What sayings did you think were common until they were questioned?
Posted by whovian567@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 303 comments
I had told somebody at work “I swear like a sailor” as my dad used to say this to me all the time, but he had no clue what I was talking about 😭 also “Do me a solid” maybe I’m just quintessentially British 😭
Oxfordjo@reddit
What does do me a solid even mean??!
t_beermonster@reddit
Where don't you do someone a solid?
Oxfordjo@reddit
Erm whatttt?
ProfessionalVolume93@reddit
I'm fairly sure it's American.
Oxfordjo@reddit
Maybe that's why I've never heard of it then as I'm in the UK!
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Like do me a favour 😂
Oxfordjo@reddit
Waahhht?! It sounds like do me a solid stool sample or something?! I've never heard this in my life! Or I have and just given too many stools samples out?!
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
For incoming bad weather… “It’s black over Bill’s Mothers”
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
That's usually a brummie saying...
Affectionate-Tutor14@reddit
It’s black owa Billy’s mother’s! Thanks so much 😍 I’ve never heard anyone else use this gem but it’s common in our family like
TheFloatingCamel@reddit
Alternatively, not one of my friends know what I'm on about when I say the weather is "cracking the flags."
neilm1000@reddit
Is this because cracking the flags has nothing to do with the weather and actually means 'he's cracking on' or 'blimey, he's doing/done that quickly'? That's the context I've heard and use it in. What sort of weather cracks the flags? Flagstones I guess.
TheRemanence@reddit
Never heard it but makes total sense
Dr_Havotnicus@reddit
I've heard people say the sun is splitting the stones, or splitting the trees, which is just silly!
SebastianHaff17@reddit
Will for me, but otherwise the same
Puzzled_Record_3611@reddit
In Glasgow, a piggyback is either called a coaksie or a cocarry. My husband had never heard of this expression until we had kids. I thought it was a universal thing.
ChokedPanda@reddit
Falkirk we said “codyback / coadieback” (unsure how it would be spelled)
I’ve heard coaksie in Glasgow.
peggy2389@reddit
In ayrshire we say a coakieback
neilm1000@reddit
What on earth does 'do me a solid' mean?!
ChokedPanda@reddit
Do me a favour.
deltahybrid123@reddit
Whirly gig said it the other day one person agreed with me on what a "rotary washing line " is called the rest looked at me like I was strange alien life .
ChokedPanda@reddit
It’s a Whirly gig and no debates!
WreckinRich@reddit
I always thought "Do me a solid" was a yankism.
ChokedPanda@reddit
“Do you think I came up the Clyde in a banana boat?!”
I thought this was common as I heard this a lot growing up (Glasgow, hence the Clyde” but I have also hesrd it adapted for other rivers.
This was practically foreign to some people, so maybe not universally British?!
First-Lengthiness-16@reddit
Swearing like a sailor is common. Do me a solid is also fairly common.
Your friend has lived under a rock
morris_man@reddit
It's Swear like a Trooper where I come from
zombiejojo@reddit
Swear like a navvy is what my mum would've said, but then she was born in the 30s so that's probably very old fashioned
Ashamed_Topic_5293@reddit
irish navvy for us, my parents also both born in the 1930s.
jr0061006@reddit
Hands like a navvy is what I heard.
Ashamed_Topic_5293@reddit
like an irish navvy
Greatgrowler@reddit
I always thought it was swear like a trooper, work live a navvy and drink like a sailor.
FishUK_Harp@reddit
Sailor, trooper and docker are ones I've all heard, and all understood immediately when hearing them for the first time.
Mammyjam@reddit
Swear like a sailor is what I grew up with but tbf my dad was in the navy
OriginalStockingfan@reddit
I thought it was swearing like a trooper. Nice to hear an alternative version.
two_hats@reddit
I tend to say "swear like a drunken pirate" but I have heard 'sailor' before, I think
Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit
It really isn't.
Also, no. Do me a solid isn't common at all.
Goose-rider3000@reddit
I said, ‘do me a solid’ in my office and people thought I was making an obscene reference to solid poos.
AlFrescofun01@reddit
That's what I presumed it meant! Im a Brit in his mid 50s and have never heard that particular expression. What does it mean?
Downtown_Physics8853@reddit
It means to do something meaningful for another person; a favor.
AlFrescofun01@reddit
Ah, thanks, I've never heard it it.Maybe a regional thing, I'm NW England.
neilm1000@reddit
Yeah definitely a regional thing. I live in Stockport via Sheffield, Milton Keynes and Plymouth (where I grew up) and I've never heard it. Must be a London thing.
TheNinjaPixie@reddit
I always knew it as swear like a Trooper!
whovian567@reddit (OP)
I thought so but he had asked other colleagues and they had no clue what do me a solid meant , I thought I was in another dimension for a minute
rjtnrva@reddit
Do me a solid is an American expression so I'm not surprised.
