"Snowing down south" and other out-of-date phrases
Maria Conlon
reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
time.)
So I started thinking about the passing of other common phrases, but
couldn't think, offhand, of any particular phrase that has bitten the
dust.
Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English --
BrE, AmE, etc.)
Btw, what are "can-cans" called these days? They still exist, don't
they?
Maria Conlon
Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
Frank ess
Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's dead".
Other than riotous dances, "can-cans" doesn't mean much to me.
--
Frank ess
Born 1937; teenager from 1950 to 1957 and 1998 through present.
Pablo
> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English --
> BrE, AmE, etc.)
In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
--
Pablo
Irwell
> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:58 -0400, Maria Conlon escribi�:
>
>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English --
>> BrE, AmE, etc.)
>
> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
Amongst women of a certain age it was
'Aunt Agatha has come',
Maria Conlon
> Maria Conlon wrote:
>> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
>> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>>
>> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>> time.)
>>
>> So I started thinking about the passing of other common phrases, but
>> couldn't think, offhand, of any particular phrase that has bitten
>> the dust.
>>
>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>
>> Btw, what are "can-cans" called these days? They still exist, don't
>> they?
>>
>> Maria Conlon
>> Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
>
> Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's dead".
And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
> Other than riotous dances, "can-cans" doesn't mean much to me.
Typical can-can slips can be seen at:
http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/i/Lingerie/7932jy1.JPG
>
> Frank ess
> Born 1937; teenager from 1950 to 1957 and 1998 through present.
I'm not sure I've ever out-grown teenagerism, especially when I get
together with my friends from that era. I did that recently -- met a
life-long friend of mine in Atlantic City (she lives in NJ, but used to
live in Michigan) and talked about the "old days." Her daughter and my
husband were present, but that didn't hold us back. Well, maybe a
little.
Another venue: Each month, some of "the girls" from my high school
graduating class meet for brunch. We talk about the present more than
the past, though. It's something I always look forward to.
--
Maria Conlon
Maria Conlon
> Maria Conlon escribió:
>
>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>> English --
>> BrE, AmE, etc.)
>
> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
That sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure of the era.
--
Maria Conlon
Maria Conlon
> Pablo wrote:
>> Maria Conlon escribi�:
>>
>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>>> Web
>>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>>> English --
>>> BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>
>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's
>> menstruating.
>
> Amongst women of a certain age it was
> 'Aunt Agatha has come',
"My aunt is visiting" was heard hereabouts sometimes for the (dreaded)
monthly thing.
However, if one was said to "have gone to stay with her aunt," there was
good chance that the "aunt" was a home for unwed mothers.
Today's world is much more open about these things.
Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
"easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face"
then.
--
Maria Conlon, resident of southeast Michigan, near Detroit; native of
east Tennessee. Born 1943.
Jonathan Morton
news:h5pt8q$dsd$1...@news.albasani.net...
> Frank ess wrote:
>> Maria Conlon wrote:
>
>>> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
>>> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>>>
>>> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>>> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>>> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>>> time.)
>>
>
> And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
Yes.
Regards
Jonathan
Jonathan Morton
>>>
>>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
>>
>> Amongst women of a certain age it was
>> 'Aunt Agatha has come',
>
> "My aunt is visiting" was heard hereabouts sometimes for the (dreaded)
> monthly thing.
Or "Arsenal are at home" (Arsenal's shirts being red with white sleeves).
> Today's world is much more open about these things.
>
> Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
> mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now.
My wife is with you. "It's outrageous", "what's she playing at"... (repeat
to fade).
Regards
Jonathan
Cheryl P.
are showing! Still, that must still be a concern for some women because
I saw a TV ad recently for some kind of plastic loop that goes around
the bra straps. Allegedly, if this loop is positioned correctly, a woman
can wear summer tops with all kinds of oddly-positioned and skimpy
straps and still have her bra straps properly covered up. As a bonus,
she gets more cleavage. It struck me as a procedure that was far more
likely to work when you had a wardrobe mistress to position the little
plastic loop and when you wore it only long enough for the picture to be
taken.
We used to say 'You're slipping' if a slip was showing.
Cheryl
Pat Durkin
news:7ebaa5F...@mid.individual.net
> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:58 -0400, Maria Conlon escribi�:
>
>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English
>> -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>
> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
OTR in teen talk back in the late '60s, early '70s.
"Your slip is showing" was trademarked, I think, by Reader's Digest,
back in the day, to indicate someone had committed some faux pas. An
uncle swore up and down that they got that from him, as he used it to
his then not-so-ex wife to indicate he knew that she was running around
on him. But he was like that. Swore the Pope and Richard Nixon were
conspiring to get him.
Ildhund
> Maria Conlon wrote...
>> Today's world is much more open about these things.
>>
>> Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would
>> be mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now.
>
> My wife is with you. "It's outrageous", "what's she playing at"...
> (repeat to fade).
This has reminded me of a childhood incident whose import didn't
strike me until much later. My parents were about to go out one
evening in the early 1950s. Just before leaving the house, Mother
asked Father to check whether her seams were straight. 'The left one
needs to go about an eighth turn clockwise just above your knee,' he
said. The appropriate adjustment was made, and Father made for the
door. 'What about the other one?' asked Mother. 'Oh, that's all
right,' said Father, 'there isn't one,' whereupon Mother burst into
tears and refused to go.
--
Noel
Joe Fineman
> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>
> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
> time.)
I never heard that one. By the time I was little (1940s), "Your slip
is showing" did not need a euphemism; indeed the expression was often
used punningly to mean "You have made a small mistake".
However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two
o'clock in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly is
open".
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: Politics is a can of worms, and the president is the picture :||
||: on the label. :||
Hatunen
<conlo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing," in
>reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>
>When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>time.)
>
>So I started thinking about the passing of other common phrases, but
>couldn't think, offhand, of any particular phrase that has bitten the
>dust.
>
>Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English --
>BrE, AmE, etc.)
When I was a boy, c. 1940, when zippers were not yet common on
the fly of mens' trousers, my father taught me that one informed
another that his fly buttons were open with the phrase, "It's one
o'clock [two o'clock, three o'clock] in St Peterburg."
--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
Hatunen
I thought those were petticoats, although I can see why some
might have called them "can-cans". Perhaps after the movie
"Can-Can" came out.
