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OLD SAYINGS
How many can you think of?
Example
Mind your Ps and Qs; be on your best behavior or mind your pints and quarts....
Example
Mind your Ps and Qs; be on your best behavior or mind your pints and quarts....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on -
LOCK, STOCK and BARREL
In old days, a rifle (or musket) had 3 major parts: A lock, a stock of wood and a metal barrel. Each part was totally useless without the other one. They had to all work together or well, you got nothing. But when they were all in sync, what a BLAST! Thus, when a person chose to put everything 100% into an decision, action or commitment and not just half-heartedly, he is said to be doing it "lock, stock and barrel."
Alternate origin: lock stock and barrel also referred to when you bought a farm. Lock meant the house , stock was all the animals and barrel was the rain barrel meaning all the trivial junk, so that it was absolutely everything at the time of sale that was on the land that was sold If the previous owner left something valuable behind it was yours (too bad for them) as it had all been sold lock stock and barrel.
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Permalink Reply by Kim Bufton on -
My old man, being a station owner (ranch to you guys) and as hard as nails, all ways said to my brother and I;
"If you can't be bothered doing it right the first time, don't do it at all and stop wasting my time and ammo".
This was usually after he told us to shoot our dog, as it was too old to work cattle anymore, and my brother and I would miss on purpose. He also trotted it out when he thought we did not do a good job on any of the other station tasks (except the ammo bit of course)..
A bit harsh, but is a good maxim that I have used well in my life.
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Permalink Reply by Karl Eiriksson on -
True words Kim,
Much in the same sense as "If you don't have time to do it right the first........damn sure don't the second time"
Much like rigging up and spudding in......I won't accept the rig until it's all 100% rigged up, because as you know once you spud-in, all your manpower is on the shakers, mixing mud, making connections, off loading casing etc
Kim Bufton said:My old man, being a station owner (ranch to you guys) and as hard as nails, all ways said to my brother and I;
"If you can't be bothered doing it right the first time, don't do it at all and stop wasting my time and ammo". This was usually after he told us to shoot our dog, as it was too old to work cattle anymore, and my brother and I would miss on purpose. He also trotted it out when he thought we did not do a good job on any of the other station tasks (except the ammo bit of course)..
A bit harsh, but is a good maxim that I have used well in my life.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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Beat around the bush
This comes from boar hunting in which the noblemen hired workers to walk through the woods beating the branches and making noises to get the animals to run towards the hunters. Boars were dangerous animals with razor-sharp teeth (you really did not want to meet one-to-one, esp. with no weapon). So the unarmed workers workers avoided the dense undergrowth where the boar might be and beat around it, rather than going into it. Thus, this evasive technique was termed "beating around the bush" and today represents anyone who avoids approaching anything directly.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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It actually refers to raccoons. The expression "in a coon's age" dates to the early 1800s, and to the folk belief that raccoons are long-lived. My pal Colibri of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board says, "References differ, but a wild individual raccoon might live up to 5 to 7 years (average survival being much lower, though, probably 2-3 years), and in captivity they can live up to 14-17 years. So their lifespan is comparable to that of a dog."
In the early 1800s, it's doubtful if anyone knew how long raccoons actually lived, and two to three years in the wild is not really very long. But raccoon fur is hardy and reasonably durable, which might have given rise to the belief of longevity.
Many slang terms use the term "coon" to mean raccoon. Their black eye-mask and nocturnal habits suggest anthropomorphic parallels, so we get the term "coon" meaning to steal or pilfer, for instance. The word also was used in the 1830s to mean a rustic, a country-bumpkin. In 1840, the coon was the figurehead of the Whig Party. (Where are the Whigs now when we need them?)
Unfortunately, many of those negative stereotypes were applied to black people, hence the derogatory term "coon," first used in the 1850s but more commonly heard after 1890. Some etymologists speculate that the term was used because of the raccoon's dark coloring rather than its real or imagined behavior. Whatever the case, the usage is highly offensive today - heck, it was highly offensive back then. For that reason, "in a coon's age" makes many people uncomfortable, notwithstanding its innocent origin. You might try "in a dog's age" or "in donkey's years" (British), which have the same meaning. Or "in a month of Sundays," which avoids animals altogether. Better yet, do us all a favor and come up with an original expression. We haven't had a novel way of saying "for a long time" in a coon's age.
Toni Smith said:Son of a Gun. There is a book that tells where all these sayings came from. I heard a radio D.J. talking about it several years ago when he explained this one. He said that back in the olden days, like colonial times or something like that- I don't recall specifically- that sailors would take one woman on the ship with them. She would usually be forced to bear her child near where the cannons were. Of course, nobody knew who the father was, hence the saying, "son of a gun".
