A survey was published in an national paper recently about some phrases and sayings that are vanishing from our language. They based it on a ‘nationally representative sample’ – whatever that is – of 2000 adults, all under 50 years of age.
Here are a few of them, with words of further explanation, should you need them…..
Zoe won’t!
The best one is ‘Colder than a witch’s tit,’ which can be used as a comment on the weather. Or for the cold hearted, another one might be ‘has the heart of a swinging brick.’
And what about ‘Pip Pip’? I have no real idea what that means but it would be used along with ‘toodle doo’ as a way of herding small children out the door. Not really sure what it would mean in anybody else’s house.
A nod is as good as a wink – very familiar to any Monty Python fans. A nod is as good as a wink to a blind wombat, say no more, say no more.
Ready for the knackers yard …. Exhausted.
Tickety boo means, all is good. It’s all just tickety boo. Having just typed that, I’ve realised that it’s now more said in sarcasm. Oh a complete rewrite? Well that’s just tickety boo! Famous for being in a Billy Connolly film just before he blows the doors off the bank vault.
A curtain twitcher – well we all know what that is. We’ve all lived next to one. And run about in the garden dressed as a witch at midnight to scare the living bejesus out of them. Or is that just me?
Knickers in a twist. Is that a universal saying for somebody who is getting a bit overwrought about something, needlessly. Don’t get your knickers in a twist, it’s only a complete rewrite!
A dog’s dinner. No idea why this refers to something messy as my Border Collie used to separate her dinner out into very neat piles and then eat what she fancied first. Strange dog.
Could not organise a piss up in a brewery. Governmental policy by any government anywhere.
Flogging a dead horse, self explanatory.
Toe the line – to behave in an expected way, with honour. It sometimes written as Tow The Line, but it is toe as it has something to do with standing with your toe on the line, and not over it to give yourself an unfair advantage at the start of a race. Duelling maybe?
Popped her clogs- deceased! Same as Kicked the Bucket and Shrugged off her mortal coil.
A few sandwiches short of a picnic. I think the Australians say One Kangaroo short in the top paddock. Just not quite mentally ‘on the ball.’
A legend in one’s own lifetime. Or a legend in one’s own lunchtime. Or a legend in his own underpants (usually sarcastic)
Fell off the back of a lorry – nicked and sold on the black market. To go back to Monty Python, say no more, say no more.
A bodge job, or Gerry built which was a common phrase after the war. Something not up to standard in a Richard Attenborough scale of standards.
Eat humble pie, obvious.
As is Having a chinwag, which is an informal chit chat.
Put a sock in it means just stop it. Sounds more fun than cease and desist.
Spend a penny- to empty one’s bladder, obviously when it cost a penny to do such a thing.
It’s gone pear shaped …. Same as all gone tits up, all gone Pete Tong.
See a man about a dog, you need to spend a penny to see a man about a dog.
Pardon my French, an apology for swearing
A Turn up for the books, a real surprise. Like ‘no rewrite required’
Toodle Pip!
A survey was published in an national paper recently about some phrases and sayings that are vanishing from our language. They based it on a ‘nationally representative sample’ – whatever that is – of 2000 adults, all under 50 years of age.
Here are a few of them, with words of further explanation, should you need them…..
Zoe won’t!
The best one is ‘Colder than a witch’s tit,’ which can be used as a comment on the weather. Or for the cold hearted, another one might be ‘has the heart of a swinging brick.’
And what about ‘Pip Pip’? I have no real idea what that means but it would be used along with ‘toodle doo’ as a way of herding small children out the door. Not really sure what it would mean in anybody else’s house.
A nod is as good as a wink – very familiar to any Monty Python fans. A nod is as good as a wink to a blind wombat, say no more, say no more.
Ready for the knackers yard …. Exhausted.
Tickety boo means, all is good. It’s all just tickety boo. Having just typed that, I’ve realised that it’s now more said in sarcasm. Oh a complete rewrite? Well that’s just tickety boo! Famous for being in a Billy Connolly film just before he blows the doors off the bank vault.
A curtain twitcher – well we all know what that is. We’ve all lived next to one. And run about in the garden dressed as a witch at midnight to scare the living bejesus out of them. Or is that just me?
Knickers in a twist. Is that a universal saying for somebody who is getting a bit overwrought about something, needlessly. Don’t get your knickers in a twist, it’s only a complete rewrite!
A dog’s dinner. No idea why this refers to something messy as my Border Collie used to separate her dinner out into very neat piles and then eat what she fancied first. Strange dog.
Could not organise a piss up in a brewery. Governmental policy by any government anywhere.
Flogging a dead horse, self explanatory.
Toe the line – to behave in an expected way, with honour. It sometimes written as Tow The Line, but it is toe as it has something to do with standing with your toe on the line, and not over it to give yourself an unfair advantage at the start of a race. Duelling maybe?
Popped her clogs- deceased! Same as Kicked the Bucket and Shrugged off her mortal coil.
A few sandwiches short of a picnic. I think the Australians say One Kangaroo short in the top paddock. Just not quite mentally ‘on the ball.’
A legend in one’s own lifetime. Or a legend in one’s own lunchtime. Or a legend in his own underpants (usually sarcastic)
Fell off the back of a lorry – nicked and sold on the black market. To go back to Monty Python, say no more, say no more.
A bodge job, or Gerry built which was a common phrase after the war. Something not up to standard in a Richard Attenborough scale of standards.
Eat humble pie, obvious.
As is Having a chinwag, which is an informal chit chat.
Put a sock in it means just stop it. Sounds more fun than cease and desist.
Spend a penny- to empty one’s bladder, obviously when it cost a penny to do such a thing.
It’s gone pear shaped …. Same as all gone tits up, all gone Pete Tong.
See a man about a dog, you need to spend a penny to see a man about a dog.
Pardon my French, an apology for swearing
A Turn up for the books, a real surprise. Like ‘no rewrite required’
Toodle Pip!
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