Hatunen
I don't get it.
Jeffrey Turner
> "Maria Conlon" <conlo...@sbcglobal.net> writes:
>
>> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
>> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>>
>> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>> time.)
>
> I never heard that one. By the time I was little (1940s), "Your slip
> is showing" did not need a euphemism; indeed the expression was often
> used punningly to mean "You have made a small mistake".
I remember that one turning into "Dr. Freud, your slip is showing" if
someone made a (an alleged) Freudian slip.
--Jeff
--
The comfort of the wealthy has always
depended upon an abundant supply of
the poor. --Voltaire
Frank ess
Maria Conlon wrote:
> Frank ess wrote:
>> Maria Conlon wrote:
>
>>> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
>>> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>>>
>>> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>>> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The
>>> "snow" could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were
>>> white at the time.)
>>>
>>> So I started thinking about the passing of other common phrases,
>>> but couldn't think, offhand, of any particular phrase that has
>>> bitten the dust.
>>>
>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>>> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>>> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>>
>>> Btw, what are "can-cans" called these days? They still exist,
>>> don't they?
>>>
>>> Maria Conlon
>>> Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
>>
>> Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's
>> dead".
>
> And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
Yes. I guessed it had to do with flying flags at half mast.
>
>> Other than riotous dances, "can-cans" doesn't mean much to me.
>
> Typical can-can slips can be seen at:
>
> http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/i/Lingerie/7932jy1.JPG
>
Crinolines, no? In the late 1950s I had some interesting experiences
in "I'll pick you up at seven" episodes when I drove an MG TD. Several
layers of those things and a "circle and a half" poodle skirt could be
packed into the car with two people and the top down. Top up? No; go
back in and change, eh?
>>
>> Frank ess
>> Born 1937; teenager from 1950 to 1957 and 1998 through present.
>
> I'm not sure I've ever out-grown teenagerism, especially when I get
> together with my friends from that era. I did that recently -- met a
> life-long friend of mine in Atlantic City (she lives in NJ, but
> used to live in Michigan) and talked about the "old days." Her
> daughter and my husband were present, but that didn't hold us back.
> Well, maybe a little.
>
> Another venue: Each month, some of "the girls" from my high school
> graduating class meet for brunch. We talk about the present more
> than the past, though. It's something I always look forward to.
Our Third Thursday goup is mostly people who worked together somewhere
for some length of time between forty-five and about ten years ago.
It's getting so that all they want to talk about is their most recent
joint or organ replacement. I'm beginning to feel as if I must
schedule surgery or quit having lunch with them.
--
Frank ess
Frank ess
Pat Durkin wrote:
> "Pablo" <notv...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
> news:7ebaa5F...@mid.individual.net
>> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:58 -0400, Maria Conlon escribi�:
>>
>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>>> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>>> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>
>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's
>> menstruating.
>
> OTR in teen talk back in the late '60s, early '70s.
>
> "Your slip is showing" was trademarked, I think, by Reader's Digest,
> back in the day, to indicate someone had committed some faux pas. An
> uncle swore up and down that they got that from him, as he used
> it to his then not-so-ex wife to indicate he knew that she was
> running around on him. But he was like that. Swore the Pope and
> Richard Nixon were conspiring to get him.
Was he ever got?
R H Draney
>
>Irwell wrote:
>> Pablo wrote:
>>>
>>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's
>>> menstruating.
>>
>> Amongst women of a certain age it was
>> 'Aunt Agatha has come',
>
>"My aunt is visiting" was heard hereabouts sometimes for the (dreaded)
>monthly thing.
>
>However, if one was said to "have gone to stay with her aunt," there was
>good chance that the "aunt" was a home for unwed mothers.
There's a whole episode of "South Park" that plays with these
euphemisms...Stan's mother plays hostess to an actual "Aunt Flo", her "monthly
visitor"...Stan tells the other kids that "every time she shows up my mom turns
into a total bitch"; his father advises him to be patient because "she only
visits your mom for five days or so"....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Robert Bannister
> On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:06:19 +0100, "Jonathan Morton"
> <jonathan.mortonb...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>> "Maria Conlon" <conlo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>> news:h5pt8q$dsd$1...@news.albasani.net...
>>> Frank ess wrote:
>>>> Maria Conlon wrote:
>>>>> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
>>>>> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>>>>>
>>>>> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>>>>> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>>>>> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>>>>> time.)
>>>> Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's dead".
>>> And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
>> Yes.
>
> I don't get it.
>
I remember hearing in England too, long ago. I suspect the whole point
was that those not in the know would and should not get it.
--
Rob Bannister
Robert Bannister
> Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
> mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
> females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
> "easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
> decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face" then.
>
Not only that, if the bra strap were slipping, ladies would never have
dreamt of adjusting it in public. Today, I see woman adjusting their
knickers quite unconcernedly, and not just the young ones.
--
Rob Bannister
Pat Durkin
news:rpqdnfvJ8OoIIx3X...@giganews.com
On Thursdays I attend a senior citizen lunch. Last week we got
displaced from our church-basement dining area. The oldest member died,
and, since she was also a parisioner, it was kind of nice to see how
many did attend the funeral luncheon. (We had ours in the back room.)
The old lady was 95, and had stayed after lunch each day to watch this
or the other group play games. It is surprising how many of these
regulars are in their mid-eighties. Makes me feel young, to have so
many big brothers and sisters around.
Pat Durkin
> Pat Durkin wrote:
>> "Pablo" <notv...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
>> news:7ebaa5F...@mid.individual.net
>>>
>>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>>>> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>>>> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>>
>>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's
>>> menstruating.
>>
>> OTR in teen talk back in the late '60s, early '70s.
>>
>> "Your slip is showing" was trademarked, I think, by Reader's Digest,
>> back in the day, to indicate someone had committed some faux pas. An
>> uncle swore up and down that they got that from him, as he used
>> it to his then not-so-ex wife to indicate he knew that she was
>> running around on him. But he was like that. Swore the Pope and
>> Richard Nixon were conspiring to get him.
>
> Was he ever got?
Oh, yes. The family curse, diabetes, complicated by untreated
gonorrhea. But his delusions kept the family entertained for decades.
tony cooper
<conlo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing," in
>reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>
>When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
>snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
>could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
>time.)
