I kinda drifted away from here for a bit, thought it was time to come back and say "Howdy" to everyone, and wish a Happy New Year to all.

Now for the random thoughts. I was rereading an old thread in which a had a conversation with Beverly about lap harps. I noticed I used the term "fixin' to". Well it just dawned on me, that Beverly, being from England, quite possibly has no clue what "Fixin' to" means. I'd reckon folks in England would know that "fix" means to repair something that's broken. In the South it can also mean making something. "Fixing" means in the act of repairing something. But I wonder if they know that "Fixin'" also can mean preparing to do something, or about to do something. At least it means that if you're from the Southern United States. May not mean that anywhere else in the world. "Fixings" means the things needed to make something. So a Southerner would understand me if I said, "I'm fixin' to gather up the fixins to fix me up a salad, then I'm gonna fix the dishwasher." But would a person from England, or even folks from north of the Mason-Dixon even have a clue what I just said?

I've read that the French turn their noses up to us Americans, because we use so much slang in our language. But I think it's fun.

BTW Beverly, "gonna" is slang for "going to." Or I suppose, another word for "fixin' to." "Going to" is also probably incorrect, since "going" implies motion to or from something. I'd reckon the correct way to say it would be, "I'm about to", or "I have plans to" repair the dishwasher.

Y'all got any favorite slang expressions, or local misuse of words you'd like to share?

Debygod (one word) pronounced DEE-by-GODDDD!



LOL , it is from a very small rural part of Maryland called the "7th district",some of the old timers down in that part of St.Marys county Maryland still talk in that very strange dialectic .Most use it to affirm the truth,to swear to God ,not a lie .

i don't want to speak for beverley, though i will say that she has turned a colorful phrase or two, and i love it…

but it just so happens i got lost over here just a little while ago (honest to god) and (lo) thought this one was fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZ6qJQKYXo

Cute, but I could do without the nose ring.

Pulp, long time no see, glad to see you are alive and well.

No confusion at my end about the term Fixin' I feel I have a good grounding to linguist orientation to figure out most terms, if not I just smile and nod to give the impression I do know But thank you for the consideration. As it Happens I am back up to my eyes in words again, or rather word counting, I have another essay due in 2500 words! small word counts are worse you can't fit everything in!

Well reading your thread has put me in mine of this tail involving the understanding of a word, and before I impart it I assure all who read it is true, and believe I deserve a pat on the back for not laughing or not imparting any judgment on the persons nativity at the time, because the way it was told really was just that funny. But I have said before you shouldn't make fun of those who don't know because unless you learn how will you ever? (just pity those who don't learn.)

Any how having drank way way way to much southern comfort and eaten a ton of Maryland Salt water Taffy courtesy of Mike and Barbra over form your side for Christmas (and from G1 neck of the woods) here is the story...

At uni one night ( note I said university, a place of academic learning and intellect!) one class member ( a teaching assistant) announced "Do any of you know what ....... means because I didn't" ( as soon as the word was said I bit my lip because I knew the direction the story was heading and just didn't have the time to get involved and with a side glace between me and the tutor enough was said.)

" Because, right, the teacher said to the kids for their homework they had to find out what ..... means. Well it's wrong. Kids shouldn't know what that means. It's disgusting asking kids to know that. When I got home I had to look it up in the dictionary, and do you know, fallacy, well it doesn't mean penis!!!"

good night.

it is funny i guess (?) while i myself don't want a nose ring, i noticed it for about a second, and then went on to listen to what she was saying. (like with the whole, how language can be a funny thing)

i posted this a while back and thought it was fun (it is more to do with accents but still)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLzsf-LQE0A

and lest we forget this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo_DCIdpM

i think intent is an important consideration. i mean,,,one of my favourite quotes (from a tv show no less, since i watch very little television):

something like:

"villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot, the ones who cloak themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged" jean luc picard from star trek

Beverly, your story reminds me of the time my wife and I were eating lunch at The Olive Garden in Longview, TX. I don't know if you have them in England, but it's a chain of Italian restaurants. Anyway, I ordered calamari for an appetizer. The waiter and I started talking about calamari, I mentioned I probably wouldn't like them if they were cooked whole, because a squid is not the most gorgeous animal in the world, but when cut into rings, you don't know that. He told of the time he was in the Army, stationed in Tokyo. He went to the fish market one day and they had these big buckets of squid. "The buckets were just full of squid, and they had these big long testicles. Their testicles were just hanging out of the buckets. Big long testicles." He goes on and on for what seemed like several minutes about these big long testicles. My wife and I are quivering with barely contained laughing, trying desperately not to laugh in his face. Customers at tables around us are breaking out with laughter. Finally he stops and says, "Wait a minute, I mean tentacles, not testicles."

