figure of speech - ZEFRANK.COM

auntie aubrey · 04-02-2008, 03:59 PM

my friend from swamp country, mississippi frequently declares, "i'm so hungry, i could eat a buttered brick."

another one that i'm not ashamed to have stolen is, "this ain't my first rodeo." it's used typically when someone is trying to explain something to you that you already understand. i used it the other day with my realtor when she was trying to get me to accept some sort of hogwash that the seller was trying to pass off as fair. "um, no, this ain't my first rodeo."

i think we should all vow to use one of the figures of speech from another country in every day conversation, in our own respective languages. personally, i'm going to look for an application for "his mouth walks like a duck's ass."

YsaPur EsChomuw · 04-02-2008, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auntie aubrey

i think we should all vow to use one of the figures of speech from another country in every day conversation, in our own respective languages.

Likewise, I'll try to use this one "this ain't my first rodeo.". Everybody will totally believe me! They would look at me with respect, I think. I hope.

Here's another one: He shook him (up) like Christ the cobbler. It means to shake someone angrily, because that person didn't do something he should have done.
I'm familiar with most Bible stories, but I don't know what happened between Christ and the cobbler. Maybe it's in the Apocrypha...

Frieda · 04-02-2008, 04:25 PM

iets doen voor de kat z'n kut

to do something for the cat's cvnt - to do something that has already become unneccesary or obsolete

"oh, so i've been making this report all day for the cat's cvnt??"

also, de kat z'n viool (violin/fiddle)

Brynn · 04-02-2008, 05:01 PM

My Texas upbringing gave me a number of colorful phrases -

Don't pee down my leg and tell me it's raining! which is a variation of "this ain't my first rodeo." Texan ladies were not allowed to use this phrase, however.

My mother always said "You'd better not do that or I'll be mad as a wet hen." Her mother grew up on a farm, so I'm sure she got it from her. This was used almost interchangeably with mad as a red hen, but she reserved the red hen for when she was really angry, and it was usually accompanied by a spanking with a metal spatula. I'd always picture someone dumping a bucket of water on a chicken, or a white hen getting so mad that all her feathers would suddenly turn scarlet and then she'd explode.

One of my favorites as a little girl was "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas," becuase it always made my mouth water even when I was being reprimanded.

He's crazier than a three dollar bill is always apt because there is no U.S. currency of that denomination. My brother uses it a lot. He also loves to drive bargains, and when he gets a really good one he drawls "I skinned him but good," as if he had peeled the very skin from the man and left him with nothing to hold him together.

My grandmother, always concerned about bringing up my many sisters, cousins and me to be proper ladies of refinement in dresses, would hiss "Keep your knees together, I can see your A-Double-Scribble!" This was an especially mysterious phrase to hear as a kid because there was zero tolerance for off-color words, so we really just didn't know any. It wasn't until my cousin and I were adults, talking about our prim, sainted, snowy-haired, tee-totaling Southern Baptist Grannie, when we realized with a shock that for years she had been spelling out the forbidden word "ass" - a word that none of us learned or even heard until middle school.

One of my recent favorites is a variation on "it's like putting lipstick on a pig" and applies to any hopelessly ugly man-made object that can't be beautified. "It's like pinning a corsage to a robot."

brightpearl · 04-02-2008, 06:02 PM

Oh lord, I have a million of these that my grandmother used to say.

One of my favorites is "Well I'll swan." It's kind of like "Well I'll be." It amuses me because my devoutly religious grandmother used to say it all the time, and I read recently that it developed out of "Well I'll swear and be damned," which she would never, ever have said on purpose.

Down here in Tejas we say something's tumped over sometimes...It's a combination of "tip" and "dump"...you can only use it if you've knocked over a container that had something spillable in it. I say that all the time, and also, I'll admit, I frequently say that I'm fixing to do something. On the Gulf Coast, in some areas, that's shortened to "I/I'm funna..."

And I absolutely love to use You can't swing a dead cat in here without hittin' a... whatever there is a lot of. My favorite was when I was involuntarily sent to a lawyer gathering and I got to say, "Dadgummit, you can't swing a dead cat in here without hittin' a Republican."

