In British slang that's a cheater. Not in American slang. In spite uv me accent, Guv, Oi be a Yank! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by cruciverbalist
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In British slang that's a cheater. Not in American slang. In spite uv me accent, Guv, Oi be a Yank! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by cruciverbalist
Piglet Eivind Beinlaus--A lost of depth perception brought on by the onset of hypothermia? :confused:
Lightings Mikhel.... er... a yellowish mushroom/fungus/lichen kind of thiny?Quote:
Originally Posted by Taliesin
grrr I asked my Estonian friend Helje about "Long-eye" and she came up with a solution, but there seems to have been a misunderstanding if my guess was close...
RJ yep, "dachshund eyes" is a begging, faithful, don't-hit-me kind of expression :)
nope :p
and Sleepy, you may call me Piglet. :D
and Pen, you have my favorite avy again. :D
Since mine come from days gone by, before I was born, much less many of you, I will just tell you what my two mean:
Cheaters in old slang meant a pair of glasses :nod:
to do a Barney Oldfield was to drive a car as fast as it would go. Barney was a race car driver of some acclaim. :nod:
Here's one for the French speakers:
L'espirt de les escalier. The literal translation is not the meaning. So what is? ;)
Well, what is the literal translation?
L'esprit de l'escalier: to never have a ready answer, or to think of a witty comeback too late, like after a leaving a party (hence, 'staircase wit')
Reminds me of a particular Seinfeld episode where George keeps thinking of a comeback to answer one of his office colleagues with! :D
like Yiddish trepverter (sp?)
we've got "stair-case joke" (Treppenwitz) in German, but i'm not sure what it means myself....
Quite so! "Wit of the stairway" or "staircase wit" is the direct translation. The real one Cruci (you will pardon moi, if I shorten your name?), gave correctly. Interesting little phrase. Like: "If I was speeding, how come other drivers were PASSING me? THAT's what I SHOULD have told the policeman!" Too late! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by cruciverbalist
Have any of you been on a "snipe hunt"?
Nope. I have an idea I should know what that means, but I don't. :p
A wild goose chase!!!
Oh, yeah! And how! The idea is to take someone who is from the city and visiting the country out on a dark night with a bag and flashlight. [NOTE: A flashlight is what British people refer to as a "torch".] Everyone else has sticks and flashlights, and the vic-, ah, (ahem) city person is told they are hunting snipe. The city person is then lead into the woods and told to wait by a path with the bag and the flashlight off. Sometimes, the flashlight gets switched so it no has no batteries. The others are going up to "beat the brush" and "flush out" the snipe for the city person to catch in the bag. Of course, there are NO snipe. The beating in the bushes just scares the city person, who by now has discovered his or her flashlight doesn't work. Everyone has slipped back to watch them panic. It's a rather mean trick. I have never played it on anyone, but came close to having it played on me! My dad-in-law used to pull it. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by cruciverbalist
Can you think of a reason for the expression "Driving the porcelain bus"? ;)
wouldn't that be electric torch? (to be more specific)
T'be sure, luv, doan mess up me British too much! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by RJbibliophil
BTW, Piglet what was Eivind Beinlaus? Was I right on my last guess, that it was vertigo caused by hypothermia? :confused: