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Terms Which Have Disappeared

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
My technique for dealing with the things is twofold: (1) when I see a camera light ahead that is green and has been so for a while, I pull over to the curb, so I won't obstruct traffic, and wait until it goes red. Then I drive up to it, ready to go through when it changes to green again; or

(2) avoid the things entirely by driving another way. Not easy to do in a city with the finest of Third World roads, when you care about your car.

I would never have the patience to do #1, and I wouldn't do # 2 either, as my travel time is generally at a premium. I just approach controlled intersections ready to stop before the light turns red (here, if you enter the intersection on a yellow and it turns red while you're still in the intersection, you're okay).
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I've heard some of the expressions in that list linked by Bruce Wayne. The one I remember best is "horse feathers." I don't really remember the context but one of my uncles used the word. Some horses do have feathers, you know.
 
Messages
12,005
Location
Southern California
...Some horses do have feathers, you know.
Mobilgas_Sign_zpsc4eexky6.jpg


:D
 
Messages
12,941
Location
Germany
I don't think, todays (german) youngsters use this phrase, when something runs astonishing efficent/quickly. I try to translate:

"Man, that runs like a suppository!!"

;););)
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I don't know if the term has disappeared but the original meaning is no more: whistle stop tour. You could really only do a whistle stop tour if you took the train. A similar term was "one night stand," meaning performing at a theater for just one show, although it may have other meanings. Once upon a time, there were entertainers who made their living on the road, traveling from town to town offering live entertainment and presenting the same act to a different audience every night, usually. That disappeared as motion pictures became more popular. A whistle stop tour might also be something a politician did when he travelled around trying to get people to vote for him. They don't do that anymore either.
 

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