Divided by a common language.....or do Americans know how to give someone the hairy eyeball?

Forums: Regional Dialects, English, Humor, Language, Humour
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Just a silly thread to look at funny differences in how we speak.

For instance, DO Americans know how to give someone the hairy eyeball?

(I used this expression at work today, so I am thinking about it.)

We all know (or most of us do) how fanny is used differently in the US from gow it is used in the UK and oz....but I was surprised that things didn't go pear-shaped in America...but not surprised that you guys generally don't know when you are coming the raw prawn.

Any weird expressions in your neck of the woods?

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@dlowan,

Larry David is the king of the hairy eyeball.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

You DO have hairy eyeballs!

But who is this Larry David of whom you speak?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

coming the raw prawn.

This always sounds like some weird Japanese porn fetish to me.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

I am able to put your fears at rest.

It is nothing of the kind.

You may breathe out now.

Hey! I didn't know they had special Japanese prawns!

1 Reply

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

But who is this Larry David of whom you speak?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUTQBBEXMBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4pJ-mEmE4

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

I gather he is two little urls, then?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

I know what it means. I'm just sayin' it's a little weird.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

He's spawned many little urls.

0 Replies

@DrewDad,

I knew you knew.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

I knew you knew he knew.

Next!

Yeah, we do hairy eyeballs. Moms are very good at them.

1 Reply

@sozobe,

I knew YOU'D be good at them!

Wink

Even if you didn't know what their proper name was.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

I'm the queen of the hairy eyeball.

Just ask my family. They'd agree readily.

1 Reply

@sozobe,

Or they'd read greedily?

Damned odd name for something, though, isn't it?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

They do that already. I approve.

Hairy eyeballs:

http://www.newcenturytheatre.org/paintbox/images/TheHairyEyeball.jpg

1 Reply

@sozobe,

Lol!!! Cute.

I have a meaner looking hairy eyeball than that.

They look positively sweet.

Pep...peppy...that's something Australians don't "do".

And sand. In the Forsyte Saga the American characters use "full of sand", or "sandy" as praise.

Do you guys still use that expression, and what does it mean?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

And sand. In the Forsyte Saga the American characters use "full of sand", or "sandy" as praise.

I call Bowdlerization.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

So...what is the "real" word?

It seemed to mean gutsy.

1 Reply

@dlowan,

Ballsy? Spunky?

Edit: Grit.

0 Replies

Looking it up, it appears that it has fallen out of general usage (I've never encountered anyone using it, anyway):

http://www.answers.com/topic/sand

4. Slang. Courage; stamina; perseverance: “She had more sand in her than any girl I ever see; in my opinion she was just full of sand” (Mark Twain).

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