Does anyone know what "scally" means?

How about "toe rag?"

I have heard my boss use these words before, but I don't know what they mean.

Christine

I always thought the constant use of "brilliant" instead of our use of "cool", "awesome" or even "sick" is uniquely English. Even old people seem to use it.

But on my most recent trip I noticed when ever I said "Thanks" after a sales transaction the shopowner/bartender/waiter/hotel receptionist or cop answered with "cheers" instead of "Your welcome" or "uh-huh", like my New York friends. Is this a new fad?

Scallies are from Liverpool and they're not nice.

They're thick scrounging yobs. I think I read somewhere that it's from Irish Gaelic (hence the Liverpool connection).

A toe rag is someone worthless, but not necessarily bad.

I would really like to order a Spotted Dick for dessert sometime. Accompanied, of course by tea that is strong enough to trot a mouse on.

A pal from Liverpool, describing his moody ex-wife: "with 'er it was always up, down, up, down - just like a bride's nightie!"

I love the word "twit". First heard it from an English friend. There is no word in American English that really can evoke what a twit is.

>>>>>
cheers" instead of "Your welcome" or "uh-huh", like my New York friends. Is this a new fad?
>>>>>

they are just saying "thanks, bye". not really a substitute for "you're welcome" or (more popular in britain), "that's alright". but it's a more general word...many people also use it just for "goodbye" without any element of thanks.

"twit"

there is also a similar sounding word that is very rude in american english but much less so in british english.

My favorite is "You'll be spoilt for choice." It sound much more proper than how we Americans would say it - something like "You'll have a lot of choices."

One of my favourites, once popular in Australia but I'm pretty sure of English origin, "dressed up like a pox doctor's clerk". Not quite the same thing as the Australian "as flash as a rat with a gold tooth", but it conjures up an equally vivid image.

And "dodgy", popularised by the wonderfully devious Arhur Daley in that great British TV series "Minder" -"Dodgy. Very dodgy, my son."

A nice illustration of the use of "bugger" turns up in the probably apocryphal story of a trial in the Old Bailey. The Crown Prosecutor is questioning a witness before a half-deaf old judge: "And what if anything did the accused say to you?" The witness mumbles "He said bugger-all". "What?" snaps the judge. "Tell your witness to speak up, will you, Prosecutor? Court Reporter, read back the witness's last statement!" The Court Reporter duly reads, "He said 'bugger-all', M'Lud." The judge looks puzzled. "Really? How extraordinary. I could have sworn I saw his lips move."

Gasping as in "I'm gasping for a drink." (meaning dying for a drink.)

Loved this thread. One of my favorites for a less than bright person is

One taco short of a combination plate

Wonderful thread!

Here's a few American sayings for the benefit of the non US Fodorites:

"You look like death on a cracker" (you seem tired)

"Sharp as a mashed potato" (not so intelligent)

"She could talk the legs off a chair"

"Nervous as a whore in church"

"She wouldn't bite a biscuit" (harmless)

"Happy as a clam in high tide"

"She could sit on the fence and the birds would feed her" (lucky)

"She's a real radio station" (somewhat immoral - as anyone can pick her up - especially at night)

"Spread out like a cold supper" (fat)

"All broth and no beans" (boastful)

"Meaner than a junkyard dog"

"He looks like he was in the outhouse when lightning struck" (unattractive)

"Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking-chairs"

"Dumber than a box of hair"

"Hotter than a pregnant field mouse in a wool sock"

I would also love to hear some other favorite sayings from elsewhere in the world (if they translate well to English)

bardo1, since you asked, here's a few Australian contributions:

"He shot through like a Bondi tram." (To "shoot through" is to depart. The trams are long gone from Sydney, sadly, but the City-Bondi tram used to pick up speed down a particular long hill.)

Less delicately, "He wouldn't know if a Bondi tram was up him till the bell rang." (Of a very stupid person)

"I'm feeling as crook as Rookwood" ("Crook" = "sick". Rookwood is an enormous public cemetery in Sydney's western suburbs.)

"As dry as a Pommy's bathmat" (Badly in need of a beer - a libellous reflection on English standards of personal hygiene.)

"He hung around like a fart in a phone box." (He was hard to get rid of)

"Ratbag" - anywhere from mildly eccentric to "mad as a cut snake".

As a child I was surprised to hear my normally proper grandmother lose her temper and describe someone as "useless as tits on a bull".

And a "bush" saying that might have counterparts elsewhere - "If your neighbour gets religion ... brand your cattle!"

A friend of mine from Spain told me that a terrible insult would be, "I sh*t in the milk from your mother's breast." That seemed so off the wall when I heard it, I had to laugh.

An Austalian Doctor I worked with, would say the next day after a night of our drinking and he over did it.
"I didn't know if I was Arthur or Martha."

cigalechanta, if you're ever in Sydney when the great Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is held (to the disapproval of a small band of Christian protesters whose prayers for rain have only once been answered) you will see many people of both sexes who could be Arthur, Martha or anything in between. But I guess that's not what your friend was talking about.

My father used to say of a tightfisted or mean person "He wouldn't give you a shock if he owned a power station." and of a very lucky person he would say "If he fell down a toilet he would come up with brown suit on

Jesus wept = total frustration

Beat around the bush = not to give an answer

Don't harp on = stop complaining

The back of beyond = not easy to get to

Fell of the back of a lorry = obtained illegally and generally cheap (inexpensive)

Wet behind the ears = naive

As a Brit I could keep going

The Liverpudlians often call a family member "our kid".

I often use the word "loo" here in the States, and get puzzled looks, as I walk off to the restroom.

An object or a person that is neither attractive or useful is said to be "neither use nor ornament"