Balderdash and Piffle

[jellysundae]

Do you have any favourite regional phrases or colourful cuss-words that you love to use on unsuspecting people?
How about something that your eldery relatives used to say but you've never heard since..
If you have some particularly gratifying terms or piquant vocabulary that you'd like to share, post it here!
Tell us its origin if you know, and give us a translation too so we can use it to full effect wink  

[Rhiannon2006]

"fair to middlin' "

Used in response to question - "How are you?" Haven't heard this phrase used much beyond the southern US.

Origin of the phrase (or my understanding of its origin) was actually a quality grading of cotton boles/ fibers... good, fair or middle, poor.

Is this what you're after, Jelly?  

[Harbone]

Alright! I'm glad this thread's up!

I'll have lots to add, but I think I'll start with catawhumpus - which is like a general commotion.

I also like comparatives, like "month of Sundays." AS IN: "I haven't seen you in a month of sundays" (This is still used in familiar conversation 'round here. But not very often in a formal context, even among family members.)


And how about Howdy! It's kind of dying out, but I love it as a greeting. It combines hello and How are you into one, easy holler.  

[Umberella]

der-hay
Means "duh".
California at its best!
I always say howdy instead of hello. Just more friendly-like!  

[Trespassers W]

I thought "catawumpus" was disordered, messed up, all askew. Maybe it's used differently in different regions?

As for insults, you can get lovely insults like this: "Thou dankish pox-marked maggot-pie!"
here: Shakespearean Insult Generator

Some of my favorite insults come from Bugs Bunny: "wingnut" and "ultramaroon" are a couple of good ones. Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, coined the excellent insult, "nimrod."  

[Lil Brat]

From my father's days in the Airforce:

Take an aeronautical intercourse with a rotating article of perforated pastry.


Translation: Take a flying f*** with a rolling donut. twisted

Very few people actually take the time to figure out the phrase and the baffled look just makes it all the funnier.  

[I Ceymore Ratz]

Harbone

Alright! I'm glad this thread's up!

I'll have lots to add, but I think I'll start with catawhumpus - which is like a general commotion.

I also like comparatives, like "month of Sundays." AS IN: "I haven't seen you in a month of sundays" (This is still used in familiar conversation 'round here. But not very often in a formal context, even among family members.)


And how about Howdy! It's kind of dying out, but I love it as a greeting. It combines hello and How are you into one, easy holler.

We use 19 fore evers.

How about "Thats the cats meow"  

[Rhiannon2006]

My great-grandma used to say this one...

"If wishes were horses, then frogs wouldn't bump their butts when they hopped."

She was a neat lady. Sharp as a tack. Loved to say goofy things to the us great-grands to get our attention when we were being too rowdy. She lived to be 104!  

[Eirwyn]

When I lived in Indiana, you said "Hi", "Hello", or sometimes "Howdy" (a lot of Kentucky & Tennessee immigrants in Indiana). When I came to NC, I discovered the word "Hey!" was not always as in, "Hey, YOU!" but also called out as a friendly greeting.
Took many months to stop reacting to it as though someone was yelling at me.... rofl

I posted something else in a thread like this over in ~*~Halcyon Days~*~. Don't know whether to repeat it or not.... mrgreen  

[Blackwing Rose]

Lil Brat

Take an aeronautical intercourse with a rotating article of perforated pastry.

I knew this one, even before I quoted it and saw all the text. My mom is fond of saying it. twisted

My grandmother's favorite saying was "You have the same pair of pants to get glad in as you got mad in." This used to infuriate me because she'd say it like it solved everything and in my mind it meant nothing.

The fact that it pissed me off, of course, guranteed she'd say it everytime. rofl  

[Lil Brat]

My grandma's wording was a little different: "You can get glad in the same clothes you got mad in... " but yes, it was a matter-of-fact statement that was supposed to end your upset. lol

My grandfather (usually uttered whilst driving behind someone whose driving had offended him): "He wouldn't know how to pour piss out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel."  

[Jendaya]

Growing up my dad would always use the term "assbackwards".

Quote:

a**•back•wards
Pronunciation: (as'bak'wurdz), [key]
—adv. Slang (sometimes vulgar).
1. in an order or way reverse from the usual
2. in a manner incongruously or preposterously counter to what is customary, probable, or feasible.

So, being a kid and all, not wanting to get in trouble for cussing, I would use the term "bassackwards".

Quote:

bass•ack•wards
Pronunciation: (bas'ak'wurdz), [key]
—adv., adj. Slang.
assbackwards: used as a euphemism.

 

[Lil Brat]

Jendaya

Growing up my dad would always use the term "assbackwards".

Quote:

a**•back•wards
Pronunciation: (as'bak'wurdz), [key]
—adv. Slang (sometimes vulgar).
1. in an order or way reverse from the usual
2. in a manner incongruously or preposterously counter to what is customary, probable, or feasible.

So, being a kid and all, not wanting to get in trouble for cussing, I would use the term "bassackwards".

Quote:

bass•ack•wards
Pronunciation: (bas'ak'wurdz), [key]
—adv., adj. Slang.
assbackwards: used as a euphemism.

Same here ~ although all our family used the bassackwards phrase.

I'd never heard the frogs added to the "If wishes were" before ~ we got the standard: "If wishes were wings, horses would fly." or "Want in one hand, s**t in the other." Gee thanks, Dad. lol  

[Lil-Jo]

Growing up we had a way of twisting words for phrases... catawumpus became Kittywumpus or catacorner became kittycorner...

My grandmother would use a lot of phrases in polish so I really cannot write them down, I couldn't spell them if I wanted to... one of her favorites was (and this is done as phonically as I can remember):

kitchy fross toom doupia sedja (that came out bad)

but the translation was : What in the heck is up your a**...  

[Lil Brat]

Ah the very foreign words: Another from my father's military days, I believe it is Japanese:

Che-si-tom-dom-anai (yes, I'm sure I am taking huge liberties with the spelling, mostly trying to come up with the phonetics of the phrase)

Which apparently translates to something about crabs... and not the ones you eat... apparently some of his buddies required treatment eek