Re:
Why Thank You
Posted by TheFallen on May 18,
2002 In Reply to: Re: Local English Sayings
posted by bob 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.
"""""""/
WHAT a kind gift... except they aren't apostrophes... they're quotation
marks, or possibly inverted commas, depending on how you're feeling.
- Re:
Why, Thank You R. Berg 05/18/02 ( 1)
|