I think (well, I'm guessing, really) that it has something to do with the sound. You pass wind through the old clenched buttocks and it's a case of it has either struggled to break out, with great effort, or else the very sound itself can sound like a branch breaking off a tree (you mean.... your's don't..!??)

Old related joke: man goes to doctors - 'I have this trouble, I keep breakng wind, their really noisy but at least they don't smell'. 'Take down your trousers and I'll have a look'. As doctor goes to inspect man's arse he let's rip with 20 decibels. The doctor rises: 'I can see the trouble.' And starts to write a prescription. 'What is it something to stick up my backside?'' No, something to clear your nose!'

I have a mug that says that (nearly ... actually it's "no matter where you go, there you are") given to me by a friend because she knew how much I loved The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. (He says it during ther performance in the bar where Penny tries to shoot herself and misses.)

CycleFrance, maybe you can help me out with this one. I don't see or hear this expression in the States, but when I read something out of the British Isles, I come across the expression "The penny dropped," meaning the person finally got the idea? Where did THAT come from?

"Spend a penny" means taking a whiz, right? (I'm guessing it has something to do with either pay toilets or tipping the attendant)

I can take pride in my age on this one as I can bear witness to the accuracy of the answer.

When I was a lad, a day-trip to the beach was a regular summer treat. The public toilets that were abundant at the seaside resorts (known more officially as 'public conveniences') required you to put a penny in a slot on the outside of the door, to release its lock if you wanted to gain access to a cubicle offering seated accommodation (paid for the daily bleaching!). Men who could stand at the communal urinal (could be the makings of a tongue twister there) didn't have to pay, and as you may have already guessed, women had to pay every time (such sexual discrimination was permitted in those days - women had only just got the vote, for God's sake, and the line had to be drawn somewhere!). The saying 'I'm off to spend a penny' became an accepted and relatively polite way for a lady to inform that she was off to the toilet! :Flush:

First thoughts are that it could relate to early UK public phone boxes (the old red ones). You'd lift the handset, put a penny in the slot and dial the number. When the phone was answered, you had the choice of pressing button A or button B. Pressing B gave you your money back - so if you got a wrong number you didn't have to pay (so long as the other person gave you a clue that it wasn't the right one), an the person receiving the call had no clue as to who had been callng them.. Pressing button A caused the penny to drop and the person at the other end could then hear who was calling them. The identity mystery was solved, but only when button A was pressed, the penny dropped (you could actually hear it clank into the box below the slot), and the caller could be heard at the other end.

I'm not great on Northern sayings as although I grew up north of Watford (Aylesbury, Bucks) its quite a way south of the Watford Gap (if you see what I mean).

Putting "right" in front of a word to mean very sounds Mancunian to me, I certainly haven't heard it in Leicester. Here they use "proper" as in "I'm proper stuffed after having that big cob".

I'm getting used to Leicesterisms now, but I doubt I'll ever call anyone "me duck"..................

Re spending a penny - it was 2p when I was a child. I found those public toilets quite scary. Mum would hold the door ajar so that we only paid 2p for her, my sister and me. I felt something terrible would happen if that heavy door swung closed and always entered feeling that permanent separation from my family was possible.

Now its 20p via a turnstile entrance & I am amazed at the improvement - electric lights, mirrors, soft toilet paper - well worth an extra 18p!

I love this! Now--what is a 'cob'? Like, "I'm proper stuffed after eating that cob of CORN", or what??

A cob is officially a crusty bread roll here, although its used generically for any type of bread roll.

Its an alien word to me, as in the South a cob is a small horse. I felt really embarrassed the first few times I said "Bacon cob please" but got used to it when I took a Saturday job in a bakers.

You can also say that someone "has a cob on" which is never taken as wearing a bread roll - it means in a bad mood. Other local sayings include "mardy" for grumpy or bad tempered and "nesh" for soft (as in not hardy).

Is it true that fortnight for 2 weeks isn't generally in use in the US?

Something in the depths of my noddle tells me that a cob is a type of loaf of bread or roll/bun, but I may be wrong....

Telepathy, or what??? Nice timing!

i never hear 'fortnight' used here in my little part of the US. EVER. We say, "coupla weeks." We slurr a lot (and not because we're drunk--well, some of us are of course), but it's mainly laziness.

Now: is a bacon cob like a bacon sandwich? Or, is it bacon baked into the cob? Like a frittata?

A bacon cob is like a sandwich.
But a cheese cob can mean a cob filled with cheese, or a soft white cheese topped roll (very greasy, not very nice).

In fact cheese is complicated all round, because they have cheese mix as a filling (cheese, mayo, spring onion) and tuna-cheese mix (tuna, mayo, cheese, onion).

I made my own sandwiches for a few months when I moved here! (which I call a packed lunch, and everyone else calls a pack-up). Perhaps people should stay where they were born.....?

We say, "Did you pack?" meaning, bring your own lunch. In New Jersey I think it means "did you bring your gun?" If you were to say "pack up" to me I would think it meant you were moving.

Why is English cheese so complicated? And, what is Wensleydale and why can't I find it over here? :cheese:

I'll start a cheese thread & answer you there :)

Is the term "brown bagging it" regional? I've certainly read it somewhere.....