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445

Ever since learning American, these have fascinated me. Humor is a great indicator of a people's IQ. Let me know your best ones.

I'll start: 'Your guess is as good as mine.'

Ever since learning American, these have fascinated me. Humor is a great indicator of a people's IQ. Let me know your best ones. I'll start: 'Your guess is as good as mine.'

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

"Your barn door is open."

[–] • 1 pt

Kek, we call that "Bereitschaftsdienst" like being on stand-by or on-call duty.

[–] • 1 pt

My read on it is "Your barn door is open and the little piggy is about to escape!"

[–] • 1 pt

Both the English and the German version are about discrete hints that a guy's zipper is down, I take it. I'm positive on the German one.

[–] • 2 pts

Are you looking for idioms, slang, shibboleths, or just anything? I love this question, but it is almost to broad for me to even begin to answer.

'Your guess is as good as mine.'

Holy shit, people don't say that everywhere?

[–] • 2 pts

Look at you with your fancy words, bet you even know grammer...I was introduced to OP's line of thought when some ESL folks explained to me why English was such a "stupid" language and "so hard to learn." I did some reading into it and apparently you can express much more complex thoughts in the english language but it takes way more words. Like, way more.

[–] • 1 pt

Anything that comes to mind, really. There's gold in them there vocalizations.

Heard the 'guess' one in something I was watching and it just inspired me to ask. The German equivalent would be "Ich habe genau so wenig Ahnung wie Du." Means about the same but lacks the original's elegance.

There's so many extremely funny and thoughtful expressions in American English, they almost deserve their own sub.

[–] • 0 pt

You should make a sub about it. It is something I would try to contribute to on the regular.

Here are a few regional Shibboleths from the Philadelphia/South Jersey area that I always liked. Some of these are pretty old, and not in common parlance anymore

  • "Going down the shore" - Self explanatory, but most Americans would say they are "Going to the beach"
  • "How you making out?" - Equivalent to "How are you doing", but again, mostly said in South Philly
  • "Getting all jammed up" - Getting upset, or emotional
  • "Jit-bag" - Old-school Philly insult, means a used condom
  • "Crumb" or "Crumb-bum" - used to be a classic Philly insult. Video (youtube.com) of the former mayor Frank Rizzo getting into it with a reporter and call him a 'Crumb"
  • "It started getting dark early around there" - Black people moved in
[–] • 1 pt

Some of these are very obscure to me. Love them, thank you.

Sorry for the late reply, had to think a little and real life got in the way.

In the end, I decided to create that new sub. Working title is "languagegems", haven't pulled the trigger yet, though. What's another badly maintained special interest sub anyway?

Was looking for something that's easily found when typing into the search box but also not limited to any particular language and type of phrase or expression.

Your thoughts?

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

Dumber than a bag of hammers Dumber than a box of rocks About half a bubble out of plumb

[–] • 1 pt

Love those, hadn't ever heard the bubble one.

[–] • 1 pt

Keeping the bubble between the lines means you can be out of level about 3mm over 1 meter. This is the absolute minimum as far as acceptable quality control goes. To be "half a bubble out" is about 30mm over 1 meter. Oddly enough my 100 year old American antique mostly agrees. Maybe there is such a thing as bubble standardization. (And yes I collect measuring devices. I know, its weird, please don't tell my girlfriend.)embed

[–] • 1 pt

His(her) cheese has slid off their cracker Gone around the bend- both point to mental instability. Don't change horses in the middle of the stream.- once started, keep going.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

"Something's fishy" or "something smells funny" - an instinctive feeling something is wrong

"Ugly like a mud fence" - unattractive women

"If I wanted shit out of you I'd squeeze your head" - if I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it

"We're not in Kansas anymore" - we are in a strange place (wizard of oz , movie reference)

"Out in left field" - distinctly different from the group in belief or actions (baseball reference)

Just a few "off the top of my head" - reflexive or initial thoughts

Edit: almost forgot one of my favorites:

"Like tits on a nun" - something useless

[–] • 1 pt

"Out in left field" You put the least capable player in left field because that is where the least balls are hit, I think.

[–] • 1 pt

I like those, especially the last one. :D

[–] • 1 pt

"that dog won't hunt" "She got hit with the ugly stick" And "She fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch"

[+] [deleted] • 1 pt
[–] • 1 pt

It took me a hot second but I finally thought of a great one;

"They have a tough row to hoe."

Disambiguation:
Row; the noun, not the verb. Hoe; the mechanical one, not the flesh one.

Usage: Usually referring to impoverished farm workers but commonly used to refer to anyone doing repetitious singular work in adverse conditions.

Example: "Put that greenhorn out on the edge of the field with all the roots. Give him a tough row to hoe."

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Aren't you a sweet summer child.

The elevator doesn't go to the top floor.

They've got bats in the belfry.

Edit: "Aren't you a sweet summer child." This one haunts me. The old blue eyed ladies said it to me so many times.
Waist deep in snow now, hard to even pick up a foot and put it down.

[–] • 1 pt

Harsh reality poetically expressed.

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Feelin froggy

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Of course you'd say that... :)

[–] • 1 pt

We ain't had this much fun since granny shit in the kitchen floor and let us young'uns slide barefoot in it.