Lysanderix Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 Love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJC Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 What does ‘right as rain’ mean? I know that it’s supposed to mean that all is good, but it doesn’t say that to me.l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 9 minutes ago, DaveJC said: What does ‘right as rain’ mean? I know that it’s supposed to mean that all is good, but it doesn’t say that to me.l I would have thought that the meaning was that rain has always been good for farmers of all types and it couldn’t do no wrong as it was always welcome, so it’s the same for any person who doesn’t cause harm or destruction to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 Mainly due to the alliteration it seems: explanation here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterinfrance Posted August 3, 2021 Author Share Posted August 3, 2021 4 hours ago, MartinR said: Mainly due to the alliteration it seems: explanation here Right, in the phrase " as right as rain, " originally meant straight in direction. And The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms ( 1993) agrees. It says as right as rain is: A pun on the original meaning of right = straight. 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 Another phrase used a few years ago was,,,as straight as a die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 @peterinfrance That doesn't quite tie up with the precursor phrases such as "right as my leg" or "right as adamant". The earliest attested quotation from the OED is 1891 (the Quinion/Childs piece cited above only mentions 1909). OED also cites the Chaucer quote: "Right as an Adamaund I wys Can drawen to hym sotylly The Iren" [right as an adamant I know can draw to him subtly (ie unexplained) the iron] of c.1400, attested 1425. Note that here adamant is being used as an alternative name for lodestone [magnetic iron oxide] rather than for its hardness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 @Lysanderix Another non-Sheffield expression I'm afraid. "As smooth as a die" comes from 1530, and from smooth and flat ("Ye tide was out all upon the sands at Least a mile, wch was as smooth as a Die") comes straight by 1878. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidneystone Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 Bent as a nine Bob note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 That’s a pity .Martin. I had long believed the expression of a persons integrity had come from the need for a pair of drop stamp dies to fit “straight” and in line in order to function correctly.😗 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJC Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 This was South Yorkshire rather than Sheffield but I still smile when the clock is at ten minutes to ten, this is known as ‘Cowboy Time’ Tentotentotentotentoten OK I’ll get mi coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopman Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 31 minutes ago, DaveJC said: This was South Yorkshire rather than Sheffield but I still smile when the clock is at ten minutes to ten, this is known as ‘Cowboy Time’ Tentotentotentotentoten OK I’ll get mi coat. That's almost as bad as the Lone Ranger seen carrying a bag of rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJC Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 11 minutes ago, Hopman said: That's almost as bad as the Lone Ranger seen carrying a bag of rubbish. You’ll not get around me with compliments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 Though not really a saying, both my parents always used the 19th century term when telling the time which was, five and twenty past or five and twenty to, while I always said twenty five to and twenty five past, I suppose my grandparents both used the 19th century time telling as their parents did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 @tozzin - not particularly Sheffield, it was pretty common in the generation that grew up between the wars. My Mum certainly used that system (b. 1923), so not C19 specifically, and I often heard it from the "old 'uns" when growing up. There was a report, I think last year, that some schools are replacing their dial clocks with digital ones in exam rooms. Evidently the rising generation are more used to digital displays and have problems with a dial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 7 hours ago, MartinR said: @tozzin - not particularly Sheffield, it was pretty common in the generation that grew up between the wars. My Mum certainly used that system (b. 1923), so not C19 specifically, and I often heard it from the "old 'uns" when growing up. There was a report, I think last year, that some schools are replacing their dial clocks with digital ones in exam rooms. Evidently the rising generation are more used to digital displays and have problems with a dial. The five and twenty to was indeed used by my parents up to their deaths, dad in 1966 and mom in 1972 but it was a reminder of when timekeeping was very important when timepieces were invented not just the 19th century as I stated, I only said 19th century because that’s when my grandparents were born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 If someone was a bit useless at mending things etc, they were “Cac Handed” and if someone walked with their feet turned slightly inward they were “ Twiddley Toe’d” , if they’d add feet that were turned outwards , they invariably had “ Five To One “ feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Aged 3 , I was diagnosed by the Clinic as being “flat footed and twiddly toed”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Cack-handed Another one where a trip to the OED is illuminating. (The earliest documented use of the word is in 1854 in a glossary of Northamptonshire words. Variants: cag-, kack-, keck-handed. Cack The story starts with Latin: cacare = "to void excrement". From this there are Dutch, german and Polish equivalents: cacken, kakken, kacken and kakati. In recorded English the first use was in the mid-C15, with a nice example from William Caxton: "One that cacked golde". However in Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon) there is recorded the term "cac-hus" for a latrine. Variant form: crap Both words are marked as "Obsolete or dialect". On a personal note, "cack" was regarded as very naughty (to an 8 year old) in 1960s Black Country. Khaki I've always wondered about this word and it's connection to cack. There's no documented connection in the OED, khaki comes from Urdu "dusty". Given the common exchange of meanings between "earth", "mud", "bog", "mire" and similar words however I suspect it's that there is a common PIE root. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 9 minutes ago, MartinR said: Cack-handed Another one where a trip to the OED is illuminating. (The earliest documented use of the word is in 1854 in a glossary of Northamptonshire words. Variants: cag-, kack-, keck-handed. Cack The story starts with Latin: cacare = "to void excrement". From this there are Dutch, german and Polish equivalents: cacken, kakken, kacken and kakati. In recorded English the first use was in the mid-C15, with a nice example from William Caxton: "One that cacked golde". However in Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon) there is recorded the term "cac-hus" for a latrine. Variant form: crap Both words are marked as "Obsolete or dialect". On a personal note, "cack" was regarded as very naughty (to an 8 year old) in 1960s Black Country. Khaki I've always wondered about this word and it's connection to cack. There's no documented connection in the OED, khaki comes from Urdu "dusty". Given the common exchange of meanings between "earth", "mud", "bog", "mire" and similar words however I suspect it's that there is a common PIE root. Cacare "to avoid excrement" Cac is the Irish word for S**t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinR Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 I shoul have mentioned why cack-handed = left-handed. Historically, when hand-washing was less common, the rule was to use the left hand for "personal cleaning" and the right for feeding. You still see this in Middle-Eastern culture where you only eat using the right hand. Hence is someone was using his left hand it was his "cack" hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 4 hours ago, MartinR said: I shoul have mentioned why cack-handed = left-handed. Historically, when hand-washing was less common, the rule was to use the left hand for "personal cleaning" and the right for feeding. You still see this in Middle-Eastern culture where you only eat using the right hand. Hence is someone was using his left hand it was his "cack" hand. I recall "cack-handed" being used to mean "clumsy" and, less frequently "left-handed" - for which my parents used the term "keggy-handed", which is doubtless etymologically connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 On 16/08/2021 at 10:11, MartinR said: I think last year, that some schools are replacing their dial clocks with digital ones in exam rooms. Evidently the rising generation are more used to digital displays and have problems with a dial. Schools are supposed to teach things to children. Then bluddy well teach them analogue time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athy Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 It occurred to me today, as I mentioned to Mrs. Athy that she'd left the door "staring wide open", that this was another expression which I learned from my parents. Was it particular to them, was it common Sheffield usage, or is/was it used outside the area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tozzin Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 4 minutes ago, Athy said: It occurred to me today, as I mentioned to Mrs. Athy that she'd left the door "staring wide open", that this was another expression which I learned from my parents. Was it particular to them, was it common Sheffield usage, or is/was it used outside the area? I’ve never heard that expression before, but it’s brilliant, door wide open just like, with their mouth agape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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