Your "windcheater" would then be our "windbreaker" in the US.

Correction re tomato pronunciation: some parts of the US do in fact pronounce it "Tomahto". ;-)

Kath, a hoodie here in the UK has come to mean more than the 'hooded fleece' and often refers to the wearer. So 'a hoodie' is likely to be a youth from a run-down housing estate who hangs about shopping centres, hurls abuse at his neighbours and sets fire to cars. The Govt has introduced 'Anti Social Behaviour Orders', usually requiring some sort of curfew on these kids or banning them from certain areas of a town/city, or, dare one say it, suggesting their parents/guardians take a firmer hand in their upbringing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hoodies

Anyone unfamiliar with the distinctive Carolina Piedmont accent ought to see the film "Junebug." In it is a local artist who is quite picturesque. Even I, who have relatives in that part of NC, felt I almost needed subtitles to understand his "twang."

Tighter than Dick's hat band - old saying for "really tight"

Darker than the inside of your hat (also really old)

Looking in a dark room, for a black cat, that isn't there -to mean your completely missing the point.

Some more expressions for a person that isn't "with it":

Not the sharpest tool in the shed;
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer;
Not firing on all cylinders.

To describe a person or bully, that will back down from his position with a little pressure:

He'll fold like a cheap suit (or like a cheap fan, or cheap suitcase).

RE: being extremely cold: Colder than a witches t*t in a brass bra.

Persona non grata: As welcome as a whore in church.

More expressions for a person who has drunk too much:

well-oiled or snockered (old-fashioned)

I'm from the Northeast U.S., but lived in Texas for quite a while. I heard the expression "might could" (as in, "I might could get it done by the end of the day"), which means, "might be able to"....

Texans are fond of reminding an outsider that, "Just because we talk slow, doesn't mean we think slow." (A fair warning)

In the North, we say "you guys" to address a group, no matter what gender(s) comprise(s) the group - just like Southerners say y'all

Also, when I visited Australia, I was recounting to some other lodgers (Australians), the difficulty I had when I wanted to get a haircut. I asked the people at the salon to cut my bangs, which drew blank stares. After showing them exactly what I meant, they laughed and said, "Oh! You want your fringe trimmed!"

The Australians also got a kick out of the fact that we say blinkers or directionals for the lights on the car which let other drivers know you're going to turn....they called them indicators (which made a lot of sense).

Yes, I can imagine an Australian not knowing what bangs are - I did, but it was only from reading US books and watching TV. I doubt bangs are discussed on today's TV shows, but Patty Duke probably mentioned them *g*.

I am, however, a bit surprised about blinkers, as I have often heard them called that here, although indicators is more common. Directionals, though, is new to me. A friend said her father used to chastise drivers who were late with their use of these, saying 'they are indicators, not confirmators!'

Some of these are probably from the Arkansas Ozarks and other parts of the US South. Others are phrases my mother used (New England/New York background).

so low I could walk under a duck (feeling very depressed indeed)

rare as hen's teeth

aimin' to do something - approximately the same as "fixin to do something"

can't hit the broadside of a barn (has poor aim)

In Chicago in a heavily German area, I recall hearing "Are you coming with?" often. Also "He's going to be by us tonight" meaning "He's going to be at our place."

In Arizona (in Tucson at least) we have:

Bum-F* Egypt - to be far away from (ex. I had to park in Bum-F* Egypt)

Like a bum on a balogna sandwich - you want something bad

I just thought of an old one I've never heard outside of the deep South: "talkin' poormouth." As in the neighbor who lost his food, furnishing, clothes, etc. in the house fire came around "talking poormouth" ,e.g. hinting for a handout.

My dear old Dad used to always say " Don't let the loose end drag!" to anyone he was seeing off or leaving!
Now when I say it I always reference Dad. I find it very heart-warming to keep his memory with me that way.

I love it.... I don't really know exactly what it means.....probably something like " Hang in there."

