This is a place to discuss peculiar sayings from around the world, and their meanings. (Thread originally started in What significant Things Have I Done Today?)
We started out discussing the use of the term "Mixed bag".
Why are bad actors hamming it up producing turkeys?
LOL!
Some sources say that "ham" refers to hamfat, which used to be used to remove heavy theatrical makeup. Others say it refers to "Hamlet", which is sometimes an over-emoted role.
"Turkey" apparently refers to old vaudeville shows, the worst of which were played even on Thanksgiving "Turkey" day. I guess the better acts could afford to take a day off.
23 skidoo, youse....!
There seem to be a bunch of theories (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/393450.html) on that one.
Cheese it, here come the fuzz!
before one could say Jack Robinson
OMG, this made me think of a recipe we got from some family friends in Spain that called for putting something or other in the pot and saying "Uff!", which we thought was funny. I always assumed it meant that you just wait a moment (long enough to say "uff") before proceeding.
But look at these definitions of "uff"! (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Uff) Sheesh, and they were such nice people, too.
My Bohemian (maternal) grandmother always exclaimed, "Uff! miney" when something went wrong or looked troublesome.
DISCLAIMER: I have no idea how to spell that! ;)
I like this one:
Quote from: Urban dictionary7. UFF
United Fascist Front a political party in america that seeks change in the U.S government.
The UFF has come to save america from the comunists and socialists.
I bet Sean Hannity is a carrying card member.
Ohhhhh.... I thought he was a card-carrying member of the other one mentioned: Ugly F*** Face. My mistake.
That and membership to the SSS: Sadistic Soulless Sociopaths
I have heard the sound of UFF before---- as pronounced Ooo-ff. However I have only ever associated it with the sound of something like getting hit in the stomach or something, as a sort of whoosh of air out noise.
Very interesting to hear that it has some carry over and has some Czech l language roots possibly--- and a quick look i've learned that the Czech language is very inflective and that inflection really lends meaning to the words.
I suppose my regional version would be uck!, and interesting that it is also a U word.
Ham it up-- I have always known it to be an actor (or someone acting up) that is over the top and not subtle--- maybe it came out of vaudeville which seems to have been the 'theater' of the masses and since the masses were not so much interested in high drama but instead being entertained (after 13 hours in a sweat house working who could blame them) and many were probably very intoxicated perhaps the actors of vaudeville would just be so over the top as to give their audience a great show-- but why call it HAM? Vaudeville was also known for outrageous costuming as well-- maybe the idea started with huge like a hog or high on the hog and went from there. Interesting Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soho that shows some association of Ham being a sexual term--there are other associations in English/North American associating ham with penis as well. Also West Ham is town called Ham and or West Ham. Also a link that is interesting: http://www.bingleylittletheatre.co.uk/blt-diduknow.html
What do people in other places say to indicate an actor that is over the top or cut rate?
Don't look at me, I'm from America Jr.
TM :mrgreen:
Here's a bit of American slang that I've taken a shine to recently: Jelly roll
As in:
Quote from: Maria MuldaurPoliticians and preachers keep tellin' us how to live right
But you can catch them buying jelly roll most every night
or
Quote from: Ed Bell "Ham Bone Blues"Jelly roll, jelly roll, jelly roll is so hard to find
Ain't a baker in town can bake a sweet jelly roll like mine
I got to go to Cincinnatuh, just to have my hambone boiled
Womens in Alabama gon' let my hambone spoil
Well, she mine and she yours, and she's somebody else's, too
Don't you mention 'bout rollin', though, she'll play all sick on you
That's the way, that's the way, these bare-footed strollers do
They will get your money and they'll have a man on you
You come home at night, she got a towel on her head
Don't you mention about rollin', though, she'll swear she's nearly dead
Jelly roll, jelly roll, well, you see what you went and done?
You done had my grandpa, now you got his youngest son
I'm gettin' tired of walkin', I b'lieve I'll slide a while
I'm gettin' tired of women tellin' me their lies
I wonder what made grandpa, hey, love your grandma so?
She got the same jelly roll she had forty years ago
The German term for ham(ming) is Schmiere (grease). But I read it has nothing to do with fat but is derived from Hebrew through Yiddish and originally meant singing (as in song not singe)*. Ironically another Hebrew word (from the Bible no less) also ended up as 'Schmiere' and means the lookout burglars etc. use to warn them that someone is coming. So God watching over his people ended up as an accomplice of crime :mrgreen:
But I also found that 'one grease that fits all purposes' is a term for a person without character that will do anything demanded of him.