My dad has a lot of good ones, too, frequently dumb as a post and ugly as three kinds of sin .

auntie aubrey · 04-02-2008, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brightpearl

One of my favorites is "Well I'll swan." It's kind of like "Well I'll be." It amuses me because my devoutly religious grandmother used to say it all the time, and I read recently that it developed out of "Well I'll swear and be damned," which she would never, ever have said on purpose.

oh yes, my mother had one of those. she used to refer to a good bargain as having "chewed them down." then my father explained to her that she was misusing an anti-semitic expression, to "jew" someone down. she was horrified that she'd been using the expression her whole life and had no idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brightpearl

tumped over

ah yes, i remember tumped from time spent in tennessee.

auntie aubrey · 04-02-2008, 06:05 PM

my father had a commentary on ugliness, that for some reason he tended to reserve for a description of lionel richie, specifically. don't ask me why. The expression was, "he's so ugly he could make a train go down a dirt road." it's pretty self explanatory.

and the a-double-scribble thing reminded me of something one of our neighbors used to say. she loathed profanity so whenever something went wrong she would instead blurt out, "oh, sugar honey iced tea!" it was years before we figured out that she was cursing in her own cute way.

lukkucairi · 04-02-2008, 06:28 PM

euphemisms unique to Utah, as far as I know:

fetch you! (instead of that other f-word), and oh my heck, scrud, and pretty much flippin' anything

lukkucairi · 04-02-2008, 06:32 PM

terms from the Bahamas:

jook - i.e. to stab ("he jooked me with his pencil")

yuck - i.e. to pull sharply ("yuck the door, it's sticking")

he and I don't shoot nickers - nicker beans are small and almost spherical and used to be used for the game of marbles. if you don't "shoot nickers" you don't get along.

Peregrine · 04-02-2008, 07:06 PM

When my sisters and I were children, whenever our aunts and uncles suspected that we were telling stories out of school, they would say you're full of old boots as a polite way to say "you're full of sh*t"

If someone asks where someone is, a rather frustrating response may be On the roof pickin' dulse.

If something was taking a really long time to get moving, my mother might say slow as cold molasses running down the hill in winter time. Although a better hyperbole might have the molasses trying to run uphill, my mother often got the two mixed up. But if you know anything about molasses, it really wouldn't matter which direction it's going, since its rate of progress is about the same.

My parents used to own a building, and one day my father had a conversation with one of the tenants. He came in, and said to my mom he's got a few rooms upstairs not plastered. Sort of another way of saying he's a few bricks short of a load. But my mom didn't quite get what he was saying, and said "don't tell me that he's got all the plaster torn off the walls up there."

04-02-2008, 03:59 PM	#1
auntie aubrey excursions Join Date: May 2006 Location: beyond the call of duty Posts: 2,443	my friend from swamp country, mississippi frequently declares, "i'm so hungry, i could eat a buttered brick." another one that i'm not ashamed to have stolen is, "this ain't my first rodeo." it's used typically when someone is trying to explain something to you that you already understand. i used it the other day with my realtor when she was trying to get me to accept some sort of hogwash that the seller was trying to pass off as fair. "um, no, this ain't my first rodeo." i think we should all vow to use one of the figures of speech from another country in every day conversation, in our own respective languages. personally, i'm going to look for an application for "his mouth walks like a duck's ass." __________________ that dog won't hunt, monsignor

04-02-2008, 04:25 PM	#3
Frieda in limbo Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 19,503	iets doen voor de kat z'n kut to do something for the cat's cvnt - to do something that has already become unneccesary or obsolete "oh, so i've been making this report all day for the cat's cvnt??" also, de kat z'n viool (violin/fiddle) __________________ zoek waar je wil, maar het zit in jezelf oh yeah

