As my granny used to say.....

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oops

Be back in a minute, just got to go ben the other room.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:50 (seven years ago) link

not really an interesting colloquialism or anything, but when my gran first met my auntie's 2nd husband she whispered to my mum "She better get him insured, he'll be in the ground before me".

He was known as "Yellow Eddie" because he worked at LB Dyes for 30 years and must have been getting all the worst jobs because he literally was yellow and looked quite cadaverous in the best of health. He only died this year funnily enough, beating my gran by 18 years.

calzino, Thursday, 29 December 2016 23:07 (seven years ago) link

six months pass...

Today I sent Dan a photo of a 30ft cwtch.

Thomas Gabriel Fischer does not endorse (aldo), Friday, 7 July 2017 23:50 (six years ago) link

My grandmother on my mother's side said strange things that never made sense to me. She came from a weird, desiccated Dutch old money family. She told me a story of how her three great aunts were draped in robes and watched her when she was sent off overseas or some bullshit like that.

What the hell is that? I still don't know what the fuck that is. I'll take this folksy crap in a heartbeat.

jenkem street team (carpet_kaiser), Saturday, 8 July 2017 01:03 (six years ago) link

My granny always called my grandfather (named William, Bill to friends) Wal, rhyming with pal.

-_- (jim in vancouver), Saturday, 8 July 2017 01:19 (six years ago) link

ten months pass...

From out of nowhere, I remembered a word my dad was fond of using, dighted, which means daft, stupid or crazy. I assume it's from the verb, to dight, which means, among other things, to wipe clean.

Kanye O'er Frae France? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 May 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link

Whenever she would arrive home from somewhere, my grandmother would say "Home again, home again, jiggity jig."

I don't say it out loud, but to this day it runs through my head quite often.

Hideous Lump, Thursday, 17 May 2018 04:06 (five years ago) link

four months pass...

Menage (pronounced 'menodge')

http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/menage

Zach Same (Tom D.), Thursday, 11 October 2018 08:16 (five years ago) link

Whenever she would arrive home from somewhere, my grandmother would say "Home again, home again, jiggity jig."

It's a line from an old nursery rhyme "To market, to market"

the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Thursday, 11 October 2018 08:28 (five years ago) link

(xp) Apparently from the French, manège, the profitable employment of money.

Zach Same (Tom D.), Thursday, 11 October 2018 14:47 (five years ago) link

You may be confusing 'manège' (amusement ride, riding hall, crafty behaviour, etc.) and 'ménage' (housekeeping, relationship).

pomenitul, Thursday, 11 October 2018 14:54 (five years ago) link

Yes, I was going by what they said on the site I linked to.

Zach Same (Tom D.), Thursday, 11 October 2018 14:56 (five years ago) link

Interesting. The confusion is likely due to the word's phonetic and semantic similarity with 'management'.

pomenitul, Thursday, 11 October 2018 15:04 (five years ago) link

Apparently still in use too:

Nowadays this word survives as an observation on how incompetent people or governments manage their affairs as in the following from the Herald of 12th September 2017: “We Scots had lacked confidence in the ability of our leaders and institutions to run a menodge.” This use is further illustrated, again from the Herald in the letters page of 12th November 2015: “As we say in the west of Scotland, could this lot manage a menodge.”

Manage a menodge, nice phrase.

Zach Same (Tom D.), Thursday, 11 October 2018 15:17 (five years ago) link

Heh, that's awesome. It kind of makes sense too, since 'manage' and 'ménage' ultimately stem from two separate Latin roots: manus (the hand) and maneo (to stay, to dwell), respectively. So to manage a menodge is in some sense to handle a dwelling.

pomenitul, Thursday, 11 October 2018 15:27 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

Not my granny but my mum, but she probably got it from her granny:

Sleeping your head into train oil or, as my mum would say, "Ye'll sleep yer heid intae train oil".

This one really used to confuse me because, in Scots, oil is pronounced like 'isle', so I had no idea where this place Train Isle was or how you could sleep yourself into it.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Thursday, 30 April 2020 23:04 (three years ago) link

And even when I'd figured out it was 'oil' and not 'isle', I was still none the wiser, I mean what is train oil? Oil for lubricating trains? And, again, how do you sleep yourself into it? But, it turns out that train oil is whale oil - which your brain will turn into if you sleep too long.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Thursday, 30 April 2020 23:13 (three years ago) link

My dad used that one a lot but it was more like "listening to that'll turn your brain to train oil", or "your brain'll turn to train oil if you keep on watching that". He would have been talking about stuff like the Boomtown Rats and Rentaghost so probably OTM.

everything, Friday, 1 May 2020 00:48 (three years ago) link

'train oil' was most likely in the form of a greasy sludge

A is for (Aimless), Friday, 1 May 2020 03:04 (three years ago) link

I thought it was 'dod' but apparently it's 'daud'.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/daud

... as in "Gie's a daud o' that bread".

