a turn of a phrase

Christena, to her credit, just came up with several more. She emphasized that the ones quoted in gaelic, are spelled phonetically. -- Allan

She (or he) is the bottom log in that house	(the stable, competent person)
Went haywire	(went wrong or a nuisance breakdown that could be repaired temporarily with haywire)
Goes out with the girls the dogs wouldn't bark at	(of inferior quality)
He can hear the grass grow	(exceptionally keen hearing)
A one- horse outfit	(unimpressive, inferior)
From the back forty	(uncultured)
Scroyk	(gaelic, wrinkled, old woman)
Three sheets to the wind	(drunk)
Lit	(drunk)
Got a shine on	(into the alcohol)
On a jag	(a spell of drinking)
Had quite a slant on him	(drunk)
Hole in the house	(a person who reveals family secrets)
Woman's Bible	(Eaton's catalogue, (mailorder)
G'day	(hello)
Put on clean underware in case you get in an accident	(self explanatory)
My Stars!	(said in surprise and supplication)
So long	(goodbye)

—the expressions that might have been used around the old homesteads:
originally compiled by Allan and Christena...

Shake a leg	Hurry up
Don't stand on ceremony	Hurry up
Spit it out	Get what you are trying to say verbalized
That's terrible to operate in the name of God and Religion	Said of keeping an old parochial school in use too long
If you move three times, you'll move with just what is on your back	Settle down, become stable and you'll have something
Didn't give a tinker's bell	Didn't care about it (Or tinker's damn)
Either you're 100% honest or you're not honest	Self-explanatory
Don't buy trouble	Same as don't borrow trouble (like, think that there is something medically wrong when there isn't)
Six of one, half dozen of the other	One solution is equal to the other one
Dragged from pillar to post	Having one bad experience after another
Crazy enough to be happy	Totally unaware of one's inadequacies
Betwixed them be it	Said by grandmother Margaret when she refused to become involved in a neighbour's argument.
Damaged goods	had a baby out of wedlock
Homely	extremely unattractive female
Cloud	Gaelic word for scarf
Gyoopy	Gaelic word for moving with a lack of smartness
Doesn't know enough to come in out of the rain	lacks common sense
Get the lay of the land	analyze the situation
Rotten with pride	extremely vain
Dydoes (gaelic) and manoevers	too many facial insincere expressions

The sayings continue with inspiration from Noela...

can't hit the broad side of a barn	many incantations; memories of middle school baseball...
you were not born in a barn	shut the door. pick up your clothes. clean this mess!
Best to place your head where you can find it in the morning	Bob fondly remembers Aunt Sarah used to tell him this :-)

As slow as molasses in January...	you were not moving fast enough
That's a heck of a note!	something took you by surprise.
She made her bed now she needs to lie in it.	chose the wrong spouse. just a note, but I learned the phrase as a bad all-round decision.
She looks like the wreck of the Hesperus!	very unkempt looking. I remember this phrase: we pronounced it Hespers. Hearing it again made me LOL!
Take those corners slowly	when we were moving too quickly and doing sloppy work
For the love of Mike!	something surprised us
She looks like she stepped out of a bandbox	when someone was impeccably dressed
It'll all come out in the wash	when truth is suspected as untruth
A horse of a different color	the story takes a different twist
Glory Be! Saints preserved!	said by my Grandma when shocked by something
That's a load of hay	not to be believed
Lying like a rug	an untruthful person
Cute as a bug's ear	very cute person
That's the cat's meow	something amazing
A sight for sore eyes	someone you had not seen in a long time

Fancy Pants

thought they were just too good for the regulars

Isn't this a can of worms?

In exploring family geneology :-)

This is fun! And we are getting lots of feedback! Thanks Noela!
If you can think of another ‘Turn of a Phrase’, please let us know.

The more the merrier! :-)

How would you like your eggs Bob?

One Sunnyside up,
One Sunnyside down.
Can I go to Charlottetown?

...

Mom lives on 1 Sunnyside, and sister Allison lives in Charlottetown.

...

I think Russia and Essen should learn this rhyme :-)