pray tell

For demanding an answer. In my opinion, it adds a friendly layer of irony, indicating that you cannot see a possible reason for something :

And pray tell, what purpose does it serve? 🙄

Half Sisyphus, half rolling stone.

Describes self sabotaging tendencies (while showing good will and effort).

I thought you quit smoking last month – yea, half Sisyphus, half rolling stone🥲

  • Maerman ( Maerman@lemmy.ml ) 
    2·
    3 years ago

    Ooh, another one I just remembered, translated from Afrikaans: ‘Piggie war’.

    Used to refer to a conflict where there are no winners, like pigs fighting in mud, where all participants just en up dirty, humiliated and bruised. Like replying to a troll online.

  • jossbo ( jossbo@lemmy.ml ) 
    1·
    3 years ago

    An old uni friend of mine from Northern Island made up a word for that thing when you drink in the afternoon and then stop for a bit and you get really tired: “Cafaggerhaggied”

    It’s sounds much better in a NI accent, though

  • jossbo ( jossbo@lemmy.ml ) 
    1·
    3 years ago

    Some slang from York, UK that was common in my childhood:

    Pushknacker - a bicycle, particularly a street bike. Best one on this list, tbh, it’s a great word.

    Lagin - pronounced la-jin. Means rubbish. Like, “your pushknacker is lagin!”

    Weeny - really, as in “that’s weeny lagin”

    Chava - pronounced char-va, a derogatory term, to be honest I never had any idea what the actual meaning was but it’s an insult, as in “ya fuckin chava!”. I was confused when the word “chav” suddenly became a thing years later and I’ve always wondered if they are related or if it’s a coincidence.

    Ding - what people would now call a chav, also used ad a general insult.

    Dingraff - either the full for of ding, or an extension of it, no idea. General insult.

  • distractedcactus ( distractedcactus@beehaw.org ) 
    1·
    3 years ago

    “Mallyhacked” - meaning something that is broken or destroyed. I heard this phrase a lot from older folks during my childhood, but never by anyone who wasn’t from my area. My SO didn’t believe it was a real word so I did some digging and I think that it is likely a very regionally accented version of “malahack”.

    Urban Dictionary says that malahack comes from the Lumbee-English slang of southern North Carolina. I don’t think that’s quite accurate because I’m not from anywhere close to North Carolina. My preferred reference is from The Vocabulary of East-Anglia: An Attempt to Record the Vulgar Tongue of the Twin Sister Counties Norfolk and Suffolk, as it Existed in the Last Twenty Years of the Eighteenth Century, and Still Exists: with Proof of Its Antiquity from Etymology and Authority; in Two Volumes · Volume 2 by Robert Forby, 1830:

    Malahack, v. A word ludicrously fabricated, which means to cut or carve in an awkward and slovenly manner.

  • Maerman ( Maerman@lemmy.ml ) 
    0·
    3 years ago

    Much of a muchness.

    Used to describe something redundant or superfluous. Naming a cat is much of a muchness; it won’t come when you call it anyway.

    That’s not how you play cricket.

    Used when someone or something is obviously bending or breaking the rules in an ungentlemanly manner. Capitalism is not how you play cricket.

    • scubbo ( scubbo@lemmy.ml ) 
      1·
      3 years ago

      “not how you play cricket”

      I (native UK English speaker)'ve only ever heard it with “cricket” in an adjectival form. As in “that’s just not cricket”.