Funny(odd) sayings and their meanings.....

that something is "Slicker than owl *&^*"

Anyone know where this is from? "May daddy always said "if you get to old to cut the mustard, lick the jar""

The first one I use more than I should, something my dad always said growing up, I guess owl poop is slick and abundant in West Pelzer, SC.

The second, no clue, but love the documentary that it is from.
 
My favorite Sicilian uncle used to say the thing about "When you can't cut the mustard you can always lick the jar." Knowing my uncle it had to do with sex and he was being forced to take blood pressure medication that made it difficult for him to perform, hence not being able to "cut the mustard" but that didn't prevent him from "licking the jar"...I always thought that was pretty self explanitory.
His favorite toast was "Heres to the cut that never heals, the more you rub it the better it feels." It probably sounded alot more poetic in Italian.
 
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"There are no atheists in foxholes."

Ernie Pyle
Chaplain William T. Cummings
Dwight D. Eisenhower
LTC Warren J. Clear, USA
LTC William Casey, USA, OSS

Take your pick.
 
GKC said:
Some that I have read or heard are obviously just misused words, like: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." (Unless it literally means to pick up any eating utensils you come across.)

This one, though, I came across recently, and I can make no sense of it whatsoever:

"One should never use a dead pig for a prop while doing stand up comedy." :confused:
Click to expand...

What? The knee-slapping hilarity of this axiom is not immediately apparent???
 
One my ex FIL used to say always puzzled me,

"Well dog my soul in a country store"

?????????????
 
Hudgehog said:
tAnyone know where this is from? "May daddy always said "if you get to old to cut the mustard, lick the jar""
Click to expand...

Well, Kinman beat me to it, but "too old to cut the mustard" was a way of referring to something television ads now call "ED." They have pills for it these days.

Hudgehog, sounds like your daddy may have been a bit of a player back when. (As many of us once were, or tried to be.) :)
 
Alpo said:
Donald Hamilton western, and this guy is buying supplies, and the storekeeper says he'll give the man a mule, to carry them. The man, suspicious, says, "What's wrong with the mule?"

Storekeeper says, "What's wrong with him? Everything. He's stubborn, he balks, he'll stomp your feet, he eats to much, and he tries to run off at night. But for free you can afford to shoot him when you can't stand him any longer." :D
Click to expand...

Thanks. Great bit of dialogue. Do you recall the name of the western?
 
"If you have to quibble over a few dollars on a big ticket purchase, you really can't afford it."
 
Back in high school in the '60s, for a time a lot of the girls became fond of the line, "Wet birds don't fly at night." Nobody actually knew what it meant--probably nothing--but it sounded vaguely profound.
 
looseman said:
My Mother-in-Law...

"Holy Buckets!" - general exclamation.

"You had ducks in yer bed'- your hair is messed up

"Lord love a duck" - still havn't figured that one out
Click to expand...

Lord love a duck I believe was an old 1960's comedy movie Tuesday Weld/Roddy McDowel..not sure how that computes
 
I originally heard the saying in the 1960s as "Lord love a ruptured duck" and was told it was a vague reference to the emblem sewn on solders uniforms after WW2. Used in exasperation or self pity as in “Lord help this poor, discharged soldier.” However an 'net search indicates the saying is English and dates to at least 1907. So either the explaination I was given is wrong or the new intrepretation was adopted latter.
 
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" Lit up like a Polish church". Heard from my brother in laws German relatives. I don't know what it means.
 
"Don't get wrapped around the axle" -- i.e. don't get caught up in minor details -- I think this orginates from getting baling wire wrapped around a tractor axle while doing field work (according to one of my uncles"

"Spool it up" -- a common saying among Army aviators that I heard while assigned to an aviation unit (after years of being assigned to
infantry units) -- it means let's get on with it or let's go -- refers to
a helicopter with the blades turning at normal rpm while sitting on the ground, the blades are "spooled up" (i.e. turning around much faster) as the helo engines rpm's are increased right before takeoff.

"Ramp up" -- a term I heard from mechanized infantry troops for the first time while attending Bradley Fighting Vehicle training -- the Bradley has a rear ramp that drops down so troops can enter or exit the BFV -- you close the ramp prior to departure from an area --
"ramp up" became a common term for "let's go", or "let's go very quickly" in every day usage.

"That dog won't hunt" -- meaning that that line of thought is incorrect or ridiculous or has no credibility -- a country saying ( a dog that won't hunt, i.e. track or scent birds, is useless to it's owner) -- such a dog becomes known as a "biscuit hound" ( a dog that just hangs around for food but has no useful qualities), and used in a colloquial way in the South to describe a lazy or useless person.
 
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