And no, I don't eat calf fries or lamb fries, but I do like French fries. I've heard then when you explain to a Frenchman in an American restaurant what calf and lamb fries are, then order French Fries, they get nervous.

My brother has lived in Alabama for many many years, and has more or less picked up the North Alabama accent. He and his wife visited London a few years ago. He was telling me about the trip, and concluded with, "You know the trouble with those English folks is, they speak English. And Cynthia and I couldn't understand a word they said."

To translate his sentence into southeast Oklahoma talk, he said, "They's a mite bit of diffrence 'twixt the way them England folks talk and the way us Alabamans talks. The wife and I cain't cipher a thang they said."

While I'd reckon my English skills are a bit above average, at least in my neck of the woods, I do like to occasionaly lapse into a more colloquial dialect. And Lord help me when I call tech help and am connected with someone from India or Pakistan. They might be speaking English, but they ain't talkin' Okie.

i thought of a familiar slang,,, "greasing" pronounced properly as "greezin'"

which means, enjoying something you are eating to the max.

"man, they are greezin!'"

"just having a little guacamole and chips to keep from starving to death before dinner, not planning on greezin' on 'em."

Hello Pulp. Good to see you. Happy New Year to you and yours.

Hi, Working with children I have heard children making the (tentacles) mistake before, trying to keep a straight face when saying "I think it's pronounced Ten-ta-cles."

I think local descriptions of food can cause a lot of confusion, sometimes from town to town.
Now I know on your side of the pond

USA v UK


Chips v Crips
Fries v Chips

Now all these name to me match the description of the food and make sense, but need to be used in locality contentce to be understood.

But knowing local content isn't always the case, where I live there is a thing called " A Wigan Kebab " which is in fact a Pie or Pasty on a barm often eaten with chips. Now most in England would get the Pie/pasty bit, and some would get the barm, but as this is transcending countries I feel I may have lost you. Non of witch should be confused with a british kebab.

Pasty :- https://www.greggs.co.uk/menu/pasties-a ... eak-bake-/

Barm :- http://www.morrisqualitybakers.co.uk/go ... barmcakes/

Chips :- http://www.which.co.uk/news/2012/02/cal ... ps-279951/

Wigan Kebab:- http://gvmag.co.uk/the-wigan-kebab/

British Kebab:- http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ays-694138

Non of these thing I would count as edible.

But over the summer we took the scouts on holiday over the boarder to the next county. Some of them leaders wanted a Wigan Kebab for lunch, well, I thought I would play it safe and just ask for them separate but the bakery didn't understand what a Barm was!! I couldn't think of an alternative name - barmcake - oven bottom - breadroll??? at this point the whole shop was playing the guessing game, in the end it turns out Yorkshire call barm's Flour muffin's !?!

who knew

Cant say I have ever heard the term (greezin) though and with out your description I wouldn't have worked it out agnes.

haha! i love it!

now i have had a pasty or two (pronounced : pah-stee) . they had them in kingston, ja. when as a kid, wound up there.

and when i said i had guacamole and chips, i meant tortilla chips, not fries, more like crisps?

sometimes over here we call fries chips, but we are usually at a renaissance faire, haha

and around here, i generally recognize a kabob pretty much as various things cooked on a skewer.

anyhow, i gotta go make some dinner!

The Steak Bake is very similar to Hot Pockets here. Except you buy Hot Pockets in the freezer section. They come in many different varieties, some of which are slightly edible, if you're really hungry.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Au ... t-308&fp=1

Many years ago I was a science teacher. I had a class of very rowdy 7th graders, who for once were very quiet and at least somewhat listening. One student was very mentally handicapped (I think that's the PC term). He spoke very slowly. VERY slowly. He looked up at me and asked, "Mr Mac, when you first started growing hairs................. (insert what seemed like a very long pause here, which gave the rest of the class time to pick up on what he was saying, and me time to go into panic mode)...................... in your nose, did they tickle?" Needless to say, I didn't get any teaching done for the rest of the hour. People in the next town heard my students laughing.

That was funny, Having worked with SEN ( special educational needs ) is the PCI term over here, I have had similar moments.

Now 'hot pocket' is a description of a pasty which makes sense. But if I went to the backers and asked for one they would probably set my pocket on fire.

We once whent to Newcastle and saw an advertisement for (slotties) we couldn't work it out. Turned out they are sandwiches, you slot the filling between the bread, makes perfect sense but took us ages to work it out.

Agnes you could tell your family you are making Wigan kebabs and chips for dinner and watch for the confusion

Now I'm not going to chat anymore till I am back on my lap top, this bl#%€y I pad is totally pruning my tree man.