Re: SURVEY: Idiomatic Expressions In Your ConLang Or ConCulture

    --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Yahya Abdal-Aziz <yahya@m...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Thought I'd weigh in with a few more of what I consider
> to be English idioms.  I guess I'm using the word "idiom"
> to mean any peculiarity of expression; some are dialectal,
> while others are fairly widespread across dialect regions.
> I expect it will take some long and ingenious thinking to
> produce anything comparable to this variety in any of my
> conlangs.
>
> 20.  Weigh in with ... (Contribute.  I don't know the origin.)
>
> 19.  Sweating like a pig.  (Pigs can't sweat, as they have
> no sweat glands.)
>
> 18. He can't lie straight in bed.
>
> 17.  It's coming down in buckets.  (Said of heavy rain.)
>
> 16.  Catch a cold, measles or other disease.  (As if the
> disease didn't catch us!)
>
> 15. Gunna catch me some shut-eye / some Zees.  (Meaning
> 'I'm going to sleep'; the second variant MUST be North
> American, 'cos the rest of us call the 26th letter of the
> English alphabet 'Zed'.)
>
> 14.  Well, butter me and call me toast! (Expresses surprise.)
>
> 13.  Strewth!  (Old Australian oath, meaning 'God's Truth'.)
>
> 12.  Strike a light!  (Expresses surprise or amazement.)
>
> 11.  Let 'er down, Hughie!  (Encouraging rain.  Hughie, or
> Huey, usually pronounced You-ie, is the putative rain god.
> He might or might not be the same fella as God with a
> capital G.  Usually called on by rural folk.)
>
> 10.  Stone the crows!  (Yet Another Expression of Surprise.)
>
> 9.  It's only two miles as the crow flies.  (People will always
> give you the straight line distance when the only available
> track is steep, winding, dangerous and almost impossible to
> find ...)
>
> 8.  He's six foot tall.  (for 'six feet'.  Occasionally you may
> still hear 'two mile' for 'two miles'.)
>
> 7.  As bright as a two-bob watch.  (Flashy and cheap;  a
> 'bob' was a shilling, which in 1966 converted to 10 cents of
> a decimal dollar.)
>
> 6.  He's not the full two-bob.  (The florin, or two-shilling
> piece, was made of high-grade silver.  It was a favourite
> target of 'shavers' who took a little silver from the edge
> of each coin for later resale.  The person compared to
> this shaved two-bob bit was allegedly mentally deficient.)
>
> 5.  He's a few sandwiches shy of (or short of) a picnic.
> (Another alleged idiot.)
>
> 4.  He's got kangaroos in the top paddock.  (This fella's
> trouble is that thoughts just bounce around in his head.)
>
> 3.  He took the king's shilling.  (He became a soldier.  Also:
> 'He went for a soldier.')
>
> 2.  This weather plays merry hell with my bones.  (An
> arthritic's complaint.)
>
> And finally, number 1!  It starts out like this:
>
> 'Flat out like a ...'  How does it finish?  Is it?
>
> a)  '... rug',
> b)  '... doormat',
> c)  '... flying carpet',
> d)  '... bowling green', or
> e)  '... skating rink'?
>
> No; it's none of the above; it's ...
>
> 1.  Flat out like a lizard drinking.
>
> 'Go figure!'
>
> Regards,
> Yahya
>
> --
  Thank you, Yahya.

  Can you say equivalent expressions to the above things in any of your conlangs?

  How about everyone else?  Can you match Yahya?

  Tom H.C. in MI




		
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