Do you remember when girls took pains to make sure their bra shoulder
straps did not show? Pinned them, even, to make sure no glimpse could
be seen. Now, bra straps are part of the visible ensemble.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
tony cooper
<conlo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
>mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
>females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
>"easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
>decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face"
>then.
I should have read ahead before I posted a few minutes ago.
tony cooper
wrote:
>"Pablo" <notv...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
>news:7ebaa5F...@mid.individual.net
>> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:58 -0400, Maria Conlon escribi�:
>>
>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English
>>> -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>
>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's menstruating.
>
>OTR in teen talk back in the late '60s, early '70s.
>
>"Your slip is showing" was trademarked, I think, by Reader's Digest,
>back in the day, to indicate someone had committed some faux pas.
The full title was "Pardon, your slip is showing". Oy! stuff found in
print.
Pablo
> However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two o'clock
> in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly is open".
I remember it being "You're flying low".
--
Pablo
Nick Spalding
on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:20:16 -0400:
> "Maria Conlon" <conlo...@sbcglobal.net> writes:
>
> > Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
> > in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
> >
> > When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
> > snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
> > could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
> > time.)
>
> I never heard that one. By the time I was little (1940s), "Your slip
> is showing" did not need a euphemism; indeed the expression was often
> used punningly to mean "You have made a small mistake".
>
> However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two
> o'clock in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly is
> open".
"There's a star in the east" is the one I remember from my pa in the
days when flies were buttoned.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
Ildhund
> Joe Fineman escribió:
>
>> However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two
>> o'clock in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly is
>> open".
>
> I remember it being "You're flying low".
Naughty schoolboys again: the remark "Your hobby's undone"
invariably caused the victim's hand to fly involuntarily to the
location of the presumed oversight, whereupon the perpetrator would
gleefully exclaim, "Oh, so that's your hobby, is it?"
I haven't seen a notice urging you to "Please adjust your dress
before leaving" for years.
--
Noel
Leslie Danks
> Pablo wrote...
>> Joe Fineman escribi�:
That always made me wonder about people who hang out in places where men
wear dresses.
--
Les (BrE)
HVS
Or "you're at half-mast".
--
Cheers, Harvey
CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed
Bertel Lund Hansen
> Naughty schoolboys again: the remark "Your hobby's undone"
> invariably caused the victim's hand to fly involuntarily to the
> location of the presumed oversight, whereupon the perpetrator would
> gleefully exclaim, "Oh, so that's your hobby, is it?"
That was common in the Danish school that I attended. People
around the world are not so very different that some will have us
believe.
The most discrete hint I have experienced, was in 5th grade when
a classmate of mine pointed his index finger down in front of his
chest. He didn't say a word.
--
Bertel, Denmark
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
> mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
> females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
> "easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
> decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face"
> then.
I wonder when the last time that statement wasn't true was. Probably
not when these girls' mothers and grandmothers were wearing miniskirts
and going braless during the sixties. And probably not when *their*
mothers and grandmothers started wearing *pants*, which on women had
been so tittilating, since the shape of their legs was visible, that
around the turn of the century women wearing them (aka "bifurcated
girls") had been regular features of pictoral spreads in men's
magazines.
Personally, I think it looks silly, but I suspect that my grandparents
probably thought it looked silly when people (of both sexes) started
wearing men's undershirts (with or without writing) with nothing over
them.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |We never met anyone who believed in
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |fortune cookies. That's astounding.
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |Belief in the precognitive powers
|of an Asian pastry is really no
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |wackier than belief in ESP,
(650)857-7572 |subluxation, or astrology, but you
|just don't hear anyone preaching
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |Scientific Cookie-ism.
| Penn and Teller
Mike Lyle
Piggybacking on your post, Tony. Ta moochly.
> On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:54:58 -0400, "Maria Conlon"
> <conlo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>> Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
>> mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
>> females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
>> "easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
>> decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face"
>> then.
The great 'sixties problem: you don't want them to think you're /that/
kind of girl, while simultaneously not wanting them to think you're the
/other/ kind, either.
>
> I should have read ahead before I posted a few minutes ago.
Glad you didn't: your slip, so to speak, let me in. (I still remember
the surprise I felt on shopping in Spain and discovering that over there
a "braslip" was a piece of masculine attire.)
--
Mike.
Jeffrey Turner
> On 11 Aug 2009, Pablo wrote
>
>> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:20:16 -0400, Joe Fineman escribió:
>>
>>> However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two
>>> o'clock in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly
>>> is open".
>> I remember it being "You're flying low".
>
> Or "you're at half-mast".
"XYZ" for "examine your zipper" was a favorite of mine.
Steve Hayes
<unos...@lundhansen.dk> wrote:
>The most discrete hint I have experienced, was in 5th grade when
>a classmate of mine pointed his index finger down in front of his
>chest. He didn't say a word.
Or did you mean discreet?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Jerry Friedman
> "Maria Conlon" <conlonma...@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> > Consider bra straps, ladies. In earlier days, a girl/woman would be
> > mortified if her bra straps showed. Not now. (What's wrong with those
> > females? Have they no shame? Do they /want/ to be seen as "loose" and
> > "easy"?) The foregoing parenthesized questions are typical of earlier
> > decades. Attitudes were, shall we say, less "open" and "in your face"
> > then.
>
> I wonder when the last time that statement wasn't true was.
My usual guess at answers to questions like that is "around 1900".
This is partly inspired by an essay in which C. S. Lewis argued that
the real transition from ancient to modern wasn't the fall of Rome or
the translation of Greek manuscripts but the period from about 1880 to
1920--an argument that has held up surprisingly well in the decades
since he wrote that in my opinion.
"For ordinary wear, high collars were, however, the norm for many
years. When it became fashionable, around 1913, for dresses to be worn
with a modest round or V-shaped neckline, this nonetheless deeply
shocked clergymen all over the world. In the German Empire, all of the
Roman Catholic bishops joined in issuing a pastoral letter attacking
modern fashions.[11] "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleavage_(breasts)#History
But maybe earlier fashions too were widely condemned as indecent and
symptomatic of a breakdown in the younger generation's morals.
