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Have you ever heard this phrase? What does it mean to you?
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Narp.
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Nope. The closest I've heard is "the cat's meow."
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Nope, not at all.
Online!
She is the Cat's mother:
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Please don't click on Fargon's link until you have answered
Fargon, thanks, yes, that is the one, but I didn't want to bias people's answers
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nope. The closest I've heard is "the cat's meow."
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My dad's family used to say that all the time if you spoke about someone, in front of them and used "she" instead of their name.
"Well, she can stay here with you while I go to the store." The person being spoken about would ask "And who is 'she' the cat's mother?"
CF "What am I, chopped liver?"
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That is so interesting, f3, I was sure it must be only British and even then not everyone. i think I heard that phrase more growing up than any other, I'm still terrified to use the word "she" in case the person I'm referring to can hear me
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I knew it rang a bell 🛎. I agree with footfootfooot.
There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent for “he”, though, does there?
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Limey wrote:
I knew it rang a bell 🛎. I agree with footfootfooot.
There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent for “he”, though, does there?
Nope. Perhaps because it was obviously rude to refer to a man in that way.......or because a man would naturally be actively involved in whatever was being discussed and so be automatically named....
It was usually said by someone else, not the "she" in question, though. To draw attention to the fact that you had been offended would also have been rude......
If anyone ever refers to someone as "she" when that person is in the room, this phrase pops into my mind, even 40ish years on.
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My dad's parents were both Irish though his father's side came over during the great hunger, his mother's side was more recent. My mother's parents were Scottish and English and came here after WW I. The British influence was much heavier from my mom, e.g., I grew up reading Punch magazine and didn't realize that it wasn't in everyone's house. My dad was readier with funny or obscure turns of phrase that, again, I didn't realize weren't common place. I'll try to think of some, they are escaping me right now.