Being an equestrian enthusiast, I like the saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Anyone who knows horses understands this one. You can tell a horse's age by its teeth. So, don't be critical. Beggars can't be choosers. :-)
But, of course, I haven't heard that said 'in a coon's age'.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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Son of a gun
There also is a story about a civli war gent that had a ball go though his (ball sack) in battle and for some reason ended up in the women's ...himhim and she be came with child. But as we know that was busted on myth busters.
Galen Cox said:It actually refers to raccoons. The expression "in a coon's age" dates to the early 1800s, and to the folk belief that raccoons are long-lived. My pal Colibri of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board says, "References differ, but a wild individual raccoon might live up to 5 to 7 years (average survival being much lower, though, probably 2-3 years), and in captivity they can live up to 14-17 years. So their lifespan is comparable to that of a dog."
In the early 1800s, it's doubtful if anyone knew how long raccoons actually lived, and two to three years in the wild is not really very long. But raccoon fur is hardy and reasonably durable, which might have given rise to the belief of longevity.
Many slang terms use the term "coon" to mean raccoon. Their black eye-mask and nocturnal habits suggest anthropomorphic parallels, so we get the term "coon" meaning to steal or pilfer, for instance. The word also was used in the 1830s to mean a rustic, a country-bumpkin. In 1840, the coon was the figurehead of the Whig Party. (Where are the Whigs now when we need them?)
Unfortunately, many of those negative stereotypes were applied to black people, hence the derogatory term "coon," first used in the 1850s but more commonly heard after 1890. Some etymologists speculate that the term was used because of the raccoon's dark coloring rather than its real or imagined behavior. Whatever the case, the usage is highly offensive today - heck, it was highly offensive back then. For that reason, "in a coon's age" makes many people uncomfortable, notwithstanding its innocent origin. You might try "in a dog's age" or "in donkey's years" (British), which have the same meaning. Or "in a month of Sundays," which avoids animals altogether. Better yet, do us all a favor and come up with an original expression. We haven't had a novel way of saying "for a long time" in a coon's age.
Toni Smith said:Son of a Gun. There is a book that tells where all these sayings came from. I heard a radio D.J. talking about it several years ago when he explained this one. He said that back in the olden days, like colonial times or something like that- I don't recall specifically- that sailors would take one woman on the ship with them. She would usually be forced to bear her child near where the cannons were. Of course, nobody knew who the father was, hence the saying, "son of a gun".
Being an equestrian enthusiast, I like the saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Anyone who knows horses understands this one. You can tell a horse's age by its teeth. So, don't be critical. Beggars can't be choosers. :-)
But, of course, I haven't heard that said 'in a coon's age'.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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MY all TIME Favorite is FIXIN TO
This is mainly used in to the southern US, means one is about to do something or it is in the process of being done.
This phrase is used in my house all the time my wife hates to ask when are you going to do that? Well she knows it's coming Well I was FIXIN TO.... or fixin ta
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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All most forgot the second best one is Dink farting around
Massing around or wasting time, peddle farting around, man the list can go on.
Galen Cox said:MY all TIME Favorite is FIXIN TO
This is mainly used in to the southern US, means one is about to do something or it is in the process of being done.
This phrase is used in my house all the time my wife hates to ask when are you going to do that? Well she knows it's coming Well I was FIXIN TO.... or fixin ta
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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No Spring Chicken
New England chicken farmers discovered that chickens born in the Spring bought better prices, rather than old birds that had gone through the winter etc. Sometimes farmers tried to sell the old birds as a new spring born chicken. Smart buyers often complained that a tough fowl was "no spring chicken" and so the term now is used to represent birds (and even people) past their plump and tender years.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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The hand writing on the wall
Came from Babylon just before it falls;
And this is the writing that was inscribed: ME′NE, ME′NE, TE′KEL and PAR′SIN
This is the interpretation of the word: ME′NE, God has numbered [the days of] your kingdom and has finished it.
“TE′KEL, you have been weighed in the balances and have been found deficient.
“PE′RES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”
In that very night Bel·shaz′zar the Chal·de′an king was killed and Da·ri′us the Mede himself received the kingdom.
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Permalink Reply by Galen Cox on
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Old Stamping Ground
The prairie chicken was often observed by early settlers dancing around at dawn with their fancy mating steps, making noises and strutting as part of their courtship with the females. They were so intense on this, they actually wore some areas of the ground bare! Soon, settlers could just tell by looking at some bare land that it was the mating spots for those frisky prairie chickens, and soon got called their "old stomping grounds." Today the term is used both for areas when males and females gather to meet each other, or for any place in which a group of people just go to have fun and kick up their heels etc.
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Permalink Reply by Karl Eiriksson on
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The Ole Stompin ground is world famous then!
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