _____
746 - Fair exchange is no robbery
747 - No holds barred
748 - Up for grabs.
749 - Pie in the sky
750 - Joined at the hip
751 - stretching the truth
752 - blind as a bat
753 - In one ear and out the other
754 - Hook, line, and sinker
755 - Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear
756 - Only in the darkness can you see the stars
757 - Back to square one
758 - Balloon goes up
759 - Skinny as a rail
760 - Smart as a whip
761 - Sharp as a tack
762 - There's no accounting for taste.
763 - Seeing eye to eye.
764 - Fish always stinks from the head downwards
765 - That did the trick.
766 - Make a long story short
767 - Only 2 more days and a gitup!
768 - straight from the horse's mouth
769 - Sounds like a fish story
770 - something up his sleeve
771 - Enough to curl your hair
So scary it'll curl your hair
772 - Clip one's wings
773 - On The Slate / Tab / cuff
774 - Worth as much as a wooden nickle.
775 - It comes with the territory.
776 - Eat my Hat
777 - Fell of the Back of A lorry / truck
778 - That's an accident going somewhere to happen.
779 - The cheese stands alone.
780 - wake the dead
781 - fly by the seat of your pants
782 - busting one's bubble
783 - "Sit tight"
784 - Beyond The Pale
785 - You're skating on thin ice
786 - Don't push your luck.
787 - Face the music.
788 - No more monkey shines.
789 - It's colder 'n blue blazes!
790 - "Red up that room" My grandmother used to tell us that our bedroom was messy and we better...
791 - Start The Ball Rolling
792 - Method to my madness
793 - Ran into a stone wall.
794 - The truth will out.
795 - Go along on (riding) another person's shirt tails
796 - Pleased as Punch
797 - Swing the Lead
798 - I struck out with her!
799 - One For The Road
800 - You made your bed. Now you must sleep in it!
801 - To run is not necessarily to arrive
802 - "Take me as you find me..." Similar to # 307, but different enough.
803 - "What you see is what you get...."
804 - Oil and water do not mix
805 - He who refuses to obey cannot command.
806 - If I were starving and it was raining soup, I'd be standing there with a fork!
807 - I'm up to my neck in aligators.
808 - In The Twinkling (blink, wink) of an Eye
809 - To err is human. To forgive Divine!
810 - "Quick as a wink"
811 - Wide of the Mark
812 - "fits the bill"
813 - Let no good deed go unpunished.
814 - Pay Through The Nose
815 - A pat on the the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
816 - Don't get your nose out of joint.
817 - Money for old rope
818 - Pin Money
819 - on pins and needles
820 - Over the hill
821 - Cool as a cucumber.
822 - Jump on the Bandwagon
823 - Grasp the Nettle
824 - "The clock is ticking...."
825 - Good words are food, bad words poison
826 - The customer is always right
827 - "She has a hitch in her git-along."
828 - A fly in the ointment.
829 - The best thing to come along since sliced bread.
830 - Go fly a kite
831 - Don't get into water over your head
832 - Why don't you go play in traffic?
833 - Set brain in gear before starting mouth
Similar (Belgian) - Turn your tongue seven time inside your mouth before talking
834 - Ties up the loose ends
835 - Make a beeline for
836 - Fat chance.
837 - Be careful! Your face will freeze and you'll look like that for the rest of your life!
similar --- If the wind changes your face will stay like that.
838 - Go soak - or - Go soak your head.
839 - Drop dead or Drop dead twice.
840 - Why don't you go take a flying leap in a rolling donut.
841 - Why don't you go take a long walk on a short pier!
842 - I wish you were on the radio so I could turn you off!
843 - You should be on the stage ------ It leaves soon.
844 - Don't bite off more than you can chew
845 - Never a borrower or a lender be.
846 - What in the Sam Hill (or similar)
*847 - "Dag nab it."
848 - "Taint funny McGee"
849 - No kidding dick tracy.