04-02-2008, 05:01 PM	#4
Brynn constantly amazed Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: in the labyrinth of shared happiness Posts: 6,206	My Texas upbringing gave me a number of colorful phrases - Don't pee down my leg and tell me it's raining! which is a variation of "this ain't my first rodeo." Texan ladies were not allowed to use this phrase, however. My mother always said "You'd better not do that or I'll be mad as a wet hen." Her mother grew up on a farm, so I'm sure she got it from her. This was used almost interchangeably with mad as a red hen, but she reserved the red hen for when she was really angry, and it was usually accompanied by a spanking with a metal spatula. I'd always picture someone dumping a bucket of water on a chicken, or a white hen getting so mad that all her feathers would suddenly turn scarlet and then she'd explode. One of my favorites as a little girl was "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas," becuase it always made my mouth water even when I was being reprimanded. He's crazier than a three dollar bill is always apt because there is no U.S. currency of that denomination. My brother uses it a lot. He also loves to drive bargains, and when he gets a really good one he drawls "I skinned him but good," as if he had peeled the very skin from the man and left him with nothing to hold him together. My grandmother, always concerned about bringing up my many sisters, cousins and me to be proper ladies of refinement in dresses, would hiss "Keep your knees together, I can see your A-Double-Scribble!" This was an especially mysterious phrase to hear as a kid because there was zero tolerance for off-color words, so we really just didn't know any. It wasn't until my cousin and I were adults, talking about our prim, sainted, snowy-haired, tee-totaling Southern Baptist Grannie, when we realized with a shock that for years she had been spelling out the forbidden word "ass" - a word that none of us learned or even heard until middle school. One of my recent favorites is a variation on "it's like putting lipstick on a pig" and applies to any hopelessly ugly man-made object that can't be beautified. "It's like pinning a corsage to a robot." __________________ 1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. 3. Your foot will change direction. Last edited by Brynn : 04-02-2008 at 05:13 PM. Reason: Go on without me - I'll just sit in the dark, editing things.

04-02-2008, 06:05 PM	#7
auntie aubrey excursions Join Date: May 2006 Location: beyond the call of duty Posts: 2,443	my father had a commentary on ugliness, that for some reason he tended to reserve for a description of lionel richie, specifically. don't ask me why. The expression was, "he's so ugly he could make a train go down a dirt road." it's pretty self explanatory. and the a-double-scribble thing reminded me of something one of our neighbors used to say. she loathed profanity so whenever something went wrong she would instead blurt out, "oh, sugar honey iced tea!" it was years before we figured out that she was cursing in her own cute way. __________________ that dog won't hunt, monsignor

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread:

04-02-2008, 06:02 PM	#5
brightpearl Rhinoceros fan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 8,749	Oh lord, I have a million of these that my grandmother used to say. One of my favorites is "Well I'll swan." It's kind of like "Well I'll be." It amuses me because my devoutly religious grandmother used to say it all the time, and I read recently that it developed out of "Well I'll swear and be damned," which she would never, ever have said on purpose. Down here in Tejas we say something's tumped over sometimes...It's a combination of "tip" and "dump"...you can only use it if you've knocked over a container that had something spillable in it. I say that all the time, and also, I'll admit, I frequently say that I'm fixing to do something. On the Gulf Coast, in some areas, that's shortened to "I/I'm funna..." And I absolutely love to use You can't swing a dead cat in here without hittin' a... whatever there is a lot of. My favorite was when I was involuntarily sent to a lawyer gathering and I got to say, "Dadgummit, you can't swing a dead cat in here without hittin' a Republican." My dad has a lot of good ones, too, frequently dumb as a post and ugly as three kinds of sin .

04-02-2008, 06:28 PM	#8
lukkucairi earth worker Join Date: May 2006 Location: on the planet Posts: 5,844	euphemisms unique to Utah, as far as I know: fetch you! (instead of that other f-word), and oh my heck, scrud, and pretty much flippin' anything

04-02-2008, 06:32 PM	#9
lukkucairi earth worker Join Date: May 2006 Location: on the planet Posts: 5,844	terms from the Bahamas: jook - i.e. to stab ("he jooked me with his pencil") yuck - i.e. to pull sharply ("yuck the door, it's sticking") he and I don't shoot nickers - nicker beans are small and almost spherical and used to be used for the game of marbles. if you don't "shoot nickers" you don't get along.

04-02-2008, 07:06 PM	#10
Peregrine Bird of Prey Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 249	When my sisters and I were children, whenever our aunts and uncles suspected that we were telling stories out of school, they would say you're full of old boots as a polite way to say "you're full of sht" If someone asks where someone is, a rather frustrating response may be On the roof pickin' dulse. If something was taking a really long time to get moving, my mother might say slow as cold molasses running down the hill in winter time. Although a better hyperbole might have the molasses trying to run uphill, my mother often got the two mixed up. But if you know anything about molasses, it really wouldn't matter which direction it's going, since its rate of progress is about the same. My parents used to own a building, and one day my father had a conversation with one of the tenants. He came in, and said to my mom he's got a few rooms upstairs not plastered. Sort of another way of saying he's a few bricks short of a load*. But my mom didn't quite get what he was saying, and said "don't tell me that he's got all the plaster torn off the walls up there."