Quote from: pieces o nine on September 03, 2011, 07:07:16 PM
Zono: if you see this, what is the [South American] Spanish take on an idiom for "mixed bag"?
I can't think on an equivalent at this moment, you could say the colloquial "revuelto" or "revoltillo" (literally mixed or scrambled) but the connotation of the good with the bad isn't there. If I had to translate it I would have to spell it out, ie
era una mezcla de lo bueno con lo malo, lit, it was a mix of the good with the bad.
Quote from: anthrobabe on September 10, 2011, 03:24:00 AMVery interesting to hear that it has some carry over and has some Czech l language roots possibly--- and a quick look i've learned that the Czech language is very inflective and that inflection really lends meaning to the words.
I remember only a few often-repeated terms.
(Please overlook schpellingk as I have no idea, and I'm not going to try to copy/pasted proper dictionary-style IPA symbols.)
MRRRRRCH! That's a trilled R, but the word was delivered short and sharp, a command.
It meant,
Be *quiet*, you! PUTCH'kie There was almost a hint of a trill somewhere in the first syllable, but just a hint.
It meant,
Just a *minute*, you! chHO'nem The initial, lower case ch indicates one of the t(hroat-clearing) sounds from Semitic languages, but not as strong as the one in a Scottish
loch. The H itself was strongly aspirated.
It meant,
Hurry *up*, you! These three have always proved handy when talking to cats. :catroll:
Quote from: anthrobabeWhat do people in other places say to indicate an actor that is over the top or cut rate?
Your link missed two favorites of mine: chewing the scenery (http://www.theatrecrafts.com/glossary/pages/chewingthescenery.html) for someone overacting, and chewing the curtains (can't find a ready corroborating link) for an amateur actor who won't die quickly with dignity on stage, but continues writhing around, clutching at the protruding knife or whatever, and ad-libbing about their agony and imminent demise, hogging all the audience
laughter attention, even if the curtain has fallen on their scene.
:offtopic:
That last one reminds me of a story about Catherine Hepburn (as I recall-- I may have the wrong deva here).
A young actress was going on and on in a real stage play about how good she was, and how much better she was than "the old hag" (Hepburn) and so on, when Hepburn walked in on the braggart.
Hepburn, in an ice-cold voice "Young lady, I am so much better than you'll ever be, I can upstage you when I'm not even on stage" and gracefully exits.
The play had a lovely solo scene with the younger actress displaying quite the range of emotions, center stage. But right before that, there is a scene with both Hepburn's character and the younger actress's. She and Hepburn had an exchange of dialog, while Hepburn was holding a wine glass. The scene concludes with Hepburn placing the wine glass on the mantle of the fireplace, turning and exiting the stage.
That night, at the conclusion of their dialog, Hepburn puts the glass, as usual, on the mantle-- only not quite-- it's literally 1/2 on and 1/2 off the mantle, hanging there, perchance to fall.
So that during the soliloquy, the younger actress is completely upstaged by that hanging glass--will it fall or not? When? The audience's attention is riveted to the impending breakage.... speeches over, curtain. And the stage hand discovered that on the bottom of that wineglass, a piece of double-sided sticky-tape....
.... never mess with a master: they are older and wiser than you, and have faced many a challenge and either won, or learned from losing. That's usually how they got to be where they are.
:)
/END :offtopic:
I love Kate Hepburn. I can see her doing that.
Swato used a variant of "It's all Greek to me" in another thread.
What language do *other* languages known to the Siblings use to symbolize "I can't understand this"?
Surely everyone uses Greek except the Greeks ;)
Chinese (usually in combination with a profession: Beamtenchinesisch (bureaucratese), Versicherungschinesisch (insurance lingo) etc.
It implies language that is deliberately confusing.
Spanish (Das kommt mir Spanisch vor).
This is not limited to language but stands more general for 'I do not undertsand this, there is something strange/wrong here'
Latin on the other hand stands for untruthful or exaggerated tales: Jägerlatein, Anglerlatein (The fish was soooooo big)
"Pardon my French" is used to excuse profanities here. Tabernac!
It is here too.
Yes, we say that in the U.S. as well.
We also refer to out-of-the-way areas as "Egypt", "Bumf*@# Egypt", or "Bumblef*@# Egypt".
My sister tells me that in Greece people will often tap their forehead and say "kidneys", which we take to be a comment on someone's thought process.