850 - Cooking with gas
851 - Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand
852 - Money can't talk, yet it can make lies look true.
853 - Money talks.
854 - He tap danced all around the subject. - He danced all around it.
855 - Fifteen minutes of fame.
856 - The gorilla in the room.
857 - May you be in Heaven and hour before the divil know's you're dead!
858 - "There's only so many somedays to a customer?"
859 - Don't wish your life away!
860 - Unkindest cut of all
861 - Beauty is as beauty does! - (stupid is as stupid does)
862 - Practice makes perfect!
863 - Practice what you preach
864 - Foolish spending is a father of poverty (Manx)
865 - Crumbs are also bread. (Don't ignore the small things)
866 - Never stoop to someone's level because then they'll beat you with,(or their?); experience.
867 - Sweep it (or don't sweep it) under the carpet.
868 - The fool speaks, the wise man listens
869 - At the drop of a hat
870 - Let your hair down
871 - Don't mistake activity for achievement.
872 - A foot in the door
873 - Bending the rules
874 - Still wet behind the ears.
875 - There is practical knowledge and then there is book smarts.
876 - "I'm not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become."
877 - Better little than too little
878 - If it's not one thing, it's another!
879 - "Dogs have masters. Cats have staff."
880 - Drastic times call for drastic measures
881 - Not a spark of decency
882 - "shoot the breeze"
883 - High and Dry
884 - "white rabbit morning, (day)."
885 - On the wagon
886 - His/her/your name is mud
887 - It went kaput
888 - The friends of our friends are our friends
"The enemies of our enemies are our friends."
889 - In again, out again Finnegan
890 - Baptism of fire
891 - Pour oil on troubled waters
892 - It mixes like oil and water Repeat of 804
893 - She's so excited, she's beside herself
894 - Someone forgot to turn on the Sunshine Pump
895 - Shut That Door, Were You Born In A Barn
896 - That baby is growing so fast- they feed him yeast.
She's growing like a weed.
897 - To thine own self be true.
898 - A Foregone Conclusion.
899 - Get your dander up.
890A - Don't be a bird brain
891A - this is a fine kettle of fish
892A - After me, the flood - Should the world come to an end after me I wouldn't care or worry.
893A - A Lick and a promise
894A - A sneaking suspicion
895A - Touch wood and cross fingers
896A - Don't lose your cool or temper.
897A - a run for its money
898A - If we live that long and the rivers don't rise.
"The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise"
899A - One of a kind
900 - Stick to your guns
901 - Push the Boat Out
902 - Batten down the hatches
903 - Get a leg up on .....
904 - Tuck that in your bonnet (hat)
905 - Bring to heel
906 - Go For Broke
907 - Blow (Give) a raspberry
908 - "He's a ham"
909 - Hold the purse strings
910 - Pass the buck
911 - Hoist by one's own petard - Basically that any damage done to him, he caused by his own actions and not any others.
912 - A new broom sweeps clean.
913 - Penny wise and pound foolish.
914 - Give up the ghost.
915 - He/she 's a caution
916 - Get poppin
917 - Throw caution to the wind.
918 - Get the bit between one's teeth
919 - It takes one to know one
920 - beauty is only skin deep
921 - Jack-of-all-trades: master of none
922 - The game is not worth the candle
923 - Don't cry over spilled milk
924 - It ain't over 'til it's over
925 - The game (jig) is up.
926 - You can tell who wears the trousers in that house..."
927 - " He is tied to his mothers apron strings..."
928 - " She or he, is a gold digger..."
929 - Put one's shoulder to the wheel
930 - Snow on the roof doesn't mean the fire is out
931 - Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan
932 - A lazy tailor uses a long thread.
933 - "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
934 - Money is like manure. It's no good unless you spread it around.
935 - Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
936 - Raise ______ hackles
937 - " That will raise a few eyebrows..."