PerfectCover1414@reddit
I never heard do me a solid until I moved to the US.
Downtown_Physics8853@reddit
VERY common in the US, especially in urban slang.
Passchenhell17@reddit
Huh, one of those phrases that I thought was for sure a British one, but turns out is almost certainly American in origin. I've used it for as long as I can remember, so must've made its way over fairly quickly.
jenny_in_texas@reddit
It probably happened when they merged servers. Too much weird stuff going on in the last few years. It had to be a sloppy migration. The Matrix IT department really has some explaining to do.
Informal-Tour-8201@reddit
Also swearing like a docker is a variant I heard as a kid
Princes_Slayer@reddit
I use this phrase. The slight scouse accent I have always shows up best when there is a ‘ck’ sound in a word
Informal-Tour-8201@reddit
Same for the Scots accent
RegularWhiteShark@reddit
Also the Welsh “ch”.
Straight_Agency_5690@reddit
It’s ch for Scots- ochhhhh aye
Informal-Tour-8201@reddit
Scouse "CK" can be really close to "ch" because it sounds like you're trying to clear phlegm from the back of your throat sometimes.
Specialist-Web7854@reddit
He probably wouldn’t know what ‘lived under a rock’ meant either.
TastyComfortable2355@reddit
Or...do one
ExtremeActuator@reddit
I’ve only ever heard “swear like a hairy arsed docker”. At least they’re both naval-ish
DizzyMine4964@reddit
Swear like a docker is what I say.
Teeena87@reddit
Dae is a favour
victoriaj@reddit
Swear like a sailor always makes me think of Captain Haddock in Tintin.
Dear_Tangerine444@reddit
Who (ironically?) swore very little, but cursed a lot… at least as I’d understand the definition.
victoriaj@reddit
True.
Though I think he sometimes *#@!?!# resorts to grawlixes.
Anxious-Commercial10@reddit
Calling other people a Berk. Everybody used that in the 70s & 80s. It was used by kids & grown ups alike. Then you grow up & someone tells you what it means!
SeeSore@reddit
What does it mean? I’m worried now!
Anxious-Commercial10@reddit
It's rhyming slang. Originally it was a shortened version of Berkshire hunt.
timbono5@reddit
Berkeley Hunt
Born-Car-1410@reddit
I think that in itself may have come from cockney rhyming slang for 'c*nt'.
timbono5@reddit
The Berkeley Hunt was an actual fox hunting organisation in south Gloucestershire, and was chosen as the Cockney rhyming slang for c**t. The word “berk” was a contraction used as a softer term.
Anxious-Commercial10@reddit
Hadn't heard that one. But they both amount to the same thing.
SeeSore@reddit
TIL!
DaveDavidTom@reddit
'Don't Father Ted's car it' for fussing over something to the point that you fuck it up worse. Yes, we are a family of perfectionists. Yes, it was a very long and awkward conversation the first time I said that to someone who had not seen the episode.
Born-Car-1410@reddit
FT has given us SO much. One of the best shows ever.
Big, far way; small, near. Tea, father? I've had my fun and that's all that matters. It's so dark you'll think you're blind. The last one about the caves is particularly funny. I think they were in the caves at Mitchelstown in Cork. We visited there and there's a sign up as you get to the car park with that written on it. Feckin brilliant.
There should be a sub on this.
SillyGooseClub1@reddit
my family has "running pig" which is where you do up your buttons wrong
"you have a running pig" is just how we tell someone their buttons are off
had no idea this wasn't a normal phrase until I said it at uni to someone ("I was so exhausted this morning I had a fucking running pig") and they had no idea what I meant. I googled it that evening and literally nothing came up and my life's been in a downward spiral ever since.
Born-Car-1410@reddit
Never heard this before and I'm going to use it. Just to see the confusion on their face.
You can stop spiralling now, it's as black as areholes down there.
CourtneyLush@reddit
There's a young- ish lad who comes into my workplace on a Friday. One week he came in a bit earlier than usual, we're chatting and I said "You're early, POETS day, is it?
He didn't have a clue what I was talking about, when I explained it to him, he thought I was a comedy genius. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't invent it.
Born-Car-1410@reddit
Another work related one...."He's going to get a DCM." In this case, it's the opposite of a medal...."Don't come Monday. "
milly_nz@reddit
Huh?
CourtneyLush@reddit
Friday used to be referred to as 'POETS day'… Piss Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday'.
ProfessionalVolume93@reddit
I love "poets" day. But I now live in Canada so it's TGIF.
AttentionOtherwise80@reddit
The late Queen Elizabeth was in a workshop one day with some apprentices. One of them swore when they hit their fingers (or something) and of course, immediately apologised. HM told them not to worry, "I've been married to a sailor for years."
pleiadeslion@reddit
With the kind of stuff he used to come out with, no doubt she preferred the swearing.
