knowing **** from shinola - and other colloquialisms

[moevillini]

yeah, so it's the off-season and things can get dull - but let's not let our minds rot, let's see if we can expand our etymological knowledge of the origins of some common colloquialisms

Some big words there, right? Look 'em up if you need to

So, here goes...

"You don't know **** from shinola."
which means that you are lacking in the most basic intelligence or common sense

Shinola was a brand of paste-wax shoe polish that was popular in the early to mid 1900's (WWI and WWII eras) - the expression originated because in color and texture, it resembled fecal matter, and someone who lacked basic common sense couldn't tell the difference

Word origins are fun, aren't they?

 

[babe]

yeah, so it's the off-season and things can get dull - but let's not let our minds rot, let's see if we can expand our etymological knowledge of the origins of some common colloquialisms

Some big words there, right? Look 'em up if you need to

So, here goes...

"You don't know **** from shinola."
which means that you are lacking in the most basic intelligence or common sense

Shinola was a brand of paste-wax shoe polish that was popular in the early to mid 1900's (WWI and WWII eras) - the expression originated because in color and texture, it resembled fecal matter, and someone who lacked basic common sense couldn't tell the difference

Word origins are fun, aren't they?

Lessee. . . . Shinola I get, comes from shiny, oil stuff. wax can sorta waterproof cowhide products like shoe leather, especially if sorta oily so it can get inside the leather a bit. I'll definitely have to break out the Thesaurus to see what " ****" is, and get some idea where it comes from.

 

[LogGrad98]

Lessee. . . . Shinola I get, comes from shiny, oil stuff. wax can sorta waterproof cowhide products like shoe leather, especially if sorta oily so it can get inside the leather a bit. I'll definitely have to break out the Thesaurus to see what " ****" is, and get some idea where it comes from.

Wait what?

 

[LogGrad98]

An obvious one: bleed like a stuck pig. The preferred method for killing an animal for slaughter today is swiftly severing the brain stem, either with a firearm, or a high pressure captive bolt pistol (if you saw No Country for Old Men then you saw the killer use one of these, and yes they can penetrate a skull just like that, especially in humans who have relatively thin skulls compared to other animals). But the preferred method used to be sticking a sharp object, a little like an ice pick, into the animal's jugular to bleed it out. (They still do something like that after they have dispatched the animal normally) And when the animal's jugular was punctured it bled profusely and the animal died within just a few minutes. So if you cut yourself with a razor or broken glass you could bleed like a stuck pig.

Another one I always found interesting: botched is not really spelled botched. It is spelled Bouched, after an engineer, Bouche, who designed a bridge that collapsed and killed like 100 people. He really Bouched that up.

 

[babe]

Wait what?

huh? Not enough stars for a nine-space phrase. Pretty sure "****" doesn't stand for "work". You're microscopic little dictum is sweet, though. "The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell".

BTW, I'm giving the nice mod **** for evading the filter, all in fun. Well, I hope. I have this thing about "runs", too. It could be a better term than ****.

I do, after all, know something about the difference between rice and runs from my stint in southeast asia.

hmmmm. . . . am I bored or what? waiting for your move, bro. The image of a " clouded hell" almost strikes me as a cool mountain paradise in the tropical heights far above the sweltering swamps of the lowlands. Baguio was a sort of paradise, especially with the open gate into Camp John Hay, and some American food.

 

[LogGrad98]

Sorry we went to the Voelkerschlachtdenkmal today (it is the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, a decisive battle in the defeat of Napoleon). I will post some pictures later. Pretty cool.

 

[moevillini]

Babe, in no way did I evade the filter. I spelled the word out normally and allowed the filter to do its job, and it worked just like it's supposed to work.


By the way, this thread is dedicated to Troutbum, for obvious reasons.

XO

 

[Gameface]

Cup of Joe

Well, there are two popular theories about the origin of this phrase: One is in regards to Josephus Daniels, who was Secretary of the Navy. On the month of June, 1914, he banned all U.S. Navy ships from serving alcoholic beverages. The sailors weren't too thrilled with the decision, because they had to resort to the next strongest drink on the list, which was coffee!

