h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Do sayings fall into this conversation ? or, more to the point, variations of sayings. The one that springs to mind is a variation on a saying used by my maths master at school and my father. The maths master (and deputy head) was an old style teacher and disciplinarian. When working on a complex mathematical proof, when asked by one of the pupils why he was following the path he had taken would say "There are more ways of killing a cat, than choking it with cream". My father, who was a much more down to earth person, variation on this, which he often used, was "There are more ways of killing a cat, than stroaking it's **** with it's tail". Does anyone have other variations ?

Another saying of my dear father was "Money won't buy you happiness, but if you have it, you can choose what type of misery you want". Was this his own or is it attribited to anyone ?

About the latter...I don't know, but I like it

'Scary Biscuits!' is traight from the teens when society ladies had to swear with propiety. My grandmother taught me this one.

Like the cat ones - I've heard, and used "more than one way to skin a cat".

Also - you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

An expression from my old Mom - What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over

I just typed in "Slang Dictionaries" and searched (MSN). I was looking for a particular one that I have referenced before, but it seems to have gone away. What I DID find were (at least) two Estonian slang websites, along with numerous Aussie, and Kiwi ones. If *one more person* tells me to throw another shrimp on the barbie...I swear I'll....I'll.. (oh! whew!). OK back to the list. There's a site for Hawaiian (hey dere, bro) and one for Byelorussian, Slovene and Bulgarian. I'm not even sure what Byelorussian is....and I will freely admit that, too. Because why are we all here, except to learn right? Right.

Anyone have any good sayings that they want to see their Estonian counterpart of? Parse THAT sentence, too, while you're at it!

Val

Thought of a few more - with some help:
TYPICALLY CANADIAN PRAIRIE - though I could be wrong:
Don't buy a pig in a poke - get all the details
When pigs fly - and - In a pig's eye - not likely to happen
You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink - you can't force someone to do something
Running around like a chicken with its head cut off - in a panic and getting nowhere
Stubborn as a mule (or ox)
Road apples - the leavings when horses delivered milk and bread
I'll show you where the bear s**t in the buckwheat - here's the truth

Don't smile, your face will crack; Stop making faces, your face will freeze that way
Crooked as a dog's hind leg; Snake in the grass - less than honest

What are you going to do today? (answer) Pile up what I did yesterday. In other words, I did nothing yesterday, and I'm not planning to do anything today, either.

Rooms to let; Two bricks short of a load; So far behind he thinks he's first. If brains were dynamite he couldn't blow his nose.

One from my misspent childhood: An argument ender: Up mine, Sunshine. It usually ended with 2 kids rolling around in the dirt.

but they're not exactly old, are they?

they're nice though.

some more for stupid people:

not the sharpest pencil in the box
not the sharpest knive in the block.

Are those expressions still going around somewhere? Here they'll date you. A few years back when blonde jokes were going around there were lots of expressions for dumb blondes - a very smart blonde friend of mine got them all! Its come down to:She (or he) must have blonde roots. But I don't want to get into those - most of them were really dumb!

Well, Val, since you asked, I would say "Does anyone have any good phrases for which they wish to see the Estonian counterpart?" And 'byel(o)' in Russian means 'white' - the people of Byelorussia were once called "White Russians" - although what made them 'white' I don't know. Dan

Country-isms: busier than a hound dog in a briar patch
That dog won't hunt (means you'll not get away with trying that - usually in the sense of 'no one will believe that explanation')
Crazier than a s**t-house rat
slicker than mink p**s.

I knew that the word byelo- also meant swamp. The area is mostly wet, really.

I found this forum occasionally and I couldn't resist posting here - I speak Estonian.

Thanks!

byelo-rats?


Ha


vch

Here's another of my favorite sayings:

"Reality keeps ruining my life." from the wonderful (and alas, no longer running) Calvin & Hobbes comic strip.




vch

Nature must be adapted to the reality.

The reason that the Byelorussians are "white" is that they're overwhelmingly blonde, at least in theory. I've never heard that it means "swamp" also, but who knows?

Well, they are not blond usually, most of tham have dark hair. And there are lots and lots of swamps there. This supports my theory.

White Russians - weren't they the Russians opposed to the Reds (Bolsheviks)? Did they all end up in Byelorus?

Suffolk coastal villager speaking, 60 yrs ago, of inhabitants of a neighbouring village, "They'm that backward they call meece mizen!"

Suffolk coastal villager speaking, 60 yrs ago, of inhabitants of a neighbouring village, "They'm that backward they call meece mizen!"