Thurday Thirteen #49

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Do you like the header?  I do – and I am grateful to lovely Winter for it.   I did a TT a few weeks ago in British idioms, which I enjoyed doing and because it was only thirteen items, it was only scratching the surface.  So, hoping that it isn’t seen as too unoriginal, I present another selection...

13 British idioms & expressions that are not used in the USA

1.   A Word In Your Shell-Likes.  This means: let me give you a bit of advice.  Shell-likes refers to your ears, so a word in them is advice.  It preceded whatever it is you want to warn someone about.  “A word in your shell-likes.  He doesn’t like to be phoned at home on Sundays.”  for example.

2.   To Go Pear Shaped.  If something does this, it means it has gone wrong – in the sense of a plan or scheme.  This idiom has gained wide currency because it has featured in a number of British TV cop shows, notably “The Bill”.  I thought this was dramatic exaggeration, until I actually joined the Metropolitan Police and I found that police officers really did say it!  The also used to say “sorted” a lot and address each other as “My old son” but I don’t know if that was the TV dramas being accurate, or simply life imitating art.  All I know is that after a short while, I was using those phrases too.

3.   Have A Butcher’s.  This is one example of Cockney rhyming slang (which I may TT about in the near future).  It means a look, so if you have a butcher’s at something, you are looking at it.  The derivation is very simple… “Butcher’s hook”  rhymes with look. Therefore, butcher’s = look.

4.   Daft As A Brush.  When someone is this, it means they are silly, or stupid, but it is usually said without malice.  Daft means silly or incompetent.  I don’t know why brushes should enter into it but there it is.

5.   Hit For Six  is a cricketing metaphor.  In cricket, if you hit the ball hard enough so that it crosses the field boundary without touching the ground you score an automatic six runs.  You have hit the ball for six.  As an expression, it means to win against, to overcome, or even to astonish.  In the war, General Montgomery in one of his best known speeches, urged his men  to hit the Germans for six.   Less momentous:  “I was hit for six when I heard I had won a prize.”  or  “Jim played Trivial Pursuit with his chums and he hit everyone for six.”

6.   You definitely like something if you say it is  The Bee’s Knees!  I don’t know why that particular joint on that particular insect should suggest excellence, but that phrase has been around for ages.  More recently, another part of another animal has been invoked to express approval, and people of a less than prudish disposition have taken to saying that something or other is The Dog’s Bollocks.  If you don’t know what that means, I’m sure you can work it out of you think about it.

7.   By A Long Chalk  means by a wide margin.  It is often used in a negative sense.   “I am not her favourite person by a long chalk” for example.

8.   I’m All Right Jack.  In spite of the use of the first person singular, this is something a person says when referring to someone else rather than him or herself.  It means that that someone is looking after their own interests with complete disregard for the needs or interests of others: that they are selfish and complacent.

9.   To Laugh Like A Drain.  Self explanatory, really!

10.  To Make Heavy Weather of a task is to make it far more difficult and laborious than it really is.

11.  To Take The Mickey out of someone means to tease them, make fun of them, even to the point of undermining their self esteem.  In recent decades, for what reason I have no idea, this phrase has morphed into “take the piss” which means all of the above and can also mean to take liberties.  “He stretches his lunch break to two hours every day.  That’s just taking the piss.”

12.  On Your Bike! is something you say to someone when you with them to leave you, to go away please.  As in:  “Oi, you!  On your bike!”    “Sling your hook!” spoken aggressively means the same thing,  though a person can say it conversationally and without aggression to signify that he or someone else should do it.  “It’s almost midnight.  Time for me to sling my hook.”

13.  Pissed (off).  Here we have a similarity with our American cousins, and a difference.  On both sides of the pond, if someone is pissed off, they are annoyed, irritated, or even angry.  In the USA, saying someone is pissed means the same thing, but in Britain to be pissed is to be drunk.  To say a person is really drunk, you can say they are “as pissed as a newt” – not because these harmless amphibians are known for getting drunk, but because they have a side-to-side gait when they walk, like a drunkard.  A "piss-up" is a heavy drinking session, and if you want to express your opinion that someone or other is less than competent, you can say that he “couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery”
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Comments

[Shoshana]

I like that list...I'm not familiar with most of them.

