favourite language expressions?

Example:


It swings in roundsabout.

 

Let not the wrath go down on thy son.

 

I don't know this one. I will look it up.

 

@Some Guy
I tried to look it up but it is not coming up.
What is the meaning of this and where is it from?

 

made it up from
"Let not the Sun go down upon thy wrath"

I heard it from Rooster Cogburn and the Lady, with John Wayne and Kate Hepburn

 

I guess 何 です か (Nan Desu Ka in Romaji) is cool to me.
Because to me, I thought it was my Sensei going 'What the?!'... in Japanese...
But it means 'What is it' according to google and, it's probably right but...
I always used to hear it from time to time from this person
Pronounced 'Nan des ka' (The u is silent like in some other words that end with a u but not every word that ends with a u, but this common word and a bunch of other common Japanese words that end with a u where that u is silent).

 

My Dad

My Dad whom taught me his roots
Cockney
Born in 1939 in Hoxton who's family made the great migration from Hoxton to Battersea when WWII broke out when he was a baby, my Dad.




My Dad was raised Cockney born to the sound of Bow Bells.


It's why I say 'Guv' because, I'm from London, and to me, saying Mate feels Australian and saying Boss sounds like a convict or ex convict and I'm none of the above; I'm a Londoner, I was taught Cockney, I find it helps in my line of work (Construction)... I like Cockney.


Like... (These are all real things I was taught in the homestead growing up) - my father spoke normal, for his line of work chairing meetings, knew how to speak posh, but, when he could, he used to teach me and all my brothers and sisters in Croydon in this big family home of his, his language he had growing up with Michael Caine briefly acting before Michael Caine was Michael Caine, my father taught me things like...

Ow's your belly full've spots?
means How are you?

You see in cockney, you literally drop the H'.
Home becomes Ome, Sherlock Holmes becomes Sherlock Olmes so if it begins with H, drop it for Cockney.

Then get crazy...

Like, crazyier than How are you?...

Ask about the cat, getting run over by a bus down the road.
Was that your moggy who got ran over by the camel down the toad?

I **** you not this is real.

 

I've always liked the British expression, 'too clever by half'.

 

"Haberlas, haylas, como las meigas." (Should they exist; they exist, as the witches)
It's a very old northwestern Spanish superstition expression that we use when we want to say that even if there's no evident prove of some particular fact, it is very well known by anybody that it might be real. Like the witches, nobody have seen one before but superstition is enough to make them real.
Example:

A: "Do you think are chances that the governor is guilty of corruption? (as saying : "Do you believe in witches?")
B: "Haberlas, haylas." (we may short it out the witches last part)

Here in Spain, all believe in witches.
Try it out. Ask some spanish friend out of the blue if he/she believes in witches and I bet you one Like that he/she will answer "Haberlas, haylas."

 

El ladrón juzga por su propria condición.

The thief is always decrying thievery.

It has many variants and I'm sure the exact wording is likely dependant on where you live in the Spanish speaking world. That's how we say it here in Puerto Rico. It's often poorly translated as it takes one to know one, but that's not correct. It's closer in meaning and mode of deployment to methinks thou dost protest too much.

 

We say it here as:
"Cree el ladrón que son,
todos de su condición."
(Belives the thief they are,
all of his/her condition.)
---Edit---
Often abreviated by context, leaving the rest for the reciever to think about.
"Cree el ladrón..."

 

For the record it's It's swings and roundabouts.

 

We also often use it in a kind of alluded manner. You'll hear: 'Chacho, mira a este pendejo, otro ladrón juzgando...

 

Never heard of it.

 

Where are you from?

 

My mum would always say "We'd better make tracks." when we were at other people's houses. It means we'd better get going.

When she first moved to London see thought the phrase "See you later" was meant literally.

 

London, and proud.
Ever heard of 'ow's your belly full've spots?'

 

I was born and raised in Lewisham, but I've never heard the belly full've spots before.

 

In English, widdershins likewise is one that I enjoy. It has a lovely arrangement of phonemes. It's not a phrase one hears very often in Murica, but I learned it as a child from Col. Sherman T. Potter in the TV version of M*A*S*H. He was a funny old coot and fond of deploying the odd bit of archaic (to American ears) English.

 

And you've never heard 'Too clever by 'alf' ??

Must be an age thing.

 

I didn't know that phrase until I was much older, and I heard my uncle say it about buying and selling antiques online.

 

Yeah, I was taught it by someone who was born and raised a cockney.
It's really cockney.

Guess it's my Cockney heritage/father's teaching it to me at home growing up in the homestead is how I know all those words and phrases he taught me.

Ow's your belly full've spots just means 'how are you?'

I'm from Croydon way, but, my father, is old school from Battersea way raised, but was born in Hoxton so still claims a cockney birth.
That said he turns 80 next year.

 

"Apples and pears." Stairs.

 

If Kizzy on Roots got taught Kobe and Kambi Balongo (or something), then I got taught Camel means bus and Moggy means cat etc.

 

Indeed, the apples and pairs on the back of the camel (the stairs on the back of the bus).