Sayings and their geographic areas

[ShadowHM]

Hi

Sometimes the English language has sayings that just don't make sense, if you don't share the same background. It was, for example, George Bernard Shaw who observed that: "Great Britain and the United States are nations
separated by a common language." But smaller areas than that can have their very own idiom.

One of the sayings I grew up with is the one in the title of the thread. It is generally used to mean that a person has experienced unusually good luck.

Today, Warblade (who lives in New Zealand) was telling me of the drops one of his characters has found as he ventured through Hell in D2. I responded with:

"Is it easy to sit in your computer chair with all those horseshoes stuck in your butt? ;)"


The poor man was bewildered. The comment made no sense to him. After I explained, he asked if this was a Canadian saying. And I don't know. :( Maybe Canadian, maybe North American, maybe just Ontario, maybe just a small section of Ontario?

My Google-Fu is weak, I admit, but I could find no history or geography for this saying. So, my questions are:

Is this a saying you have heard?

If so, where did you hear it?

[Zafarium]

I've heard of this saying, and I heard it from my mother. I live in British Columbia and my mom is from around there as well. I dunno where this particular saying came from though.

[Rinnhart]

An american, lived in most of the westcoast states, never heard that saying though I understand the reference.

[Tal]

Is this a saying you have heard?

Yes

If so, where did you hear it?

Maryland, USA - Our neighbors (who as far as I know have never been to Canada) used to say that about my wife's luck in cards. Come to find out it was her pregnancy that made her so lucky. Soon as our daughter was out my wife's luck rejoined my abyssmal luck. :P

Another saying that I've heard but am interested in seeing if anyone else has heard:

"I'm going to jump on you like a ten ton frog!" - My band teacher/baseball coach used to say that to us when we'd goofed up, which was often. :D

[ShadowHM]

Come to find out it was her pregnancy that made her so lucky. Soon as our daughter was out my wife's luck rejoined my abyssmal luck. :P

*grin*

Pregnancy never did improve my luck at cards.

It changed my foot size and my hair colour. :) And it did give me cleavage for a few interesting years. :P

[Tal]

If we can stand to go too much further off topic and not stray into the realm of Too Much Information (TMI) - I actually had better luck at cards while we were trying to get pregnant.

[TheDragoon]

Nope, I've never heard of it and I'm from Washington. In addition, my parents are from Ohio and they haven't heard of it either.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Never heard that.

Not quite off topic, but a tangent. There are a lot of idioms in different languages that have the same general connotation but entirely different denotation. Multilingual individuals often mix the languages they know, but when they do it with idioms it can be funny. My mother often points out that something is "a horse with a different pair of sleeves." :)

--Pete

[DeeBye]

I guess it goes without saying that I hear that expression all the time, seeing as though I live just down highway 401 from you. I thought it was a common english exoression though. I had no idea it was a regional thing.

[Refrigerator]

I live in on the west coast of BC, and nope, can't say I've heard it before. Although now that I've heard it, I think I might start using it. :lol:
Also after hearing this expression, I've had second thought about becoming lucky and winning the lottery. That'd be a LOT of horseshoes....:blink:

EDIT: My friend (who lives down the street, around a corner, and down the street some more) says that her family uses that phrase all the time. So, maybe it's just my family. <_<

[Obi2Kenobi]

But I get the horseshoe reference. I'm in Colorado, USA (Midwest). I used to live in California, but I was young then, and it says "butt", so I wouldn't have heard it then. :P

OT: I never seem to get the different forms of refer. I always try and double the wrong letters...

[Chameleon]

Luck Factory

[kandrathe]

Google Fu Tu

[klaptonic]

Sometimes, the internet can be about as useful as "#$%& on a Warthog"


- just my attempt at adding an 'idiom' from "my neck of the woods".

edit, seems I typed a bad word. my bad. hope no-one was offended. ah-yup

[Jeunemaitre]

I used to hear the phrase quite commonly used when I was living in Massachusetts, but haven't heard it or used it since moving to the DC area. Also, never heard it in college in upstate New York, but that was probably because we were college kids who were too cool to use cheesy sayings like that. We preffered to make up our own. One that I remember from my days in MA though was "tough cookies." I don't think I've heard that anywhere else though.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Hmmm. "We preffered to make up our own. One that I remember from my days in MA though was "tough cookies." I don't think I've heard that anywhere else though." That was briefly popular when I was in high school ('60-'64, Atlanta, Georgia). You're either ten years older than I or it made a brief comeback :)

--Pete

[Chaerophon]

And that would be from my parents who are from... London, Ontario. Well, Essex County, actually, but they lived in London for a long time, so that's what we'll say! Seems that it could be quite localized, actually!

[Tal]

My parents used that saying all the time as i was growing up. I and my wife find ourselves using it with our daughter as well. :)

[ShadowHM]

My parents used that saying all the time as i was growing up. I and my wife find ourselves using it with our daughter as well. :)

My husband just (after agonized searching, due to a snit-fit last year when he failed to do his filial duty by presenting a card to his father on Father's Day) purchased a card with the following on it:

"Every so often, Dad, I find myself saying something that sounds so much like you, it's as if you're speaking through me. And so, on Father's Day, I just wanted to say......

Please Stop. It's freaking me out."

[TaMeOlta]

You're supposed to take the shoes off before you eat 'em :D !

I can understand the reference also .... but haven't heard it in New Hampster ;) ! I have heard / used "Tough cookies " , "Wicked cool " , "Tough toenails "

Thank you for the flashbacks Shadow :D !