938 - A good conscience is a soft pillow
939 - Man is the head of the family and woman is the neck that turns the head.
940 - Let he without sin cast the first stone.
941 - Indian giver
942 - Fair weather friend
943 - When the cat's away the mice will play
944 - I would take that with a pinch of salt.
945 - The whole kit and kaboodle.
946 - Failure teaches success.
947 - One shoe/size does not fit all.
948 - He's an empty suit.
949 - Empty barrels make the most noise.
950 - Too big for his britches.
951 - Deep six it.
952 - Shrouds have no pockets.
"You can't take it with you"
953 - If that guy/gal had half a brain it would be lonely
If he had half a brain he would be dangerous
954 - Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
955 - A rose by any other name is still a rose.
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
956 - What can't be cured must be endured
957 - The other side of the coin.
958 - Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Duplicate of #273
959 - Patience of Job.
960 - No great shakes.
961 - Knock on wood.
962 - Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.
963 - "It's what comes out of the south end of a cow heading north!"
964 - The distance between Heaven and Earth is no greater than one thought.
965 - Don't jump the gun.
966 - "Use the elevator if you can, the escalator if you can't, but the surest way to the top is to take the stairs, one step at a time."
967 - Patience is a virtue
968 - It speaks volumes.
969 - Rain before seven, fine before eleven
970 - No rhyme or reason.
971 - Few and far between.
972 - (It's like) "Striking gold".
973 - On the money.
974 - They give with one hand and take from the other
975 - The age of miracles is past
976 - "Stick me with a fork--I'm done!"
977 - Give him (someone) your little finger, and he'll take your whole hand.
978 - armed to the teeth
979 - Grit your teeth and bear it.
980 - go haywire
981 - Grab the bull by the horns.
982 - You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
983 - Button your lip.
984 - He's a loose cannon
985 - add insult to injury
986 - put on ice
987 - Play second fiddle.
988 - out on a limb
989 - put a lid on it
990 - colder'n a well digger's (knees) in springtime
991 - Hotter'n the hinges of hades!
992 - don't put the horse before the cart
993 - Down the hatch.
994 - With bated breath.
995 - Clean as a whistle.
996 - Don't make a Federal case/project out of it.
997 - " I'll have your guts for garters..."
998 - pay on the nail
999 - sleep forty winks
1000 - Goodness is it's own reward.
1001 - Trying to climb a greased pole.
1002 - That hits the nail on the head
1003 - Youth is wasted on the young.
1004 - sail under false colors
1005 - read the riot act
1006 - " its rock hard, like eating bullets..."
1007 - You try the patience of a saint.
1008 - Slip of the lip
1009 - blaze the/a trail
1010 - red rag to a bull
1011 - in a nutshell
1012 - "spend a penny"
1013 - Water under the bridge.
1014 - " I'm making a real pigs ear of it...."
1015 - grass widow
1016 - kangaroo court
1017 - at the eleventh hour
1018 - a lame duck
1019 - " For love nor money...."
1020 - " A bit slow on the uptake...."
1021 - "Sleep tight - don't let the bedbugs bite!"
1022 - pull someone's leg
1023 - He/She is good as gold
1024 - " He - she, is not backward in coming forward....."
1025 - " I'll give it food for thought...."
1026 - crying over spilt milk
1027 -For crying out loud.
1028 - below the belt
1029 - spill the beans
1030 - " My/your neck of the woods..."
1031 - Busy as a bee.
1032 - Your goose is cooked.
1033 - "If we,(or you); were cruising for a bruising?"
1034 - He/she gave me the evil eye.
1035 - You can hang your hat on it.
1036 - Get a grip on yourself/it/things
1037 - " Two heads are better than one...."
1038 - under the wire.
1039 - In the nick of time.
1040 - clutch at straws / Grabbing straws
1041 - white elephant
1042 - white knight
1043 - " there's no flies on you/him/her..."
1044 - you'll catch yourself a death of (you name it).
