Rural Colloquialisms

A LITTLE BIT OF FUN: RURAL COLLOQUIALISMS
Author: Unknown
For those of you who either grew up in rural areas or whose families have rural roots, you likely
will have heard some, if not all, of these sayings. As you enjoy them, and remember the
circumstances under which you heard them, pay attention to the fact that most of these sayings
affirm rural ways of life, focus on the environment and on the earth’s creatures, and paint mental
pictures that are just too precious to explain! They are funny and yet they provide morals for life
that remain true for us all. Enjoy! And if you know of others, please pass them along!
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
A leopard can’t change its spots
A penny saved is a penny earned
A rolling stone gathers no moss
A stitch in time can save nine
A watched pot never boils
As nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs
A dime a dozen
A fool and his money are soon parted
A friend in need is a friend indeed
A miss is as good as a mile
Ace up one’s sleeve
Acting like a cat on a hot tin roof
Add fuel to the fire
Air one’s dirty laundry in public
All of your eggs in one basket
An arm and a leg
An ordinary Joe
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Ants in one’s pants
Apron strings
As busy as a bee
As clean as a whistle
As dead as a doornail
As easy as falling off a log
As pleased as punch
Asleep at the switch
At first blush
At sixes and sevens
At the drop of a hat
At the end of one’s rope
Axe to grind
Beat around the bush
Beauty is only skin deep
Beggars can’t be choosers
Babe in the woods
Back to square one
Back to the drawing board
Bad egg
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Bang for the buck
Bark is worse than one’s bite
Bark up the wrong tree
Batten down the hatches
Be up in arms
Beat a dead horse
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Bee in one’s bonnet
Behind the eight ball
Between a rock and a hard place
Between the devil and the deep blue sea
Birds of a feather flock together
Bite off more than you can chew
Bite the dust
Bite the hand that feeds you
Black sheep in the family
Blood is thicker than water
Blow one’s own horn
Bolt from the blue
Born with a silver spoon in the mouth
Break a leg
Break the ice
Bring home the bacon
Bull in a china shop
Burn one’s bridges
Burn the candle at both ends
Burn the midnight oil
Bury one’s head in the sand
Bury the hatchet
Busy bee
Butterflies in the stomach
Button your lips
Buy the farm
By hook or by crook
By the skin of one’s teeth
Cabin fever
Calm before the storm
Can’t hold a candle
Cast pearls before swine
Cast the first stone
Cat in glove catches no mice
Cat got your tongue
Cat’s pajamas
Catch forty winks
Catch lightning in a bottle
Catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
Champ at the bit
Chew one’s cud
Chew the fat
Chip off the old block
Chip on one’s shoulder
Chickens come home to roost
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Chips are down
Clip one’s wings
Cock and bull
Cold turkey
Come apart at the seams
Come hell or high water
Come out smelling like a rose
Cook one’s goose
Cooking with gas
Cool as a cucumber
Cost an arm and a leg
Cross that bridge when you come to it
Cry wolf
Cut off one’s nose to spit one’s face
Cut your teeth
Cut the cheese
Cut the mustard
Curiousity killed the cat
Dead duck
Dillydally
Do unto others what you would have them do unto you
Dog and pony show
Dog days of summer
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
Don’t put your eggs in one basket
Don’t take wooden nickels
Down the hatch
Down to the wire
Dressed to the nines
Drop in the bucket
Dull as dishwater
Dyed-in-the-wool
Early bird catches the worm
Easy as pie
Eat Crow
Eat humble pie
Eat my dust
Eat one’s hat
Eat one’s heart out
Eat out of one’s hand
Eat one’s words
Eat out of house and home
Every cloud has a silver lining
Every Tom, Dick and Harry
Everything but the kitchen sink
Everything from soup to nuts
Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
Eyes in the back of one’s head
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Face the music
Feather in your cap
Feather one’s nest
Feel one’s oats
Fight tooth and nail
Finger in every pie
Fish or cut bait
Fish out of water
Fit as a fiddle
Five finger discount
Five o’clock shadow
Fix your wagon
Flash in the pan
Fly by night
Fly by the seat of one’s pants
Fly in the ointment
Fly off the handle
Fly the coop
Food for thought
Foot in the door
Footloose and fancy free
For Pete’s sake
For the birds
Forty winks
Fraidy cat
Full of beans
Full of hot air
Get a foot in the door
Get a handle on
Get a kick out of
Get a taste of one’s own medicine
Get away with murder
Get down to brass tacks
Get hot under the collar
Get in on the ground floor
Get into the swing of things
Get off the hook
Get one’s back up
Get one’s feet wet
Get one’s goat
Get off one’s chest
Get the lead out!
