Re: Local
English Sayings
Posted by TheFallen on May
18, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Local English Sayings
posted by ESC on May 17, 2002
: : : The link below is to a small
site of 'Black Country' sayings. The 'Black Country' is the old industrial heart
of England. Some of the Sayings I recognise as being used well outside that part
of England. Do others use them too?
: : : NB Please note lack of apostrophies!
: : (West Virginia/Kentucky) The only one that is familiar to me is "Well,
e's took 'is eggs to a fine market, ay 'e?" Only our version is "He drove his
geese to a fine market." (Speaking sarcastically.) I think that's how it goes.
: DRIVE ONE'S DUCKS TO A POOR MARKET -- To make a poor manager or to associate
with the wrong people. Also to drive one's goose to a poor market. 'He's driving
his goose to a poor market, Pa said.' (Jesse Stuart, (Kentucky writer) 'Plum Grove
Hills') See also DROVE ONE'S DUCKS TO A PORE PUDDLE." From "Mountain Range: A
Dictionary of Expressions from Appalachia to the Ozarks" by Robert Hendrickson,
Facts on File, New York, 1997) And I've heard it said of someone marries an unsuitable
person.
I've heard "up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire" used down South, and
"for two pins..." was I think very widespread. As for "lommock" meaning clumsy
idiot, there's an apparent variation down in the South East, namely "lummox".
There also seems to be a Scottish phrase (!) within that linked list, namely "mythering/mithering"
to mean crying. I remember my mother, who is Scots, using that term during my
childhood.
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