1045 - " I wouldn't touch him/her/it with a ten foot pole.."
1046 - "be grateful for small mercies"
1047 - "be thankful for small favors"
1048 - " practice what you peach..."
1049 - " He - she has a one track mind..."
1050 - Let's not tar all of them with the same brush.
1051 - As fast as greased lightning
1052 - It's like trying to catch a greased pig.
or - slippery as an eel
1053 - Clear as mud.
1054 - "He was the type of person who would give you a straw hat in a blizzard"
1055 - She's dumber than glue!
1056 - I'm up to my neck in alligators.
1057 - thorn in the flesh (one's side)
1058 - see the writing on the wall
1059 - Don't get yourself in a lather.
1060 - The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
1061 - "He's so sick he's knocking on the Pearly Gates"
1062 - Fine as frogs hair.
1063 - scarce as hen's teeth.
1064 - Put an egg in your/ boot (hat) and beat it.
1065 - Stick that in your hat and pull it down over your ears.
1066 - living in an ivory tower
1067 - taking the lion's share
1068 - to meet one's Waterloo
1069 - to be trigger-happy
1070 - Stuffed to the gills
1071 - take down a peg
1072 - sacred cow
1073 - Don't be a hairbrain
1074 - It's leaning towards funstance (never heard this one, but---)
1075 - stumbling block
1076 - Never make a promise when you are happy.
1077 - the wheel has come full circle
1078 - He's/You've got egg on your face.
1079 - Talking turkey
1080 - Now there's a cock and bull story
1081 - She can't keep two peas in her mouth.
1082 - That'll take the starch out of your pants.
1083 - " she-he, doesn't mince her-his words "
1084 - "A woman's work is never done..."
A man may work from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done.
1085 - "Wishing won't make it so."
1086 - " The calm before the storm.."
1087 - " It is just the tip of the iceberg..."
1088 - "Don't go shopping for food when you're hungry"
1089 - " A blessing in disguise.."
1090 - Fight fire with fire.
1091 - If you can't say anything good, don't say anything.
1092 - (you're,he's/she's) nutty as a fruitcake. (Vanilla-Jackie)
1093 - " Give a wide birth to..."
1094 - You're never too old to learn
1095 - I think we're "Grasping at straws".
1096 - (don't) "fly off the handle"
1097 - "Buckle down"
1098 - Put up or shut up.
1099 - You should take a man as he means, not as he says!
1100 - " cant see past the end of their nose..."
1101 - " to cut off your nose to spite your face..."
You should be able to copy / paste these to your own document.
Amen
Rick, I copied the sayings and revised the format to what I usually use and I ended up with 33 pages! I also copied your saying at the bottom of your posts because I think it is so true.
Mary Ann
Quote from: Mary Ann on March 05, 2019, 08:07:07 PMRick, I copied the sayings and revised the format to what I usually use and I ended up with 33 pages! I also copied your saying at the bottom of your posts because I think it is so true.
Mary Ann
I have mine saved as a WordPad Document in an RTF (Rich Text Format) format. It's all one big, long, document. But that lets me search it easily.
Rick, I put mine in MS Word and it is one long document.
Mary Ann
Quote from: Mary Ann on March 05, 2019, 10:00:53 PMRick, I put mine in MS Word and it is one long document.
Mary Ann
I'm curious. Isn't MS Word a part of the MS Office Suite? Something that is purchased in addition to MS Windows?
This book is a best seller... :thumbup:
Thank you Rammel.. :)
Rick, I am using a 2007 MS Word and Student program that no longer is supported, but it still works. I did buy it many years ago.
Mary Ann
Quote from: Mary Ann on March 06, 2019, 09:11:34 AMRick, I am using a 2007 MS Word and Student program that no longer is supported, but it still works. I did buy it many years ago.