Viviaana@reddit
I always say my dad can talk the arse off a horse because he gets chatting with everyone and you're stuck for ages, I have no idea where I got that from but I never questioned it until I met my bf
cette-minette@reddit
Hind legs off a donkey is more common in my experience but I like yours better
Aware-Influence-8622@reddit
Compromise and say the arse off an ass😂
Aware-Influence-8622@reddit
Same meaning, but I have heard cuss like a sailer a lot more personally.
Zingobingobongo@reddit
He’s an idiot, you are not.
Historical_Heron4801@reddit
I used the phrase "I'm just going for a Jimmy" at uni to signify that I was going to the loo. Jimmy Riddle = piddle.
It wasn't until sometime later that they all thought I must have some extreme bowel trauma as the only "Jimmy" they could think of was "Choo".
We came from very different backgrounds.
thelouisfanclub@reddit
That’s hilarious! Who’s jimmy riddle
Historical_Heron4801@reddit
Honestly, I had no idea. But it was a pretty common thing to say where I grew up (despite growing up far from the usual areas for cockney rhyming slang). Everyone had heard of going for a Jimmy Riddle.
I've now looked it up - he was a country singer, known for "the vocal art of eefing". (Yeah, me neither, apparently it's an early form of beatboxing).
jr0061006@reddit
This is hilarious. Jimmy Choo!
cameragirl17@reddit
A “black man’s pinch” for a blood blister. I didn’t even question it until i mentioned I had one to a black, male friend. He also hit the roof when I said that I called a spade, a spade (ie not a shovel and I say it as it is). Again, no racist connotations meant from me but he didn’t think that way. These were all phrases that I grew up with, which have another meaning now.
nicethingsarenicer@reddit
Oh come on. Anyone who uses stock phrases referring to race, in this day and age, and pretends they didn't realise it's racist af is either stupid or lying. And claiming that 'I didn't mean to be racist' makes it OK is proper boomer nonsense.
This isn't Advanced Critical Race Theory ffs. It's basic knowledge, except for people who enjoy being bigoted tools.
thelouisfanclub@reddit
Yeah I mean… I don’t know what’s racist about spade but “black man’s pinch” is so off, especially saying it right in someone’s face. I won’t even say scotch egg to a Scottish person
Agitated_Ad_361@reddit
They had the same meaning then, too.
platypuss1871@reddit
Calling a spade a spade wasn't originally racist (as it came from ancient greek), and I'd argue it still isn't now. No more than "giving someone a black look" is, anyway.
LochNessMother@reddit
How could ‘calling a spade a spade’ be racist?!
(I’m a gardener, so spades ARE spades and very much not shovels)
terryjuicelawson@reddit
A spade is a rather archaic term for a black person but the phrase isn't based on that anyway. It is about an actual piece of gardening equipment. Someone who tells it like it is, but not in terms of racial slurs!
nicethingsarenicer@reddit
It's clearly not racist and if the friend "hit the roof" when this person used it, which I doubt, it was likely because it's a stupid and arrogant response to someone telling you that calling a blood blister a "black man's pinch" is racist.
It actually doesn't make a huge amount of sense in that situation, either, so the friend might have twigged that OP was using the phrase deliberately because it contains a word that can be a slur for Black people in a different context.
SimpleAd1604@reddit
Or “the pot calling the kettle black.” Nothing to do with race.
cameragirl17@reddit
Agreed
cameragirl17@reddit
I agree
Whollie@reddit
Swear like a trooper or mouth like a sailor are the versions I know.
Maybe you've mixed up the two?
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Mouth like a sailor! That’s probably why he didn’t understand me 😂
IntraVnusDemilo@reddit
I say "I swear like a sailor/docker" too.
ThinkDifferent13@reddit
"Do you wanna be in my gang?"
t_beermonster@reddit
You make a better door than a window. - When someone is stood blocking your view.
Get outside of that. - When telling someone to eat something.
Sea-Situation7495@reddit
Wrap yourself around that.
Dr_Havotnicus@reddit
I used to know someone who used the phrase "he beat seven sorts of salt out of him." He was convinced that was the correct and only form of the phrase and never heard "seven shades of shit(e)". He must have learnt it at Sunday School or something
timbono5@reddit
Seven bells
Dr_Havotnicus@reddit
Aye, that too
Effective_Nail_142@reddit
“That was a curst horse soon curried.” What I thought would be a difficult task was actually quite simple. Or is it just me?
timbono5@reddit
I’ve never heard this expression before but it makes perfect sense. Presumably a cursed horse would behave badly and be difficult to comb using a curry-comb.
