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Being sent to Coventry

138 replies

Muddlingalongalone · 09/09/2019 20:04

Currently reading Malory Towers with dd1 (8).
Apparently her teacher doesn't know the phrase "Being sent to Coventry"
He is very young. 1-2 yrs post NQT but even so I was surprised.
Do you know what it means?
What other phrases are "old fashioned" now?

OP posts:
drspouse · 10/09/2019 15:40

I am in my 50s and used to live near there.
So I suppose I have two advantages.

WhoKnewBeefStew · 10/09/2019 15:56

One if the lads I work with didn't know the phrase either. I felt very old

Lucked · 10/09/2019 16:29

FFSDH someone who was slovenly with the housework (not cleaning behind fridge) could be referred to as a slut or slattern both of which have different meanings.

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Muddlingalongalone · 10/09/2019 18:11

Young colleagues were suitably bemused & thought it was a punishment because Coventry isn't meant to be very nice 😂😂😂😂😂 (apologies to locals- their words not mine)

Yy to Baker days - definitely not used anymore although as a child with a dad who was a civil servant & regularly on strike I misunderstood them thought they were strike days as opposed to teacher training days!

I still use Mufti days & assume my children will too #indoctrination.

Haven't heard of some of these though.

OP posts:
Cabezona · 10/09/2019 19:09

Well I thought I knew what it meant until I read this! I heard it for the first time at about 18 and was told it meant being sent to "the nut house" not being ignored?!

Dapplegrey · 10/09/2019 19:17

Flying east - undone zip.
I have no idea where that phrase originated from.

NearlyGranny · 10/09/2019 19:23

'Charlie's dead' meant your petticoat was showing beneath your skirt hem, as did, 'It's snowing down south.'

cortex10 · 10/09/2019 19:31

New one I heard very recently was referring to Wednesday as Hump Day (as in being the middle/hump of the working week)

NearlyGranny · 10/09/2019 19:38

Some from my childhood: 'gone for a burton' if something was beyond repair; not knowing if you were punched, bored or countersunk (confused); looking like the witch of Wookey (bed-hair) and shrapnel for small change. And having a dingo's breakfast (a pee and a look round! ) if running late or the cupboard was bare.

drspouse · 10/09/2019 20:36

Flying east - undone zip.
Ah now I knew that as "flying low without a licence".

Living near Coventry, we always said it was because it was indeed because Coventry was so awful.

Likethebattle · 10/09/2019 22:20

I don’t know if this was just my area but if you trousers were too short someone would say ‘did you cat die?’ ‘You cats dead!’

Likethebattle · 10/09/2019 22:21

*your

SandraOhshair · 10/09/2019 22:48

Trousers too short were 'half mast'.

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