Colloquialisms

[bcp]

"tough as woodpecker lips"

Bruce

 

[gstrom99]

...and atom bombs

that too

 

[rontaki]

Small Hotel pants - no ballroom

 

[ning]

I've lived here almost 22 years, and I never figured out what "out of pocket" meant!!!

It still doesn't make sense to me, but I didn't realize it had anything to do with not being available. I wonder how many times I've talked to somebody and thought they were broke when they said that?

Consider your keys; they should be in your pocket (assuming they're not in the ignition...). If you can't find your keys, they're out of pocket.
Evolve that to a person not being where you expect them to be; they're out of pocket.
Evolve that to a person not mentally being where you expect them to be.
[n.b.: I don't use this term]

"Y'all" is an interesting thing on social media. Younger folk seem to use it in online arguments ("discourse") and it seems to mean you (derogatory) as in "you're obviously not capable of understanding this so I'm going to rephrase this for a being of lesser intelligence". This particular use seems to come from a prejudice that southern folk are lacking intellect, though I'd expect most users aren't aware of the origins of phrases they use, they're mostly just parroting what they've seen others use.

 

[ning]

I had to laugh when I first heard someone use "mice nuts" to refer to something very small

 

[not2old]

Well I've got another meaning for "out of pocket". Around here we'd take it to mean you had to use your own money to pay for something that you either expect to get reimbursed for or someone else only covered part of the expense.

 

[JasperFrank]

"Happy as a clam at high tide." - meaning everything is safe.

"More fun than three otters in a bathtub." - Wildly fun.

"A dog's breakfast." - A messed up affair.

"Well, burn down the church!" - An unexpected encounter with an old friend.

"Two fries short of a happy meal." -Description of some one that's not all there, mentally.

"A Squid." A new motorcycle rider with a bike that is way over their abilities.

"Scupper Skipper," - a wealthy person that cleans their yacht more often than they actually take it out.

"Time Vacuum." - A person that consistently calls the same customer service, every other day with a new issue.

"Shoot Gun Approach." - When you've run out of a logical diagnostic, and just replace everything.

 

[BravoXray]

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

I heard it as: Close only counts in horseshoes and atom bombs.

 

[ning]

"Shoot Gun Approach." - When you've run out of a logical diagnostic, and just replace everything.

I've heard (and used) "shotgun approach" or "shotgun method"; instead of focusing on one particular thing you do multiple at once and hope you've taken care of whatever the problem is (like a pre-OBDII mechanic replacing everything under the hood when it was actually just the one thing...)