Sygga@reddit
'Blow this for a game of tin soldiers' was a common phrase from my grandma
timbono5@reddit
I know this without the “tin”
zombiejojo@reddit
I often share "English expression of the day" (random sayings I realise might need explaining to my overseas colleagues). I am surprised how many are the same in Romanian especially. Last week I learned that having "a millstone around your neck" is the same saying and meaning in both languages. And that not all of my English colleagues had heard that one, but my Romanian colleagues understood me perfectly 😂
timbono5@reddit
“Millstone around the neck” comes from the Bible. From memory, in the context of a metaphorical punishment for someone corrupting children.
nicethingsarenicer@reddit
When I went travelling I was enchanted to discover how mothers of all nations use that all-time classic "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". 😂
Affectionate_Row6557@reddit
I thought the saying "It's a bit grim/black over Bills mothers" for when there's a big dark cloud in the near distance, was common. Apparently, it's not. I said it once at work and got looked at like I'd grown 3 heads
timbono5@reddit
I believe it’s a North/Midlands expression
zombiejojo@reddit
"many a mickle makes a muckle" I was talking about tiny performance differences in software, to a younger (20s) colleague. meaning it might be insignificant or unimportant on its own, but if you get lots of small things they add up to a big thing
He looked at me like I just stepped out of a period drama 😂
timbono5@reddit
A Scottish expression originally I believe. I think Microsoft have a calculation for the amount of time saved globally if they knock one second off the time required to carry out a process.
nicethingsarenicer@reddit
Hahahaha, I would be charmed to hear this in the wild, but yes, your last sentence sums it up perfectly!
zombiejojo@reddit
"a lick and a promise" to mean a quick wash of important bits at a sink, and a promise to have a proper bath or shower later. It didn't occur to me until I got confounded shocked faces that this sounds a bit rude 😂
timbono5@reddit
My grandmother, born 1900, used that expression, and wouldn’t have done so if there was anything the least bit suggestive about it.
roywill2@reddit
They look at me funny when I say Kind Words Butter No Parsnips
MisterSmoketoomuch@reddit
Didn't Joe Lycett use the parsnip expression in one of his angry email exchanges with a parking official?
Sea-Situation7495@reddit
I believe he said "Kind words doth butter no parsnips"
wingding456@reddit
David Tennant used a variation of that one on Top Gear once.
shark-heart@reddit
coz you forgot to say "doth"!!
GregSame@reddit
not sure it qualifies as a saying but my gran would call us a little get/git when we were misbehaving
Avogadros_plumber@reddit
I thought “how’s it hanging” was universal, not exclusive to males
whovian567@reddit (OP)
I thought this was normal 😭
neilm1000@reddit
It's an Americanism surely? I've never heard anyone in the UK say it in real life.
threesevenfive_@reddit
it is normal
TheRemanence@reddit
I have never heard it specific to men. It's about hanging about with your mates not your junk, surely? Right? Right?!!
TheFloatingCamel@reddit
To the right, and not as low as I'd like...
SirNoodles518@reddit
The other day I said to my mates "we'll play it by ear" and they said that they could guess what I meant but that they'd never heard that expression before haha
neilm1000@reddit
Play it by ear is very common.
Unlike do me a solid which sounds like some sort of London/Home Counties rhyming slang and not in common everyday usage.
milly_nz@reddit
How old are they…12?
SirNoodles518@reddit
Early twenties
IncomeKey8785@reddit
I've heard that from quite a few people
SirNoodles518@reddit
Yeah same. I was a bit surprised that they hadn't heard it before
Key_Seaworthiness827@reddit
Well they are the wrong and need calibration! Doing stuff based on what's happening not just following a plan. Comes from musicians playing to what they hear as opposed to a score
novalia89@reddit
I swear Reddit is just attention seeking. Swearing like a sailor is an extremely common phrase. Even if that particular person is so detached from the world that they don't know it, surely it has been heard that often that it's clear that that person is the exception.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Not attention seeking at all 😭 he and other colleagues had not heard this before as I had said in previous comments, so was just wondering if people had perhaps heard it under different terminology or how common this was in your everyday life. We’re each entitled to our opinions and own experiences
novalia89@reddit
No, but it sounds clickbaity 'what did you think was common until it was questioned'. Just because one person questioned it, doesn't make it not common. Just because one person doesn't know who Taylor Swift is, doesn't mean she isn't famous.
I'm not questioning/invalidating your experience for god's sake. That's weirdly defensive. I'm not questioning that it happened, just that it's a very Reddit thing to ask questions like this, in a clickbaity way, because ONE person doesn't know something. It doesn't make it uncommon. It's just typical Reddit threads.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Each to their own 👍
nopantsbeth@reddit
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse between two bread vans
TooLittleGravitas@reddit
My dad used to say "an ox between two palliasses" (sp?)
Gordone56@reddit
A Yorkshire variant - eh I could eat a scabby ‘oss tween two bread vans and then cum back for t’saddle!
BlackJackKetchum@reddit
I wouldn’t expect ‘solid’ to work with older folk, nor ‘sailor’ with the youth. Being Gen X, I’ve got the best of both worlds.