[Nancy Friedman]

Did "by a long shot" (the idiom I'm familiar with as a native Californian) evolve through mis-hearing from "by a long chalk"?

[susiej]

I thought pear would mean, pregnant?!

Follow, my easy steps, and you will have Guinness cake tomorrow.

[Nicole Austin]

These are great. I've heard #6 & #13 used before but not the others.

Happy TT!

[MAGGIE AT COFFEESHOPMAFIA]

Great List. LOL I love hearing people use them.

[Chelle Y.]

Hehe, I am going to start saying, "Oi, you! On your bike!" :)

[pussreboots]

We use #2 and #6 here in California, although #6 is something mostly old grandmas say. :) Happy TT.

[Wylie Kinson]

Ah - you've mentioned two of my favorites - Can't organize a piss-up in a brewery (My mil's fave when discussing my fil's competence level) and take the mickey - which I picked up while living in Bermuda and still say quite a lot.
What about - They get along 'like chalk and cheese'? I'd love to know the origins of that one.

[SandyCarlson]

I enjoyed these very much. Thanks. I enjoy the rhyming slang--most especially a la Brendan Behan.

[AnthonyNorth]

I could add a few more from my native Yorkshire, such as:

If thee iver dis out fer nowt, mak sure thee dis'it for thesen

[Winter]

1,4,6,7,and 13 are all ones I knew! Hey, 50% ain't bad. I guess I hang out with Brits a little. LOL I'm so glad you liked the graphic. It's colors match well, and I can sure see you having a drink in that bar!

[ellen b]

I love these kinds of lists. Have a great week!

[Teena in Toronto]

I haven't heard of any of them except for #13 ... I'm from Nova Scotia and we say that someone is pissed when they are hammered.

Thanks for stopping by mine!

I like the BBC version of Kitchen Nightmares too ... no bleeping the language!

[Susan Helene Gottfried]

I knew bee's knees. I feel very worldly. and yes, the header's great.

[melissa]

that was a fun tt! i'm going to start using some of those...so, if you see me on your site meter...i'm not stalking...i'm simply copying the expressions down to use on my kids!! throw them off a bit!
as for lusting shoes...absolutely!! it's a woman thing but...without any doubt!!

[Jill]

I've always like idiotmatic expressions!It's funny to see how the changes through geographic place and language!

[On a Limb with Claudia]

I do love this - and will absolutely use them. In fact, I'm going to ue "make heavy weather" tonight. You're a novelists dream! :)

[Lori]

Wow...they have some funky sayings over there;) Happy TT...Loved your list!!

[Chuck]

another blogger said she laughed like a drain...how weird is that? but, i love it. you scored a hit for six.

happy tt :)

[Lara]

That was great! I remember being fascinated as a kid I would listen to the Beatles or Stones or other British group be interviewed and then the host would have to "translate"!! The one that pops in my head is "fag", which, across the pond, means a cigarette --is that still right??
Great TT!

[SJ Reidhead]

Excellent.

I like #13.

SJR
The Pink Flamingo
http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog

[Ann Bruce]

Can we change #4 to "daft as Bush"?

[Adelle]

What fun! lol Reminds me of Coronation Street. Happy T13!

[Homemaking Mama]

Love the header.:) Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the comment you left at my blog. You never know, you could give yourself a facial, just work around the beard LOL. Great TT, too.

[J]

I've heard the bee's knees, but not most of the rest. I enjoy the examples best, so if you're in the mood to take requests, please give an example with each sentence in future versions. :)

"Pissed" reminded me of a friend I had from New Zealand, who once came back from a tour of Berkeley (California), and told me she was "stuffed". Here that means stuffed full of food, and to her, it meant exhausted. She was confused when I suggested we skip dinner.