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#68023 04/29/02 09:14 PM
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Word Wind relates in an other thread:He says the family was so big that all he got from the chicken were the bones.edited at WW request-- --taken out of the context of the paragraph, the sentence wasn't quite right..

What a wonderful image..(sad, too)

in our house, if some one dug in and ate, and ate, and cleaned the plate, my dad-- would look at it, and comment, Whoee, you know, there used to be flower on that plate before you started!(he often used it on us kids as we scraped up the last drops of icecream from a bowl, too!)

It was a rare day when we didn't have some left overs, and we alway had an open door policy-- we kids could invite friends over for dinner, and--if we were worried about a friend, who we felt was eating enough, we would regularly invite them.

every once in a while dad's comment would cause some embaressment, but not for long, because we wouldn't let it, and every once in while some one wouldn't get the joke.

we've done some thread about regional idioms, but i don't thing we have exhausted the supply.

what are your family or local idioms for being hungry or well fed?


#68024 04/29/02 10:30 PM
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Sometimes gluttons need special treatment. In Basic Training we were served family style, meaning platters were brought, and passed around. One fat slob from Brooklyn thought it a big joke to take all the food on the platter, so that a mountaineer lad from West Virginia got none. Until the West Virginian with his fork pinned the Brooklyn slob's right hand to the table. How the slob blubbered. C.O. gave him no sympathy.


#68025 04/29/02 10:34 PM
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Gosh, Helen, I wish I could edit out a "that" up there!

Here's one:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat (low-cholesterol diet)
His wife could eat not lean (Atkins diet),
And so they _________________ (can't rememeber)
And licked their platters clean (disgusting in polite company, methinks)

Belly regards,
DubDub


#68026 04/29/02 10:44 PM
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editing done, and isn't it:
jack sprat could eat no fat
his wife could eat no lean
and so, betwixt them both,
they licked the platter clean!


but don't trust me, as a child i was taught,
Peter, Peter pumkin eater,
had a wife and couldn't keep her
had another, and couldn't love 'er
so up the chimney he did shove 'er!
Divorce-- nursery rhyme style!

and my version of old mother hubard-- very adult!
even I'm a little tea pot.. has an unbowlerize version.


#68027 04/29/02 10:57 PM
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You know when you have a craving for something. You're not hungry particularly, but there is something that is constantly on you mind and you'll just keel over and die if you don't eat it this very minute...well we have an expression for that...

a craving for vinagre chips as an example...

I would eat vinagre chips on a pig's back.

Meaning you crave it so much that even if they were on a pigs back you'd eat them anyway.


#68028 04/29/02 11:26 PM
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The one who ate the most at dinner was often labeled a garbage 'scout/cow/scow'? I really don't remember what the intended word was, but I believe it had some roots in "the service" (USN).


#68029 04/29/02 11:42 PM
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ok-- were off food and on to garbage..
a scow is a flat bottomed boat.. (think of a barge) and it is pushed by a tug boat. (but it used to be poled..)
and while a scow can carry sand or coal, or any such thing, it somehow got associated with garbage. so you have barges full of commodeties, but scows full of garbage..

meanwhile the mess hall, is just a contraction of comestibles. --crossing threads, my favorite food? anything comestible!


#68030 04/30/02 12:28 AM
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A young woman fom the inner city who worked for me, speaking of a very large meal, used to say, "We ate like a butcher's dog."


#68031 04/30/02 08:06 AM
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what are your family or local idioms for being hungry or well fed?

In my family those with a hearty appetite (most of us, most of the time!) were always described as having hollow legs.


#68032 04/30/02 11:42 AM
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having hollow legs

yes, ditto here; and another idiom I used to hear around me in Kent was "He's so hungry his belly thinks his throat's been cut!"


#68033 04/30/02 01:02 PM
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"He's so hungry his belly thinks his throat's been cut!"

In oh-so-refined Yorkshire that would be stomach, if you don't mind!


#68034 04/30/02 07:26 PM
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A young woman fom the inner city who worked for me, speaking of a very large meal, used to say, "We ate like a butcher's dog."

Interesting. There's an expression used in Zild which goes "he was off like a robber's dog". Wonder if there's any linkage?



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#68035 04/30/02 07:46 PM
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> hollow leg

I thought, "He has a hollow leg," was a euphemism for "He can really hold his beer."


#68036 04/30/02 07:51 PM
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I thought, "He has a hollow leg," was a euphemism for "He can really hold his beer."

No, in my family, "having a hollow leg" means you can "eat like a horse".



#68037 04/30/02 07:53 PM
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Maybe it depends on whether your family consists of heavy eaters or heavy drinkers??? (how do you make a wink?)


#68038 04/30/02 07:57 PM
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#68039 05/01/02 03:34 AM
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A regional pronunciation of scoffed, perhaps? Though come to think of it the link between eating and mockery is none too obvious either.

Bingley


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#68040 05/01/02 04:13 AM
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Here's a good Aussie one -

I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse and chase the rider.

alexis


#68041 05/01/02 05:14 AM
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having hollow legs.

My mum used to say my brother was a "bottomless pit", and we all used to say "full as a goog" (goog meaning egg, googy egg ...wonder where that one came from? Wow isn't it interesting, the more you learn, the more you figure out that there's more to learn). That's why I love it here...


#68042 05/01/02 05:20 AM
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googy egg ...wonder where that one came from?

