• Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    “I’d challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you’re unarmed.”

    ~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

    “You want my children? Take them! I have the instrument to make more.”

    ~ Caterina Sforza when blackmailed by kidnappers using her children as leverage (main source: Niccolo Machiavelli)

    “We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.”

    ~ Earliest recorded words of a Scot, third century AD (never change, Scotland).

  • PrimarilyPrimate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    When my late husband said, “why you syphilitic son of a bitch” I knew that he was really angry at someone and if he said “rats in a dishpan” then something just went haywire. He passed away 30 years ago now and I have never heard another person say those things.

    • JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      …I have never heard another person say those things.

      Haha, I can totally relate to someone making up expressions, then sticking with them. For example, a couple I made up for whatever reason, and still employ with a frequency:

      • Oh, rabbits! (expression of surprise, sometimes used as a mild curse)
      • Well, shut my mouth and spank my bottom! (surprised, Southern-style)
      • Smooch my ruby, red rump! (tauntingly, Bender of Futurama-style)
    • andyortlieb@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 month ago

      I love it. I’ve been enjoying “MotherFather” as a soft landing out of habitually cursing when frustrated.

  • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    You can get pretty good results by saying, “Well {verb} my {noun}!” It always ends up sounding quaint. It’s like the mad libs of incredulity

    • Well kiss my grits!
    • Well steam my hogs!
    • Well string my banjo!
    • Well iron my shirts!
    • Well paint my deck!
    • Well trash my patio!
    • Well crash my harddrive!
    • Well tear my pants!
  • iii@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    “Ketter” meaning heathen.

    My grandfather used it resently: “I used to smoke like a heathen”.

  • Count042@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Accusing someone of having too much semen.

    It was a thing.

    John Adams accused Alexander Hamilton of having such an excess of semen that all the brothels in the city couldn’t help him.

  • Mr_Blott@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    Scotland was, oddly, the last country in the UK do get rid of blasphemy laws, so the generation before mine used phrases like -

    Jings, crivvens and help ma Boab!

    And

    In the name o the wee man!

    • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 month ago

      Never knew that jings crivvens was a placeholder for anything. I’m guessing ”Jesus, Christ and help me God"? TIL!

  • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    Not an insult really, but always like the saying

    “it’s louder than 2 skeletons fucking in a tin roof in here”

    Points if it comes from unexpected sources.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 month ago

    Consarn it, rabble rousers and highwaymen struck when the iron was hot and now the flat foots are taking them all to the hoose-gow.