#13389
12/19/2000 6:25 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Rodent related saying was wonderful.. How about some body parts saying.
Out to lunch to day, late (2pm) and still it was a mob scene, even though I am in a dull boring part of Manhattan–the civic center. Close to city hall, and courthouse, and immigration. No shops or special tourist sites. (Unless you consider city hall a tourist site)
Who would have expected that I needed to sharpen my elbows before venturing out?
That, I think, is special to NY– any other things we do with or use our body for? (or do any of you also sharpen your elbows to fight through a crowd?)
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#13390
12/19/2000 6:44 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The lovely Ms. Ledasdottir asks: Who would have expected that I needed to sharpen my elbows before venturing out?
Never heard that one, but I like it. Then there's always the perennial arm and a leg that you need to pay for things. Or, if you're really in NYC it's a nominal egg
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#13391
12/20/2000 7:02 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
My mum used to tell me to "sharpen my eyes" when she wanted me to search for something. Odd.
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#13392
12/20/2000 8:21 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
"sharpen my eyes" ..OddI don't find this all that odd: a focused picture is also "sharp", and in order to see something well-hidden, you have to focus on the spot 
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#13393
12/20/2000 8:27 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
On the subject of rip-off prices, in French they have: ça vous coûte la peau des fesses.. Translation will be given on demand 
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#13394
12/20/2000 9:04 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 144
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 144 |
How about 'keep your eyes peeled' or 'keep an eye out' when keeping a look out for something - both strike me as fairly morbid!
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#13395
12/20/2000 12:53 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome, rkay, she sang note-ably.
Father Steve, I was told to sharpen my ears, and I've heard the expression look sharp--interestingly, both as a command and a description. (Look sharp when you cross the busy intersection. He looks sharp in that new suit.)
Also, I have sniffed out that Anna and wow have a nose for news.
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#13396
12/20/2000 1:00 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>arm and a leg
Another leg: "Are you pulling my leg?"
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#13397
12/20/2000 1:35 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
toe the line bosom buddies nose to the grindstone  (in cheek)
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#13398
12/20/2000 2:03 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
and do you non americans have drivers with lead feet? (lead=metal)
Ive seen enough britcoms to know you also, sometimes have two left feet
I've been known to have a lead foot-- once getting up to 95 m/p/h on a highway posted for 55!
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#13399
12/20/2000 5:00 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
My mother-in-law used to say that when she first went out on a date, her mother told her to keep her legs crossed and her mind on God.
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#13400
12/21/2000 12:13 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
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#13401
12/21/2000 4:21 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347 |
Hope I don't kill your thread stone dead, Helen, but the scope's pretty wide. I got to 60 sayings pretty quickly before deciding to try a Google search for a list. It took me to the excellent Phrase Finder site, where I found more than 400 body-part-related phrases using the query (anyone who wants to keep playing don't click on this link!): http://www.shu.ac.uk/cgi-bin/tp_post2.cgi?w=body(although at least 10 of mine weren't on the list.) For anyone wanting general phrase searches in the future, just use: http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/p.s. added later - eg try "rat"
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#13402
12/26/2000 7:49 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130 |
Here's a pet-peeve of mine...
When (and why) did the term buck-naked devolve into butt-naked?
And also the same might be asked of boat-load to butt-load.
Butt-naked is actually pretty funny, but(t), butt-load?
Curious.
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#13403
12/26/2000 8:04 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
You should check out the mondegreen thread in the archives to see a whole pile of expressions that have been skewed.
One thing though...I know the expression "buck-naked" is the correct one but why does that expression make more sense? At least in the wrong "butt-naked" the expression is pretty self-explanatory.
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#13404
12/26/2000 11:10 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
the AHD has this for 'bare-naked' - The chiefly Northern U.S. expression bare-naked illustrates the linguistic process of redundancy, not always acceptable in Standard English but productive in regional dialect speech. A redundant expression combines two words that mean the same thing, thereby intensifying the effect. The expression buck-naked, used chiefly in the South Atlantic and Gulf states, is not as clear as bare-naked with respect to its origin; buck is possibly an alteration of butt, “buttocks.” If so, bum-naked, heard in various parts of the country, and bare-ass(ed), attested especially in the Northeastern U.S., represent the same idea. if this supposition of buck-naked being a euphemism for butt is correct, then we've come full circle. here's one professor's viewpoint on pc-ness: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/butt.html
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#13405
12/26/2000 11:18 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 5 |
According to my dad, some people have their heads screwed on right ... and some don't.
Debbi Richard
Assistant Professor, Library Science
Dallas Baptist University
Debbi Richard
Assistant Professor, Library Science
Dallas Baptist University
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#13406
12/26/2000 11:44 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
some people have their heads screwed on right ... and some don't.I tried to think of a subject header but the various combinations of "head" and "screws" gave me the vapours! Mercy !  You have to be careful when screwing on your head not to cross the threads! There's the old one about keeping an eye on the goal, a shoulder to the wheel, an ear to the ground, a hand to the wheel and then trying to work in that position. wow
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#13407
12/27/2000 1:03 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
How about something costing "your eye teeth" to mean that it is too expensive. In French we also say "ça coûte les yeux de la tête" - it costs the eyes out of your head.
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#13408
12/27/2000 1:32 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Well i an not sure its not a bad idea to have your head screwed on--in our house it was just tied on-- when ever we carelessly misplaced something, the responce was, "You'd loose your head if it wasn't tied on".
