Sunday, January 25, 2009

Another installment

So far we've come up with 429 old sayings our parents were known to use on a consistent basis. I have a theory that this is in part the reason why Earnie and I are very strong analogical thinkers. Anyway it's just a theory...

I also note that I cannot think of many of these idiomatic/axiomatic sayings that have been created in the past fifty years. They all seem to have emerged over the mid 19th to early 20th century. Other than "jump the shark" I cannot think of many new ones out there. Or am I just getting old?

200. Like a bull in a china shop
201. Tippecanoe and Tyler too
202. They are as thick as thieves
203. He’d rob you blind
204. My get up and go just got up and went
205. Don’t make promises you can’t keep
206. That thunder is just God’s tater wagons turning over
207. He’s drumming up trouble
208. Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care
209. About as useful as a screendoor on a submarine
210. That and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee
211. What this country needs is a damn good depression
212. There’s light at the end of the tunnel
213. A penny saved is a penny earned
214. A penny for your thoughts
215. Children should be seen and not heard
216. Like a wiggle worm in hot ashes
217. Like two peas in a pod
218. Goes together like peas and carrots
219. There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians around here
220. You couldn’t suit her if your life depended on it
221. Like a bat out of hell
222. Like rats off a sinking ship
223. Better get while the gettin’ is good
224. Batten down the hatches, full steam ahead
225. Don’t take any wooden nickels
226. Not worth a continental
227. Not worth a grain of salt
228. He didn’t have one thin dime
229. It’s not whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game
230. Finder’s keepers, losers, weepers
231. When you fall off a horse you have to get back in the saddle
232. It can be here today and gone tomorrow
233. There’s nothing worse than a welcher
234. Don’t be an Indian giver
235. Remember in life there are no guarantees
236. Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve
237. He couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag
238. He’ll soon be pushing up daisies
239. You’d better knock on wood
240. Always a day late and a dollar short
241. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
242. He hasn’t got the sense God gave a goose
243. He hasn’t got the sense God gave a woodpecker
244. You bet your bottom dollar
245. Down to the last pea in the dish
246. He hasn’t got a pot to pee in
247. Better make hay while the sun is shining
248. I declare as I live and breathe
249. Bless my soul
250. Bless her little pea pickin’ heart
251. Monkey see, monkey do
252. That’ll happen when pigs fly
253. What's that Thingamabob
254. That's a Dooma –flotchey
255. No its a Thingamajig
256. It’ll be a cold day in hell when I apologize
257. She’s driving me nuts
258. Jumpin Jehosaphat!
259. Great minds think alike
260. He has one screw loose
261. She is in a snit.
262. One wheel's loose and the other’s draggin
263. My wagon’s draggin’
264. That's the long and the short of it
265. One card short of a full deck
266. Sweeter than candy
267. Too old to cut the mustard
268. Heard anything worth repeatin’?
269. Keep this girl fed and you’ll never have any trouble out of her
270. She’s a Jabberwocky
271. He’s a blabbermouth
272. Not for love nor money
273. It takes two to tango
274. Two’s company and three’s a crowd.
275. Now the fat is in the fire
276. Out of the frying pan and into the fire
277. I am fair to middlin’
278. Take an old cold tater and wait
279. I don’t give a hoot nor a holler
280. That’s a fine how do you do
281. There’s another fine mess you’ve got me into
282. One time shame on you the second time shame on me
283. Now ain’t that a crying shame?
284. The world in going to the dogs
285. The bigger they are the harder they fall
286. Don’t toot your own horn
287. Friends are few and far between
288. He’s lost his marbles
289. Out of sight out of mind
290. You’re going down the wrong track
291. Better late than never
292. A stitch in time saves nine
293. Never look a gift horse in the mouth
294. I’m so busy I met myself coming and going
295. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today
296. It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump from here
297. Better you than me
298. Over there down yonder
299. Way down yonder in the paupau patch
300. She’s high as a kite
301. She’s skinny as a rail
302. Go take a hike

No comments: