General Chat

Our sandwiches were "cut-and-shut" or holy--one slice folded over or two slices=whole(y)
Forgot to sign my last thingie
Ann-o-ni-mouse

My ma called very tall people "a long drink o' water",and would say for something not perfectly done "ah well,a blind man would be glad to see it"--was her blind man on a blind horse,I wonder? The young neighbour nextdoor to my Gran collected "silver"foil for a "blind dog",after all.

My gran (Southampton born & bred) used the expressions
'Long bones' for a tall person
'Party' when referring to someone she wasn't particularly fond of and
'No better than she ought', - for someone who was either loud or a bit of a 'floozy'.

Dermot, I used to that expression A nod's as good as a wink to a blind man on a galloping horse.

One of the four in The Apocalypse?

does an horse not have to wear them "blinker" things to stop them from getting distracted?

I too am still pondering on the thee, thou, thine and thy.
The French, like Flemish still use the 2 person singular which is the equivalent of 'thou' e.g. thou goest forth- you go forward

I can't remember the part of speech for thee, I keep thinking a reflexive pronoun but my brain just can't remember but as in the French, most people will have heard of Je t'aime , if this was translated, word for word it would be' I you love' but we would say' I love you'. So in old English we used to say in the marriage vows ' I thee wed' in other word' I you marry' or I marry you.
'Thy' is possesive adjective as in 'Thy coat' meaning 'your coat' and Thine is possessive pronoun as in 'Its is thine' in other words it is yours.Perhaps someone can help out on 'thee'-jLe

"A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man's horse" - anyone care to explain this odd expression?

My parents always used the expression 'breaking my neck' when desperate for the loo. Anyone else know that one?

thank you all for adding to this thread ts quite an insight. Yes I remember my Ganna (Great Nan) asking if I "would like a piece" (bread) and when I said yes it was always "arf or a wool" half (arf) a sandwich or a whole (wool) sandwich. My kids would look at me daft if they were to be asked the same question. How many things we remember and how much joy it brings. Oh Joan I remember having a "lamping" too on many occoasions.

Just seen DET's post--local kids get (or used to get,before the P.C.Brigade showed up) a "rammeling"-that is a couple of clouts round the ears.
Ann-o-ni-mouse.

I'm London born,Essex bred and haven't lived in either for 30odd years,but my Ma had a friend (Scottish born) who prepared a "piece"for hubby to take to work,and she often " took her chest to the Doctor" or asked him for a "cough-bottle".
Returning to the 'thee,thou,thy/thine' I have had to learn Flemish in my work,and they still use the 2nd person singular,for family and friends,and these English terms are exactly that:--
I---ik ; thou---jou ;he/she/it----hij/zij ("it" doesn't exist)
we---wij ;you---U (always with a capital letter) ;they---zij(again,so you have to think about the sense of a sentence)
In fact,there are a lot of old-fashioned expressions/words which appear to have common origins (of course I can't come up with a single one at the minute) but I regularly compare notes with a "girl" that I work with,who is also interested in these anomalies.
Going to go off and think of all those phrases as soon as I post this !
Ann-o-ni-mouse.

How about 'Prat'? Used as (hopefully) a kindly term if you have done something silly, or more nastily to refer to someone who is pompous. I was told that a prat was a pregnant fish, but another definition is the fleshy part you sit on. So, talking out of your a**e perhaps?

A northerner threatened to give their child a 'clattering', which in the context probably meant a smack

Being brought up near London my parents used those sorts of things motowngal.

It was many years before I realised 'two and eight' was rhyming slang for 'state'. Gordon Bennett was also a regular in our house - he obviously got around a bit.

'Can't spit sixpence' was another way of saying 'thirsty' another expression it took me a while to figure out.

Morning All, food taken to work in these parts, is also called 'snap', what we would call 'pack-up' these days.
Also hereabouts, the canal is called the'cut', maybe a reference to the fact that they were man made, and cut out of the landscape.
There is a guy who lives local to me, and who I know personally, who sometimes has little poems and odes, printed in the local village magazine. I can honestly say, that if you were not born here,and lived here most of your life, you would not be able to understand them. It is a mixture of old coal mine and heavy industry speak.
Julia in Derbyshire

morning all..

yes mel food is fickle..

the saying years ago... for taking food to work was snap..i still say it..lol...

mel i aint been round the cut for yonks..

Suemaid food in these parts is "fittle" I think it comes from vituals but not sure perhaps Joan would know. Grandad used to take his "snap" to the foundary which was really sarnies in greaseproof paper in a tin.

This thread is really enriching me.

Rose my dad always used the word "ginnel" for an alleyway. My dad was a Leeds lad. He also used to call the food he took to work his "crib" but other people call it their "jock" or "bait".

S x

no Rose our alleyways were "up the gulley" and our cul-de-sac's were "round the frying pan"

edit and our canals are "down t' cut"

Anybody use the word 'jigger' ?

my mum always used to as in 'let's cut through the jigger" ... wiki has it as "An alleyway in Liverpool " :)

Hi Kay we get called Yampy a lot in the Black Country, that an Yam-Yam never heard Pampy but lol. I guess it depends where you are and who you are surrounded by for me there as been a great deal of Irish influence so I do tend to have a twang in my accent and use a lot of their words as well as BC stuff. I have a Scottish friend now living in London she uses a lot of Glasweidian still, sometimes its hard to break. So I guess a lot is regional as well as evolution.