--
Jerry Friedman
Pablo
> Glad you didn't: your slip, so to speak, let me in. (I still remember
> the surprise I felt on shopping in Spain and discovering that over there
> a "braslip" was a piece of masculine attire.)
I can't believe I just investigated it. Must get a job.
http://s787.photobucket.com/albums/yy154/pablo_guiri/?albumview=grid
Like Y fronts. Not in any dictionary. Made by a firm called Ocean.
--
Pablo
Bertel Lund Hansen
> >The most discrete hint I have experienced, was in 5th grade when
> >a classmate of mine pointed his index finger down in front of his
> >chest. He didn't say a word.
> Or did you mean discreet?
Yes.
--
Bertel, Denmark
Hatunen
That would require that any woman wearing a slip would know its
meaning, aw would any man who might say it askaancwe to her;
usually these little phrases have sonme sort of punning or
metaphorical meaning that can be remembered as referring to an
article of clothing.
--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
CDB
> HVS wrote:
>> On 11 Aug 2009, Pablo wrote
>>
>>> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:20:16 -0400, Joe Fineman escribió:
>>>
>>>> However, we did have a corresponding male expression, "It's two
>>>> o'clock in the barber shop", which meant, absurdly, "Your fly
>>>> is open".
>>> I remember it being "You're flying low".
>>
>> Or "you're at half-mast".
>
> "XYZ" for "examine your zipper" was a favorite of mine.
"All is discovered."
Robin Bignall
wrote:
>"Frank ess" <fr...@fshe2fs.com> wrote in message
>news:6vOdnWcDDed0Ix3X...@giganews.com
>> Pat Durkin wrote:
>>> "Pablo" <notv...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
>>> news:7ebaa5F...@mid.individual.net
>>>> El Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:58 -0400, Maria Conlon escribió:
>>>>
>>>>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
>>>>> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>>>>> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>>>>
>>>> In the UK, "she's red sails into the sunset" meant she's
>>>> menstruating.
>>>
>>> OTR in teen talk back in the late '60s, early '70s.
>>>
>>> "Your slip is showing" was trademarked, I think, by Reader's Digest,
>>> back in the day, to indicate someone had committed some faux pas. An
>>> uncle swore up and down that they got that from him, as he used
>>> it to his then not-so-ex wife to indicate he knew that she was
>>> running around on him. But he was like that. Swore the Pope and
>>> Richard Nixon were conspiring to get him.
>>
>> Was he ever got?
>
>Oh, yes. The family curse, diabetes, complicated by untreated
>gonorrhea. But his delusions kept the family entertained for decades.
>
I wish I could say that about mine.
--
Robin
(BrE)
Herts, England
HVS
> On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:43:34 -0500, "Pat Durkin"
> <dur...@sbc.com> wrote:
>> "Frank ess" <fr...@fshe2fs.com> wrote in message
>> news:6vOdnWcDDed0Ix3X...@giganews.com
>>> Was he ever got?
>>
>> Oh, yes. The family curse, diabetes, complicated by untreated
>> gonorrhea. But his delusions kept the family entertained for
>> decades.
>>
> I wish I could say that about mine.
Your family, or your delusions?
(Curious minds, 'n' all that...)
Robin Bignall
wrote:
>On 11 Aug 2009, Robin Bignall wrote
>> On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:43:34 -0500, "Pat Durkin"
>> <dur...@sbc.com> wrote:
>>> "Frank ess" <fr...@fshe2fs.com> wrote in message
>>> news:6vOdnWcDDed0Ix3X...@giganews.com
>
>>>> Was he ever got?
>>>
>>> Oh, yes. The family curse, diabetes, complicated by untreated
>>> gonorrhea. But his delusions kept the family entertained for
>>> decades.
>>>
>> I wish I could say that about mine.
>
>Your family, or your delusions?
>
>(Curious minds, 'n' all that...)
Oh, delusions, of course.
Mike Lyle
[...]
>
> But maybe earlier fashions too were widely condemned as indecent and
> symptomatic of a breakdown in the younger generation's morals.
Certainly: I feel the back of my mind houses an almost-remembered
example from the twelfth century. See also fashions in dances. The cycle
can be bewilderingly rapid, too: I remember head teachers being suitably
outraged at girls coming to school in flesh-coloured stockings, then at
black ones, then at coloured ones, then at black ones, then at flesh
ones ... The nuns at my sister's school, where "flesh-coloured" was the
rule, had no ready answer when they challenged a black girl's dark brown
tights and she responded that in her case, these /were/ flesh-coloured.
Religious grounds can be sandily labile, too: depending on where in the
Sub-continent the community originated, Muslim girls in Britain can be
compelled either to wear trousers or skirts in the interests of decency.
--
Mike.
Robert Bannister
> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:02:48 +0800, Robert Bannister
> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>> Hatunen wrote:
>>> On Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:06:19 +0100, "Jonathan Morton"
>>> <jonathan.mortonb...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's dead".
>>>>> And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
>>>> Yes.
>>> I don't get it.
>>>
>> I remember hearing in England too, long ago. I suspect the whole point
>> was that those not in the know would and should not get it.
>
> That would require that any woman wearing a slip would know its
> meaning, aw would any man who might say it askaancwe to her;
> usually these little phrases have sonme sort of punning or
> metaphorical meaning that can be remembered as referring to an
> article of clothing.
>
I'm sure there's a story attached, but by my time, it was lost in
history. This is certainly true of a lot of rhyming slang that includes
names (on my Todd or Pat Malone) where few people would remember the
person mentioned or even perhaps realise that it was a person.
--
Rob Bannister
Robert Bannister
I have read in a number of 18th century novels about how shocked people
were when they saw young persons indulging in the new-fangled waltz.
--
Rob Bannister
Robert Bannister
And yet there is the recent case of the UN worker being prosecuted in
Sudan for wearing trousers.
--
Rob Bannister
Richard Bollard
Same with the yoof when it comes to their undies.
--
Richard Bollard
Canberra Australia
To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT.
Jerry Friedman
Yes, the partners embraced (or all but) rather than just touching each
other's hands. But I was talking more about clothes.
--
Jerry Friedman
Jerry Friedman
wrote:
> Jerry Friedman wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>
>
> > But maybe earlier fashions too were widely condemned as indecent and
> > symptomatic of a breakdown in the younger generation's morals.
