Local Idiomatic Expressions - Know Any? Stump Us!

Mother Dragon

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Country folk around here used to say "I didn't go to do it!" meaning they didn't intend for something to happen.

I had friends who would say they had to make their groceries, which meant they were going to the grocery store.

If you dropped something, you wasted it.

The feeder road is the freeway access road, an expression unique to the Houston area.

A hissy fit is a major temper tantrum.

Yonder means "over there."

"Itch" used in place of "scratch" as in I itched my back against the corner of the door.

"Cain't hardly" as in unable to. I cain't hardly get around any more.

"Might oughta" is should.

Hightail it is to get away quickly.

To doctor something up is to improve it. It has nothing to do with medicine. That soup was bland until I doctored it up.
 

Kat0121

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I don't know whether it's regional or not, but I remember from my childhood people saying of any very small town that "They roll up the sidewalk at sunset." I used to think that they were talking about some sort of boardwalk thing, hooked together with ropes, but in reality I believe it meant that the town was too small to have any kind of nightlife, so people just stayed at home and went to bed early.

Margret
My mom used that phrase. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.

I don't know of any phrases local to Florida. We're the red headed stepchild of the south so it's a mix of stuff from all over. :dunno:
 
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doomsdave

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I don't know whether it's regional or not, but I remember from my childhood people saying of any very small town that "They roll up the sidewalk at sunset." I used to think that they were talking about some sort of boardwalk thing, hooked together with ropes, but in reality I believe it meant that the town was too small to have any kind of nightlife, so people just stayed at home and went to bed early.

Margret
They said that about downtown Cleveland and Los Angeles until recently, believe it or not!
 
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doomsdave

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Phrase: gibbled
Object: bunnyhug

Any guesses?
I cheated: according to "urban dictionary" gibbled means "twisted" or "contorted"

I didn't cheat for this one: bunny hug was a dance, referred to in the musical "Chicago" (I think) "do the bunny hug . . . and all . . . . that . . . . jah-ha-ha-azzzzz!"
 
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doomsdave

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There are a few phrases or expressions Chicagoans lovingly refer to such as:
1 - use of the word "Da" especially by Sat. Night Live fans such as Da Cubs, Da Bears, Da Lake, etc.
2 - LSD, no not the psychedelic drug, but Lake Shore Drive, the highway that parallels Lake Michigan
3 - the L, not a letter of the alphabet, but the elevated train which runs throughout the city
I recall a baseball team (the then Brooklyn Dodgers) who were called "Da Bums."
 
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doomsdave

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"They're tighter than Dick's hatband." That was a description used for a certain company in a certain state.

Any thoughts on the state. I peed myself laughing when a lady said that.
 

Margret

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It appears to be more of an older saying than a regional one: World Wide Words: Dick’s hatband
Ooh! I read the page you linked to and I especially liked this example:
“As curst as Dick’s hatband, which will come nineteen times round and won’t tie at last;”
It reminds me of The fourth Doctor's scarf. (Hmm. Maybe we could come up with some fanfic about a certain Time Lord and the origin of this phrase.)

Margret
 

Margret

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I'd say "PWEB-lo", how could they get "pee-YEB-lo" from that? Hm.
That's certainly how I pronounce it, but I took Spanish in school and that was uncommon in my father's time.

I've no idea how they came up with "pee-YEB-lo"; when I ask they just look bewildered and say, "But, that's its name!" I believe I've even heard residents of the town pronounce it that way, but it's a very long time since we visited there regularly because one of my dad's army buddies lived there, so I'm not certain.

Margret
 

Columbine

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We have a weird mix of expressions round here (North Yorkshire, but right next to the County Durham border).

Haway
Come on
Bairn
child
Allus
always
Bonny
pretty
Canny (when describing someone)
pleasant/nice/good
Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery
Totally disorganised person (someone who's 'pissed' is drunk, so piss-up means a party ;) )

Onto London/SouthEast UK expressions now

Go for a Ruby
Go for a curry - abbreviation of cockney rhyming slang "Ruby Murray'=curry)
Don't give a monkeys
don't care
It's brass monkeys (in relation to weather)
It's very cold/freezing
Barnet
hair...from cockney rhyming slang "Barnet Fair=hair
Fag(s) (and I PROMISE this doesn't mean what most of you are thinking...definitely NOT hate speech AT ALL)
cigarette(s)
On your todd
on your own/by yourself (from cockney rhyming slang again - 'Todd Sloane=alone')

That's enough for now....:evilgrin:
 

Columbine

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lol....TCS instantly filtered out one of these, as it means something TOTALLY different in the US :lol: (ok...and here too, but both meanings are equally well known, and derived easily from context ;) )
 

misty8723

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Australians say "Bob's your uncle", meaning something like "there you have it" or "whaddaya know". Like "and Bob's your uncle, the cat was waiting for us on the porch!" I don't know if Canadians use it the same way.
I don't know, I just remember DH telling me about the Canadians he worked with using that expression. He may have known at one time how they were using it, but I asked him recently and he said he had no idea. It's been a lot of years ago. I just know it was not just Bob's your uncle. It was more like "and Bob's your uncle too."
 

misty8723

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I don't know whether it's regional or not, but I remember from my childhood people saying of any very small town that "They roll up the sidewalk at sunset." I used to think that they were talking about some sort of boardwalk thing, hooked together with ropes, but in reality I believe it meant that the town was too small to have any kind of nightlife, so people just stayed at home and went to bed early.

Margret
I've heard that also, I have no idea if it was regional or not. I always knew what it meant in any case.
 

misty8723

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I had a neighbor in Atlanta who told me she carried her daughter to the doctor. I was shocked, envisioning a comatose girl covered in blood. Turns out, she meant she took her daughter to the doctor.
A friend of mine in North Carolina says that as well, carried someone somewhere. Maybe it's a southern thing in general.
 

DreamerRose

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A friend of mine in North Carolina says that as well, carried someone somewhere. Maybe it's a southern thing in general.
I think it is. In another thread, I posted a lot of those sayings from a little booklet, How to Speak Southern.
 
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