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Stupid Sayings/Expressions


adonirum

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It's funny how you attach meaning to words you've grown up with, its often not until someone whose

first language is not English asks the meaning, you realise they don't make sense egbelieve you me, I was up to high doh.

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sjw Wrote:

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> Ear piercing while you wait !


Yes, I always find that hilarious!


Unrelated, but this thread reminds me of a time, probably mid 80s, when the phrase du jour was ?This is it? said very meaningfully and implying someone has just uttered something of great depth.

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TheCat Wrote:

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> "You can't have your cake and eat it"

>

> Well...what's the sodding point of having a cake

> if it's not for eating?!!!!


It's a misquote that stuck, apparently. It should be, 'eat your cake and have it' - then it makes sense.


Bit like people saying, 'the proof is in the pudding'.

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My old aunt used to quote 'she is all mouth and no trousers' never figured it out. It was in relation to a middle aged woman who had several sons.


Another one was 'I'll go to the foot of our stairs' and if anyone said 'Haha' she would say 'HaHa she cried waving her wooden leg in the fog' That used to make me laugh and still does nearly 50 years on.

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Pugwash Wrote:

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> My old aunt used to quote 'she is all mouth and no

> trousers' never figured it out. It was in relation

> to a middle aged woman who had several sons.


I know this one - actually a corruption of the original northern phrase "all mouth and trousers" meaning full of talk and flashy gear (i.e. trousers rather than traditional working man's gear like gaiters or overalls) but no real substance. The corruption "and no trousers" is generally taken to mean plenty of talk but can't back it up in the, ahem, trouser department. Variants include the American "big hat, no cattle" and my favourite, again northern, "all fur coat and no knickers" - which is probably closest to what your aunt meant, I'm guessing!


ETA There's probably something in having phrases kids don't understand to flummox them - I remember reading a Paul McCartney interview when he was talking about his dad, who, when asked for sixpence to go to the chippy, would say no, and when asked why not would say things like "Because seagulls don't ride bicycles, that's why not," leaving young Paul confused and defeated.

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Elphinstone's Army Wrote:

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> and so it begins.....

> can anyone explain this meaningless peurile quote

> please


Somewhere in one of the LOTR trilogy, isn't it? I think it's a very useful phrase, because it lets you know that whoever's using it ("Sorry I'm late, there was a points failure at Clapham" - "And so it begins") is a humourless twonk.

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My mother used to say "I should coco" in dismissing something that ruffled her feathers. Silly old cow was easily ruffled too.


Never sure what she actually meant by those words. She's still alive but having not spoken to her in 25 years i'm unlikely to find out from her.

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Blah Blah Wrote:

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> Pot calling the kettle black. What if the pot is

> purple, or silver, or copper, or any number of

> colours that pots seem to be.



They were black due to being used on an open fire, nothing to do with their underlying colour.

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