[JohnM]

A butter face.  Everything butter face.

[johnx2]

...the Profanisaurus has been opened and that's it for the thread. However...

I've been looking for a English word for cattle from the Old English foeh
...
I need it to translate a poem from the poetic Edda.

Context init? I doubt dialect words for/breeds of cattle, would mean much to many, so what about just 'beast'? Tends to mean bovine when used by country folk, more of a vague resonance to the rest of us 'the beasts of the field'. Many other meanings of course.   

[Stubbs]

In Stoke, an ugly person (or thing) is simply "bosted".

Whereas in the Black Country of my youth, "bostin" was something really good.

[lagerstarfish]

...the Profanisaurus has been opened and that's it for the thread. However...

I've been looking for a English word for cattle from the Old English foeh
...
I need it to translate a poem from the poetic Edda.

Context init? I doubt dialect words for/breeds of cattle, would mean much to many, so what about just 'beast'? Tends to mean bovine when used by country folk, more of a vague resonance to the rest of us 'the beasts of the field'. Many other meanings of course.

Oxen is a great word

[mrjonathanr]

Not in Cantab.

[jwi]

...the Profanisaurus has been opened and that's it for the thread. However...

I've been looking for a English word for cattle from the Old English foeh
...
I need it to translate a poem from the poetic Edda.

Context init? I doubt dialect words for/breeds of cattle, would mean much to many, so what about just 'beast'? Tends to mean bovine when used by country folk, more of a vague resonance to the rest of us 'the beasts of the field'. Many other meanings of course.

Needs to start with “f”. In original Havamal 76&77 both start

Deyr fé,
deyja frændr,
deyr sjálfr et sama;

where fé (=foeh= cattle) <-> frændr (=friends) is the pair that has to alliterate. I don't want to change “friends” but I'm not particularly attached to cattle (foeh).

I have
“Foes die
Friends die
same as you die”

Carolyne Larrington has the best translation to english that I've read. She had

Cattle die
Kinsmen die
you yourself die;

Technically correct, and lines 1 & 2 has alliteration, but the lines are to long for the meter.

[tomtom]

...the Profanisaurus has been opened and that's it for the thread. However...

I've been looking for a English word for cattle from the Old English foeh
...
I need it to translate a poem from the poetic Edda.

Context init? I doubt dialect words for/breeds of cattle, would mean much to many, so what about just 'beast'? Tends to mean bovine when used by country folk, more of a vague resonance to the rest of us 'the beasts of the field'. Many other meanings of course.

Oxen is a great word

A sturdy calf...

[fried]

Beasts die
Brethren die

 I don't like the last line of the translation. You yourself sounds strangely modern to my ears.

[Jaspersharpe]

To describe an unattractive member of the female sex:

"She looked like a robber's dog"


I've just googled that and seen some other gems.

"I've seen healthier faces on a pirate's flag"

"A face like a bust sofa"

 

bulldog chewng a wasp

"About as attractive as a trod on frog" is one I particularly like (from my Eckington based workmate).

[Mike Tyson]

I've always liked:

"Face like a painters radio!"

[Will Hunt]

One of my favourite scouserisms is "ooer" pronounced as "oo-a" but very quickly as one syllable. Your mouth rolls around the word. It is used to denote surprise and almost anything else you should desire it to.

[webbo]

You've got a face like a smacked arse.

[Oldmanmatt]

You've got a face like a smacked arse.

Worked with a French lass, who referred to many clients as ('scuse moi f'in terrible frogish) "Les visage Le claque derrière".

Which was all too often true.

[a dense loner]

Same lines, while flicking channels Jeremy Kyle fleetingly stayed on screen and the girlfriend said "my god she's got a face like a trod on chip". First time I've heard it, brilliant

[Falling Down]

...the Profanisaurus has been opened and that's it for the thread. However...

I've been looking for a English word for cattle from the Old English foeh
...
I need it to translate a poem from the poetic Edda.

Context init? I doubt dialect words for/breeds of cattle, would mean much to many, so what about just 'beast'? Tends to mean bovine when used by country folk, more of a vague resonance to the rest of us 'the beasts of the field'. Many other meanings of course.

Anyone read Robert MacFarlane's new book?  It's all about language and places... Looks good. 

JWI there just casually translating the Eddas 

[jwi]

Everyone needs a hobby.

I was talking to a friend about how crappy translations of a lot of old norse poetry is. Earthy poems written by hard-as-nails warlords get translations full of frilly words like “kinsmen”  and with very little respect of the musicality of the originals to boot. He challenged me to do better...

I'm just doing it for my own pleasure though.

[tregiffian]

I feel as whisht as a Winnard. That is pretty damned whisht.

[fatdoc]

In Stoke, an ugly person (or thing) is simply "bosted".

Whereas in the Black Country of my youth, "bostin" was something really good.

Me to. A rite royal if u waz bosting. Halesowen.. About 83 to 87, common parlance.

[fatdoc]

Best non climbing thread for months.

 

More anyone??

[Teaboy]

My dad was fond of telling me "you've shat in your own best hat" whenever I'd messed something up. He also used to say 'he's got a ten gallon hat on a two pint head' which I use to describe someone promoted beyond their abilities, it's from a 70's comedy song.

Obviously, Viz's profanesaurus is a gold mine for others like 'Terry Whaite's allotment' and 'Slippier than Rod Hulls roof' are personal favourites

[Falling Down]

I'm just doing it for my own pleasure though.

Oh that's great...

[johnx2]

in the Black Country of my youth, "bostin" was something really good.

a word I only encountered via the NME...

[rodma]

have just remembered one i was told on site by a contractor many years ago. they were really up against it whilst working for a client with unreasonable expectations. they said to me

"we have a saying down here (the SW of scottieland) that you can only pish with the cock you've got"

had me in stitches

I'm sure it exists elsewhere, but I've never heard it before or since

[Will Hunt]

I can honestly see that being used at work in the next few days. Great stuff.

[Sloper]

Less a regionally specific amusing phrase but ne'er mind.

You can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter.
Do you want the truth or the police account.
Sympathy, that's between shit and syphilis.

I remember hearing a lot of old Norfolk phrases when on friends farms, the best was a slummocking geet mawther, a local girl of more than ample proportions see also 'strap a plank to your arse'