CC, just came across "stop teaching your grandmother to suck eggs" in something I was reading. It also included this one, which I like: "...we must let no grass grow under our feet."

Had to add "Common as pig tracks" and "Ugly as home made sin." I've never quite understood why home made sin is uglier than any other kind. We say "kitty wampus" as opposed to catty whampus but I'm sure it means the same thing. Also, "Garden Seed!" is used as an expletive her in east Tennessee.

I meant, of course, here in East Tennessee. We sometimes say poke for bag and a "Georgia suitcase" is a paper or now even a plastic bag used to carry belongings. How about "close enough for government work" meaning not very precise. I think "young uns" is pretty universal now for children. "Happy as a pig in mud" is common but in our family it was always "Happy as a pig on ice"- I don't know where that came from.
Susan

Woodnymph, I always heard poor mouthing to be talking as though one didn't have two dimes to rub together but in truth were doing fine. I see it as a passive-aggressive way to disparage other people's spending habits. I confess to a tendency to act like I'm broke and have had to force myself not to poor-mouth once I realized it was disrespectful to those who were indeed poor. Of course, these days....

Don't you love the way these conversations can span years?

well, store-bought sin had to be prettier, don't you think? To encourage purchasers? ;-)

I substitute regularly for one or another on a team of teachers who have, collectively, 140 kiddos who can be challenging for substitutes. I love them, they are inventive and creative and there are a lot of really good kids in there-but many with issues and a few who are "too cool for school" and trying to be oh so "street"-at age 12 and here in farm country. They are famous for conning unwary substitutes into letting them do things that are not allowed....and every so often one tries it on me....forgetting I know them so well. When they do, I usually say, "Do you think I just fell off the pickle truck?" The past two days I was there again, teaching social studies this time, and once again there was the attempt-"no, really, he lets us..." Before I could even start my line, one of the other "toughies" came out with "forget it, J...she didn't just drive the pickle truck."

My husband is from Ohio, and he says, "Do you think I came in on a load of pumpkins?" I haven't heard the pickle truck expression, but it resonates more with me because we raised "pickles" which we picked and took to the pickle factory.

I have also heard "just come in from the cabbage patch." But the pickle truck (my Jewish grandfather used to say it) strikes the kids funny.

I would've always used the rather prosaic "Do you think I was born yesterday ?" for that, but my wife's Irish family use the rather more picturesque "Do I look like I came up the Lagan in a bubble ?"

This made me chuckle : "Is the Pope Catholic ?, Do one legged ducks swim in circles ?"

On the subject of "yonder", it's still quite commonplace here in the North of England. As in the phrase "Wandering yonder, hither and thither" for rather aimless excursions.

For the parsimonious, I've heard both "He's tighter than a duck's arse", or alternatively "tighter than a gnat's chuff".

To describe a not too bright colleague: "He's a bit of a bungalow" - i.e, "the lift doesn't go to the top floor".

Some of these colloquialisms have rather unpleasant undertones, which I suppose is why they're not more widely transmitted. A broadly spoken Mancunian secretary I once knew astounded us with the phrase "Eeh. I was shakin' like a spook on a rape charge...."

I had to laugh at the "Georgia suitcase", particularly as I was born in GA and never heard that expression! ;-)

My cousins in NC still say "young'uns" for kids of any age, and go "down yonder" to the tobacco fields.

About a decade ago when I was with cousins in NC, I heard: "Even a blind hog could find itself an acorn." ( I suspect, meaning even a fool could see the obvious).

BTW,
People here would never refer to their flower gardens as gardens-gardens are vegetable gardens and no matter the size, flower gardens are flower beds or as we say "flairbez" Peonies are "pineys" Cannas are "caneys" Daffodils are 'Easter flairs" (so are Easter lilies) you have to know the context!
I like the reasoning that store bought sin is prettier due to purchasing power!
Susan

Organic bassetlvr, where are you from? Sounds like my rural Kentucky roots.

