7-percent:Weird and Wonderful British PhrasesA sister post to the previous one on slang. Uncle Tom C

7-percent:Weird and Wonderful British PhrasesA sister post to the previous one on slang. Uncle Tom Cobbly and all= a long list of people you can’t bebothered to list by namePopped his clogs= died.Sweet Fanny Adams= nothing. Thisrefers to a real person, eight-year-old Fanny Adams, who was killed and dismemberedin Alton in 1867. The Royal Navy reportedly came to refer to their paltry meatrations as “Fanny Adams”. It later came to stand for nothing at all, theinitials conveniently standing for another more common expression, resulting inSweet FA.At Her Majesty’s Pleasure= inprison; because all prisons in the UK are named as HMP (Her Majesty’s Prison)then their name, Pentonville, Wormwood Scrubs, Belmarsh, etcA bit of how’s your father= sexualactivity. Originated in the music hall, when a comedian was asked something bythe straight man would answer this as a way to distract them from having toanswer. It became popular with First World War servicemen as a stand-in for allmanner of implications, including the racy one (as in sexual activity you don’twant to discuss) that it is now most often associated with.Bob’s Your uncle =and that’s it; as simple as that, thereyou have it.A flash in the pan= short-lived and unproductive; thisexpression is thought to have come from when flintlock muskets used to havesmall pans to hold gunpowder. If the gunpowder flared up without a bullet beingfired, it was a “flash in the pan”.To get someone’s goat= upset. Inthe 19th century nervous horses would supposedly be calmed down by placing agoat in the stall with them. Rival horse owners would steal (or “get”) the goatto upset the horse and win the race.A red herring= a trail laid tolure someone from the real truth. This is thought to come from the practice ofusing the scent of red herring in training hounds because the smell is good fordisguising other odours.To have a knees-up= party, and singalong.You don’t get more British than a knees-up and this expression first appearedin the music-hall song Knees Up, Mother Brown.To go pear-shaped= an unexpectedoutcome, worse than anticipated.Dressed to the nines= dressed upfor a party or to impress. This was first recorded by the poet Robert Burns butothers have suggested it was originally “dressed to the eyes”, which inmedieval English would have been “to then eyne”.To beat around the bush= to notget to the point. In medieval times game birds were scared out of their hidingplaces under bushes and then killed. To wet your whistle= to drink,usually at an inn or pub. This first appears in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Theword “whistle” refers to a mouth.Not enough room to swing a cat=small room. The true origin of this saying is unclear, with many supposing itis to do with swinging a cat o’ nine tails in a small ship’s cabin, though thishas been disputed.Cold enough to freeze the ballsoff a brass monkey= freezing. This phrase was first recorded in America in themid-1800s, but others claim is as British originating from the Napoleonic warsand derived from the brass plate (called a monkey) that cannonballs werestacked on. When it was cold, the brass would contract and the balls would falloff. Pull a blinder= involvesachieving something difficult faultlessly and skilfully. The phrase is mostcommonly used when the individual has been lucky and the person saying it is indisbelief that the first person has managed to pull it off.Bog-standard= completely ordinarywith no frills, embellishments, or add-ons. Its origins are somewhat unclear,but a “bog” is another word for a toilet in British slang, adding tothe connotations that something “bog-standard” is unglamorous andunspecial.Cack-handed= A task performed inan awkward or uncomfortable fashion, usually clumsily, would be described as“cack-handed.” Cack is old-fashioned slang for faeces. “Hehandles a screwdriver very cack-handedly.”Curtain-twitcher= A noseyneighbour, often caught peering out on their street’s activities from acurtained window, might be referred to as a “curtain twitcher.”Over-egg the pudding= embellishingor over-doing something to the extent that it’s detrimental to the finishedproduct.Although this sounds like an analogy about the chemistry of baking, orputting too many eggs in a cake batter, “egg” actually comes from theAnglo Saxon “eggian,” meaning to “excite.” This is stillused in English in the phrase “egging someone on” to do something.Shirty= Someone short-tempered orirritated might be described as “shirty.” The meaning of this slanghas been debated at length. The word “shirt” is derived from theNorse for “short,” hence short-tempered. However, other peoplebelieve that “shirty” has connotations of being dishevelled.Sod’s law=A British axiom thatboils down to the idea that: “If anything can go wrong, then it definitelywill go wrong.” “Sod’s law” is often used to explain bad luck orfreakish acts of misfortune. This is more commonly known in the US as“Murphy’s law.”Spanner in the works= An eventthat disrupts the natural, pre-planned order of events could be described as a“spanner in the works. “The phrase describes the mayhem caused whensomething is recklessly thrown into the intricate gears and workings of amachine. "By getting pregnant, Mary threw a spanner in the works.”Take the biscuit= If someone hasdone something highly irritating or surprising in an exasperating fashion, youmight say that they’ve “taken the biscuit.” The equivalent of takingthe non-existent medal for foolishness or incredulity. “I could just aboutdeal with the dog barking at 5:30a.m., but the lawnmower at 3 a.m. really takesthe biscuit.”Take the mickey= means to takeliberties at the expense of others – and can be used in both a light-heartedand an irritated fashion.Get your knickers in a twist= get upset about something. If you have any weird and wonderfulphrases to add, please do so in a comment. Wonder what something means? My Ask Boxis always open. -- source link

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