When I have a patient who speaks Spanish, an interpreter is required for I speak little Spanish. Although I sign, my deaf patients have an ASL interpreter along.
I have an English patient**. When I am with her I wish there was such a thing as a British-English interpreter. It’s not her choice of words like ‘petrol”, ‘taps’, or ‘nappies” (gasoline, faucets, and diapers) that confuses me. Rather, it is her charming but unrecognizable expressions which leave me bewildered. I either pretend to know what she was saying or I stop the interview to ask for a translation.
Being a closet Brit I admit I enjoy them and I later try to use them myself. Most of the time I sound silly saying “Pull the other one!” in my Midwest accent with its pseudo-Canadian diphthongs.
Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you find them jolly good fun as I do!
It’s monkeys – apparently this means it’s very cold. It derives from ‘It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey. It’s a fun but relatively useless idiom for living in AZ where the temperatures regularly get up to 40-45 centigrade.
To have a butcher’s – is ‘let’s have a look at it” I don’t know the origin of this one.
Chin-wag – a gossip.‘Lets have pour s wine and chin-wag and get caught up on the news’
Bob’s your uncle! – meaning presto, or right away.
He knows his onions – The fellow knows what he is doing or what is going on. I think of The Best Friend when I hear this expression, for he once gave me this tune with this title.
But my favorite? Hands down < ‘Away with the fairies’.
She explained it means to be not focused, daydreaming.“Oh sorry, I was a away with the fairies” or ‘Don’t mind Spo, he’s away with the fairies today’.
And – as a bonus – “Sooner I’d eat rats in Tewkesbury”. Contrary to what Spo-fans think, I did not make this one up. I think it comes from Shakespeare; I can’t quite right remember. However, I am proud to be the one to keep the legacy alive and kicking.
**The details are altered to protect the person’s confidentiality.
Spo-Reflections 
34 comments
July 17, 2014 at 12:56 AM
Jean
I have been known to use all of those expressions but they definitely don’t sound right in an American accent.
My mum used to say “well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs!”
And “put t’ wood in t’ hole!”
The first means “gosh” and the second means “shut the door”.
I suspect you could be inundated with English sayings after this post…..there are quite a few!
July 17, 2014 at 5:00 AM
Urspo
I was hoping to hear from you; I wanted verification these were ‘not made up’ but proper British idioms. I hope I got the ‘translations’ right. As for inundating me – have at it! These are fun and interesting.
July 17, 2014 at 1:00 AM
anne marie in philly
“away with the fairies” = bloggerpalooza 2013 and 2014
I LOVE these expressions; I already knew about the monkeys and the chins and the bobs.
July 17, 2014 at 5:00 AM
Urspo
Clever woman!
July 17, 2014 at 2:37 AM
Ray
If I said that to my boss.. Away with fairies. She would laugh and said what is new. Even though she does not know what it meant. I am out at work but it is no biggy.
Hope You, Spo Have a great day with the fairies.
Hugs
Ray
July 17, 2014 at 5:01 AM
Urspo
There are certain fairy folk with whom I would prefer to be away!
July 17, 2014 at 3:02 AM
RuralBeard
Perhaps it’s being Canadian or perhaps its a matter of age, but these expressions, for the most sort, are common use around here. I do like “away with the fairies” though. I’m more familiar with “off with the bees” , or “around the twist”. Seems there are a few sayings which lead in the same direction. Coincidence? I think not. Hugs from New Scotland!
July 17, 2014 at 5:02 AM
Urspo
Off with the bees sounds redolent of ‘bats in the belfry’. I like the expression ‘space-ghost’ which is another idiom I need to figure out from whence it originates.
July 17, 2014 at 3:23 AM
David
The US and the United Kingdom are two countries with a common heritage, separated by a common language. We only think we speak the same language.
July 17, 2014 at 5:03 AM
Urspo
But we share the important things like tea and Dr. Who. and Monty Python.
July 17, 2014 at 3:26 AM
wfregosi
From Spo-Reflections in October 2008:
“Sooner I’d eat rats in Tewkesbury”
This is from “Shakespeare’s Dog”; it nicely conveys something too awful to consider.
