Strange American sayings from an English Perspective

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  • lwoodroff
    lwoodroff Posts: 1,431 Member
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    in view of the impending season...

    'it's brass monkeys out there'!

    What does this mean?

    freeezing..
    it's an old naval term, the racks which kept the cannonballs were called 'monkeys' and made of brass. in cold weather they'd contract and spill the cannonballs. I think the full phrase is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'..
  • Melissa22G
    Melissa22G Posts: 847 Member
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    in view of the impending season...

    'it's brass monkeys out there'!

    What does this mean?

    freeezing..
    it's an old naval term, the racks which kept the cannonballs were called 'monkeys' and made of brass. in cold weather they'd contract and spill the cannonballs. I think the full phrase is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'..


    This made me laugh :laugh:
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
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    in view of the impending season...

    'it's brass monkeys out there'!

    What does this mean?

    freeezing..
    it's an old naval term, the racks which kept the cannonballs were called 'monkeys' and made of brass. in cold weather they'd contract and spill the cannonballs. I think the full phrase is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'..

    Yes, that's right......
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
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    But are you going to go for a Jimmy Riddle??

    Or go up the apple and pears??

    And there is soooo much fun to be had with the word 'piss'!
  • hailzp
    hailzp Posts: 903 Member
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    I am brassik!
  • wannabpiper
    wannabpiper Posts: 402 Member
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    Fav Saying: "Even a blind pig finds an acorn, now and then."
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
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    Just don't ask me where 'It's raining cats and dogs' comes from. 'it's raining stair rods' is much simpler!
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    In a bit of turnabout I would like to point out that the English phrase "taking the piss" is completely baffling to Americans.
    Doesn't that just mean "teasing/putting someone on" and "going out on the piss" means "going out drinking"?

    I thought it meant "beat the ish out of you".

    Yes, taking the piss means teasing,mocking, making fun of..
    It doesn't mean beating them up

    Going out on the piss means going out drinking.

    Or pish, in Scotland.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    in view of the impending season...

    'it's brass monkeys out there'!

    What does this mean?

    Abbreviation of "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" - supposedly a reference to fighting ships a couple of hundred years ago, the cannon balls were supposedly on these brass racks (called monkeys) and in cold weather, the racks would constrict, and the balls would pop off.

    (Should I worry that I know all this stuff????)

    ETA oh bum! two people beat me to it!!!
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    I can't believe this thread is still going!! Well my lovely new friends it's 11pm here so I'm off to sleep and I'll look forward to reading more daft comments in the morning. G'night all x

    You're a lightweight! 11 on a Friday :noway:
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    In a bit of turnabout I would like to point out that the English phrase "taking the piss" is completely baffling to Americans.
    Doesn't that just mean "teasing/putting someone on" and "going out on the piss" means "going out drinking"?

    I thought it meant "beat the ish out of you".

    That would be braying someone, kicking the ish out of them, or hammering them. Which is also as a term for drinking "getting hammered".
    This thread has been very educational :laugh: thanks

    There's also "pissed off" or "piss somebody off" which means to be really annoyed, or to really wind someone up.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    Goldyloppers trittly-how in the early mordy, and she falolloped down the steps. Oh unfortunade for cracking of the eggers and the sheebs and the buttery full-falollop and graze the knee-clappers. So she had a Vaselubrious, rub it on and a quick healy huff and that was that. Deep joy.
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
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    Goldyloppers trittly-how in the early mordy, and she falolloped down the steps. Oh unfortunade for cracking of the eggers and the sheebs and the buttery full-falollop and graze the knee-clappers. So she had a Vaselubrious, rub it on and a quick healy huff and that was that. Deep joy.

    Gotta love a bit of Unwinese.Or, Gobbledygook :smile:
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
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    I think it's really neat, because I see an unbroken line of barely-intelligible English going back to Jabberwocky and stretching through Unwinese and "Dom Niperi Septoe" straight on to Pootie Tang! It must take an awful lot of talent and work to craft such delightful not-quite-nonsense! :happy:
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,087 Member
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    Just don't ask me where 'It's raining cats and dogs' comes from. 'it's raining stair rods' is much simpler!

    I once read somewhere that this term came from the days of houses with thatched roofs and the dogs and cats would sleep in the space between the ceiling and the thatch roof - when it was raining really heavily the thatch would give way and the cats and dogs fall through the collapsed ceiling - thus raining cats and dogs came to be associated with raining really heavily.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    I think it's really neat, because I see an unbroken line of barely-intelligible English going back to Jabberwocky and stretching through Unwinese and "Dom Niperi Septoe" straight on to Pootie Tang! It must take an awful lot of talent and work to craft such delightful not-quite-nonsense! :happy:

    Pure Unwin, that. I nicked it.
  • Camera_BagintheUK
    Camera_BagintheUK Posts: 707 Member
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    In a bit of turnabout I would like to point out that the English phrase "taking the piss" is completely baffling to Americans.
    Doesn't that just mean "teasing/putting someone on" and "going out on the piss" means "going out drinking"?

    I thought it meant "beat the ish out of you".

    That would be braying someone, kicking the ish out of them, or hammering them. Which is also as a term for drinking "getting hammered".
    This thread has been very educational :laugh: thanks

    There's also "pissed off" or "piss somebody off" which means to be really annoyed, or to really wind someone up.

    and
    Just don't ask me where 'It's raining cats and dogs' comes from. 'it's raining stair rods' is much simpler!

    of course there's always "pissing down" for heavy rain as well!
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
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    heard one the other day on a bastion of cheap TV set somewhere oop North where the only entertainment was going out, bingeing and getting trollied. Except they called it 'getting mortal'. Even within the UK there are many and varied local idioms!

    Yeh if you're 'mortal' then you are completely off your face drunk. You could also say you were $hitfaced!!

    This thread has been such a laugh
    Don't people also say "to get small"? I agree. I love this thread. I don't understand xenophobes. Learning about the ways other peoples/nations/cultures do things is fantastic!

    I've not heard 'get small' before. You could maybe get 'bladdered' tho!! x
  • andiechick
    andiechick Posts: 916 Member
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    I can't believe this thread is still going!! Well my lovely new friends it's 11pm here so I'm off to sleep and I'll look forward to reading more daft comments in the morning. G'night all x

    You're a lightweight! 11 on a Friday :noway:

    Haha, in my defence it was only Thursday and I had to be up for the school run. I also have a child who wakes up ridiculously early (6.50am on Saturday, grrr!!)

    If it had been Friday my responses may have been slightly different as wine had been involved! :drinker:

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