"a dog guarding a vegetable garden"?

Robin   Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:52 am GMT
I heard an English person in Montose, Scotland. calling his two dogs, eejits, because they were going to close the the edge of the 'sidewalk'.

When the young man on the supermarket counter made a mistake in giving me change, he said something like: "I'm bad!", which sounded really strange. Odd quirks of speech, soon to be lost.

'Old age comes with companions'

Also 'Dog in the Manger' which is similar to the Polish expression about a dog guarding a vegetable garden, which seems to have a much more sexual reference.


eejit Noun. An idiot. Originally Anglo-Irish pronunciation of idiot.
Viscount de l'Isle   Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:12 am GMT
<<When the young man on the supermarket counter made a mistake in giving me change, he said something like: "I'm bad!", which sounded really strange.>>
Oh, I hope he was good-looking!
Damian in London E16   Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:38 am GMT
Actually, saying "I'm bad" simply means I've made a mistake, I cocked up, I admit I'm wrong.

Conversely, when someone says: "How are you" it's common to say "I'm good".

Robin: You say you live in Scotland. Anywhere near Montrose? I've been there once but passed by it more often. I know Brechin better...just up the road from Montrose. I'm looking forward to going home this weekend. :-)
Robin   Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:32 am GMT
Hello Damien

I live fairly close to the centre of Aberdeen, in one of the less desirable districts, which is very well known by Aberdonians as it features quite often in the crime pages of the local newspaper.

I drove down to Montrose, just for something to do. Parked in the Tesco Car Park, and had a little look round. I have always found Montrose to have an interesting elegance. It also has a new bridge since I was last there. It is a very distinctive place.

Brechin, is also very distinctive. I am not sure that I like it quite so much. There is something rather 'down at heel' about Brechin.

What is so noticable about Brechin, is that in their poverty, Angus Council have built horrible buildings right next to really nice ones. I am thinking of the Library by the Railway Station. There are also some rather awful 'sixties' houses scattered about.
j   Tue Oct 17, 2006 5:26 am GMT
<When the young man on the supermarket counter made a mistake in giving me change, he said something like: "I'm bad!", which sounded really strange. Odd quirks of speech, soon to be lost.>
Maybe he just said 'my bad'? it's a common expression.
Robin   Wed Oct 18, 2006 5:14 pm GMT
"my bad" a common expression, I don't think so!
Mary   Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:51 pm GMT
"My bad" is definitiely a common expression in America. I hear it every day. See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=my+bad .

I don't think "I'm bad" is very strange either, though "I'm bad at this" is much more common.
Q   Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:22 am GMT
>> I don't think "I'm bad" is very strange either <<

I think it's strange. I've never heard anyone say it (unless they wanted to say that they were bad.)
Robin   Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:06 am GMT
Personally I think it would be far more common too say, 'for f**ks sake' or something similar.

In more polite company, 'Oh Dear!' would be in order.

People like nurses sometimes say 'Sugar' when another word comes to mind.
mike   Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:52 am GMT
There is something rather 'down at heel' about Brechin.

"down at heel" is found in the dictionary under "down-at-heel"

why so? do Dashes alter the meaning?
Robin   Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:41 pm GMT
Dashes do not alter the meaning. I am not entirely sure why people put in dashes, which are called hyphenation.

I looked up hyphenation, and there is an awful lot of information about it. Too much in fact.

Personally, I did not, and I would not, put hyphens between the words in the phrase:

down at heel.
Q   Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:40 am GMT
>>
Personally I think it would be far more common too say, 'for f**ks sake' or something similar.
<<

I think it depends on where you live and who you hang out with. Where I live that would sound absolutely atrocious.
Robin   Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:37 am GMT
Hello Q

Saying 'For f**ks sake' is absolutely atrocious, but you would be surprised at how poorly a lot of Aberdonians live. 'Obviously' like so many swear words, it is much more acceptable for a man to swear than a woman.

I was thinking about: 'For F**ks Sake', and the more polite equivalents, such as:

'For Heavens Sake'.

The blasphemous version is:

'For Gods Sake'.

I recently found myself swearing in an 'official setting', which I realised afterwards was possibly not a good thing to do. Unfortunately, a deep rage was building up in me, and eventually it came out. I really did let one poor individual get a full blast.

I should not be proud of myself, but it is a little bit of a journey of self discovery. The problem with actually losing your temper, is you then find yourself in a situation in which actually anything could happen. Also, you can find yourself in a situation in which you are not the only actor. By that, I mean than, 'if I transgress the boundaries of acceptable behavior', other people can then react in a way, which is disproportionate.

In Scotland, it is possible to cause a 'Breach of the Peace' by causing someone 'alarm and distress' over the phone.

Generally I do use swearing to signal that my 'safety valve' is under a lot of pressure. I suppose what I should do in the future, is that if I catch myself swearing, I should make a note to 'back off', and not progress with what ever it is that I am trying to do. The risks of actually losing my temper are not worth the consequences of cleaning up the mess afterwards.

Quite a lot of people using swearing in their day to day language. The expression is 'foul mouthed'. The little girl across the road from where I live, (she must be about five), was described to me as having a 'potty mouth'.
Boy   Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:53 am GMT
I'm still reeling from a shock that I got two weeks ago. A 6 year old boy called me a fucker and showed me a middle finger. All I asked him that whether he could speak English or not as he goes to an expensive school. Atleast for me, It was more shocking to hear such swearing English words from a non-native kid. I don't know what mannerisms parents are nowadays teaching to their kids.