Regional Word Usage

caseydog said:
All hat and no cattle. Translation: He often speaks highly of himself, but does not follow through with his actions.
Example: Don't pay no attention ole' bubba, he's all hat and no cattle.
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We have a similar saying - "All mouth and no trousers"!

I love regional sayings that incorporate an underlying irony. I remember family members from the Midlands expressing disbelief or incredulity by saying "Well, I go to the top of our stairs" Why would you do that?

Walk into any rural pub in my area when a darts match is in progress and you will hear some wag shout out "Couldn't hit a cow's a*se with a banjo" in response to someone's poor shot. Always makes me chuckle.
 
Cor hangy, he goes round Sark to get to Herm that one.
Explanation. He is very long winded, takes ages to get to the point or doing stuff. Sark is further away than Herm.
 
epicuric said:
I suppose that would depend on where in the house you were when you said it :giggle:
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There is quite a lot written about the origins of the phrase 'Well I'll go to the foot of the stairs' - the most plausible explanation seems to be a substitution for using a rude word. There are other examples of this - where a word or phrase beginning with the same consonant is substituted. 'Sugar!' for example in place of 'sh*t!'

So in this case - 'Well, I'll go to f*ck!'. Might be the case... no-one seems to know.
 
morning glory said:
This one is perfectly familiar in the UK and I say it myself. I don't think I learned it from American TV. I reckon I've always used it!
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I always smile over this one because, as you say, "reckon" is very common there where you are, but here, it's considered rural, which is a polite way of saying that's it's something a seemingly less-sophisticated person would likely say, yet anything British sounds posh and intelligent to us because of the accent, so when we hear a Brit say "reckon," it sounds at odds with itself! :)
 
ScandiBrit said:
Never forget the look from an American soldier when I was on a co-location and my Brit Staff Sergeant said 'I am popping out to get myself a fag....' !!!
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When we moved to the UK (American military), we had to take some cultural awareness classes, and one entire class was just language differences (and there was a test!).

The way the instructor covered that particular word was, "...so don't be too alarmed when your British coworker excuses himself by saying, 'I'm going outside to blow a fag' - it's completely not what you're thinking!" :laugh:

Thing is, I've never, except for that guy, heard any British person say "blow a fag," ever. Not once. I suspect it was just to up the shock factor to us poor, illiterate Americans.:)
 
epicuric said:
Walk into any rural pub in my area when a darts match is in progress and you will hear some wag shout out "Couldn't hit a cow's a*se with a banjo" in response to someone's poor shot. Always makes me chuckle.
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Over here, one would say, "He couldn't hit the broadside of a barn."

Another good insult is, "He couldn't find his a$$ with both hands and a flashlight."

CD
 
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