PassiveTheme@reddit
I'm a younger millennial and I don't know anyone my age that wouldn't be familiar with "swear like a sailor"
No_Bullfrog_6474@reddit
i’d imagine most young folk would know both, i know a fair few who do anyway and imagine there’s more who i just don’t have proof of them knowing (plus me, i’m gen z - though admittedly the older end - and don’t remember not knowing swear like a sailor)
platypuss1871@reddit
I'm also Gen X and familiar with both.
BlackJackKetchum@reddit
We’re great, we X’ers aren’t we?
CompetitiveAnxiety@reddit
Shh! They’ll notice us and start blaming us for everything again
BlackJackKetchum@reddit
Good point.
Quick-Oil-5259@reddit
Im older Gen X and have no idea what do me a solid means.
milly_nz@reddit
I’ll dsl you a solid and recommend you use Google.
Ghanima81@reddit
Do me a favor.
EldestPort@reddit
I was surprised once when I made a 'Trigger's broom' reference and the (middle aged) guy didn't get it but when I said 'you know, like the Ship of Theseus' he knew exactly what I was on about.
Mobile_Falcon8639@reddit
Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
milly_nz@reddit
wtf is it supposed to mean?
Mobile_Falcon8639@reddit
It's an old North of England expression that nobody uses any more. It's an expression of surprise like saying good heavens,or knock me down with a feather.
Specific-Sundae2530@reddit
I heard it in Suffolk so it's not just northern
Mobile_Falcon8639@reddit
I heard in Sussex. But it's also the chorus line of a Jethro Tull album, a passion play. But apparently its originated in the North in England in the 19th & early 20th century. Buy who knows.
AlFrescofun01@reddit
Or 'Blow me!' - though not in a good way (snigger, snigger).
BlackberryNice1270@reddit
A colleague used to say, Well I'll stand tapping at the foot of our stairs. No clue, I'd never heard it before.
SimpleAd1604@reddit
This is my first time hearing it.
Teeena87@reddit
Jump down to the foot ae the stair
TheDarkestStjarna@reddit
I've heard of that one, but don't know what it means. Is it just an expression of surprise?
wingding456@reddit
My parents said that all the time. We lived in a bungalow.
Mobile_Falcon8639@reddit
🤣🤣
paperandcard@reddit
Love it! Haven’t heard it in a while though
Lower_Inspector_9213@reddit
“How long is a piece of string?” Said by a Brit on a zoom call with Canada and USA - they looked aghast.
xxxRedditPolicexxx@reddit
I was a house party in California and I said, “Oh no I’ve lost my jumper…” in my sort of Home Counties English accent and they all fell about laughing and than mimicked, “JUMPER” haha “you’ve lost your JUMPER”, “what the hell is your ‘JUMPER’ HAHAHAH.”I think some of them knew I was talking about a ‘sweatshirt’ but they ribbing about this meaning a jumpsuit worn by a female or something in the US.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
I had a doctor receptionist say this to me once when I asked how much longer it might be after waiting three hours 😂
Branch_Same@reddit
Homer can nod. My now husband still maintains 30+ years later I made this up
ShortyDR@reddit
We've always used the phrase "Shanks's pony" if we're walking and are asked how we're getting there. Also, was with mum and a woman said how it was a lovely day and mum said, "Yep, the sun's shining both sides of the hedge". Plus, if we weren't going away on holiday, we were going to "Our-gate" as in the bottom of our garden. All of these get confused looks, I think because I was brought up in Somerset, mum in Sussex / Somerset and are now in N Wales where dad's from, so these may be a regional thing.
pintofendlesssummer@reddit
Swear like a fisherwoman.
Specific-Sundae2530@reddit
I know it as swear like a fishwife. The women would have usually been selling the fish not catching it.
pintofendlesssummer@reddit
Yeah you're right. I thought that after I posted..
YalsonKSA@reddit
You can't make an omelette without painting the Bishop of Durham.
ParticularFreedom@reddit
Give it to me straight, like a pair cider made from 100% pairs
Admirable_Fail_180@reddit
Both parents born in port cities, brought up the phrase "you don't like it? There's a boat in the morning." As a variation on "Take it or leave it". Started first job, said it to a colleague who was born overseas......did not go down well.
PortPiscarilius@reddit
Oh dear 😂
Admirable_Fail_180@reddit
Indeed. Naive teenage me had 0 idea of the other potential meaning.
StonedJesus98@reddit
“My stomach thinks my throats been cut” to mean hungry
Objective_Purpose768@reddit
Swear like a trucker is heard in these parts
Illustrious-Divide95@reddit
I have heard both Swear like a sailor and trooper. Probably less these days but still understood i think (except the younger crowd)
There's a saying which i heard as kid (40 years ago plus) which is not ok and thankfully haven't heard it for years but was probably used without thought back then. It's ' N****r in the woodpile' don't know if anyone else ever heard it being used in the past.
