I just used the phrase "have a care" in another thread and it got me to thinking... to a non-native speaker, how must these strange idiosyncratic colloquialisms sound? Some of them are a bit strange (he's the big cheese) and some are very easy to over look if you've been speaking the language from birth (head's up! Or watch out!)

There are so many and they are so interesting when you stop and think about where they might have come from and what you might think they mean if you didn't already know.

I've got a bee in my bonnet.
Get out of town.


Not as odd as the Ulster espression "Diya wannta wee poke?" Which doesn't actually infer a sexual act but means "Would you like a small ice-cream cone?" .

Can you think of any?

When I first came to New Zealand someone said, "That's a box of fluffy ducks!" I had no idea what they were talking about. (It means that something is very nice, pleasant, happy, etc.)

Another one was "It's my shout." (That means they'll pay your way.)

"Crikey dick" is one we're still not sure of. (It is surprise or amazement.)

"Rattle your dags" means to hurry up and move faster. (It comes from the "dags" - another name for the dried poo hanging on the backside of sheep - and how they sound when sheep run!)

One person was telling us that a man "fell off the perch" (in other words, he died).


My favorite raw vegan

Isn't it nice to say something like "There's more than one
way to skin a cat", and the person (people) you're talking to actually
understands what you mean.....now that's the "cat's meow" (too Cool for words)......WY

rattle your dags!

haha...awesome!

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

when i was naughty my mom used to say she'd fix my tichet , i was never sure what my tichet was and why it was broken lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Tichet? Weird!

I know its not a colloquialism, but my dad has said it like this all my life, and I dunno, Ive always found it kinda funny, he pronounces Tsunami "Too-saw-me"

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

my dad used to pronounce Seattle as SEA-TULL lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I love hearing people stumble over the word "quinoa". Even if they've heard it pronounced properly they still sometimes try to do it phonetically. It's fun.

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I love hearing people stumble over the word
> "quinoa".......It's fun.
You have a sadistic sense-of-humor.
I love it.....WY

I use to pronounce it Kee-no-ah, because it seems to me that that is how the Quechoa would've pronounced it, but the only person I ever knew who could speak it is gone now and can't be asked. So now I pronounce it keen-wah.

Sadistic eh? Well maybe sometimes but in this case it's just innocent joyful fun, not at the other's expense. I think it's cute and funny the way people say it.

Kee-no-ah is a neat pronounciation. Too bad you can't ask...

Here's one "Forty winks".

Come on guys, can't you think of any more? I should start a collection in my files. The kids and I play a game with words that can have more than one meaning, we have a great time with that one. They'd like a version of this one too I'm sure.

I say "No flies on me" a lot. It means I am moving too fast and am of too fine a quality for flies to settle upon me. It is generally used to indicate quickness of reasoning, and in a self-deprecating way, like, "Hey, I'm no dummy!"

Ooh, I like that one! Reminds me of the rolling stone. That one is sort of self explanitory though, it does get used in an abbreviated fashion on occasion so it still counts.

I can't seem to think of these when I try but I just used the term "hairy eyeball" and it totally made me laugh! It was really funny because I knew it meant what I wanted it to but when I stopped to think about it I had to look it up just to be sure! Language that we take forgranted... it's like thinking so hard about how to walk that you forget how to actually do it!

She was beside herself
That's the cats pj's
Cat's meow
Bees knees
It's raining cats and dogs
In a pickle
Like gangbusters
In a fix
In a jam
Between a rock and a hard place

It was many years ago, but I remember when I first heard, "Let's book" used for "Let's go [somewhere]"

"Yeah, we were bookin' down the road..."

That one took a while for me to get used to.

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
We are all in this together!
Namasté

Ha-Ha! I remember "Let's book!" Wow, takes me back

I met someone whose first language is Hopi, and when she learned english she found some common phrases rather strange.

When asked "souper salad"? she said no, just a small one. Someone was talking about cutting trees, first he chopped it down, which made sense. But then he 'chopped it UP'. She said how did you do that? (She visualized the tree pieces fitting back together with the ax)

I am a native speaker of english, but some I even find weird, when I think about it, what about an alarm clock 'going off'. Shouldn't it be the alarm is
'going on'?

In the U.S. someone says that someone is 'pissed' it means they are angry, but in another country it means they are drunk. "stuffed" in the U.S. means you have had too much too eat, in another country it means your pregnant.

I just used the phrase "in this neck of the woods". Since when to woods have necks?!

Behind the cow's tail - means you are late

float my boat - means you like something or someone

it's as dark as a bag - very dark!!

cold as a witches tit!!!

someones run over my grave - means that inexplicable shiver that runs over you sometimes

chop chop - means hurry up

have a ganders - means have a look

shot the cat - means inebriated (old expresiion not much in use any more - swallowed a spider, top heavy, bosky all mean the same)

plain as a pikestaff - means obvious

in a jiffy - means soon i.e. I'll be there in a jiffy

black dog - means sad, blue mood

wearing your heart on your sleeve - means showing your emotions to the world

salt of the earth - used to describe a jolly fine person

and weirdly - just a definition here but 'fanny' in the UK means vagina so when Americans say they've got something in their fanny bag we Brits tend to raise an eyebrow!! your fanny bag is our bum bag. And you definately don't sit on your fanny in UK!!

fannying around - means messing about and not getting on with a job

Fanny Adams is an expression used to describe someone when you can't remember their name or jokingly might say to your friend 'Come on Fanny Adams'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2011 09:30AM by flipperjan.

too late to edit!

i wondered if your expression was 'fanny pack' not 'fanny bag' either way it sounds odd to us Brits as you can imagine.

some more:

tight as a tic - it means very mean with money

fly in the ointment - when something spoils your plan

two sandwiches short of a picnic - when someone isn't very bright

hard as a dog's head - very hard! (usually spoken in a heavy Devon accent)

bright as a button - clever, alert

thick as two short planks - derogatory meaning someone isn't very bright!!

I could eat a horse - meaning I'm starving hungry

bold as brass - not frightened or intimidated by anything

hooray Henry - loud, young upperclass person - usually in your face!!

must go now but yes it's interesting - ones conversation is littered with them

Haha!

I always laugh when I hear Americans use the word 'fanny'. It' means bum to you guys but it means vagina to us! Cracks me up every time!

You know when something happens and you're expressing disbelief and you say "Oh Come ON!" That's odd too. Come on what? Come on to where? What?!


My bad. My bad What exactly? What a weird phrase.

My favorite- 'I didn't know him from Adam.'

That one's odd.

How about "Roger that"? Roger is used to mean the sexual act sometimes but Roger That means you've understood. Strange.

Someone taught me 'Roll away, rotten egg' is chinese for get out of the way, but its highly insulting. I don't speak chinese, and don't use the expression at all, as I don't know in what context it might be used. Still I found the expression kind of funny.
[languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu]

Tee hee! Kind of like the British "On yer bike!" which also means something like get the heck out of here!

There once was a man from Peshaw
Whose grandma made him wear her shawl
He had shiny red hair
And he did it he dared
Then in the bucket he got in a brawl.