Not really grannyspeak because I say it myself, but only in my head, as no-one else would know what I was talking about.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Friday, 1 May 2020 13:42 (three years ago) link

"Gie's a daud o' that bread"

iirc one of the Apostles says that in Billy Connolly's 'Crucifixion' routine

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Saturday, 2 May 2020 09:33 (three years ago) link

LOL that must have been deep in the memory banks somewhere.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Saturday, 2 May 2020 10:24 (three years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Sclaff

As in, thank you BBC Scotland for allowing the nation to once again relive Billy Bremner sclaffing that ball wide of the post against the worst Brazil team in history in the '74 World Cup.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 18 May 2020 13:17 (three years ago) link

My mom's golf group was called the Sclaffers.

brownie, Monday, 18 May 2020 13:48 (three years ago) link

had no idea it was an actual word that other people used!

brownie, Monday, 18 May 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link

Yes, it's used a lot in golf!

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Monday, 18 May 2020 13:55 (three years ago) link

Along with skite.

I sclaffed my shot and it skited off a tree

BRAVE THE AFRIAD (onimo), Thursday, 21 May 2020 20:48 (three years ago) link

and skliff

I sclaffed my shot and it skited off a tree so I skliffed off to find the ball

conrad, Thursday, 21 May 2020 21:18 (three years ago) link

I think that just means a segment of an orange where I'm from.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 May 2020 21:23 (three years ago) link

I use sclaff. I have not heard skite or skliff. But I have used skiff - to very barely hit something. Usually in Subbuteo or pool. "That's two shots." "Naw, I skiffed it."

Eyeball Kicks, Saturday, 23 May 2020 23:32 (three years ago) link

Oh yeah, skiff is another one. Surprised you haven't heard skite, it's quite a common one.

Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 May 2020 23:42 (three years ago) link

Michael Rosen’s Twitter feed has an absolute treasure trove of these that he either retweeted right before going into hospital or someone in his family RTed for him

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 23 May 2020 23:53 (three years ago) link

i.e.

"I'm standing 'ere like cheese at fourpence......."

— David Setchell (@DGSetchell) March 27, 2020

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 23 May 2020 23:56 (three years ago) link

Puggled = exhausted, spent, on your last legs.

"Huv seen the state o' yon Boris Johnson? Looks puggled tae me".

Captain Beeftweet (Tom D.), Friday, 5 June 2020 12:42 (three years ago) link

three weeks pass...

Switch = to beat (eggs) or mix.

"Gie's that egg and ah'll switch it up in a cup fer ye."

Future England Captain (Tom D.), Wednesday, 1 July 2020 15:11 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

Clap = to pat affectionately, caressingly, approvingly.

"Ye can gie the dug a clap, he'll no' bite ye."

"Bobby Gillespie" (ft. Heroin) (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 August 2021 22:40 (two years ago) link

these are so great.

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 18 August 2021 23:04 (two years ago) link

Tea jenny = A person who drinks a lot of tea; a tea addict; someone fussy about tea. noun.

"Bobby Gillespie" (ft. Heroin) (Tom D.), Saturday, 21 August 2021 10:45 (two years ago) link

three months pass...

Stave = 3. To sprain, bruise or contuse a joint of the body.

"Whit's wi' th' bandage?"
"Oh this? A' staved ma' thumb last night".

When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 11:05 (two years ago) link

two months pass...

Pronouncing "lunatic" to rhyme with "pneumatic".

Meet the Irish Queer Archive Poet In Residence (Tom D.), Monday, 28 February 2022 19:49 (two years ago) link

My Gran (Paisley born) had a brilliant reserve of bastardized French terms, I really wish I had written them all down before she passed, I only remember the more obvious ones - Stank, Ashet, Jigot.

I think my fave saying of her's was 'What's fur ye, will no go by ye'

Maresn3st, Monday, 28 February 2022 20:02 (two years ago) link

Now you're talking my language... literally.

Meet the Irish Queer Archive Poet In Residence (Tom D.), Monday, 28 February 2022 20:06 (two years ago) link

I don't know if this is a Paisley/Renfrew thing or not, but I also liked her punctuation of 'says I' (start) and 'ah sais' (end) in a sentence.

With the added potential confusion of 'aye' and "I', I remember her saying to me once 'says I, aye, ah sais'

Maresn3st, Monday, 28 February 2022 20:11 (two years ago) link

What are "stank, ashet, jigot"?
(sounds like a law firm...)

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Monday, 28 February 2022 20:21 (two years ago) link

Overshoes meaning boots

adam t. (abanana), Monday, 28 February 2022 20:38 (two years ago) link

Stank as in very smelly in the past tense?

Ashet is a cooking dish, and specifically one you make/buy a steak pie in and is from assiette.

Jigot is spelled gigot, like the French, because it's a centre cut lamb leg chop.

Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Monday, 28 February 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link

Stank is a drain, but I think it's also used to describe stagnant water.

Maresn3st, Monday, 28 February 2022 21:05 (two years ago) link

That's me learnt.

Long enough attention span for a Stephen Bissette blu-ray extra (aldo), Monday, 28 February 2022 21:12 (two years ago) link

Ta (as my granny used to say...)

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Monday, 28 February 2022 21:15 (two years ago) link

XP or Telt :)

Maresn3st, Monday, 28 February 2022 21:16 (two years ago) link


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