GreatChaosFudge@reddit
Yep. Also the original of ‘eeny meeny miny no’. My brothers and I used to say it a lot. We didn’t even know what a N— was. Of course now I’m deeply ashamed I ever uttered the word.
Illustrious-Divide95@reddit
Same here. We used the term without a clue 40 plus years ago. Horrible as teachers and parents must have known/ heard us and should have intervened
Fred776@reddit
I heard that last saying for the first and last time in real life used by someone fairly senior in my first job. Would have been around late 80s.
DaveDavidTom@reddit
My grandad said something similar about 5 years ago (althought the phrase was 'coal shed') and got a quick reminder of a few things quickly. It's part of why we're keeping an eye on him for dementia right now tbh
CuriousNowDead@reddit
That’s actually how I learned that slur. I was maybe 9 years old, and my friends’ mother used the saying and then apologised profusely looking incredibly ashamed. My mum explained to me what it meant and thankfully I instantly understood this was not just like accidentally saying “fuck” when you stub your toe.
CalmClient7@reddit
Sw England, both readily understood here :)
Dmahf0806@reddit
"Going round the Wrekin," which means taking a long time to get to the point.
It is a very common phrase in the West Midlands and surrounding areas, but my husband from Greater Manchester had never heard that phrase. The Wrekin is a big hill in Shropshire, so I shouldn't be surprised it is a local saying.
Dogsafe@reddit
This is a good a place as any to recount my new favourite bit of folklore:
There was once a giant that hated the people of Shrewsbury so much be decided to carry a shovel of dirt to the River Severn, dump it in the river to reroute it, and drown everyone in Shrewsbury.
He'd be walking for quite some time carrying this shovel of dirt when he comes across a cobbler coming the other way. Tired and bored he asks the cobbler whether it's far to Shrewsbury. The cobbler, being from Shrewsbury and somehow realising what the the shovel of dirt was for, says yes. A very long way in fact. Opening his bag he shows the giant all the knackered shoes he's been given to repair. Look how many shoes I've worn out walking here from Shrewsbury, he says, you've still got a long way to go yet.
Fuck this, said the giant dumping his mountain of dirt and going off in a huff. And that's how we got the Wrekin.
Fred776@reddit
"Going round the houses" is what I would say.
Trust_And_Fear_Not@reddit
I'm not from the Midlands, but "it's looking dark over Bill's mother's" is a midlands phrase I quite like!
KatVanWall@reddit
‘Black over Bill’s mother’s’ was what I remember my grandparents saying! They were from north Derbyshire (near Stockport) and I’m from the East Midlands.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Omg yes I love this saying (I’m also from the West Midlands)
Altruistic_Ad5444@reddit
I reckon curse like a sailor has come over from the US. Over here you swear like a trooper. Swearing just means making promises in the US doesn't it?
Educational-Bus4634@reddit
Not quite a saying, but as a rural southwest-er I swear I grew up regularly hearing "five to half past" as a way of saying 25 minutes past, but I've never once heard it as an adult and my mum (also a born and bred Devonian) acts like I'm insane whenever I now say it
BlackberryNice1270@reddit
Completely unique from my grandad, his version of the 5 second rule - "It takes a ton of muck to kill you, and that's got to fall on your head."
Altruistic_Ad5444@reddit
'We've all got to eat a peck of dirt before we die'. I rather like this although I couldn't tell you where I first heard it.
zombiejojo@reddit
Love it!
KatVanWall@reddit
My mum always used to say you’ve got ‘more [whatever the item in question] than Soft Mick!’ The first time she used that expression to me, I was a teenager and she was telling me I’d got ‘more dresses than Soft Mick’ and I just looked at her confused and was like ‘is Mick like a drag queen or summat?’ Turns out she had no idea who the original Mick was or why he’s soft, and he can have a lot of anything.
Sufficient-Drama-150@reddit
My Dad used to say that. Are you from County Durham by any chance?
DreadPirateBill@reddit
My family all said that and they're all from around greater London.
KatVanWall@reddit
No, my mum’s parents were from north Derbyshire and we lived in Leicester!
Srapture@reddit
Sounds similar to the "It went like Billy-O!" that I hear from old people to describe something fast.
Any_Listen_7306@reddit
My ex mother in law used to say stale-ish bread was, "hard as Mick's arse". I asked her what it meant and she said her mother said it but beyond that didn't know
KatVanWall@reddit
Haha that’s great! Like the opposite Mick lol
jr0061006@reddit
We need to meet this Mick!
Worth_His_Salt@reddit
It's not you, it's them. Those are widely known sayings, common in US too.
SquareYogurtcloset88@reddit
"absolutely sock on" meaning asleep 😂 I thought it was a nation wide saying, turns out it's just a saying around here, in Yorkshire. I was questioned by someone from Devon AND Liverpool on what it meant 😂
whovian567@reddit (OP)
I’ve never heard of this 😭 we normally say “conked out” or something lol
illarionds@reddit
Both phrases are common.
