Re: Local
English Sayings
Posted by bob on May 18, 2002
In Reply to: Re: Local English Sayings
posted by TheFallen on May 18, 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.
Lummox is familiar in the U.S.
And here are some extra apostrophes.
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