Was watching a cop show where someone had been murdered.?ÿ The detective asked a guy on scene for the cause of death.?ÿ The reply was, "His head was stove in."
That's not a term heard every day.?ÿ Stove in or stove up may be used to mean the same thing, but not always.?ÿ I remember my dad coming in from a long day of hard work and saying he was "all stove up".
https://q1065.fm/which-is-it-stove-up-or-stove-in/
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Now, it's your turn to share an odd expression.
I always understood stove up to mean crippled by some cause and stove in to mean crushed by impact. Never went looking for the source, but do think they are odd expressions.
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This thread came to mind, I did not bother re-reading before posting but I recall some good ones in there.
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To "yard" something as in to move something is one I picked up somewhere but do not recall where.
Ok what is the etymology of "hornswoggle"? I know I sure wouldn't want to get hornswoggled at the auction buying cattle.
@lurker?ÿ
You got me.?ÿ Here's the best I can come up with.
Hornswoggle?ÿis a slang word of some considerable mystery, at least where its etymology is concerned. The word appears to have originated in the southern United States in the early 19th century. The earliest known written record comes from an 1829 issue of?ÿThe Virginia Literary Magazine?ÿin its glossary of Americanisms. The magazine states that?ÿhornswoggle?ÿcame from Kentucky, and its oddness matches nicely with other 19th-century Americanisms, such as?ÿsockdolager,?ÿabsquatulate,?ÿcallithump,?ÿslumgullion, and?ÿskedaddle. While the exact point at which?ÿhornswoggle?ÿentered our language, and the way in which it was formed, may remain unknown, it is a charming addition to our language, joining?ÿbamboozle?ÿand?ÿhoneyfuggle?ÿas colorful ways to say "to deceive."
Hornswoggle reminded me of the students in the class two years behind me in high school.?ÿ They were generally wild and unruly.?ÿ They began to develop their own language of a sort.?ÿ One term I recall was "raffle a snaffle", as in: I"m gonna raffle a snaffle.?ÿ The meaning was "find some food".
My wife called a few minutes ago and mentioned she had be supervising some young teenagers as they completed a volunteer project to dress up the school a bit prior to the first day.?ÿ She told me of accusing them of lollygagging.
Little did she know the racy past of that term.
Lollygagging, screwing around, goofing off ?? whatever you call it, we can all agree there a lot of ways to talk about wasting time in English.?ÿ
Kalen, who?ÿpreviously asked us about "druthers,"?ÿsays "I tell my kids all the time to not lollygag, doodle or dilly dally. They are fun words, to be sure, but where do they come from?"
They are most definitely fun words. But watch out for "lollygag." It seems innocent at first, but then things get kind of racy.
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"Lollygag," also known historically as "lallygag," comes into English in the mid-19th century meaning to dawdle. However, at that time, "lollygag" also meant to fool around.
Yes,?ÿthat?ÿkind of fooling around.
Check out this awesome line that appeared in an Iowa newspaper in 1868: ??The lascivious lollygagging lumps of licentiousness who disgrace the common decencies of life by their love-sick fawnings at our public dances."
Another great line from 1949 appears in the?ÿOxford English Dictionary: "Lollygagging was grandmother's word for love-making." Today "lollygag" means to idle or dawdle, though we're guessing that some of you may now be having second thoughts about using it.?ÿ ?ÿ
That's OK, we've got other words for wasting time. For example, the verb "doodle" can mean to draw or scribble but in an aimless, time-wasting manner. When you think about it that way, it makes sense that "doodle" can also mean to dawdle.
We've also got "dilly-dally." The base word "dally" came in from Old French hundreds of years ago and meant to chat idly. Over time "dally" picked up other meanings such as to toy with things or spend time idly.
By the 19th century we get "dilly dally." "Dilly dally" is an example of reduplication. That's when you repeat the form of a word but change the vowel. Other examples of reduplication include "flip flop," "zig zag," and "mish mash."
A dead whale or a stove boat was the motto of whalers in New Bedford and Nantucket, Massachusetts. The phrase is taken from the novel "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. It is also inscribed on the Whaleman Statue in New Bedford, meaning you either kill the whale or it will chew the boat to splinters. New Bedford is still known as the whaling city and was once the richest city per capita in the world.
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In New England we say "down east" meaning the coastal region of Maine even though the general direction would be north or northeast. It's origin is from the days when schooners were a mode of travel and shipping goods. Prevailing winds were favorable for ships travelling there, since it was down wind. The wind at your back fills the sails, and so northeast became down east or even downeast. For extra credit, and from my days of sailing, whenever the wind is at your back and filling the sails it is called a broad reach.
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Spizerinctum
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I remember coach Adolph Rupp using it to describe somebody with a lot of energy.
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How about knock the bejesus out of (someone or something)? To?ÿcause?ÿsignificant?ÿphysical?ÿinjury?ÿor?ÿdamage?ÿto?ÿsomeone?ÿor?ÿsomething.
Tom?ÿcaught?ÿsome?ÿguy?ÿtrying?ÿto?ÿbreak?ÿinto?ÿhis?ÿhouse?ÿand?ÿpromptly?ÿknocked?ÿthe?ÿbejesus?ÿout?ÿof?ÿhim.
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One of my favorite expressions during my adolescence! A band too?
The cows are gettin' down!