"Do me a solid (favour)" is American, not British, but still extremely well known.
Spottyjamie@reddit
“Ill take that” i still dont know what it means
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Yeah I use this quite often I know what context to use it in but wouldn’t be sure how to explain it 😂
Apprehensive-Ear5722@reddit
Do me a solid sounds American to me?
whovian567@reddit (OP)
It probably is American I’ve had a lot of comments saying that I just grew up hearing it all the time in the midlands 😭
Ningax599445YT@reddit
"A spit of insert person"
Srapture@reddit
Both of those are very common. Don't know how your colleague hadn't heard them.
FreddyDeus@reddit
‘Do me a solid’ is not of British origin. You must be pretty young to think it is.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
I didn’t say it was originated here, but I’ve grew up my whole life in the West Midlands hearing it 😀
CompetitiveAnxiety@reddit
I’m 49 and was saying this in school. It might not be British in origin, but it’s been here for decades
AnxiousAppointment70@reddit
I've only heard "swearing like a trooper" and have never heard the other.
FebruaryStars84@reddit
Swear like a sailor I think of as very common.
‘Do me a solid’ I’d think of as very American; I don’t think I’ve ever heard it outside of US tv shows.
Indigo-Waterfall@reddit
Those are both common sayings. Sounds like maybe the person you were talking to doesn’t get out much.
Leatherforleisure@reddit
“Well you know what thought did…”
Dr_Havotnicus@reddit
Jumped on t' back of a muck cart and thought it were a wedding
Taken_Abroad_Book@reddit
GOOD N YEW
amzy_apparently@reddit
I’m from Norfolk, and I recently explained to my colleague, who is not British, what ‘on the huh’ means.
Individual_Ad_974@reddit
I’m from Glasgow and never heard that saying 🤷♀️
Puzzled_Record_3611@reddit
Me too. What was it?
LittleDiveBar@reddit
"I'd fuck a ducks arse"
miserablebaldy@reddit
It's black over Bills mother's
zombiejojo@reddit
Are you from Leicester?
miserablebaldy@reddit
Someone once said to me "what? Has Bill's mam moved then?" Cos the cloud was in a different place that the last time I said it 😆
miserablebaldy@reddit
Mansfield
AndyC154@reddit
Got a good mate who is from the north. I've recently used "stacking it" when explaining i had a fall. He had no idea, so I asked him what phrases he would use and one of them was "going the length" 😂
Free-Question-1614@reddit
I didn't realise "bloody hell" was British until I noticed alot of British characters saying it and no one else saying it
milly_nz@reddit
Not “just” British. Australia and NZ uses it when “bugger” or “fucking hell” is a bit too harsh for the situation in hand.
DShitposter69420@reddit
I feel like its overused in international media now. Ofc the Brit says "Bloody hell"
Free-Question-1614@reddit
Yeah absolutely, it's become a cliche in of itself, not as much as "blimey" though
ProfessionalVolume93@reddit
Very common.
Free-Question-1614@reddit
The misunderstanding or the phrase?
LoudAdhesiveness3263@reddit
Having to explain what 'hurts like buggery' meant was a fun time, ol.
HuskyLettuce@reddit
OP, we say both of those phrases in the US too.
Own_Secretary_6037@reddit
Do me a solid definitely an American thing first imo. Also some googling (e.g.) makes me feel like I’m not going crazy. I guess I’m just old, remembering a time when this was a clearly American phrase.
Own_Secretary_6037@reddit
Do me a solid must be an American thing, no? Not that I don’t say it sometimes, but I always hear it as an American phrase
secretlondon@reddit
Never heard the solid thing, and our swearing was like a trooper
Leatherforleisure@reddit
Do me a solid sounds pretty American tbh
FinneyontheWing@reddit
It is.
Late_Coyote_5239@reddit
Swears like a trouper in my neck of the woods
Hungry_Dimension_410@reddit
"You can't sit on your own arse"
ProfessionalVolume93@reddit
I now live in Canada. Canadians understand some British phrases and not others.
Also there are words that are commonly used in the UK that Canadians understand but don't use. Eg daft And others that they don't know eg twee
I have to check with my wife but she's now said she's learnt so many from me that's she's no longer sure if they are known here or not. She now likes to collect them and use them on unsuspecting Canadians. Her favorite at the moment is "as y'do".
There is no way in Canadian English to express "taking the piss".
saludpesetasamor@reddit
Taking the Michael? That’s how we say it when we’re being posh (or polite - I complained to a colleague yesterday that one of my inept account execs was ‘taking the absolute Michael’ because I don’t know her very well so was trying to be formal-like and not swear).
platypuss1871@reddit
Which itself was faux gentirified from "taking the mickey.'
rossdamerell@reddit
Tired and teasy. Always thought it was something everyone said but apparently just Cornwall.
platypuss1871@reddit
My wife is Cornish and she also says this. Teasy meaning irritable.
platypuss1871@reddit
"Not as green as he's cabbage-looking." for not easily fooled.