You did not go on to reveal exactly what “Shakespeare’s Dog” was, however.
I had an English maternal grandmother. I grew up hearing about “rasty bacon” and that something cheap was made of “bull’s wool and okum.” I also grew up with afternoon tea, NEVER with American tea bags, but with good black tea bought loose in big tins. So, I was ready for the Spo Experience when it cam along.
July 17, 2014 at 5:04 AM
Urspo
Thank you for the recall – and for the bacon quote – I love that one. I should tell you someday (or a cup of proper tea) how Grandmother tried to send tea bags to some folks in the UK. It would make a great chin-wag!
July 17, 2014 at 5:32 AM
Glen Warren
To “have a butcher’s” is a shortened version of “Have a butcher’s hook” meaning to take a look at something. This comes from Cockney rhyming slang. There are many rhyming slang examples in British english. Taken from Wiki: It remains a matter of speculation whether rhyming slang was a linguistic accident, a game, or a cryptolect developed intentionally to confuse non-locals. If deliberate, it may also have been used to maintain a sense of community. It is possible that it was used in the marketplace to allow traders to talk amongst themselves in order to facilitate collusion, without customers knowing what they were saying. Another suggestion is that it may have been used by criminals to confuse the police.
I’m originally from Newfoundland, which presents a whole new kettle of fish when we visit. I’m usually the interpreter for the husband when we visit relatives.
July 17, 2014 at 6:46 AM
Another Canuck
I think the maritime provinces have the best expressions in all of Canada, (I’m from the western prairies). A former coworker from PEI had me in stitches when she once said “that’s better than a kick in the arse with a cold boot”.
July 17, 2014 at 6:58 AM
Urspo
Aye, that’s a good one!
July 17, 2014 at 7:02 AM
Urspo
Why thank you Mr. Warren! And thank you for stopping by!
July 17, 2014 at 6:42 AM
Ron
Oh twaddle. 🙂
July 17, 2014 at 6:44 AM
wfregosi
OK, so I have found out what “Shakespeare’s Dog” is and immediately ordered a copy on Amazon. It sounds delightful! And let me recommend to you “Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare”. by Stephen Greenblatt. It is fascinating inits meaningful and illuminating detail and makes for page-turning reading. It’s also very funny in spots and looks honestly at the possibility/probability that W.S. was “family.” I think you’ll love it.
July 17, 2014 at 6:55 AM
Urspo
Shakespeare’s Dog has one of the best ‘first lines’ in all literature. I reread it every few years just to recall all the bawdy insults Anne and Will fling at each other : “Get thee to a pickle factory!” and “Thou shitted stool of a man!” etc.
July 17, 2014 at 7:02 AM
Raybeard
So much to say – so little space.
1) I’ve never heard anyone use the expression “Away with the fairies’. If it really is an English term it must be very localised.
2) “Bob’s your uncle” is used rather in the sense of “Well, there you are!” or “There you have it!” German equivalent is “Da ist es!” – literally, but sense-wise, wrongly translated by Peter Shaffer in “Amadeus” as, “Well there it is!” – “There you are!” captures the mood much better.
3) ‘Butchers’, ‘chin-wag’ and ‘onions’ are quite common, in that descending order of frequency of colloquial use. My Chambers Dic says that ‘butchers’ meaning ‘look’ is cockney rhyming slang, but it doesn’t say for what. I can’t get to it. I myself use chin-wag quite frequently.
4) As a life-long Bardophile I like to think I know my Shakespeare, though I most certainly AM fallible. However I don’t recall having come across your Tewkesbury saying anywhere in his oeuvres, though am happy to stand corrected if someone can point it out.
5) Brass monkey – often used in the phrase “Ah, brass monkey weather!” meaning, of course, exceptionally cold.
I like one possible explanation of the origin (which most Brits will NOT know) and which sounds almost too plausible to be true.
