In an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine (UK) Daisy claims she is "highly sprung and anything smelly is bad for her swerves." is there some Britishness in this or is it just "stuff and nonsense"?

I always thought (stepson is a HUGE Thomas the Tank Engine fan, I know the episode you speak of) that it was a pair of stupid train puns, for the phrase "high-strung and anything smelly is bad for her nerves". Not that that makes a whole lot of sense either, but at least those are two known phrases.

That makes a lot of sense, I think you are right. I have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Did you hear the UK version with Ringo Starr narrating? It seems kind of funny.

I preferred the Ringo Starr versions, not that I've seen a lot of episodes of Thomas. My friend's kid was into it (his father is a real train engineer) and I had to keep up to be able to talk to him when he was three.

Quite right - although in honesty 1 was on a dvd, 1 was in London and the other was shock value :)

Whaaaaaat? I never even realised there was another version?! Okay I haven't seen Thomas in years, but the Ringo Starr narration was an essential part of it for me. Although this may have been because my Dad used to read the books to my brother in the same accent (well, doing a very very bad Ringo Starr impression). We occasionally try to get him to do it at family get-togethers but he denies all knowledge. Parents.

The comedian George Carlin does most (all? all the ones I've seen anyway) of the ones in the US.

How about "hang it all"? Is it still used?

That is awesome, to me. 90% of our Thomas watching is "split screen" i.e. Youtube thomas on one side and a very skinny cellar on the other. So I get a mix of George Carlin and Ringo. I think it is positively subversive that GC is narrating. If Zappa were alive, he'd be another choice.

"a little green tank engine, makes a muffin ???"

here's two I just remembered:

Did you have a scrap with the lawnmower?

She looks like she's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

The simple "Ta" as "thank you" -- is it still in use?

We say Ta over here for thankyou. In fact, that's the word most mothers get their kids to say for thankyou when they're first learning to speak.

What about 'daft', as in 'Are you daft (meaning crazy)?

Or 'Ta Ta!', meaning 'good bye'?

Ta, daft and ta-ta are all still in use in Brit.

And "hang it all"?

Not much used in my experience. 'Bugger it' is more likely. And 'Bugger that for a game of soldiers'...oh yeah and 'sod it'