Carolyn,
I'm from East Tennessee. We are more mountain than Southern! I saw in the pronunciation thread about Big Tom from Virginia on Survivor & how people couldn't understand him & had to laugh. I guess it does take some getting used to but it was music to my ears!
Susan

re: Georgia suitcase....my grandmother here in PA called brown paper bags a "Jersey suitcase"-I have a feeling that is one that changes with geography.

During my travels in the Southern US; I have not forgotten when a clerk asked, "Would you like that in a sack, sir? I stood there thinking I should pick my chin from the floor. To me a sack was a cloth bag that held 100 lbs of flour or somesuch. It dawned on me that she meant a paper bag. And my wife still bristles when someone refers to her as "HoneyChile". It takes a few minutes to calm her down. :)
Regards,
Bob

Bob, would she prefer "sugah"? "Darlin' precious?"

Geez Carolyn, I would not want to be around then. LOL
Bob

Oh, these are great! One of my favorites is "happy as a clam at high tide". The "high tide" part is almost always left off, which makes it odd on its own.
My fil, who grew up in a PA coal mining county, called hotdogs "tube steaks" and would often say "..."you got your there two, three...+ noun"
I grew up in CT and we're known for our use of the phrase "all set" as in telling a waitress you don't need anything else.
Jo

I've heard (and used), "Do I look like I came down in the last shower?"/"I didn't come down in the last shower" as indicating "I'm not naive".
An expression I used once on a forum which raised questions was "fossicking", as in "I was fossicking through an old cupboard when I found..." . I suppose the closest synonym would be "scrabbling around in". "Fossick" can also be used as a noun: "Here's a box full of odds and sods for you to have a good fossick."
A couple of family expressions are "With a bit of luck and a forky stick..." and "Aha! she cried and waved her wooden leg." I think my husband got the latter expression from one of his high school teachers.
And going way back in the thread, yoyobon referred to "stirring a turd" as in raising trouble. Here a common expression meaning the same is "s**t-stirring", and the kind of person that does this is a "s**t-stirrer".

My grandmother would often put things down and not remember where, causing housewide searches. When she finally did locate whatever it was, she would say "'Here it is,' said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw."

My dad used the same "hammer and saw" expression, I haven't heard it in years. And at our house we didn't fall off the pickle truck, we fell off the turnip truck -- who knows why?

Just remembered:
"He/she has more front than Mark Foy's"- Has a real nerve, or a lot of chutzpah. Mark Foy's was a Victorian department store in Sydney which was huge and built on a corner with two long and elaborate street frontages, hence a lot of front.
"He/she has tickets on him/herself"- he/she is extremely vain
"He/she's got Buckley's"- your chances are poor indeed. The saying started off as "He/she has two chances, Buckley's and none." Two streams of thought on this: two chances, Buckley's and none (Buckley was a convict who escaped but since there was only wilderness to escape to, and he lived with Aboriginal tribes for twenty years or so, I guess it wasn't considered a terribly successful option), and a play on words, Buckley's and Nunn, which was a department store in the early days.

When I was growing up in the deep south, we used to "mash" doorbells, rather than push or press buttons. When I moved north, I got some pretty strange looks, with this usage, which I abandoned. Then, some 25 years later, when I heard my friend from Mississippi talk of "mashing" the enter key on the computer, I laughed out loud....

I just found this thread and enjoyed it all over again!

Believe it or not, I am still discovering new expressions that tickle me....most recently I heard this twice in one day and had never heard it before : "Katie bar the door!"
Anyone else know this one?
What is your interpretation?

I have a friend who, when something really distasteful or disgusting would happen or be said she'd say " Cover the butter!!"

I, too, love this thread. Thanks for bringing it up again. I recently heard "Katie, bar the door", while watching a program on St. Patrick's day and the history of Ireland. I've forgotten the meaning, however, Perhaps someone familiar with Irish expressions can help enlighten us?

Not Irish, but I've always heard the expression. Here, it is used humorously to mean to stop something catastrophic from happening.

My mother, when having had a 'woman's look' and located something we couldn't find, would say 'If it had teeth, it would have bitten you'.

