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the shambles reference was confusing as in manchester the shambles has always meant the fish market (where fish-wives scream their opinions). since the bomb the shambles ( est around 1580) was relocated but still boasts an oyster pub. i thought the shambles was exclusively a term for fish market, or dodgy dealing place for hawkers of questionable repute
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
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"as mad as cheese" and "as mad as eggs" Brilliant! Robert, in case you didn't know yet, perhaps we need to explain that a "Mancunian" is someone from Manchester, England. Mancunians have a culture all of their own, as witness the phrases above  Actually Manchester is probably renowned worldwide for its football (erm, soccer) and should be for some of its music. Which doesn't detract from the fact that most Mancunians are mad as toast.  Fisk
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Joined: Oct 2000
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in manchester the shambles has always meant the fish marketNice meeting you dody - another fellow Brit, and yet another set of pronunciations for the Board! Yeah, that reference on shambles (confused onlookers please see my previous post for happy as a sandboy link) talks about the wooden bench upon which butchers used to display, and maybe carve up, their wares. Maybe fishmongers used something similar? As for "dodgy dealings", you still get those at markets, eh? Fisk
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Joined: Apr 2002
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Hmm, a thread that I started, and now I'm dancing a merry tangent... a shambles, to me, is a mess, a cock-up, close to a disaster sometimes. I knew the other meanings (particularly its geog origin) but that's the most common here in Aus.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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Well, MG and WC, I assumed Igneous to be the most hot-headed, sedementary the laziest, metamorphic the most amenable to change.Wasn't there a thread quite some time ago where each of noted the rock which best exemplifies him or her? I think I was some sedimentary rock or other.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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As dumb as a box of rocks.
An odd fleeting thought is that Albert Einstein's surname means a stone. Somehow, though, I don't think that "as smart as a stone" will ever come to mean "as smart as Einstein".
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Joined: Dec 2001
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As nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers!
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Joined: Nov 2000
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old hand
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old hand
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Albert Einstein's surname means a stone.Yeah, well, it does give a new twist to somebody claiming to be "stoned."
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Joined: Feb 2002
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
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as cunning as a very cunning fox that has just become professor of cunning at cunning university (off 'Blackadder' the telly programme)
and
as camp as a row of tents
made me laugh out loud!
This is a great thread - I'm enjoying it so much!
From Tennessee Williams - and not as funny as the above:
as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof
(or was it "as restless as"? - that somehow makes more sense)
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
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as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof
I once heard somebody Spoonerize this as "...a tit on a hot can roof." OUCH!
As important as a fart in a firestorm
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