Breckinridge County KyArchives History .....Old Sayings ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 October 28, 2006, 2:06 pm Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past Slang expressions date back to more than a century. Put the cart before the horse: 1690 Chatterbox: 1785 Count one's chickens before they hatch: Dry as a bone: 1833 Elbow grease: 1708 To have one's fling: 1624 Apple pie order: 1813 Beat about the bush: 1546 Between you, me and the fence post: 1831 A bone to pick: 1565 Butter-fingered: 1615 Let the cat out of the bag: 1760 Chisel (to cheat): 1808 Eat one's head off: 1703 Dead as a doornail: 1593 Feather one's nest: 1590 Against the grain: 1673 Bamboozle: 1703 Better half: 1590 To be in the same boat: New broom to sweep clean: 1546 Butter up one's lip or mouth: 1747 Horse sense comes from stable thinking Fit as a fiddle Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas Not worth a thin dime Crazy as a bed bug Limp as a dishrag Pretty as a picture Tired as a dog Solid as a birck outhouse Stubborn as a mule Slow as molasses Mean as a polecat Mean as a junkyard dog Mean as a stripped snake Tight as a tick White as a sheet Raining cats and dogs I've told you 10,000 times Smart as a whip Slick as greased lightning Black as pitch Black as midnight Weak as a kitten Hot as a $2 pistol Lit up like Levi's Drunk as a skunk Ugly as a mud fence Happy as a larn High as a kite High as a Georgia pine Familiar Sayings: You wore that shirt only one day It wouldn't hurt you to comb your hair Beans... what kind of lunch is that? Don't eat so fast, what's your hurry, sit up Don't you know how to sit in a chair? Put your feet on the floor, don't lean back, you'll break it Speak up, I can't hear a word you are saing Don't talk to me like that Just wait until your daddy gets home Don't walk like that; pick up your feet Why do you always go around slamming doors? When are you ever going to learn? God saw you do that Why can't you get it through your thick head? What's the matter with you anyway? I aw that dirty look. Who do you think you are? You have been taught better than that. Be there with bells on. Carriages and wagons had their hourses equipped with bells in order to prevent accidents and alert others of their presence during nighttime hours thus this led to the expression. The pioneers would say that they would do something in the future "if the Lord's willing and the Creek don't rise". The Creek that the pioneers were referring to was the Creek Indians not a stream. Watch for Fallen Rock. Did you ever see a road sign reading "Watch for Fallen Rock"? Why do we see these signs on so many roadways? According to old sayings, an Indian Chief had a very beautiful daughter who was kidnapped. The chief sent his two most trusted braves to find her. He told brave Running Water to go east and Brave Fallen Rock ot go west and search and bring his daughter back. After a couple of years Running Water came back and reported that she was nowhere to be found. They waited and waited for Fallen Rock to return. He never came back. The Chief sent his braves out to find him but no luck. Finally he got the idea of getting the Federal Government to help. He went to Washington and they finally agreed to help him. Thus, the "Watch for Fallen Rock" signs were erected on the Federal Roadways. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/history/other/oldsayin178gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/