I have enjoyed reading this through and thought of a couple more (mostly care of my mother and grandfather).

Silly as a sh*thouse rat

Can't tell A from a bull's foot - my grandfather used to say this of someone a bit slow on the uptake, but in fact it should be 'Can't tell B from a bull's foot' as the cloven hoof makes a B shape LOL!

Happy as Larry

Slow as a wet week

My mother also talks of 'rooting around' for something in a drawer or cupboard, and this is one I often say too, but I do get some funny looks from youngsters, as 'rooting' is a euphemism for intercourse in Australia.

Discussing a particular type of person: She wouldn't say sh*t if she had a mouthful!

Ah, there's another of my mother's - Wouldn't say sh*t for a shilling.

I just read an article by Jodi Picoult about living in New Hampshire. Neither she, or her children who were born there, are accepted as locals. She quotes an old New England saying "Just 'cause the cat had kittens in the oven it don't make them muffins." A similar attitude prevails in my rural neck of the woods where 'strangers' (ie from the next village) are regarded with suspicion and there is hostility towards "Them Welshies" from "down Wales" . . .the border is all of 6 miles away.

Kath, I can't imagine my late Mother ever used the sh*t word. Until quite recently it was considered really rude in the UK. On the other hand bloody was/is bandied about with gay abandon which may not be the case in the US and I'm sure bugger is never used except in Aus and the UK. ;-)

Vee, my mother is rather 'forward' in the swearing department, especially for an 84 year old!
I have attached a link to Youtube to a Toyota ad from a few years ago - quite amusing, and related to your comments above :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Toyota ad

Kath, really funny and so dead pan and just showed it to John and he is still chuckling.

I have to add something that my father used to say when something smelled bad....."It would knock a dog off a gut wagon". Now I don't think I have ever used that phrase....until I had my cat to the vet and described his bad breath as above. I could not believe I said that, but the vet and his assistant loved it, and plan on keeping it to use when necessary.

Regarding something which smells really bad.....I've heard the expression: "It would gag a maggot."

Dog`s breakfast means a mess as in `That`s a real dog`s breakfast.`
Moose pasture is used to mean a swamp.
A logger`s suitcase is a case of beer.

"built like a brick s--thouse."

"cold enough to freeze the b---s off a brass monkey."

"He doesn't know s--t from Shinola."

"as slow as molasses."

"as slow as Christmas."

"like waiting for paint to dry."

"locking the barn after the horse is stolen."

Kath, we in the south say: "If it were a snake, it would have bitten you." ;-)

In New England, I heard "something in the oven" (meaning to be pregnant).

Believe it or not.."For the love of mud" was an old family expression. Have no idea where it came from!

This is a fun thread! The expression that comes to mind is "come hell or high water." I was doing my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 80s when Fred Cassidy was down the hall working on the huge DARE project (Dictionary of American Regional Speech). If you don't know this multi-volume book and like this thread, check it out! It is a fascinating work, preserving all the colorful American dialect and folk speech that is so rapidly disappearing. . .

"If the good lord's willin' and the creek don't rise."

"Dad blame it! and "Rotten on it!" when frustrated.

"I don't give a fat rat."

"Flatter than a flitter."

SOS - "Sh**T on Shingle" Navy talk for chipped beef on toast.

"Bug juice" - another Navy term for Kool-Aid

One I heard growing up in TX/NM "useless as a fart in a whirlwind".

When I was 5, I said the s-word. Mom slapped me clear across the kitchen. (Only time she ever slapped me.) It was probably 35 years before that word crossed my lips again. Funny thing. Now that Mom has lost the filter in her brain, I'm the one asking her to please not "talk like that around me."

Growing up, my dad always considered himself to be very amusing. I disagreed. Therefore, the only one of his expressions I can think of right now is "waiting like pigs at a trough", which he used when someone hadn't arrived at the table yet and he (or someone else) started eating anyway. Thanks everyone, for this great thread.