>
> Certainly: I feel the back of my mind houses an almost-remembered
> example from the twelfth century.
Ditto, in my case, for too-short doublets in the sixteenth or some
century like that. But I think these were sporadic.
> See also fashions in dances. The cycle
> can be bewilderingly rapid, too: I remember head teachers being suitably
> outraged at girls coming to school in flesh-coloured stockings, then at
> black ones, then at coloured ones, then at black ones, then at flesh
> ones ... The nuns at my sister's school, where "flesh-coloured" was the
> rule, had no ready answer when they challenged a black girl's dark brown
> tights and she responded that in her case, these /were/ flesh-coloured.
...
I hadn't heard of that one. Girls wore socks at the schools I went
to. This rapid cycle of indecency, I think, is what started a hundred
years ago or a bit more. I don't think the matrons of 1809 or 1709
were complaining about their daughters' revealing clothes in just the
same terms that their mothers had used about theirs.
--
Jerry Friedman
tony cooper
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I have read in a number of �18th century novels about how shocked people
>> were when they saw young persons indulging in the new-fangled waltz.
>
>Yes, the partners embraced (or all but) rather than just touching each
>other's hands. But I was talking more about clothes.
At CYO dances in the 50s, there would usually be a nun present to
ensure that nothing untoward occurred. One, I remember, walked about
with a broom and couples were obliged to slow dance with an interval
between them that allowed the broomstick to pass through above and
below the arms.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
LFS
That conjures up a quite fascinating picture. Did she test each couple
on the floor only once? Did the couples stop dancing while she tested?
Didn't the business end of the broom get in the way of other dancers?
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
J. J. Lodder
> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing," in
> reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>
> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
> time.)
I asked those in the know for the corresponding Dutch expression.
One was 'De melk kookt over" (The milk boils over)
Jan
Evan Kirshenbaum
I don't know about "breakdown in the younger generation's morals", but
I see things like
... on June 7, 1650, a Bill was introduced and read a first time
to deal with 'vice of ... immodest dresses of women,' but no one
ever moved its second reading, and ... low dresses still held the
field when the Stuart was restored to his kingdom. Another
attempt was made in 1656 to deal with indecent fashions ...
_The Literary World_, 5/13/1891
I cannot forbear stating, on very credible information, that a
respectable physician should have declared that, in one season
only, no less than two hundred female patients under his care had
either actually die, or would continue to linger for life, under
complaints for which there was no cure;--and all contracted in
consequence of the exposure of their persons in the pernicious and
prevailing indecent fashions of the day!
_The Literary Panorama_, 1807
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Code should be designed to make it
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |easy to get it right, not to work
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |if you get it right.
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
Cheryl P.
Muslim world, trousers are modest dress for females. In other parts,
they're indecent.
I remember being taught as a child that modesty standards varied around
the world, the example being that in my part of the world, females were
always covered from the waist up, but sometimes missionaries (Christian
in this case) worked in areas in which modest dress included no bras or
blouses or sweaters or anything! At some later point I found out that
not all Christian missionaries held these views on female modesty, and
made earnest efforts to convince their female converts to wear blouses
or muumuus or somthing similar.
I think in Victorian times, the mere display of a female ankle was
shocking, and although historical novels are sometimes about as accurate
as historical movies, I read in one of those about an incident where
there was a lot of fulmination about a new type of lacing of the bodice,
while the young women put on an innocent expression and claimed it was
merely a convenient style for breast-feeding, and not intended to
attract young men or be fashionable at all.
Cheryl
Cheryl P.
>
> I hadn't heard of that one. Girls wore socks at the schools I went
> to. This rapid cycle of indecency, I think, is what started a hundred
> years ago or a bit more. I don't think the matrons of 1809 or 1709
> were complaining about their daughters' revealing clothes in just the
> same terms that their mothers had used about theirs.
>
> --
> Jerry Friedman
When were thin muslin dresses in style, with the more dashing young
ladies being accused of dampening them so they clung to the figure? For
some reason Caroline Lamb and Byron (well, not that I think Byron wore
thin dresses)are stuck in my mind, but I can't quite retrieve the memory
and decide if that was the period or not.
Cheryl
Leslie Danks
[...]
> I recall something written by Sir Richard Burton, coincidentally a
> Victorian. He told of witnessing the wife of an Arab sheik who tumbled
> from a camel and exposed her privates. The sheik was extremely happy
> that his wife preserved her modesty by not permitting her veil to fall
> off.
Presumably those present who recognised her kept their counsel.
--
Les (BrE)
Nick Spalding
on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:13:23 GMT:
> I recall something written by Sir Richard Burton, coincidentally a
> Victorian. He told of witnessing the wife of an Arab sheik who tumbled
> from a camel and exposed her privates. The sheik was extremely happy
> that his wife preserved her modesty by not permitting her veil to fall
> off.
Reminds me of the possibly apocryphal story about Maurice Bowra:
He liked to sun himself at Parsons’ Pleasure, the (since abolished) nude
bathing place for men on the river Cherwell. The story was much told of
how, when an illicit punt-load of women floated past, all the other men
covered their genitals, but Bowra threw a towel over his face with the
words, "I don't know about you chaps, but I am known in the streets of
Oxford by my face."
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
tony cooper
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>tony cooper wrote:
>> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:09:25 -0700 (PDT), Jerry Friedman
>> <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> I have read in a number of 18th century novels about how shocked people
>>>> were when they saw young persons indulging in the new-fangled waltz.
>>> Yes, the partners embraced (or all but) rather than just touching each
>>> other's hands. But I was talking more about clothes.
>>
>> At CYO dances in the 50s, there would usually be a nun present to
>> ensure that nothing untoward occurred. One, I remember, walked about
>> with a broom and couples were obliged to slow dance with an interval
>> between them that allowed the broomstick to pass through above and
>> below the arms.
>
>That conjures up a quite fascinating picture. Did she test each couple
>on the floor only once? Did the couples stop dancing while she tested?
She approached any couple that she felt was dancing too closely. The
mere approach was usually sufficient. The "slow dance", in those
days, was more grasping each other and swaying in place to the music.