Quote from: Opsa on September 26, 2011, 07:32:25 PM...
We also refer to out-of-the-way areas as "Egypt", "Bumf*@# Egypt", or "Bumblef*@# Egypt".
...
I haven't heard that...
But then, I've always referred to a *really* out of the way kind of place as "Sheep's Nostrils, Wyoming". :D
I've heard the second flavour of Ops's example, but with the relevant province instead of Egypt. We have actual out-of-the-way places such as Westward Ho, Alberta, Spuzzum, BC and Dildo, Newfoundland that make Sheep's Nostrils seem like a fairly reasonable place name. ;)
Since Pratchett the canonical place is Power Cable, Nebraska.
The/A German term for very far away is 'where the pepper grows'. It is usually used if one wishes someone/thing to be/go far away.
Is the term 'behind the moon' for ignorance of generally known facts used in English too? Use: Are you living behind the moon or what?
Quote from: SwatoIs the term 'behind the moon' for ignorance of generally known facts used in English too? Use: Are you living behind the moon or what?
No, we don't say that. dict.cc gives 'Have you been living under a rock?' for 'Lebst du hinter dem Mond?', but I've never heard it. I don't know a good equivalent, except the recent fashion for enquiring what planet a person has been on.
I didn't know '(jdn. dahin wünschen,) wo der Pfeffer wächst' either. Thanks.
I've heard (well, probably
read) 'over the moon' for a state of extreme happiness, although it's rare.
Quote from: Swatopluk on September 27, 2011, 09:55:50 AM
The/A German term for very far away is 'where the pepper grows'. It is usually used if one wishes someone/thing to be/go far away.
The expression 'where the sun don't shine' is somewhat related but used differently, as in 'you can take your _____ and stick it where the sun don't shine'. It's rather strong language, with anatomical implications. :o
Is 'What planet are you from?' back in fashion again? That one seems outdated to me. ;)
References to a far away place in Spanish are frequently done in cussing mode: en la mierda, or , en la p*ta mierda, (in the sh!t, or in the f*cking sh!t).
Also, to be 'in the moon' (en la luna) means to be distracted/absentminded.
Never heard of "behind the moon", but someone living "on the dark side of the moon" is someone who is insane, or otherwise out of his mind..
Other euphemisms for "insane" are:
off one's rocker
nuts
around the bend
in la-la land
Quote from: Opsa on September 27, 2011, 09:59:10 PM
Never heard of "behind the moon", but someone living "on the dark side of the moon" is someone who is insane, or otherwise out of his mind..
Other euphemisms for "insane" are:
off one's rocker
nuts
around the bend
in la-la land
OOooh, that's a favorite game of mine... thinking up euphemisms for nucking futz.
:)
Crazy
(AKA the Dark Side of the Moon, and The Wall, from Pink Floyd) Her elevator does not go all the way to the top floor-- in fact, it rarely gets out of the basement.
A couple of bricks shy a full load.
His sixpack is missing a few cans.
She's not the brightest candle on the mantle--in fact, hers is not even lit.
The lights are on, the windows are open, but nobody's home.
He's several cards short of a full house.
His dice has ones on all the faces.
Not all of his mental spark-plugs are firing.
His mental boat has been leaking for years.
In the racetrack of life, he's still in the service pit-- facing the wrong way-- on a tricycle instead of a racecar...
If he were a car, all 4 tires would be flat, and then engine would be missing.
To say he was simply insane would be too kind; there is nothing simple about his kind of crazy.
There are still quite a few monkeys in his family tree-- and he's one of the monkey-iest
Her bird's flown the coup, and she still hasn't noticed.
He could not pour p~ss out of a boot, if you wrote the instructions on the heel.
He's frequently challenged by life's little hurdles, such as waking up in the morning or breathing.
He lives in a world of his own making, fortunately. Nobody else would want to live there.
If you asked him to count to 10, he'd need both hands-- and he'd get lost along the way, pondering his own fingers.
In a race to the moon, he'd buy a car and head for Cleavland ....
A couple of sandwiches short of a picnic, a few shillings short of a quid, nuttier than Chinese chicken salad....
Of course, I always like plain ol' "batshit crazy". ;)
Hat nicht alle Tassen im Schrank (not the complete set of cups in the cupboard)
Hat eine Schraube locker (has a screw loose)
Des Wahnsinns fette Beute (insanity's fat spoils*)
*as in 'spoils of war' or 'prey', not in the sense of 'goods far beyond sale date'
QuoteDes Wahnsinns fette Beute
That's very Schillerian.
