Appendix talk:Australian English colloquial similes
The Australian phrase "slow as a wet week" is actually "slow as a wet wig" and was a phrase frequently used by my mother who was born in Yipoon in Queensland. .
It means something is particularly slow and is often used when referring to slow people, particularly children and spouses.
Examples:
- Come on little Timothy, we'll be late for school, you're as slow as a wet wig this morning!
- Darling, we'll be late for the party, sometimes you can be as slow as a wet wig!
- The cities bus services are as slow as a wet wig most of the time!
The Australian phrase "mean as cat's piss" is actually "weak as cat's piss" and has been used by myself and a number of friends from Queensland, Australia for most of our adult life.
It refers to something being "particularly weak", and is used to refer to alcoholic beverages that taste diluted and watered-down. It is also used to refer to a lack of physical or character strength of both people and quality or robustness in objects.
Examples:
- This beer is as weak as cat's piss.
- His older brother could never stand up to him; he was as weak as cat's piss.
- This tent pole bent after only a week; it's as weak as cat's piss.
Should all this content be included in the appendix?? Anyone, feel free to move it in if you think it's appropriate.
--The Picky Proofreader 11:02, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
- I'd say go ahead and make the changes, but it would appear that you've already done so. A couple of thoughts: First, one should be careful in assuming your own understanding of a language to be exhaustive. It's quite possible that the "mean" variant also exists, and is simply used by young people or western Australians, or whatever you're not. Secondly, the simple fact is that these appendices are just shy of worthless. No one sees them. What would really be helpful is the creation of some entries for some of these. Of course, this being a wiki, and you being an unpaid volunteer, you are quite free to do as you like. -Atelaes λάλει ἐμοί 11:19, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
- Im sorry, please explain how a "wet wig" is slow. A "wet week" is slow as the rain makes it feel as if the days are going slower. I believe this is the correct meaning, coerrct me if i'm wrong. — This unsigned comment was added by 58.165.119.170 (talk) at 14:54, 26 August 2011.
Addition - different person - never heard of 'wet wig' always known it to be 'as slow as a wet week' - Source - everyone I know, and thats a lot of people! — This unsigned comment was added by 101.161.34.190 (talk) at 13:38, 9 January 2012.
I was born in Ireland and it was a wet week over there too, I lived in NSW Australia for 20 years and I've only ever heard of it as a wet week, this persons mother may have used wig, but it makes no logical sense to me. — This unsigned comment was added by 124.168.62.154 (talk) at 02:38, 30 August 2014.
From clear giant The saying is absolutely "as slow as a wet wig" I can only assume that the readers making these comments have not been around long enough to hear the saying being used when it was a very popular saying. I don,t claim to know the original meaning and I understand the logic of a wet week or wick. That doesn't change the fact that the saying is "wig" and everyone is guessing the true original meaning. Some of these colloquialisms go back back to an original story that couldn't possibly be guessed. It would've been good if someone actually posting comments actually knew the definitive answer. By the way, Yipoon is spelt Yepoon. — This unsigned comment was added by Jeff Cole (talk • contribs) at 17:56, 28 September 2014.
And you spell "Yepoon" as "Yipoon". I'm a Queenslader and it is "Slow as a wet week". There is lots of very old literature to prove this, and as hinted at in an earlier post, the saying originally came from Ireland. It was always my understanding that the saying was "as slow as a wet wick". As in, a wet candle wick burns slower than a dry one.
. From DK: And as an ex Queenslander myself it's neither Yipoon or Yepoon - it's spelt as Yeppoon. Yes look at that that I spelt it Yeppoon rather than spelled it Yeppoon. But that's another thing to argue about? As for being slow as a wet wig, never heard of it, nor the others. It's always been refered to as "As slow as a wet week" during my 40+ teen and adult years of using and hearing the expression.
This page needs major correction. Miss spelling towns, "weak" not wig, weak as piss (very weak) ... this beer tastes like cat piss (shit), are two different things. The rest is all dribble (another qld term for shit, nonsense, garbage).
I'm from QLD and have often heard it said "wet wig" even use it myself without ever knowing why one would say wig and not week. I too often heard my Mother say it, but never questioned it. Might be one of those things that was often misheard and repeated incorrectly, especially by children.