Dimsie

There must be many - one of the first I came across was "catty whompus" - spelling may vary! Apparently it means cross-wise, out of line, diagonal or similar.

When it rains heavily around here they call it a "gully-washer" or a "turd floater" LOL!

A saying which I heard my husband use, though I think it's probably Texan in origin, amuses me - "He looks as though he's been rode hard and put away wet" - meaning someone looked exhausted.

One I read in a novel about early settlers - "She's all growed up and haired over" - speaks for itself.

Anybody else noticed any local oddities ?

Toontje

Refers to horses.....

Dimsie

Yes, but it's used in reference to a person also - in a jocular sort of way.

ImHere

Are you sure? It could refer to the ladies in the local lapdancing club I eluded to earlier...

Dimsie

Toontje

K on its way.....

NC Penguin

I've heard people say "kitty corner" instead of "catty whompus" (sic) in my state.

Another word that's used quite frequently in spoken language that I rarely heard in British English is the word "evidently". e.g. "Evidently, she heard about her husband's injuries from her next door neighbor".



NC Penguin

Dimsie

Another example came up last evening at a Father's Day family get together.
Showing me some old photographs, husband's daughter said "Here are some more goobers". I had to ask for translation.

It appears that although a goober is actually a peanut, the term has come to be applied to a person who's a bit dopey, though well-meaning. Evidently ( NCP) a character in the Andy Griffiths show helped to make this a popular definition.

mrcusa

Why do they add "and stuff" or "or something" to the end of each sentence?

As in, "I saw him carrying a suitcase or something"

or, "I bought a sub for lunch and stuff"

Weird?


And, whilst I am on the subject, why do the "guess" things which are known fact?

As in " I guess Michael Jackson was found not guilty"

They are not guessing at all!!!

scrubbedexpat099

Catty cornered, as in put a cupboard in the corner at 45 degrees

Never heard of it before, but just assumed it was some interior decoratiing term rather than a US term.

Dimsie

at the risk of boring the socks off everyone, I looked up the meaning(s) of catty wotnot on the net and came up with this from the Word Detective

Dear Word Detective: A fellow co-worker and I are discussing the proper pronunciation and spelling of the elusive "kattywampus." We desperately need help to resolve this perplexing problem. -- Alissa and Jenifer, via the internet.
Desperately? You "desperately" need the spelling and pronunciation? Have the two of you been cornered in a broom closet by a ferocious spelling bee? Oh well, mine not to reason why, I suppose. Besides, it sounds as though you folks are doing a bang-up job of wasting company time, and I'm always up for that.
Unfortunately, and I say this with all the passion of a dedicated slacker, there is no answer to your question, because there is no standardized spelling of "kattywampus," which is also often rendered as "cattywampus," "caddywompous" and "catawampus" (as the Oxford English Dictionary seems to prefer). As for pronunciation, if the choice is between "catty" and "katy" (as in the name "Katy"), I'd go with the short "a" of "catty" or "caddy." The "wampus" part seems to be most often pronounced "WAHM-puhs."
Since we're still on our extended coffee break, I'll take this opportunity to answer the question you folks didn't ask, namely what "catawampus" (as I'll spell it) actually means. Once again, however, the answer is not simple because the word actually has two quite distinct meanings. A "catawampus" can be a fierce, imaginary animal, the sort of vicious critter that jumps you in the woods shortly before you're never seen again. But "catawampus" can also mean "askew" or "out of whack," as in "Larry's elopement with Eloise knocked Cindy's wedding plans all catawampus." Neither meaning can be definitively traced, but "catawampus" in the eat-you-alive sense may well be a variant on the American folk term "catamount," short for "catamountain," or mountain lion.
The "askew" sense of "catawampus" is a real puzzler. The first element of the word, "cata," may be related to "cater," also found in the related word "catercorner" (or, as many folks know it, "cattycorner" or "kittycorner"). "Cater" in these words comes from the French "quatre," or "four," and "catercornered" originally just meant "four-cornered." Today "catercorner" means that two things are diagonally across from each other. The "wampus" part may have come from the Scots word "wampish," meaning "to wriggle or twist," which would certainly seem to fit with "catawampus" meaning "askew" or "crooked."

And a slight fishy aftertaste. OK Iknow

AdobePinon

"... as easy as pulling a greasy string out of a cat's ass."

"[raining] like a cow pissing on a flat rock."

gruffbrown

'it smelt like something that came out of the south end of a north bound horse' is something my brother-in-law uses a lot.....he lives in Texas

elfman

more of a pronunciation issue, but it cracks me up whenever I hear Americans talking about erbs. As in erbal tea, and so on. What happened to the 'h'?

cindyabs

Two that I get a kick out of here in Georgia-
That dog don't hunt
Meaning that isn't true.

His family tree don't fork.
Think you can figure that one out,