>Didn't the business end of the broom get in the way of other dancers?
I think you are visualizing this to be something like one of those
dance competitions on television where the dancers move about the
floor with turns and flourishes.
A CYO "slow dance" in the 50s was a group of teenagers paired off and
swaying to music. You could hide a dime under the shoe of one of the
boys and the coin would never show while the boy was dancing. There
was no "getting in the way" problem.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
The nun was probably unaware of "Jumping the Broom(stick)":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_broom
The phrase became well known in the UK via Brenda Lee's song "Let's Jump
the Broomstick":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Lee#International_fame
Lee was popular in the United Kingdom early in her career. She
toured the UK in 1959, before she had achieved much pop recognition
in the US. Her 1961 rockabilly release "Let's Jump the Broomstick"
did not chart in the US, but went to number 12 in the UK. She then
had two top 10 hits in the UK that were not released as singles in
her native country: "Speak To Me Pretty" peaked at number three in
early 1962, followed by "Here Comes That Feeling".
Lee enjoys one distinction unique among successful American singers;
her opening act on a UK tour in the early 1960s was a
then-little-known beat group from Liverpool, England: The Beatles.
A cover version by Louise[1]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB5MoGBmDSw
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Redknapp
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>
> I cannot forbear stating, on very credible information, that a
> respectable physician should have declared that, in one season
> only, no less than two hundred female patients under his care had
> either actually die, or would continue to linger for life, under
> complaints for which there was no cure;--and all contracted in
> consequence of the exposure of their persons in the pernicious and
> prevailing indecent fashions of the day!
>
> _The Literary Panorama_, 1807
OK, ladies and gentlemen, nature is now conducting an experiment to test
the truth of that. Will all-over clothing, a burkha for instance, offer
protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus (swine flu)?
We should keep our eyes peeled (but our mouths, noses and hands covered)
to see what happens.
Percival P. Cassidy
> I remember being taught as a child that modesty standards varied around
> the world, the example being that in my part of the world, females were
> always covered from the waist up, but sometimes missionaries (Christian
> in this case) worked in areas in which modest dress included no bras or
> blouses or sweaters or anything! At some later point I found out that
> not all Christian missionaries held these views on female modesty, and
> made earnest efforts to convince their female converts to wear blouses
> or muumuus or somthing similar.
I read of a missionary who told the newly converted men, "Now that you
are Christians, you need to have your women wear blouses to cover their
breasts." The response was, "What!? And have them look like prostitutes?"
Perce
Chuck Riggs
I haven't heard "keep our [or your] eyes peeled" for over twenty
years. I realize you are British, but that would have been in America.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs,
who speaks AmE, lives near Dublin, Ireland
and usually spells in BrE
John Varela
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
> OK, ladies and gentlemen, nature is now conducting an experiment to test
> the truth of that. Will all-over clothing, a burkha for instance, offer
> protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus (swine flu)?
The burkha could lead to vitamin D deficiency, which might reduce
resistance to flu. On the other hand, burkha wearers are unlikely
to have melanomas.
--
John Varela
Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
Jeffrey Turner
>
> I think in Victorian times, the mere display of a female ankle was
> shocking, and although historical novels are sometimes about as accurate
> as historical movies, I read in one of those about an incident where
> there was a lot of fulmination about a new type of lacing of the bodice,
> while the young women put on an innocent expression and claimed it was
> merely a convenient style for breast-feeding, and not intended to
> attract young men or be fashionable at all.
In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows, anything goes
Good authors too who once knew better words
Now only use four letter words writing prose
Anything goes
The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today
And black's white today
And day's night today
When most guys today that women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
So though Im not a great romancer
I know that youre bound to answer
When I propose, anything goes
--Cole Porter
http://www.actionext.com/names_f/frank_sinatra_lyrics/anything_goes.html
--
The comfort of the wealthy has always
depended upon an abundant supply of
the poor. --Voltaire
Hatunen
wrote:
>I think in Victorian times, the mere display of a female ankle was
>shocking, [...]
In olden days a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking,
But now, God knows,
Anything Goes.
-- Cole Porter, "Anything goes", from 1934 Broadway show,
"Anything Goes"
The lyrics pretty well sum up this subthread. See
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/c/coleporter5950/anythinggoes235308.html
--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
Hatunen
That version is somewhat Bowdlerized from the original, and quite
a few lyrics have been deleted. See
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/c/coleporter5950/anythinggoes235308.html
Porter usually wrote fairly frank lyrics, whihc had to be altered
when they left the Broadway stage and migrated to popular music.
For instance, the original lyrics to "I Get a Kick out of You"
included:
Some get a kick from cocain
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
that would bore me terrificly too
yet I get a kick out of you
... a verse usually dropped from pop recordings.
Ildhund
> OK, ladies and gentlemen, nature is now conducting an experiment
> to test the truth of that. Will all-over clothing, a burkha for
> instance, offer protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus (swine
> flu)?
>
> We should keep our eyes peeled (but our mouths, noses and hands
> covered) to see what happens.
Do you know that a sneeze globule will not infect its recipient if
it lands in a peeled eye? It could be, for example, that tears
contain some powerful antiviral element.
--
Noel
John Kane
> On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:56:23 UTC, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
>
> > OK, ladies and gentlemen, nature is now conducting an experiment to test
> > the truth of that. Will all-over clothing, a burkha for instance, offer
> > protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus (swine flu)?
>
> The burkha could lead to vitamin D deficiency, which might reduce
> resistance to flu. On the other hand, burkha wearers are unlikely
> to have melanomas.
I believe Saudi Arabia fortifies milk with extra vitamin D to
counteract the effects of a abayah ( Saudi version of a burka) so
there's no problem in the Kingdom.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
Mike Lyle
> On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:56:23 UTC, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
> <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>
>> OK, ladies and gentlemen, nature is now conducting an experiment to
>> test the truth of that. Will all-over clothing, a burkha for
>> instance, offer protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus (swine
>> flu)?
>
> The burkha could lead to vitamin D deficiency, which might reduce
> resistance to flu. On the other hand, burkha wearers are unlikely
> to have melanomas.
There's a youngster who comes to the canoe club and paddles a kayak in
her hijab. I suppose it must be all right, and quite a bit less
dangerous than a full burkha if she capsizes; but I must say I'd have
thought this was a clear case for, at most, a simple headscarf knotted
under the chin.