Mary Ann
I hate it when they stop supporting a particular program. One puts effort into creating something using that program/format and then they drop it. I guess "they" decide we really didn't want the fruits of our efforts. I had a MS Works program, which is a watered down MS Word (Watered down MS Office Suite) -- dropped it. That gave me a big problem when I went to Win-10 trying to rescue an address book I had. Cheers for the old pen and pad system we used many moons ago.
"OpenOffice", a free open source program is a big help. Check out https://www.openoffice.org/. No automatic download, just info.
Thanks, Rick, I saved the site for future checking. I can buy MS Word 2016 and may do that. I think it is the same as Office 365 which may be "rented" for a monthly fee. If I have to pay, I want to own it. I'm lucky I am still able to use Office 2007, however, it does take longer to come up than it used to.
Mary Ann
I can hear my mother and gran saying this now...
" Wonders will never cease."
Its all water under the bridge now.
1013 - Water under the bridge.
but I did not see " Wonders will never cease."
Bubble...removed...I will settle for a 50-50.. :thumbup:
I came across an interesting saying.
"What is bred in the bone will not come out of the flesh", implying something deep-rooted cannot be removed.
Also recorded in the form "What is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh", meaning deeply ingrained traits will ultimately reveal themselves.
Earliest documented use: 1470.
I just used one today that my grandmother used t use and I'd almost forgotten it. If we said something was "funny" she would ask....
Was it funny "haha" or funny peculiar. (there is a difference)
Jane - remember back a couple of months ago, we were talking about, "I'm beside myself", with frustration, worry, anger, etc? Today I was upset about something, and I said, "I'm fit to be tied!" I had forgotten all about that one, which was another one of my mother's favorites! Similar to, or the same as, "beside myself". ha ha! I think when our generation is gone, that all those old sayings will go with us. I can't imagine my grown children or grandchildren using any of them? :-\
I thought of a couple of new ones today -------------------- but when I checked to see if we already had them, there they were :'(
Another of my families saying's...
" this is just the tip of the iceberg."
...meaning the worst is yet to come...
As we are now taking more precautions as to going around cleaning and safeguarding our homes due to our current world situation of C -Virus epidemic, although be careful not to over-clean, we need good bacteria too..one of my parents well known idioms was...
..." cleanliness is next to Godliness.."
Have we all given up on these...is our book now full, has it been published...
" If the mountain wont come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain "
Another Idiom my family used when i was growing up, can anyone else remember their parents-family saying this...
Basically meaning, finding another - alternative solution..
" cleanliness is next to Godliness.." is #383
Added -
912 - "this is just the tip of the iceberg."
913 - " If the mountain wont come to Mohammad, Mohammad must go to the mountain "
Rammel...
... are we on our second book, and if so, how much did we make on the publishing of our first book...will it keep us well in our retirement...
Quote from: Vanilla-Jackie on June 04, 2020, 06:14:26 PMRammel...
... are we on our second book, and if so, how much did we make on the publishing of our first book...will it keep us well in our retirement...
Well, - - - It didn't sell very well. I bought two copies and since then it has gone out of print :roflBig:
I had trouble finding my file as my old computer died and I'm now using a HP Win-10 puter.
You only bought two copies, i bought three...just in case they go up in value...
we might be...
" sitting on a goldmine "
Now who remembers this one, our parents telling us this...
" have you taken leave of your senses girl."
I still like....
It give me the willies!
and I like "raining cats and dogs"... I could just imagine if it really happened! lol
I did hear that in some place it was raining dozens of live fish: transported by a tornado.
BUBBLE, I still use the one my dad used to use about the rain...
"It's raining pitchforks with sawlogs for handles". Lot's of people these days don't know that a sawlog is the whole tree just before it went into the mill to be made into boards. Those were pretty big pitchforks coming down in my Dad's storm!
Rammel, will this post entice you back... :)
Another well known Idiom from my family referring to somebody dodgy...
"He cooked the books "
...altering account figures and data to make things look better...