Der is bekloppt (he's been bashed)
Er hat einen Vogel (he has a bird)
Er spinnt (he is spinning)
He's one sandwich short of a picnic (and dozens of others on that pattern)
He's barking
bekloppt, bescheuert, behämmert, deppert (all implying hits on the head)
hirnverbrannt (brainburnt)
plemplem, meschugge
Sprung in der Schüssel (crack in the soup bowl)
kleinen Mann im Ohr haben (to have a little man in the ear)
einen weichen Keks haben (to have a soft cookie)
bei dem piepts, rappelts (beeping, rattling; form analogue to 'his phone is ringing', otherwise not translatable exactly)
von allen guten Geistern verlassen (left by all good spirits)
"bei dem piepts, rappelts (beeping, rattling; form analogue to 'his phone is ringing', otherwise not translatable exactly)" is probably akin to "the lights are on, but nobody's home."
One flamingo short of a trailer park.
Toys in the Attic. (Pink Floyd again!)
Around the bend.
Off the deep end.
That person could not be elected dog catcher
I have read this phrase often in connection with persons that are obviously unqualified for public office.
Is dog catcher really an elective office in the US? And why is it dog catcher and not some other position. Is that job considered to be the lowest of the low and those doing it to be objectionable?
Assuming it's elected, that'd be about the lowest of the low, I think. If you can't even be trusted to make a dog's dinner of things.... ;)
Our American Sibs will have to clear this one up, it's not an elected position here.
It's not an elected position here in the U.S., either. They could just as easily said "He could not be elected grave digger" or "...sewer scraper" I suppose, but I guess it takes less technical knowledge to chase dogs around, and sounds funnier.
I suppose if someone was really slimy and repulsive, they'd say 'he couldn't even be elected senator'. :mrgreen:
Quote from: Sibling DavidH on October 04, 2011, 04:31:45 PM
I suppose if someone was really slimy and repulsive, they'd say 'he couldn't even be elected senator'. :mrgreen:
At one time in the US history, the senators were not directly elected at all.
It seems that the framers of our constitution did not trust the common rabble with such a "lofty" responsibility...
... later on, they realized that they could.
And even later on, some even begin to think that women might.... just-barely... be so trusted. But not those filthy-*****. Never those....
... it took many years of civil unrest to grant the grudging permission of the non-whites the vote.
*sigh*
Quote from: Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith on October 04, 2011, 08:44:08 PM
Quote from: Sibling DavidH on October 04, 2011, 04:31:45 PM
I suppose if someone was really slimy and repulsive, they'd say 'he couldn't even be elected senator'. :mrgreen:
At one time in the US history, the senators were not directly elected at all.
They are still not elected up here, they are appointed by the Governor General acting on behalf of the Queen on advice of the Prime Minister. Or something like that.
Quote from: Sibling DavidH on October 04, 2011, 04:31:45 PM
I suppose if someone was really slimy and repulsive, they'd say 'he couldn't even be elected senator'. :mrgreen:
Isn't slimy and repulsive a basic qualification? ;)
Quote from: Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith on September 11, 2011, 06:32:14 PM
:offtopic:
That last one reminds me of a story about Catherine Hepburn (as I recall-- I may have the wrong deva here).
A young actress was going on and on in a real stage play about how good she was, and how much better she was than "the old hag" (Hepburn) and so on, when Hepburn walked in on the braggart.
Hepburn, in an ice-cold voice "Young lady, I am so much better than you'll ever be, I can upstage you when I'm not even on stage" and gracefully exits.
The play had a lovely solo scene with the younger actress displaying quite the range of emotions, center stage. But right before that, there is a scene with both Hepburn's character and the younger actress's. She and Hepburn had an exchange of dialog, while Hepburn was holding a wine glass. The scene concludes with Hepburn placing the wine glass on the mantle of the fireplace, turning and exiting the stage.
That night, at the conclusion of their dialog, Hepburn puts the glass, as usual, on the mantle-- only not quite-- it's literally 1/2 on and 1/2 off the mantle, hanging there, perchance to fall.
So that during the soliloquy, the younger actress is completely upstaged by that hanging glass--will it fall or not? When? The audience's attention is riveted to the impending breakage.... speeches over, curtain. And the stage hand discovered that on the bottom of that wineglass, a piece of double-sided sticky-tape....
.... never mess with a master: they are older and wiser than you, and have faced many a challenge and either won, or learned from losing. That's usually how they got to be where they are.