Since Josephus Daniels was the one responsible for banning alcohol and "forced" everyone to make the switch to coffee, the sailors nicknamed the drink after him, thus it became "a cup of joe," Joe being short for Josephus. That's the theory anyways.

 

[babe]

well, speaking of the Philippines, we got some expressions from being there.

"Out in the Boondocks" : comes from the tagalog word for "mountains", bundok, Americanized spelling and root of the expression. In the Philippines, the mountains are heavily forested if not jungles, and you really can get lost in the middle of nowhere, where nobody can find you. When we failed to keep our promises to the Filipinos after "helping" them to get their "freedom" from Spain, the Filipino soldiers took off and hid in the jungles and mountains, forcing us to go look for them in those impossible places. Man did our soldiers hate that chore. They talked about being "Out in the Boondocks" quite a lot, even after they came home.

When folks "Run Amok", they don't usually think of crazy Filipino patriots who dodge bullets and come jumping in on the soldiers' formations with machetes, either. "Amok" is the tagalog term for hand to hand combat. With machetes.

 

[moevillini]

thanks Babe, good to know…
Who remembers that song "Down on the Boondocks" by Billy Joe Royal? A classic….


anyhow, as they say, it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings…

well, here she is

She is the heavy, buxom woman named Brünnhilde who sings in the last part of Richard Wagner's opera, Götterdämmerung, which is about the end of the world - so when she sings near the end of the opera, it also indicates the end of the world (or at least the end of "life as we know it")

 

[babe]

thanks Babe, good to know…
Who remembers that song "Down on the Boondocks" by Billy Joe Royal? A classic….


anyhow, as they say, it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings…

well, here she is

She is the heavy, buxom woman named Brünnhilde who sings in the last part of Richard Wagner's opera, Götterdämmerung, which is about the end of the world - so when she sings near the end of the opera, it also indicates the end of the world (or at least the end of "life as we know it")

So it was a fav with me when I was a boy. . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZhgqCi7q6Y

I never understood the fat lady singing in the higher cultural context. For me, it was a fearsome thing whenever any fat lady started singing, or screaming for that matter. Connects impressively with the "end of the world".

would probably give pause to a jungle Malay running amok with a machete, too.

 

[Dr. Jones]

get your goat is a good one.. Nobody ever knows where that came from, unless you're from Kentucky... And it ain't what you sick ****s think.

 

[LogGrad98]

get your goat is a good one.. Nobody ever knows where that came from, unless you're from Kentucky... And it ain't what you sick ****s think.

Yeah that would be get your sheep.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Yeah that would be get your sheep.

baaaa

 

[LogGrad98]

baaaa

Are you coming on to me?

 

[moevillini]

Cup of Joe

the military has given us some of the best...

my favorite is SNAFU - - Up until I was in my 30's (about 5 years ago... LOL), I thought it was just a word and had no idea it was an acronym for Situation Normal All ****ed (Fouled) Up

 

[moevillini]

get your goat is a good one.. Nobody ever knows where that came from, unless you're from Kentucky... And it ain't what you sick ****s think.

I heard this one a few years ago, supposedly goats were kept with the horses before a race because the goats helped keep the horses settled down - - so to disrupt your opponent's horses so they'd run a poor race, you'd sneak in and take their goats

or so they say

 

[Dr. Jones]

Are you coming on to me?

 

[Dr. Jones]

Are you coming on to me?

I heard this one a few years ago, supposedly goats were kept with the horses before a race because the goats helped keep the horses settled down - - so to disrupt your opponent's horses so they'd run a poor race, you'd sneak in and take their goats

or so they say

That's it. I'm from Kentucky and no one ever seems to remember this actually happening (the goat/horse thing) so I really don't know if that's really where it came from.

 

[Scat]

While not technically colloquialisms, my grandfather had some great sayings.

When someone was going to be surprised or upset by what they were going to hear or find out he'd say, "They're going to **** down both legs". If they were going to be really shocked or upset, "They're going to **** straight up their back".

One time we were visiting and it was mentioned that my then 5 year old was constipated and nothing was helping he suggested that we give her a tablespoon of epsom salt dissolved in a glass of water stating that, "within a couple hours she would be able to **** through the eye of a needle at 50 paces". We opted not to take that advice.

I'll have to think of a few more. Needless to say, conversations with this man were never boring.