Which reminds me: Of all the things i have lost, i miss my mind the most...
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#13409
12/28/2000 7:38 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
We often talk of a person who has her/his head screwed on meaning that they are sensible. I didn't realise that this was a local idiom.
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#13410
12/28/2000 7:55 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
We use 's/he has his/her head screwed on' for sensible, and 'is a screw loose' for the opposite ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#13411
12/29/2000 5:40 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
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#13412
12/29/2000 9:30 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130 |
Musick:
I think it's derived from the thought that to actually wish someone luck causes bad luck for the recipient. Rather than say nothing, I guess you just wish them the opposite.
How about hamstrung? As in "I feel hamstrung from all my responsibilities". I'm guessing it's orignal use came from the barnyard, like pinioning.
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#13413
12/29/2000 9:38 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130
member
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member
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 130 |
Here are a few more:
Give someone a good ribbing. Poking in the ribs?
Hipster, hippie, hip, hepcat. Is this a body reference?
Ladies and gentlemen, give them a hand. Why not hands?
And a curious regional one:
An old girlfriend from Pittsburgh used to say someone was being "nebby" when she was sticking her nose in someone else's business.
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#13414
12/30/2000 1:33 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Doug:
Hamstringing is a form of mutilation where the hamstring (a tendon in the back of the thigh above the knee) is severed. Dogs and wolves instinctively go for the hamstring when attempting to bring down large prey, since no matter how formidable the prey is when uninjured, after hamstringing they are dogmeat so to speak.
TEd
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#13415
12/31/2000 1:04 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
One body part expression I never understood was "keeping your nose to the grindstone" to mean work hard to succeed. It sounds so painful; why would that be the best means to the end? It is also so close to the “biting off your nose to spite your face” expression. I don’t understand why it is something to strive for.
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#13416
12/31/2000 5:17 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Howsabout "pin your ears back" (ie prepare to go fast).
Also - when a group of people are extremely busy, it's a case of being "all elbows and a...holes around here"
stales
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#13417
12/31/2000 2:44 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Oooo Stales...my mom would be washing your mouth out with soap right about now . I have never heard that expression. Can I assume, by the tone of the thing, that it is used when people are extremely busy but not in a productive fashion and everybody is getting in each other's way?
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#13418
01/03/2001 5:07 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
In reply to:
pin your ears back
My grandfather used that expression, but it meant to cut someone down to size, or something like that.
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#13419
01/03/2001 8:59 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
if you were verbally cutting someone down to size (and i expect your grandfather wasn't jack the ripper, or the man behind the "texas chain saw .." )-- it would have been cuffed or boxed your ears-- though it wasn't unknown for a mother to suggest you should listen to her, and to make her point--she would grab you by your ear lobe.. Never happened to me, but i have seen it done...
We keeped our ears "pinned" for news...
and one cousin with "jug handle ears" was once found in his early teen with scotch tape on his ears, trying to make them lie a bit closer to his head.. he would have been quite happy to pin back his ears...
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#13420
01/07/2001 1:14 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Poster: Bobyoungbalt
In reply to: pin your ears back
My Grandfather used that expression, but it meant to cut someone down to size, or something like that.
I've heard "He got his ears pinned back!" meaning someone was told off in no uncertain terms.
Also : "I'll pin your ears back for you.." when threatening bodily harm.
wow
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#13421
01/07/2001 3:51 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Wow says : "I'll pin your ears back for you.." when threatening bodily harm, a more violent form of "you're giving me GBH of the ear'ole". I love that phrase!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#13422
01/07/2001 2:48 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
lso - when a group of people are extremely busy, it's a case of being "all elbows and a...holes around here"
Having worked in an environment wherein this expression was common, it appeared to indicate that one was so busily bent over one's work that an observer would only see these particular parts of a worker. It did not indicate that one was attending an after Christmas sale with a group of jerks.
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#13423
01/07/2001 2:56 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
Which reminds me: Of all the things i have lost, i miss my mind the most...
How about that Poe boy (he wasn't rich) who said, "Quoth the raven, never mind" Or the United Negro College Fund slogan, "A waist is a terrible thing to mind?" Or, speaking of "tie one on," the bar on Formosa called, "Taiwan on?" And did we get the hard-driving, all work and no play personality trait from them? Why else call it a "Taipei personality?"
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#13424
01/07/2001 3:25 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
a "Taipei personality?"Oh, Geoff, that's great!  Ranks right up there with a Grade A gray day. Makes me want to Singapore boy a song.
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#13425
01/07/2001 3:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
Makes me want to Singapore boy a song.
Are you planning on a singing korea? I assume you must now work as a milk maid, since you do have a whey with words.
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#13426
01/07/2001 4:50 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I assume you must now work as a milk maid
Ah, yet another role assigned! Squirt, squirt. I do try to whey my words carefully. And, no, I do not wish to
have or cause St. Vitus' Dance.
Whoa! Gurunet is good! I clicked on St. Vitus' Dance, and it came up 'chorea'. I'm impressed!
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#13427
01/09/2001 10:25 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3 |
A friend of mine is called Tony Hancock. People regularly ask him whether he minds being named after parts of the body.....
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#13428
01/09/2001 10:57 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
I've got a book called Psycho-Darwinism by Christopher Badcock. I'd have thought, me personally, that if your name was Bearer of the Murdered Father Figure the Penis is Evil, you'd steer well away from psychoanalysis as a career choice.
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