Outdated phrases Game

Sprinkles1

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:45 pm

dankbar wrote:

They used to use leeches to heal people, but they needed to be alive in order to suck out the sick blood from the person. If they were dead, they would help like toite bankes

I think you misunderstood. The saying is really 'ס'העלפט ווי פאר א טויטן, באנקעס' 'Bankes' were vacuum cups that were placed on the body as a remedy. Putting it on a dead person, would not accomplish anything.

Last edited by Sprinkles1 on Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

writeread

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:56 pm

dankbar wrote:

Before beeps, 3 way calling you needed two phones to talk to 2 or 3 people at once

I must be older than you🙂 People with older children or teens used to have two or three lines in their house. My childhood House was wired with the the ability to jack three separate phones in it. That way multiple family members could talk on their own phones at the same time to different people.

If you had a call on the other line, it usually meant your sister was holding a different phone with someone on that phone who wanted to speak to you.

paperflowers

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 8:58 pm

Going back to no atheists in a foxhole - I believe it is a WWI reference and therefore does fit the game. It wasn't a literal hole in the ground full of foxes. Is the term foxhole still used in the military?

I'm not that old but there are expressions I say that my kids don't understand. I'm blanking right now.

- Hey! Does "I'm blanking now" count? Where does that come from?

dankbar

Mon, Jan 22 2024, 9:00 pm

Maybe from blank slate

Maybe you needed a new stone to write something, like etch, engrave on a clean slate, because once it was done there was no erasing.

DrMom

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 5:46 am

We must have gotten our wires crossed

Meaning of expression: Used when two people are confused because each party has a different idea about the same situation or about what is being said.

Origin: In the late 1800s, telephone cals went through an operator who manually created the connection between the phone lines for each call, and telegraph messages were relayed by operators who manually who relayed messages from station to station. Occasional human error resulted in accidental connections between wrong parties.

salt

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:12 am

"The penny dropped"
Meaning you suddenly understood something.

Comes from the payphones where you'd have to put a penny in to be able to talk. The phone would only start working once the penny dropped in.

In Hebrew they say נפל האסימון
My kids don't know what an 'asimon' is.

dankbar

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:21 am

I see nobody came with explanations so I will explain.

Oil the wheels, in Yiddish, is used sometimes as giving bribery, so things start going smoothly.

Comes from putting oils on the metal wheels of the horse and buggies, if it was rusty or old, or not doing its job to make sure it keeps going and you have a smooth ride.

I guess something like wd-40 these days.

dankbar

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:29 am

In Yiddish on the ganev, burns his hat. And he has butter on his head.

The meaning is he is conscious because he is feeling guilty, of his misdeeds.

We read a story in school. A shopper stole butter from the shop, and then hid it under his hat. What did the shopkeeper do. He invited him into his home next to fireplace for him to warm up. He kept him up for a while, conversing with him. In meantime, he felt like his hat burning because he had butter on his head, and the butter started melting, and going down his face. This was a trick the owner used to out him on his geneivah.

DrMom

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:38 am

dankbar wrote:

Fascinating!... but how is this aligned with the idea of outdated technologies?

I feel like we are straying from the intended purpose of this thread. Maybe start a new game for obscure Yiddish phrases?

salt

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:43 am

DrMom wrote:

Maybe because nowadays you wouldn't have a fireplace to sit the thief down by.

In Hebrew we also say
על ראש הגנב בוער הכובע

GLUE

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 7:04 am

shanie5 wrote:

.
Bite the Bullet

At one point in time you would literally bite the bullet before you put it in your gun.

Devil takes idle hands

effess

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 6:08 pm

paperflowers wrote:

The (trenches) holes they dug themselves were done in such a rush the soldiers nicknamed them fox holes because they were tiny. They had no protection. And they all prayed they’d survive, hence the meaning of the saying.
When someone is in an impossible situation, And can’t rely on anyone or anything, they rely on a higher power.

shanie5

Tue, Jan 23 2024, 9:34 pm

GLUE wrote:

At one point in time you would literally bite the bullet before you put it in your gun.

Devil takes idle hands

That was to release the powder.
Another explanation is that when a soldier went thru a tough mdeical procedure without anesthesia, he would be given a bullet to bite down on so he wouldn't yell in pain.