Get under one’s skin
Get up on the wrong side of the bed
Gild the lily
Give the shirt off one’s back
Give the devil his due
Give up the ghost
Go against the grain
F
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Go fly a kite
Go for the brass ring
Go off the deep end
Go over like a lead balloon
Go over with a fine-tooth comb
Go to the dogs
Good fences make good neighbours
Grasp at straws
Great oaks from little acorns grow
Green thumb
Green with envy
Grin like a Cheshire cat
Grit one’s teeth
Half a loaf is better than none
Handle with kid gloves
Hanging by a thread
Hang in there
Hang out one’s shingle
Hard nut to crack
Haste makes waste
Have a bone to pick with
Have a prayer
Have a screw loose
Have an ear to the ground
Have egg on one’s face
Have one over a barrel
Have your cake and eat it too
He who laughs last laughs best
Head is in the clouds
Heart is in the right place
His bark is worse than his bite
Hit below the belt
Hit the hay
Hit the nail on the head
Hit the roof
Hitch your wagon to a star
Hold the fort
Hold your horses
Hot under the collar
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
If the shoe fits, wear it
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
In cahoots
In full swing
In hot water
In one ear and out the other
In one’s hair
In the doghouse
H
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In the hotseat
In the same boat
Irons in the fire
It takes two to tango
It’s raining cats and dogs
Jump down one’s throat
Jump off the deep end
Jump on the bandwagon
Jump the gun
Keep a stiff upper lip
Keep an ear to the ground
Keep one’s fingers crossed
Keep one’s head above water
Keep one’s nose to the grindstone
Keep one’s shirt on
Keep it under your hat
Keep the wolf from the door
Kick the bucket
Kill the goose that lays the golden egg
Kill two birds with one stone
Knee high to a grasshopper
Knuckle sandwich
Laugh all the way to the bank
Lay one’s cards on the table
Lead by the nose
Leave no stone unturned
Leave someone holding the bag
Leave someone out in the cold
Let sleeping dogs lie
Let the cat out of the bag
Let the chips fall where they may
Light at the end of the tunnel
Lightning never strikes the same place twice
Like a bump on a log
Like a house on fire
Like two peas in a pod
Little pitchers have big ears
Little strokes fell big oaks
Live a dog’s life
Live high off the hog
Lock the barn door after the horse is out
Long in the tooth
Look at what the cat dragged in
Look like the cat that swallowed the canary
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Look like something the cat dragged in
Lose one’s shirt
Lower the boom
Mad as a wet hen
Make a beeline for
Make a mountain out of a molehill
Make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
Make hay while the sun shines
Make head or tail of
Make no bones about it
Make the fur fly
Many hands make light work
Mind your P’s and Q’s
Miss the boat
More than one way to skin a cat
Nimble as a cat on a hot bake-stone
Necessity is the mother of invention
Need it like a hole in the head
Needle in a haystack
Nickel and dime someone
No skin off one’s nose
No spring chicken
Nose out of joint
Not by a long chalk
Not one’s cup of tea
Nothing to sneeze at
Nutty as a fruitcake
One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel
Off one’s rocker
Off the beaten track
On a wing and a prayer
On one’s high horse
On pins and needles
On the fence
On the fritz
On the same wavelength
Once in a blue moon
One can’t hit the side of a barn
One can’t hold a candle to
One can’t see the forest for the trees
One foot in the grave
One good turn deserves another
One’s eyes are bigger than one’s stomach
One-horse town
M
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7

Open a can of worms
Out in left field
Out in the boondocks
Out of sight, out of mind
Out of the clear blue sky
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
Out of the mouths of babes
Out of the woods
Out on a limb
Over a barrel
Over the hill
Paint the town red
Par for the course
Pass the buck
Pay through the nose
The pen is mightier than the sword
Penny for your thoughts
Penny-wise and pound-foolish
Pie in the sky
Play both ends against the middle
Pay cat and mouse
Play it by ear
Play second fiddle
Play the field
Pot calling the kettle black
Practice what you preach
Procrastination is the thief of time
Pussyfoot around
Put the cat among the pigeons
Rome wasn’t built in a day
Rain on one’s parade
Raining cats and dogs
Read between the lines
Ride shotgun
Roll out the red carpet
Rub one’s fur the wrong way
Rule the roost
Run with the pack
Salt of the earth
See which way the cat jumps
Sell like hotcakes
Sight for sore eyes
Sit in the cat-bird seat
Sit on the fence
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Smell a rat
Steal one’s thunder
Stink to high heaven
Strike while the iron is hot
Take it on the chin
Take its toll
Take the bull by the horns
Tarred with the same brush
Tear up the pea patch
Tempest in a teapot
Test the waters
The bigger they are the harder they fall
The cat is out of the bag
The cats in the cradle
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
The love of money is the root of all evil
The more the merrier
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
The real McCoy
There is nothing new under the sun
There is more than one way to skin a cat
There’s not enough room to swing a cat
Throw in the towel
Tie the knot
Till the cows come home
Time heals all wounds
Too hot to handle
Tow the line
Truth is stranger than fiction
Turn over a new leaf
Two wrongs don’t make a right
Under one’s wing
Under the table
Under the weather
Until the cows come home
Up one’s sleeve
Up to one’s ears
Walk on eggshells
What will be will be
When in Rome do as the Romans do
When it rains it pours
When the cats away the mice will play
When the chips are down
Where there’s a will there’s a way
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Wolf in sheeps’ clothing
Work one’s fingers to the bone
Wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole
Wrong side of the tracks
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
You got me stumped
You took the words right out of my mouth
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