The Battle of Copenhagen during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century. Apparently the British (and others, I dare say) used to keep their cannonball ammunition on deck and ready to be loaded into cannons, in pyramidal stacks on metal trays which, because of a manufacturer’s mark on them of a man which resembled another hairy primate, used to be referred to as ‘brass monkeys’. In particularly cold weather the different coefficient of expansions (or contractions) between the varying metals of the trays and the balls themselves would topple the pyramids and cause the balls to roll off onto the decks – hence “freezing the balls off a brass monkey”. As I say, this would be news to most people here who use it, assuming it to be risque – but, if it is so it’s almost TOO clever an explanation to be factual. The case remains open.
And so endeth the lesson.
July 17, 2014 at 7:04 AM
Urspo
I was hoping you would stop by and comment and shed some light on all of this. I don’t know if my English patient is “making things up” or using common slang – or has one or two of her own. How would I know?
Thanks to you I have achieved Cockney satori.
July 17, 2014 at 7:48 AM
Raybeard
I’d be on my guard with that patient of yours. Sounds like she might get a satisfaction out of ‘pulling your leg’.
Glad to be of modest help – but I shall avidly peruse further replies you get to this posting in the hope of learning something myself.
July 17, 2014 at 10:46 AM
Mitchell is Moving
We have similar changes here, living among so many British expats.
I LOVE that song. Had never heard it before.
July 17, 2014 at 11:16 AM
Old Lurker
So what if she is making up slang? Good slang is good slang. You can appropriate it and turn it into Arizona vernacular.
July 17, 2014 at 11:13 PM
Colonel Panic
I’ve heard “away with the fairies” often. For what it’s worth I’m a yellowbelly by birth (that’s a person from Lincolnshire) and have spent my life in various parts of the Midlands.
July 18, 2014 at 7:05 AM
Raybeard
Now that IS really interesting. Thank you.
July 17, 2014 at 10:44 AM
Jay
Very nice…however i tried to Google “Sooner I’d eat rats in Tewkesbury” and while I could find it (46 times) it is always from you. Trying rats and Tewkesburg gave me pest control and eating establishments. Therefore I am on the horns of a dilemma do I believe in you or not? Or is like the Viking Horns of Spo myth…
I did find this for you.
July 17, 2014 at 4:46 PM
Michael
I also got the pest control (and Ur-Sp) links. We did have a mouse in the sink today, though, so maybe it was a sign.
July 17, 2014 at 8:37 PM
Urspo
July 17, 2014 at 10:20 PM
Raybeard
‘ To have a butcher’s’ – I’ve belatedly noticed that Glen W. above gave the answer to the question I posed on what this is rhyming slang for. So thanks to him for that.
As a further illustration of ‘Bob’s your uncle’, the following sentence would be understood by almost all English people, who might well use it in a similar way – “You just mix the ingredients together, pop it in the oven – and Bob’s your uncle!” (= ‘achieved’). As to exactly who Bob and his uncle were I haven’t a clue.
As I’m feeling in a vaguely sacriligeous mood at this moment, I want to suggest it might have been appropriate if Christ, about to expire on the cross, had not uttered parting words variously translated as “It is consummated” or “It is finished” but “Oh well, Bob’s your uncle!”
July 18, 2014 at 4:48 AM
fearsomebeard
Well it looks like I was late to this little comment party. No excuse other than I must have been away with the fairies.
July 18, 2014 at 4:50 AM
Urspo
I hear tell San Diego is inundated by fairies
July 18, 2014 at 11:08 PM
Autolycus
>> As to exactly who Bob and his uncle were I haven’t a clue.<<
The conventional explanation is that it became popular as a result of music-hall jokes when Lord (Robert) Salisbury (Queen Victoria's last Prime Minister) promoted his nephew to an important ministry in the government at a surprisingly young age. Hence the phrase came to imply getting something more easily than most people might expect.
There are quite a few relics of London rhyming slang floating around in general British English (though many you hear of, rather than hear in use, are rather forced inventions). There's currently a TV advertising campaign for cheap insurance featuring a comedy aristocratic couple on hard times, called Lord and Lady Boracic (="boracic lint"="skint").
July 18, 2014 at 11:22 PM
Raybeard
More gems of obscure knowledge! Many thanks to you too, Sir!