Still no sign of Rammel, i shouted loud enough to wake the neighbourhood...anyway..
..." we have to take the rough with the smooth " as my parents drummed into me...
ENJOY...
In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' Since artists in those days know that hands and arms were far more difficult to paint.
As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig.' Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.
In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board..'
Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told, 'mind your own bee's wax.' Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term 'crack a smile'. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression 'losing face.'
Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in 'straight laced'. . Wore a tightly tied lace.
Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades.' To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't 'playing with a full deck.'
Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to 'go sip some ale' and listen to people's conversations and political concerns.. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. 'You go sip here' and 'You go sip there.' The two words 'go sip' were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term 'gossip.'
*******
At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in 'pints' and who was drinking in 'quarts,' hence the term minding your 'P's and 'Q's
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations.
However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.' Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.' All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you ... : )
If you don't send this fabulous bit of historic knowledge to any and all your unsuspecting friends:
Then let's hope & pray that your floppy doesn't fall off your hard drive and kill your poor mouse ... : (
i think I knew all that stuff at one time or another. I remember my dad telling me about the brass monkeys but I forget how old I was at the time. It's nice to be reminded of all of it. Thanks!
Keeping this thread going, as no posters in the last few months...
My late father often would say....
" Its goodnight Vienna "
...meaning...it's all over, nothing else can be done...
Another well known idiom springs to mind...
"dont ever darken my doorstep again "
...said when someone is not welcome...
Here is another one for you Jane..
The Basic Rules for Clotheslines
By Kindred Grace
1. You had to hang the socks by the toes, not the top.
2. You hung pants by the bottom/cuffs, not the waistbands.
3. You had to wash the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes.
4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, "whites" with "whites" and hang them first.
5. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. What would the neighbors think?
6. Wash day was on Monday. Never hang clothes on the weekend or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake.
7. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle. (perverts and busybodies, y'know!)
8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather, clothes would freeze dry. And they did. Almost.
9. Always gather the clothespins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left on the lines were "tacky" and they got dirty and broke more easily.
10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothespins, but shared one with the next item.
11. Clothes off the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
12. IRONED! Well, that's a whole other subject.
When I was little, the house where I lived was higher in the back than the front. That was true of all the houses on my block and we all had the kind of lines referred to as "Pully Lines". The were hooked on one end to the house and on the other end to a big tree at the end of the lot. Since it was a hill, you couldn't reach the clothes from the ground. You stood on the porch and added clothes to the line, pulled on the top line and the clothes moved away, making room for more clothes. It was a pretty ingenious idea for it's time!
" Get it down the hatch " brings back fond memories of my father telling me, or anyone to drink up.... your beer or spirit...
With something of a smirk on his face, at dinner my Dad used to say to us girls (no boys in the family) "Eat your spinach. It will put hair on your chest." Dad liked to watch cartoons with us on Saturday mornings. Popeye was one of them.
MarsGal...yes i was told that one too, and did it put hairs on your chest?...thankfully none grew on mine...
Jackie, I couldn't stand spinach when I was little. Now I will eat spinach pie and I used to grow it in the garden. It was a good substitute for lettuce when the weather got colder.
MarsGal, as a young child the only way my father could make me eat spinach and curly kale was to put vinegar on it, of course i cant take vinegar now as i was told 20 years ago i had a hiatus hernia and at one time i suffered terrible reflux and regurgitations so vinegar has been off my list for some years...
" You'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on "...said by father of my forgetfulness
" Turned on the water works "
...long time since i last heard that...I am watching a recorded yesterdays Coronation Street programme where there is an ongoing court procedure where the mother of her murdered son says of the guilty party who is lying his head off and sobbing in court..
" We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.."
Another used in my family, meaning, we will worry about it when we are facing it..
" He - she has a sharp tongue '
...was often said by my family of someone who criticizes and talks in a sharp way...we have all come across people like that, haven't we, out to cause trouble.... ;)