StooklyB84@reddit
"that's one for the onion bag" when you do something really good, a friend's Dad used to say it when we scored a good goal when we were about 9. I used it years later and everyone was like wtf.
platypuss1871@reddit
The "onion bag" is the goal net. Not sure it works outside football!
zombiejojo@reddit
That one's new on me! Thanks 👍😁
Present_Program6554@reddit
Curse like a trooper in Scotland
Wasps_are_bastards@reddit
Those are both common phrases.
vicarofsorrows@reddit
I’ve heard “swear like a bastard”, but it might be something from Viz….
Greendeco13@reddit
I say "like Billy oh" and people are like 'what?'
Elegant-Ninja-8166@reddit
As the son of a soldier I am familiar with most sayings of all natures but I have never heard Do me a solid. Can someone explain it to me?
Keztral-Berry@reddit
Do me a solid is pretty much, do me a favour. Do me a solid and pick up XYZ whilst you’re in town.
Keztral-Berry@reddit
I’ve always said ‘swear like a trucker’, not sure why that was always used in my family. A phrase I used on a Reddit comment, that sooo many people commented that they’d never heard before was ‘boils my piss!’
Quick-Oil-5259@reddit
Im in my 50s and swear like a trooper or sailor is very common.
Never heard of the do me a solid. I think that must be one younger people use.
I don’t hear eat or drink like a navvy much these days.
ImpatientHoneyBadger@reddit
You're fine, your work colleague though is thick as a whale omelette.
b3tarded@reddit
Can also be 'swear like a trooper'.
Quazzle@reddit
I’d always heard ‘swear like a sailor’, but my wife who is from a town with a large army base knew it as ‘swear like a trooper’ so maybe it just depends whichever branch of the armed forces is most relevant in your area.
pls_esplane@reddit
I'm from Utah where we have a large air force base and it is inland. I've only heard "swear like a sailor".
*I usually don't comment here since I'm not a Brit, just married to one, but I thought it was relevant to your pondering.
Sea_Opinion_4800@reddit
That's the one that came to mind for me. I don't think I've heard sailor. Maybe it's a Plymouth or Portsmouth thing.
sneachta@reddit
I'm American and I hear and use both.
Valuable-Meeting594@reddit
Yeah both of these are VERY common. Are you down south by any chance?
whovian567@reddit (OP)
No , West Midlands!
peewee526@reddit
"coming out the wazoo" until I said it in a meeting!
JJGOTHA@reddit
Calling a moth a, bobowler.
BrilliantOne3767@reddit
‘Dumb Waiter’ for the lift thing in a restaurant/ hotel. It’s a ‘Food Hoist’ FML.
Key_Seaworthiness827@reddit
No. It's a dumb waiter.
BrilliantOne3767@reddit
Not if you are ‘PC’ It’s like the slur of deaf people.
Key_Seaworthiness827@reddit
It carries food and plates. It can't talk. No slur there unless you're the type of person who actively looks for offence that they can take 😁
Marmalade43@reddit
Dumb waiter is the correct name for it.
BrilliantOne3767@reddit
Not if you study Architecture! My Tutor was like ‘WTF!’ It’s not PC AT ALL!
doublen89@reddit
I grew up hearing my mum say "it's humping it down" but when I said that when I moved away to uni it got a room full of hysterical laughter. Still not sure if it's common or not but I've never said it again
LongShotE81@reddit
When I say I could sleep on a chickens lip.
paperandcard@reddit
My dad used to say I swore like a navvy. I’m quite proud that I can at least do one thing more successfully than my dad.
Carlbertosilva@reddit
I used to think my family was a bit racist every time they said something (but crucially not someONE) was "as black as newgate's knocker"
Then I found out Newgate's knocker was indeed a black door knocker from a prison in Newgate. Not one of my friends had ever heard of the expression before, but I used to think it was really well known.
Ataralas@reddit
Those are really common, was the person not British? We have some weird sayings in my family that are definitely not common sayings but those 2 are really normal.
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Yeah they were British, just said they’d never heard of that in their life , I did think it was normal
Ataralas@reddit
Weird are they old? Young?
whovian567@reddit (OP)
Like fifties but the colleagues they asked were thirties and hadn’t heard of it
SnooRegrets8068@reddit
40s and I have heard of it from people who are now in their 70s... plus kids who are now in their 20s
Ataralas@reddit
Bizarre 😂 I’m mid 30s but my brother is nearly 50 and we definitely grew up hearing these things from our parents and grandparents 🤷🏼♀️
AverageCheap4990@reddit
Think they both fall into the common sayings category.
qualityvote2@reddit
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