phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Why Thank You

Posted by TheFallen on May 18, 2002

In Reply to: 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.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.