Funny Local Expressions

[eaglesvet]

Having just gotten back from Jersey, I can tell you that one phrase they DON'T use there is "self service" gas station.

We could have run out of gas looking for one!

That's the truth! The best part of it is that our full-service gas is cheaper than NY and PA self-service. Now, that is heaven (kind of)...

And it is a state law about not having self-service.

[eaglesvet]

I haven't lived in Dallas since I was three and I still say (and type) y'all.

One I DON'T use, but get in all kinds of discussions with my East Coast friends is where you are if you are waiting with a bunch of people.

Me: I'm IN line to get my Eagles concert tickets.
EC: I'm ON line to get my Eagles concert tickets.

But there's no line to stand on?!

Hey, you can buy tix either ON line, or online...more likely to get them online anymore, though!

[eaglesvet]

And now to bring this back to expressions, one of the things they say in Massachusetts is that someone is 'fresh'. I think it means mischievous or misbehaving as in "Don't get fresh with me." During my visit, my aunt who lives in Nashville was also there. We always love getting the Nashville folks together with the Bostonians. Once they get going, it's hard to figure out what either of them are saying.

That's hilarious!

When kids talk back, they're 'being fresh.'

[GlennLover]

Around here if someone said "don't get fresh with me" it would mean, for example, that a guy had come on to a girl and his actions were not welcome. It has more of a sexual connotation.

[MikeA]

"Charge Hell with a Bucket of Water"

That guy's got uncommon courage but not too bright...he'd charge Hell with a bucket of water!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Around here if someone said "don't get fresh with me" it would mean, for example, that a guy had come on to a girl and his actions were not welcome. It has more of a sexual connotation.

Same here, GL. That why I thought it was so strange to hear it used another way.

[luvthelighthouse]

My co-worker was just explaining that is was impossible to get something to a customer today and she said... "it's like trying to push a dinosaur through a keyhole"... I think I kinda like that!

[eaglesvet]

Oh that is toooo weird, LTLH. At Back to School Night just the other night, one of my son's teachers used the analogy of trying to "push a herd of elephants through a doorway"! (And that was the first time I ever had that mental picture before, never mind dinosaurs through pinholes!)

Dreamer and GL, here in the Northeast, I guess both kids and adults can be fresh in their own ways...I've heard the term used in the way you describe as well.

[ticky]

After reading the last two posts (and after picking Sarah up after school and witnessing the doors burst open as the bell rang on possibly the last nice friday and weekend of the year) another analogy came to mind.
"It's like herding cats"
meaning not likely or possible as in "Getting the kids to leave the school in an orderly fashioned today was like herding cats"

[eaglesvet]

I've heard that before, and love that mental picture even more...kinda like getting your ducks in a row!