Language is amazing and baffling; taboo is just as amazing and sometimes more baffling. I totally get that there are some things you just don’t say, because language is even more powerful than it is amazing and baffling. What’s amusing is the playing it safe, like bleeps, or “the (first letter)-word,” or spelling out the word using the shift key and the top row of the keyboard. That’s just lazy. If you’re thinking the word and you’re going to express it, then say it or write it out. If you don’t want to do that, well, it’s a big language. Use other words. We have a lot of them.
Which is why I love a play-it-safe substitute that works as well as the original phrase, if not better. Me, I’ve always loved the phrase “up to my ass in alligators.” It’s evocative, it’s alliterative, and it’s way too appropriate way too often, at least for me. But “up to my keister in crocodiles” is just as much all three of those things, enough that is sounds less like a hedge than a dialect.
Does the job wonderfully without getting me into a world of -—. (I would say “hurt” myself. RRB)
Veni Vidi Vici over 5 years ago
“A$$ deep in alligators!”
jpayne4040 over 5 years ago
It’s all uphill from here, kid!
Joseph McFarlane over 5 years ago
It’s alligators.
PoodleGroomer over 5 years ago
“Big plans. Small money.” translates universally.
COL Crash over 5 years ago
Actually he’s all three at once. Plus he still has to drain that swamp.
Yakety Sax over 5 years ago
He could also just be in hot water!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkMCMlVdUT8
beymly over 5 years ago
Or, “I’m better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.”
dennisodoyle over 5 years ago
And Caulfield, we really appreciated it!
russellc64 over 5 years ago
My standard answer is, “No idea. I just smile and nod my head a lot.”
Stephen Gilberg over 5 years ago
I’ve seen “up to my elbows in alligators.” By a guy who might not have known his @$$ from his elbow.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 5 years ago
Frazz15 hrs ·
Language is amazing and baffling; taboo is just as amazing and sometimes more baffling. I totally get that there are some things you just don’t say, because language is even more powerful than it is amazing and baffling. What’s amusing is the playing it safe, like bleeps, or “the (first letter)-word,” or spelling out the word using the shift key and the top row of the keyboard. That’s just lazy. If you’re thinking the word and you’re going to express it, then say it or write it out. If you don’t want to do that, well, it’s a big language. Use other words. We have a lot of them.
Which is why I love a play-it-safe substitute that works as well as the original phrase, if not better. Me, I’ve always loved the phrase “up to my ass in alligators.” It’s evocative, it’s alliterative, and it’s way too appropriate way too often, at least for me. But “up to my keister in crocodiles” is just as much all three of those things, enough that is sounds less like a hedge than a dialect.
Does the job wonderfully without getting me into a world of -—. (I would say “hurt” myself. RRB)