...to think that this expresson is dying out?

[WalkDontWalk]

On another thread someone used the expression 'taking the mick'. And I thought, 'I used to hear that all the time when I was a kid. But I rarely do now.'

So I started to think of others that my dad used but my kids don't.

'Having a kip' or 'I was akip'.

'Yikes' (My daughter says I'm the only non-cartoon that says 'yikes'.)

'Swinging the lead'

'Bunking off'. (Daughter: 'Never heard that. Sounds rude')

'Going Dutch' (Daughter. 'Nope. No idea. Is that rude too?')

'Haven't the foggiest.'

These were all in use in London fifty years ago. Maybe they were always regional.

Ginger knock, to mean the kids' game of knocking on a door and running away. Some people in a town about 15 miles away called it Knock-down Ginger, but clearly Ginger knock is the right one!

She's got the knock/He's in a knock - to mean annoyed.

Canny crack - to mean "nice try." Geordie.

He'll soon know which cuddy's kicked him. Also Geordie. Means they'll soon realise. A cuddy was a pit pony.

What a clart - what a hassle. Geordie too.

Elbow grease - to mean putting your all into something physical.

"GIVE IT SOME WELLY!" 😂😂 To put maximum effort into something, usually physical. Probably from welly-throwing contests.

Did anyone ever sing this rhyme in childhood, complete with the actions??

I'm Diana Dors and I'm a movie star
I've got a cute cute figure and a Playtex bra
I've got the hips, I've got the kicks, I've got the legs of a star
Cos I'm Diana Dors and I'm a movie star, ooh!

I think there's enough material in this thread to keep everyone's kids bemused for quite some time! 😂😂

Oh - I just thought of another one! To call someone a big girl's blouse, to mean they're being a wimp!

I say yikes, crikey, crumbs and oopsy daisy.

‘Ya big Jessie’ - you wimp

I had no idea!

Re breaks in the cloud, the version I know is ‘enough to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers’.

I used the "ashtray on a motorbike" phrase a few months ago.

My 22YO niece looked puzzled for a few moments, then asked how bikers managed to light a ciggie while riding...

Interesting. I thought it came from the idea that swinging the lead was an easy job on a ship. I was wrong-looked it up:
Before the days of sonar, ships would determine the depth of the water by posting a sailor at the front of the ship with a lead weight attached to a long rope. The rope would have a knot in every fathom (6 feet). The sailor's job was to swing the weight forward into the water and, when the ship passed directly over the weight, determine the depth of the water. As retrieving the lead weight was hard work, a lazy sailor would swing the lead as if he were about to release it. He would keep swinging it until such time as he thought he was being watched and only then release it into the water. Therefore, a sailor who was swinging the lead was being lazy. from Grammar Monster

I don’t think any of today’s lingo will come into common parlance. We aren’t going to see our kids in their forties say “six seven”.

I've never heard "swinging the lead", but know and use all the others. No, actually I wouldn't use "going Dutch" but I do know what it means. I thought that was a bit of an Americanism?

That was a song way back in the 1930s but I think it’s been used as a line in films a few times too

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FjNUgRgyE

Ha! I just thought that was an 'us' thing!
DH brought the phrase into the marriage 33 years ago and I now use it all the time, but have never heard anyone else use it, ever!

Oooh...and another thing my husband once said, recently, that had me crying with laughter...
I told him that we were having his favourite meal for dinner and he replied with...'Oooh, Goody-Gumdrops!'

Who on earth still uses Goody-Gumdrops?! I haven't said that since I was about 5 years old!
He has never lived it down!😂

I last heard that watching The Goodies!

Round our way Thought thought he had a head, but he had a cabbage

No, it isn't. According to other sources, it is from Cockney rhyming slang, taking the Mickey Bliss (aka taking the piss) which has been in use for a long time. Londoners very often use the first half of the slang and not the other - eg barnet meaning hair (Barnet Fair).
Bliss was a common surname in London, but the original Mickey has never been identified.

And nicknames for surnames. Smudger for Smith, Chalky for White etc Dusty Miller and Nobby Clarke too!

We had a variant I think, sung to the tune of
“Jesus Christ, superstar” but I can only remember “Georgie Best, superstar, wears frilly knickers and a playtex bra” .
i still use quite a lot of the phrases in the thread as they amuse me.

Two of my Dad's:

"Pocket in a pair of drawers" ( useless)
"You're a Big Girls Blouse " (idiot)

Big girl's blouse means a bit of a wuss

@70isaLimitNotaTarget "Pocket in a pair of drawers" ( useless)

But girls' and women's underwear did use to have long legs, nearly down to the knees or longer, with pockets in them, to keep five or ten shilling notes safe, as girls at boarding schools in Enid Blyton and other books. Hardly useless, I'd have thought? 🤷‍♀️

Usually reserved for other drivers like when someone cuts you up . ((non sweary)

No, it's usually when someone is being a bit of a coward, @70isaLimitNotaTarget .

A BIG/GREAT GIRL'S BLOUSE - Cambridge English Dictionary

I like this thread with its broad range of phrases both familiar and unfamiliar to me.
I've got a few that I use but hear less often.

That'll be chookie - I think not/not a chance

Did she/he chookie - No, they didn't!

Aye! Chookie! - A likely story or That'll be right

That old chestnut- a familiar tale or excuse

What's for you, will no' go by you - If it's meant to be, it'll be.

Up to high doh! - Agitated

My father LIED to me all these years !

Big Girls Blouses and Drawers With Pockets ! (knickers not Chester Drawers )
<Glares >