Is the generation divide so broad that youngsters don't know ol' sayings like...

[Maddy McCall]

"eat crow?"

I just had to explain four times what "eating crow" means. No, it's not racist. No, it has nothing to do with brutality to animals.


What are some sayings that you've used that have drawn confused looks from people younger than you?

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. "As unfortunate as a gong farmer with a sensitive nose"

[Critters2]

42. Ya never hear that one anymore, do ya?

What's the matter with kids these days?

[mikita]

2. it's a red herring ....

has left 'em REALLY confused....

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. I know what it means.

:shrug:

[Debi]

30. It doesn't mean a woman is supposed to cook something for you

:banghead:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

31. I said I wanted the bald eagle, woman!

:mad:

[Debi]

33. We actually have hundreds of pelicans on our ponds right now

They are BEAUTIFUL! But I don't think they'd taste very good and I'm not a great shot w/a gun :shrug:

[ghostsofgiants]

36. I'm younger than yuou and I know what it means.

I think Maddy is just dealing with dumb kids, haha.

[IndianaJones]

4. that girl is fly...those shoes are def. nt.

[KamaAina]

5. "tip of the iceberg", "snowballing"

these and other sayings have no meaning to those who grew up in Hawai'i!

edit: spelling

[Chan790]

6. My life would be better...

if I didn't know about snowballing.

[petronius]

43. Yeah - that one doesn't mean what it used to mean...

:rofl:

[CreekDog]

20. a native Chinese speaker was asking me about the "corner" of the iceberg

:dilemma:

English is so funny. :rofl:

[ChoralScholar]

41. I once asked my mom how I could earn "Brownie Edges"

(obviously meaning Brownie Points)

[AngryAmish]

7. That is like a backstreet in Nanchez.

[Iggo]

8. Careful now.

You wouldn't want to lump a whole generation together for bashing purposes. That's only okay if you're going after "baby-boomers," because, you se, we're all exactly alike.

B-)

[Ptah]

9. Splashdown. n/t

[MichiganVote]

10. 'enough to gag a maggot off a gut wagon' is my favorite

Think Cheney.

[Bake]

22. Variant: Enough to knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon.

:rofl:

Bake

[avasmom]

66. even better...

love it!

[avasmom]

65. never heard it

but its my favorite now, too! VERY DESCRIPTIVE. LOL

[geardaddy]

11. How about?

I have to do the phone company a favor and lay some cable.

AKA

Pinch a loaf

[CreekDog]

23. i always thought that was gross

i thought a euphemism was supposed to make a saying less gross.

[IntravenousDemilo]

32. It's what's called a cacophemism, or the opposite of euphemism. n/m

[MonkeyFunk]

40. That particular one

is a caca-phemism

[JVS]

48. There's logging to be done

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. I'm a baby boomer and I got confused by

old people who would say "a penny for your thoughts".

:wtf:

[sarge43]

26. Goes back to at least Tudor England

Just a mildly humorous way of asking what a person is musing about.

[laylah]

13. "Goin' ta hell in a handbasket"

for one. "Murphies and cackleberrys" for another. OH, one of my favorites "like a duck on a june bug".

[zanne]

14. Gong to hell in a handbasket on roller skates. nt

[alfredo]

54. Skate Key

[fizzgig]

62. murphies and cackleberries?

:wtf:

:P

[Beausoleil]

15. Rode hard and put up wet. n/t

[Blue-Jay]

16. I said "23 Skiddoo!" today and the kids looked at me like I was crazy.

[flvegan]

19. What you uttered had nothing to do with it.

:P

[Blue-Jay]

21. I've been told that before.

:cry:

[cyberswede]

57. I use "bees knees" sometimes.

No idea why - I think that's from my grandparets' generation!

[CreekDog]

17. but where did that expression, "eat crow" come from?

i'm going to google it. :think:

[sarge43]

27. According to Brewer's Dictionary

"In North American usage to be forced to do something humiliating or distasteful. The expression is said to derive from an incident during an armistice of the Anglo-American War of 1812-14. A New Englander unwittingly crossed the British lines while hunting and brought down a crow. An unarmed British officer heard the shot and resolved to punish the offender. He gained hold the American's gun by praising his marksmanship and asking to see his weapon. The Britisher then told the American he was guilty of trespass and forced at the point of the gun to take a bite out of the crow. When the officer returned the gun, the American in his turn covered the soldier and compelled him to eat the remainder of the crow."

FWIW

[flvegan]

18. Yeah, but the "eat crow" was in GD: P, I'll bet.

Lots of stuff needs 'splainin there.

