The Dad’s English
My dad had a way with the language. His expressions were colorful enough to amuse and confuse anyone. I thought I’d write a post where I could come back and add items to the Dad dictionary whenever I thought of them:
Medical
Organ recital: a long-winded discussion of one’s ailments
Collywobbles: a cold or flu
Food
A snort: liquor, probably brown
Axehandles: a vegetable side dish or maybe spaghetti
Buzzard: chicken or turkey
Hay: cereal
Horse: beef
Mud: coffee
Ptomaine Wagon: food truck (roach coach)
Slop and rocks: biscuits and gravy
Expressions of Disgust
“That’s enough to puke a dog off a gut wagon”
“Enough to gag a maggot.”
Expressions of Approval
“Slick as a whistle”
Descriptive
Sky-blue pink: his favorite color
A fur piece: a great distance
Kermit: the dog (short for “curr mutt”)
General Expressions about Okies (he worked in the oilfields, which were populated by people from Oklahoma)
Okie sheriff: speed bump
Okie chrome: silver spray paint
There are many, many more. I’ll be adding to the list.
Comments are closed.
Suebob's Red Stapler 
Axe handles?
Some of these I’ve heard before. Axe handles mystifies me.
Dad often said mystifying things, for reasons known only to him.
LOVE. I think my favorite is Kermit. Seriously.
That was a later-in-life invention. He applied it mostly to his Australian cattle dog, Poncho, whom he loved beyond measure.
I think I love him Ptomaine Wagon made me snort
And they wonder where I get it from…
I love this with a big, big love.
My family is nuts. Obviously. But the good kind.
Ha. Organ recital. I’m not going to be happy until I can work that into a conversation.
One of my favorites as well.
I like ““Enough to gag a maggot.” might have to use that one!
hmm. my dad uses many of the same.
and if you haven’t already, check out “shit my dad says.” that guy is hilarious.
Thank you for sharing these. They’re wonderful.
I wish I could remember all of them! My dad had a million.