Daft as a brush, and other very British sayings

[GypsyRoseGarden]

Reading another thread, a poster mentioned “daft as a brush” which made me smile - it’s so very British - expressive but not vindictive

Another saying I like is “completely trollied” for so very drunk that they can’t walk straight

What are your favorite very British sayings ?

Love the regional variations of some of these! In our family we say it's a bit black over Will's mother's, and up and down like a vicar's hat.

Bob's your uncle must have come over with the pioneers to NZ, it's very much used there!

My mil says, 'there's enough blue to make a pair of sailors trousers', when seeking valiantly to find some good weather. . .

That makes sense although she definitely translated it as flies. I love the expression 'ants in your pants' and often said it in school to surprised looks.

I'm fond of 'Couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo'.

The bees' knees

I've seen more meat on a butcher's pencil

Have a barney

Well I'll go to the foot of my stairs!

Were you born in a barn?

Six of one and half a dozen of the other

It's all swings and roundabouts

Window shopping dates back to when towns and cities all had several large department stores each. They would all try to outdo each other with inventive and artistic displays, many window dressers were art school trained.

The Christmas windows were a major draw, with exciting reveals, at Fenwicks in Newcastle for example.

if you were poor, you could have a cheap afternoon out, wandering around town looking at all the windows, planning what you would buy when you won on the Football Pools.

By the late 1960s and early 70s, department stores began to fade, the old hierarchical family firms were taken over by hedge fund managers and foreign companies, the department stores were knocked down and replaced by concrete shopping centres; the days of Grace Brothers were numbered.

Fit as a butcher’s dog

And quicker than a rat up a drainpipe!

One that annoys me because it is wrong is "The proof is in the pudding"

It should be "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"

Not RTFT yet.

"As useful as a fishnet Durex".

Okay, I admit I made that up. I was just looking for an opportunity to publicise it!

I use ‘Give it some welly’ quite a bit. For some time, a Dutch friend thought I was saying ‘Give it some willy’ opps.

I also use ‘Oh my giddy aunt’ a lot which amuses my dc.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams

All fur coat and no knickers

Love that one! Also, "He's all mouth and trousers."

Bill's mother's got around the country a bit, hasn't she?!

These are great!

You make a better door than a window.

Put some wood in t’ole.

Tight as a duck’s arse.

My mothers sayings:
Half a crown each way on himself
Waving his wooden leg
What did Horace say Winnie?

When my daughter uses a phrase that others don't understand she messages to ask if it is a well known one or one of mine!

I've heard ''All of a shake" a few times in Derbyshire.

Haud yer wheesht......be quiet

@TheOrchidKiller

It's looking a bit black over Bill's mother's.

To mean the sky's gone dark & it looks like rain.

I think it's specific to Notts, maybe Derby? Hadn't heard it elsewhere. (Apologies if anywhereelse in the UK uses it too).

Seems to be an East Midlands thing. I first heard it a few months ago.

Oh love these! My parents are both from East Lancashire but loves us abroad. I’m in London with my 3 kids, and introduced them to quite a few of these from my parents:
Oh my giddy aunt
You make a better door than a window (when someone is in the way)
You look like cheese at four pence (when someone is looking a bit gormless)
Don’t be so mard (not sure of spelling - it means being a bit spineless and moany)
All done up like a dog’s breakfast
All fur coat and no knickers (all show and no substance)
Ponook (affectionate ‘muppet’)

My mum - who never swears, and can’t bear to hear my kids say ‘fart’, used to answer ‘sh*¥ with sugar on it’ when my brother and I asked what we were having for dinner...

My Dad used to describe anyone a bit overdressed as 'dressed up like a dog's dinner'.

We say “You’re up and down more than a tart’s drawers”

“I’m going to see a man about a dog” if someone asks you but you don’t actually want to say where you’re going.

A variation on "as thick as two short planks is":
"I sometimes think of sticking him together, and making one long plank."

Also "going to see a man about a dog" was spoofed in Thomas the Tank Engine (Ghost Train): "Going to see a coach about a train."

@TheOrchidKiller

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams

All fur coat and no knickers

Love that one! Also, "He's all mouth and trousers."

Bill's mother's got around the country a bit, hasn't she?!

These are great!

See I always thought it was “He’s all mouth and NO trousers” to mean he’s making promises that won’t be backed up by reality.

Mad as a box of frogs

Red hat and no knickers Is the one I know ( obviously I never wear a red hat and always wear knickers )

He's steaming ( drunk )
We live in Wales , where it used to be dry on Sunday , the only way to get an alcoholic drink was to catch the steam ship that went from Cardiff to Weston ( ? ) to drink in the bar on board

@GypsyRoseGarden

these are fabulous never heard of the black one tho - seems lots of people have I have a new appreciation for anyone learning to speak English - these sayings can't make it very easy for them

I once described something as 'higgledy piggledy' to my Cypriot boss, his poor face was

Jumped before they were pushed

Under the thumb

Pushing up daisies

At a loose end

Playing silly beggars/ buggers

Catfight

Couldn’t organise a piss up on a brewery

Couldn’t organise a cake stall