My mother and her cohorts – mostly women over the age of 70 – have an endearing habit of picking up on a piece of slang and then continuing to use it long after it has fallen out of favour with younger people.
An example of this is the expression “dead nuts” which means to be violently opposed to something.
“Your Aunt Maud is dead nuts against torture”.
However they are equally capable of dredging up some expression last used by themselves 50 years ago. Traybake’s mother when describing a situation where caution was advisable, said that they should
“Let the hare sit”.
Hunh?
In some cases they get confused. My Aunt Peggy who has lived in Australia for 40 odd years told a story to my sister and I about how when she was a child they used to shout “stickybeak” at a particularly nosey neighbour. I would put good money on it that my Aunt Peggy never heard the term “stickybeak” until she was at least 28.
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