:)
/END :offtopic:
I think that one can be summed up by "old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill"
Oh, and for the crazy euphamisms, how about:
A roo loose in the top paddock---
Oops! Added 'age'
The popular election of US senators is still considered a serious flaw on the Right and the restoration of the old ways is on the eternal wish list like constitutional bans on flag burning, abortion, speaking a language different from English etc.
He's so repulsive that a photos of him could serve as a bulletproof vest.
The Navy has a few odd expressions:
An officer's annual report includes what is called a "flimsy" a short summary.
The most desired flimsy simply states This officer has conducted himself to my entire satisfaction.
Not quite so satisfactory is This officer has conducted himself to my satisfaction.
Probably apocryphal flimsies include:
This officer has conducted himself to his entire satisfaction.
This officer has used my ship as a means of transport from one cocktail party to the next.
There are also a number of terms not usually encountered in ordinary (land lubber) conversation:
goffa - any carbonated soft drink
maccas - sweets or lollies (candy to the USians)
scran - food (an acronym for Sh*t Cooked by the Royal Australian Navy)
redders - tomato sauce (ketchup)
maggot bag - a meat pie
duff - any type of steamed pudding
banyan - a barbeque
the goofers - a location high on the island of the carrier where one can view air operations in (relative) safety
the squarie - one's spouse, a reference to a ship being square rigged as opposed to fore and aft rigged like a yacht which is relatively free of the wind
round rig - uniform worn by junior sailors
square rig - uniform worn by senior sailors and officers
make and mend - officially granted free time during working hours, particularly knocking off early
Just a few, there are many more, a lot of which are far too vulgar to include here!
Oh, my delicate sensibilities! ;D
Yesterday I saw a license plate that read "OOROO", and remembered our Ozzie neighbors who said "OOROO" for "goodbye".
German has the strange idiom 'in (a) monkey tooth' (in einem Affenzahn) for 'very fast'
Quote from: Opsa on October 05, 2011, 03:45:20 PM
Oh, my delicate sensibilities! ;D
Yesterday I saw a license plate that read "OOROO", and remembered our Ozzie neighbors who said "OOROO" for "goodbye".
Way back when after my paternal grandparents had migrated to Oz from Pommieland (UK), they had met a couple at some function or other who had said "see you later" when they left which is Ozzie for goodbye, just like ooroo. My grandparents waited up quite late for them to come around "later".
"See you later" is standard phrasing here. Surely it's spread since?
I can't recall if it's an Aussie or Pommie phrase, but I heard a story once about the phrase "I'll knock you up in the morning" being said to a woman from the US, and causing some raised eyebrows.
In Amrikan, it means something entirely different than knocking on the door. ;)
Yes, rather like saying that you root for some football team - this expression will be met with surprise and much hilarity because in Strine* root when used as a verb means something altogether more fundamentally biological. Here we say that you barrack for your team.
*Strine = broad Australian English
Is there anything with more synonyms/euphemisms than 'it'? :mrgreen:
"Oh, that's what you call it these days?"
We say "see you later" or "catch you later" in the U.S. I always thought of "ooroo" as sort of like "tootle-oo", which is not used here very much any more.
Our Ozzie neighbors also called cats "pussies", which made us giggle like the immature jerks we were. Ah, youth... My mother thought they were telling her to take cyanide for a headache, but they were suggesting Sine-Aid, a sinus headache medicine!
I have been known to say when departing "Well, I'll be off now, like a bucket of prawns in the sun".
Or... "make like a tree, and leaf."
Or... (and this *only* in a very small town!) "make like a baby, and head out."
:o
In German a common colloquial term for cat is Muschi, which has the same connotations as pussy in English.
Make like the shepherd, and let's get the flock outta here.
As an aside on the dogcatcher issue:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barton-if-dogcatcher-not-good-sharia-keep-em-out-office
(http://www.magische-portraits.de/media/images/1131-doggy-dog-thumbnail.jpg)(http://susanspetcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/cedar-the-cat.thumbnail.JPG)(http://forgottenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/cher.thumbnail.jpg)
It's not a common expression, but one descriptor for a difficult task that I like:
"It's like taking the 'f' out of (the word) 'way'."
for those who are scratching their heads: there's no f in way ;)
Quote from: Aggie on October 11, 2011, 12:29:20 AM
for those who are scratching their heads: there's no f in way ;)
...unless of course you are German in a US movie