Colloquialisms

[bigtiller]

You are right about the the source. If you are ever at the GE/ Wabtec plant at 2901 East Lake Road, Erie PA 16531 you will see signs for Jitney Training, TaDa.

At John Deere Des Moines Works, they are called a "jeep". When the men returned from WWII, a lot of them were hired by JD beginning in late 1947. Deere bought the U.S ordnance plant from the federal government and began building Deere farm equipment. The discharged men were amazed at how much of a labor saving machine a forklift was, JUST like an army jeep.

 

[3930dave]

Canadian expressions:

Double double refers to coffee, AKA, double cream and double sugar

I drink my coffee black. Years back, I stopped into a Tim Hortons (coffee shop), in the hill-country where my Dad was raised, and overheard a mountain-mans choice.

He ordered a 4 x 4.

Not sure how that even poured out of the cup !

Rgds, D.

 

[Jstpssng]

I drink my coffee black. Years back, I stopped into a Tim Hortons (coffee shop), in the hill-country where my Dad was raised, and overheard a mountain-mans choice.

He ordered a 4 x 4.

Not sure how that even poured out of the cup !

Rgds, D.

Like this?

 

[Runner]

I was just watching a video of a guy hauling rocks in a dump truck. The rocks appeared to have been dug out of a farm field and he referred to them as "river jacks". Judging by the drawl in his voice and the red soil I assume this must be a southern thing.

 

[Oaktree]

American expressions:

Jitney is a fork lift truck
Not a sharp knife in the drawer, derogatory
That's what I like about you. You are basically no good eh so so
Blessed be the cheese that binds humor

"Jitney" is a new one on me, never heard that term before.
#2 I've always heard as "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" (alternately tool in the shed)
Never heard either of the last 2.

One term that has different regional meanings is "yankee". To a southerner it means anyone from a northern state, and is considered the lowest form of life. Here in the northeast it's a complementary term...someone who's very handy, probably has a zillion old paint cans full of bolts, odd old brackets, etc. out in the shed and can pretty much fix anything. "Ayup, can't get there from here". True yankees don't exist outside of northern New England, we certainly don't consider someone from Ohio or N.Y. to be one, even if they otherwise fit the description.
To most of our neighbors in Latin America, or much of Europe ANY American is a yankee.

 

[oldtimer 66]

A couple more,

"hit me", I remember as a youngster, in the 50's. It's in the Tom Hanks movie, The Thing You Do.

" Dibs and No Dibs ". Again as a youngster, when going to the corner store if anybody in the group had some change and were going to buy candy you needed to share it if you did not say " No Dibs ". If you had no money and said "Dibs" before entering the store whoever bought the candy had to share. Sweet eh?

" Punch Bug ", this was probably a local thing. If you were riding in a car and saw a Volkswagen Bug, which were very rare in those days, you could hit your fellow passenger in the arm/shoulder.

Again riding in a car, yell out " Fiddle ". That's being the first one to see a car with one headlight out. Probably another local thing, strange but true eh!

 

[gstrom99]

" Punch Bug ", this was probably a local thing. If you were riding in a car and saw a Volkswagen Bug, which were very rare in those days, you could hit your fellow passenger in the arm/shoulder.

The bug had to be moving/driven. Seeing one parked, didn't count...

 

[CalG]

A "regular" coffee in New England comes with cream and sugar.

And
It's been "hot as a pistol" around here of late.

 

[CalG]

A couple more,

"hit me", I remember as a youngster, in the 50's. It's in the Tom Hanks movie, The Thing You Do.

" Dibs and No Dibs ". Again as a youngster, when going to the corner store if anybody in the group had some change and were going to buy candy you needed to share it if you did not say " No Dibs ". If you had no money and said "Dibs" before entering the store whoever bought the candy had to share. Sweet eh?

" Punch Bug ", this was probably a local thing. If you were riding in a car and saw a Volkswagen Bug, which were very rare in those days, you could hit your fellow passenger in the arm/shoulder.

Again riding in a car, yell out " Fiddle ". That's being the first one to see a car with one headlight out. Probably another local thing, strange but true eh!

Slug-a-bug

where I come from...;-)

 

[Dftodd]

Wicked pisser means it's pouring in Maine