A googy chicken.


#68043 05/01/02 10:44 AM
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googy egg ...wonder where that one came from?

A googy chicken.

You just had to ask, didn't you hev?

'Round here, we blame an insatiable appetite on the tapeworm.


#68044 05/01/02 12:24 PM
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My wife's family used the expression "full up to dolly's wax".


#68045 05/01/02 12:53 PM
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Full up to dolly's wax???? I don't get it. What dolly? What wax? Wax doll? I thought the wax in wax dolls was everywhere.

And, Silk, you wrote that y'all scarf it up; we scarf it down in Dinwiddie--or, more exactly, scarf down. Kinda nice thinking about a person scarfing up something--I mean, what else would a hungry person named Silk do other than scarf something up (in your territory) or scarf it down (in Dinwiddie).

Fed up,
Wolfwind


#68046 05/01/02 01:22 PM
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(how do you
make a wink?)


You're not fooling anybody.


#68047 05/01/02 02:18 PM
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Another couple of Oz expressions:

"Chock a block"

(and hence)

"I'm chocker, ocker"

"Flup" ie full up

"Full as a maggot"

(and hence)

"...maggoted"

(a stalesism) "as bloated as week old road kill"

(& another) "stuffed jammed packed full"



FWIW, I was saving my 700th with the intention of making it deep, meaningful and thought provoking. Ah well....maybe next time (but can't see it happening for years).

stales - old bastard, old hand.


#68048 05/01/02 06:45 PM
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jack sprat could eat no fat
his wife could eat no lean
and so, betwixt them both,
they licked the platter clean!


The variant I grew up with was
...and so between the two of them...
in line three. Accuracy I can't vouch for, but it does scan better.



#68049 05/01/02 07:04 PM
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#68050 05/01/02 07:49 PM
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How about "I am as full as a stuffed goose". On another note - When we were really thirsty as kids we would drink a lot of water. (Chicago water is soooo gooood.) Mom would say - "Save some for the fish".


#68051 05/02/02 10:52 AM
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Hi Wordwind. Never having played with dolls, I'm a little unsure of their exact structure, but I seem to recall some dolls which had a head and neck made of wax with clothing below the neck. Anyone verify this?


#68052 05/02/02 11:05 AM
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Regarding 'scarf up' or 'scarf down' - we just plain scarfed, in my family (well, if we were hungry); not sure whether this was a Darwin or an Adelaide thing, as we lived in both while I was growing up.

alex


#68053 05/02/02 11:56 AM
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Oh satin-- Re: When we were really thirsty as kids we would drink a lot of water. Mom would say - "Save some for the fish".

when we would say, "I'm thirsty" and head to the refridgerator for milk, my mom would say "drink water!"

and now days, water is my most common drink!


#68054 05/02/02 12:00 PM
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some dolls which had a head and neck made of wax with clothing below the neck

Yes, Paulb, that is quite correct - this was a common way of making dolls in Victorian times. And many a little girl has spoiled her dolly by leaving it out in the hot sun, whereupon the face melts!

I'm not sure when the practice of making wax doll's heads ceased - I have seen examples from early C20 but can't recall seeing any that were post Great War (1914-18 to you youngsters )


#68055 05/02/02 12:04 PM
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"We ate like a butcher's dog."

On similar lines, we Londoners used to say, of someone in "rude good health", that he was, "As fit as a butcher's dog."


#68056 05/02/02 01:21 PM
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"and now days, water is my most common drink!"

Dear of troy: Ever try Adam's Ale?


#68057 05/02/02 01:33 PM
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i don't like most beer or ales.. i don't like the flavor/bitterness of hops.. i do like malt liquor.. colt45 was one brand, zima is a newer version of the same thing, with lemon flavor, and there are many others.. in most cities, they are considered low class drinks.. they often have 4.5, to 6 percent alcohol, compared to beers 3.8 to 4.3-- and have a reputation of being ghetto drinks. since they cost the the same as beer (cheap beer) and have slightly more alcohol, you can get a bigger buzz for the same buck..
the are not sweet (well old fashioned malt liquor wasn't sweet, the new flavored ones are!) but they are also not bitter. I also like hard cider.. but not beer or ale!


#68058 05/02/02 02:30 PM
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Can't believe this one's not on the list.

And, if it is and I missed it, please excuse my brain so scattered!

Bear regards,
WW


#68059 05/03/02 02:45 PM
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Ever try Adam's Ale?


No, but Adnam's Ales, brewed in Suffolk, Uk are superb!


#68060 05/05/02 10:57 AM
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I'm not sure whether I'm not totally missing something here, but Adam's Ale in Australia is bottled water...

alexis


#68061 05/05/02 03:31 PM
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Yup. And I just saw one in the grocery store that puzzled me. A bottle of water labelled "Naked". I should have at least picked it up and looked at it to see if I could find out what the ad scheme was.



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#68062 05/06/02 06:00 AM
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FWIW, I was saving my 700th with the intention of making it deep, meaningful and thought provoking. Ah well....maybe next time (but can't see it happening for years).

stales - old bastard, old hand.


1. Your post was about as deep and meaningful as most here at the moment; and
2. You gotta keep your hand in, you old bastard.



[CapK, off like a robber's dog -e]





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#68063 05/06/02 12:36 PM
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2. You gotta keep your hand in, you old bastard.
Hey--he's not old! <evil grin>




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