--
Mike.
Sara Lorimer
> "XYZ" for "examine your zipper" was a favorite of mine.
XYZPDQ, in my family.
--
SML
Robert Bannister
> Murray Arnow wrote, in <h5u4kb$k18$1...@remote5bge0.ripco.com>
> on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:13:23 GMT:
>
>> I recall something written by Sir Richard Burton, coincidentally a
>> Victorian. He told of witnessing the wife of an Arab sheik who tumbled
>> from a camel and exposed her privates. The sheik was extremely happy
>> that his wife preserved her modesty by not permitting her veil to fall
>> off.
>
> Reminds me of the possibly apocryphal story about Maurice Bowra:
>
> bathing place for men on the river Cherwell. The story was much told of
> how, when an illicit punt-load of women floated past, all the other men
> covered their genitals, but Bowra threw a towel over his face with the
> words, "I don't know about you chaps, but I am known in the streets of
> Oxford by my face."
And then there is the fact that a woman, caught naked, is more likely to
cover her breasts than her genitals.
--
Rob Bannister
Pablo
> And then there is the fact that a woman, caught naked, is more likely to
> cover her breasts than her genitals.
Well, unless she's in a particularly good mood, they (genitals) are not
normally exactly on show, are they. Just a bit of hair - or not, of
course.
I don't know what the fuss is about. It's only their nipples they're
concerned about.
--
Pablo
Jeffrey Turner
It was a common expression in my family. I'm sure elsewhere, it's just
not something that sticks out.
--Jeff
Cece
> Frank ess wrote:
> > Maria Conlon wrote:
> >> Earlier today, I heard someone (on tv) say "your slip is showing,"
> >> in reference to a woman's slip/petticoat.
>
> >> When I was a teenager, one way of saying the same thing was "It's
> >> snowing down south." Most females knew what that meant. (The "snow"
> >> could be any color, though most slips/petticoats were white at the
> >> time.)
>
> >> couldn't think, offhand, of any particular phrase that has bitten
> >> the dust.
>
> >> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my
> >> Web site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
> >> English -- BrE, AmE, etc.)
>
> >> Btw, what are "can-cans" called these days? They still exist, don't
> >> they?
>
> >> Maria Conlon
> >> Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
>
> > Never heard the "snowing" thing; one I remember is "Charlie's dead".
>
> And what does that mean? One's slip/petticoat is showing?
>
> > Other than riotous dances, "can-cans" doesn't mean much to me.
>
> Typical can-can slips can be seen at:
>
> http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/i/Lingerie/7932jy1.JPG
>
>
>
> > Frank ess
> > Born 1937; teenager from 1950 to 1957 and 1998 through present.
>
> I'm not sure I've ever out-grown teenagerism, especially when I get
> together with my friends from that era. I did that recently -- met a
> life-long friend of mine in Atlantic City (she lives in NJ, but used to
> live in Michigan) and talked about the "old days." Her daughter and my
> husband were present, but that didn't hold us back. Well, maybe a
> little.
>
> Another venue: Each month, some of "the girls" from my high school
> graduating class meet for brunch. We talk about the present more than
> the past, though. It's something I always look forward to.
>
> --
> Maria Conlon- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Those are crinolines.
I've never heard the "snowing" phrase either. We just said, "Your
slip is showing."
Does the phrase "Your barn door is open" mean anything to you? Only
boys ever heard it; girls' slacks had side zippers.
Teenager 1961 through 1967, in the American Midwest. Note: the
vocabulary above dates back at least as far as 1958. Especially the
reference to crinolines; after that, nobody wore them!
Chuck Riggs
Interesting, although British sources for this expression interest me
most, for I thought they were unusual.
I have run across it in American fiction and in plenty of cowboy
movies. I also remember my father, who spent his boyhood in Washington
State, saying it frequently, some fifty years ago.
Until I read Peter Duncanson's post yesterday, I don't recall seeing
any British sources of the expression. Until then, I had thought that,
not only was it an AmE expression, it tended to be a WesternAmE
expression or, at least, not an EasternAmE expression.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
I don't know where I picked up the expression. It is very likely that I
got it from my parents. They were Australian. Google finds current
examples of the use of the phrase in Australia:
"keep your eyes peeled: site:.au
Whether my parents brought the phrase with them when they came to
England from Australia in 1930 is another question.
Wood Avens
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
It's been familiar to me from childhood -- England, 1940s, two English
parents, four English grandparents.
If pressed, I'd associate it with woodcraftiness, though not
necessarily the echt Boy Scouts. I wouldn't be surprised to find it
in one of Kipling's stories, for instance, or, come to that, in C S
Lewis, eg Prince Caspian or The Silver Chair; or even in Enid Blyton,
or indeed in any other novel where characters are creeping around
looking out for danger.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Nick Spalding
on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:48:03 +0100:
Same for me, with a bit of Irish thrown in at the grandparent level.
> If pressed, I'd associate it with woodcraftiness, though not
> necessarily the echt Boy Scouts. I wouldn't be surprised to find it
> in one of Kipling's stories, for instance, or, come to that, in C S
> Lewis, eg Prince Caspian or The Silver Chair; or even in Enid Blyton,
> or indeed in any other novel where characters are creeping around
> looking out for danger.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE
Paul Wolff
>On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:30:27 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
>>>>> On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:56:23 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
>>>>>>
keeps his eyes peeled for any hint of von Stalhein, opined Bertie.
--
Paul
Robin Bignall
Me, too.
>If pressed, I'd associate it with woodcraftiness, though not
>necessarily the echt Boy Scouts. I wouldn't be surprised to find it
>in one of Kipling's stories, for instance, or, come to that, in C S
>Lewis, eg Prince Caspian or The Silver Chair; or even in Enid Blyton,
>or indeed in any other novel where characters are creeping around
>looking out for danger.
Maybe Richmal Crompton's "William" series, or "Biggles" could have
been sources. Or Billy Bunter of Greyfriars?
