Terms Which Have Disappeared

[scottyrocks]

My technique for dealing with the things is twofold: (1) when I see a camera light ahead that is green and has been so for a while, I pull over to the curb, so I won't obstruct traffic, and wait until it goes red. Then I drive up to it, ready to go through when it changes to green again; or

(2) avoid the things entirely by driving another way. Not easy to do in a city with the finest of Third World roads, when you care about your car.

I would never have the patience to do #1, and I wouldn't do # 2 either, as my travel time is generally at a premium. I just approach controlled intersections ready to stop before the light turns red (here, if you enter the intersection on a yellow and it turns red while you're still in the intersection, you're okay).

 

[scottyrocks]

'That kid's about as sharp as a bowling ball.'

 

[BobHufford]

"They are as dumb as each other"

 

[2jakes]

"Not the brightest light on the porch"

"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer"

"Dumber than a bag of hammers"

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang...s-from-the-1920s-we-should-start-using-again/

 

[ChrisB]

"A dim bulb"

 

[BlueTrain]

I've heard some of the expressions in that list linked by Bruce Wayne. The one I remember best is "horse feathers." I don't really remember the context but one of my uncles used the word. Some horses do have feathers, you know.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Some horses do have feathers, you know.

 

[BlueTrain]

That wasn't what I meant but you probably know anyway.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandfather used to say "Balls on a heifer!" which was a bit more earthy than "horse feathers," but meant precisely the same thing.

 

[BlueTrain]

I can think of a very similar expression of uselessness but I wouldn't dare be that crude.

 

[Zombie_61]

That wasn't what I meant but you probably know anyway.

I do, but I had to look it up.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I don't think, todays (german) youngsters use this phrase, when something runs astonishing efficent/quickly. I try to translate:

"Man, that runs like a suppository!!"

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the German equivalent of the old Americanism "That went thru me like a dose of salts."

 

[BlueTrain]

"Like grass through a goose."

 

[GHT]

"A dim bulb"

The lights are on, but no-one's home.

 

[GHT]

That's the German equivalent of the old Americanism "That went thru me like a dose of salts."

My grandmother, a paragon of the prim & proper, would refer to the above as: The Green Apple Two Step.

 

[ChiTownScion]

The lights are on, but no-one's home.

"That elevator (lift?) doesn't go up to all floors.."


"About three bricks shy of a load."


"Two nuggets short of a Happy Meal."


"He's not playing with a full deck."


"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer."

 

[BlueTrain]

I don't know if the term has disappeared but the original meaning is no more: whistle stop tour. You could really only do a whistle stop tour if you took the train. A similar term was "one night stand," meaning performing at a theater for just one show, although it may have other meanings. Once upon a time, there were entertainers who made their living on the road, traveling from town to town offering live entertainment and presenting the same act to a different audience every night, usually. That disappeared as motion pictures became more popular. A whistle stop tour might also be something a politician did when he travelled around trying to get people to vote for him. They don't do that anymore either.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A Maine description of the dumb and clueless -- "Numb as a hake." "Yeah, not only does he not know nothin', he don't even suspect nothin'."