[hobbit709]

24. Telling time

Say it's a quarter after or half past the hour. People who've only seen digital timepieces all look at you when you say that.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. I got a look for this one (and had to explain) from someone my own age

just last week.

I said,"That truck is a $3,500 truck all day long..." and she didn't get it. The truck was listed for $10,000 and was 20 years old.

[limit18]

28. "pop the clutch"

[kineneb]

38. and...? I drive a 5-speed- manual tranny

you can "pop the clutch"... it will probably kill the motor... I loath automatics.

[limit18]

47. Put it in first gear...

If the engine stalls you haven't revved the car high enough before popping the clutch, or your vehicle doesn't have the power to burnout.

[Debi]

29. I didn't need it explained to me - I just thought your use of it was inappropriate

which is probably why your post was deleted, Maddy.

[drmeow]

34. Broken record n/t

[ashling]

35. Shit flows downhill

[CBHagman]

37. I run into this stuff all the time with younger co-workers.

There are a lot of cultural references, expressions, terms, and the like that simply don't mean anything to them. I don't have a list off the top of my head, but for example, a reference to O. Henry (author of stories with famous surprise twists) went right past a twenty-something co-worker, and the woman in question had a college degree and had, as far as I could tell, pretty broad interests.

Expressions such as writ large and various Britishisms meant nothing to her either.

[tigereye]

51. I think part of it is that many people don't have the literary grounding

that was common in the past... kid and adolescent literature books (Language Arts) are full of totally different examples of stories and writing - many of them terrible. (based on one textbook my son had)

[cyberswede]

56. Curious George changes

A friend of mine told me that they're remaking the Curious George stories to be more "modern."
In one classic story, George spills ink on the carpet (and hijinks ensues, of course). In the new story, he spills juice. *roll eyes* Heaven forbid a parent would have to explain what an inkwell is to a kid. Inkwells were well before my time, and I knew what they were. My kids should, too.

I would much rather read original stories to my kids and explain unknown things to them than have the stories dumbed down.

Aside: I was reading an old Hardy Boys book to my 7-year old, and Mr. Hardy went to an office and presented his card to the receptionist. I asked my son if he knew what that was, and he said, "Is that like a calling card?" I was surprised and asked him how he knew about calling cards. He said Hugo-a-Go-Go gave one to Batfink on an old cartoon. LOL!

[jobycom]

39. Just post the wikipedia entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_crow

[WCGreen]

44. Jeepers Mr. Kent, ,,,,

[Connonym]

45. I used the expression "Like Sherman through Georgia" to my daughter

she understood what it meant but she had never heard the expression and she thought I made it up. She was soooo impressed at how clever I was. I can't say I wasn't tempted to let her continue to think I'm brilliant but I did tell her that it wasn't a mommy original.

[CBHagman]

55. Now that I think of it...

...when I was a university student (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), I used the expression "Get the wagons into a circle," and my then teenaged younger brother and sister didn't understand.

[Adsos Letter]

46. "two bits"

...not that there is much you can buy with two bits anymore...

[Highway61]

49. "You catch more flies with honey

than you do with vinegar..."

also "You can plan your work, but you often can't work your plan" My Dad said that often and oh, how true.

[Lil Missy]

50. "pinch a nickle till the buffalo shits"

Or, as my grandpa always used to tell me:

"Don't take any wooden nickles"

[Boudica the Lyoness]

52. If I give you half a crown would you take your knickers down

just being really rude and remembering our old money system.

[Autumn]

53. We people who live in the country

and have a septic system use the phrase If it's yellow let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down,
live by that. The last thing you want is for your system to fail, so you make sure not to put it under too much stress. My niece came to visit from Pennsylvania and she was shocked by that.

[EstimatedProphet]

58. A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

No one ever gets that one anymore, for some reason.

[Mugu]

59. I was chatting with some young waitresses the other day

and said a bird in the hand expecting them to know the rest. They had no clue what I was talking about. Then they started whispering something to each other about the wacky old dude and his bird.

Regards, Mugu

[Rambis]

60. What does next of Kin mean?

It is on our degree application for loan purposes and 8 of 10 college students do not know what it means.

[Lil Missy]

61. "granny got her tit caught in a ringer"

How many youngsters know what a ringer is/was?

[fizzgig]

63. 'let your freak flag fly'

i said it to someone around my age (i'll be 27 next month) and they had no idea what that meant

[avasmom]

64. not their fault

comes from a generation of young folks lacking communication with their parents... they should've heard it all by now.

"hell in a handbasket" got me a few weird looks the other day...