--
Robin
(BrE)
Herts, England
Chuck Riggs
wrote:
Since no British AUE member has provided examples from his own past,
IINM, and I do not recall Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule
Poirot saying it, the suggestions that "keep your eyes peeled" had
origins outside America leave me cold, at least thus far.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
I can't provide examples from my past. The phrase is simply one that I
have known for a very long time. I do not recall when I first heard or
read it. It is part of my active vocabulary even if I don't use it very
often. To me it is no more special than thousands of other words and
phrases that I know.
>IINM, and I do not recall Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule
>Poirot saying it, the suggestions that "keep your eyes peeled" had
>origins outside America leave me cold, at least thus far.
--
Donna Richoux
> Since no British AUE member has provided examples from his own past,
> IINM, and I do not recall Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule
> Poirot saying it, the suggestions that "keep your eyes peeled" had
> origins outside America leave me cold, at least thus far.
Indeed, it surprises me, but the only three hits for "eyes peeled" in
the Literaturepost.com collection are by American authors: Mark Twain,
Jack London, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The literature collection includes plenty of British authors such as
Kipling and Wodehouse.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Nick
Google books searches for "eyes peeled" gives a lot of American ones,
including a "Dictionary of Americanisms" from 1877, and a "We must keep
our eyes peeled, as the Americans say, for we know not where or when a
bird may rise. " from 1893, which is telling. But there are a good
smattering of British examples as well.
A lot are in periodicals, which makes dating difficult as we know, but
include Punch (apparently volumes 102/3 - which would make around 1893)
and there's a hit in "Discords" by "George Egerton" from 1894.
So it looks to be an Americanism, but one which had crossed the Atlantic
by the end of the 19th century.
Mind you, it also appears in "Beginning Ubuntu Linux, published in 1899"...
--
Online waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk
development version: http://canalplan.eu
James Silverton
>> Since no British AUE member has provided examples from his
>> own past, IINM, and I do not recall Sherlock Holmes, Miss
>> Marple or Hercule Poirot saying it, the suggestions that
>> "keep your eyes peeled" had origins outside America leave me
>> cold, at least thus far.
> Indeed, it surprises me, but the only three hits for "eyes
> peeled" in the Literaturepost.com collection are by American authors:
> Mark Twain, Jack London, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
> The literature collection includes plenty of British authors
> such as Kipling and Wodehouse.
Google Books gave 1132 references for "eyes peeled". I have not tried to
sort them into sides of the Atlantic.
--
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
Kalmia
> Maria Conlon
> Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
The first time I ever heard that "There's snow down South" was from a
gal brought up in Ohio. In my area, (Boston), it was "You're
slipping".
I bet both expressions are not needed now - who wears a slip anymore?
The thrift shops are full of 'em.
Kalmia
>
> Does the phrase "Your barn door is open" mean anything to you? Only
> boys ever heard it; girls' slacks had side zippers.
In my area, it was "What do airplanes do?" and the kid got the message.
Hatunen
<chr...@eircom.net> wrote:
>Since no British AUE member has provided examples from his own past,
>IINM, and I do not recall Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Hercule
>Poirot saying it, the suggestions that "keep your eyes peeled" had
>origins outside America leave me cold, at least thus far.
Some fifty-plus years ago the phrase used was "eyeballs peeled"
and a google turns up many hits for that phrase.
R H Draney
>
>On Aug 13, 2:35=A0pm, Cece <ceceliaarmstr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> Does the phrase "Your barn door is open" mean anything to you? =A0Only
>> boys ever heard it; girls' slacks had side zippers.
>
>
>In my area, it was "What do airplanes do?" and the kid got the message.
Fortunately, your area is nowhere near Lockerbie....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Jeffrey Turner
According to a column from the Boston Globe, girdles are making a
comeback. You never know.
Chuck Riggs
wrote:
Perhaps it would not be out of line at this point, to suggest that,
based on a literature search, AUE members' memories of books read and
films watched, along with our collective experience, for the most
part, with the spoken language, the expression is as American as apple
pie.
Chuck Riggs
<jtu...@localnet.com> wrote:
>Kalmia wrote:
>>> Maria Conlon
>>> Born 1943; teenager from May 1956 to May 1963.
>>
>>
>>
>> The first time I ever heard that "There's snow down South" was from a
>> gal brought up in Ohio. In my area, (Boston), it was "You're
>> slipping".
>>
>> I bet both expressions are not needed now - who wears a slip anymore?
>> The thrift shops are full of 'em.
>
>According to a column from the Boston Globe, girdles are making a
>comeback. You never know.
If something had to be done about the area's rising rate of teenage
pregnancy, strapping girdles back on their nubile young hardly seems
the best approach, in this day of the pill and more opportunities for
privacy than my generation had.
http://www.baystatebanner.com/Health26-2009-02-12
Nick
I think - and have posted - it's certainly of American origin, but it's
been British for over 100 years now, and certainly is something I grew
up with and never considered not part of ordinary English.
But then I grew up with apple pie as well.
Kalmia
> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of English --
> BrE, AmE, etc.)
Hubba hubba. Haven't heard that in decades.
Maria Conlon
> Maria Conlon wrote:
>> Suggestions for a list (which I may use, with attributions, on my Web
>> site) will be appreciated. (Please identify your version of
>> English --
>> BrE, AmE, etc.)
> Hubba hubba. Haven't heard that in decades.
Nor have I.
In checking some online dictionaries, I found several entries, but
nothing that clearly/fully establishes origin.
----
American Heritage Dictionary:
Interjection. Slang
Used to express approval, pleasure, or excitement.
Wiktionarty:
Alternative spellingshubba-hubba
Interjectionhubba hubba
1.(emphatic) An expression of appreciation or approval with a strong
(good) sexual connotation.
yourdictionary.com:
interjection
Slang used to express approval, enthusiasm, etc., esp. to or about an
attractive woman
infoplease.com:
Pronunciation: (hub'u hub'u), [key] Slang.
(an exclamation of admiration, approval, or enthusiasm, used esp. by
G.I.'s of World War II as a shout in appreciation of a pretty girl.)
etymonline.com (Online Etymology Dictionary)
U.S. slang cry of excitement or enthusiasm, first recorded 1944.
----
I do remember hearing the phrase, but probably not since the 1950s (or
early 1960s at the latest).
Maybe we should bring it back. Just start saying it (when appropriate)
and see what happens.
--
Maria Conlon