You could call someone stupid , or you could say he has n’t the sense to find his rump - end with both hands and a roadmap . " She ’s an idiot ! " you could predicate , or , " If her brains were dynamite , she would n’t have enough to louse up her nose . " Get voguish about how to say " stupid " with these nine regional idiom play to you in our carry on partnership with theDictionary of American Regional English(DARE ) .
1. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO COME IN OUT OF THE RAIN
When DARE survey reader to complete the condemnation " He has n’t smell out enough to , " the phrase " come in out of the rainwater " got the most response . It also has a slew of variations , includingget in out of the rain , come in out of the wet , andget out of a shower of rain .
2. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO GREASE A GIMLET
A gimlet , in plus to being a yummy cocktail , is a prick used for boring . So someone who does n’t think to grease one is n’t the sharpest gimlet in the tool case . agree to DARE , you might discover this put - down in Arkansas , Illinois , Kentucky , and New York .
3. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO BELL A BUZZARD
Why would anyone want tobell a turkey buzzard , and why would you be consider a numbskull if you did n’t recall to do so ? Alternates of this tell includebell a bullorcow , which make more sense . But a buzzard?DAREsays bell and releasing these birds of target was an occasional practice , at least according to “ scatter 19th- and former 20th - century accounts , ” and “ that such birds were regard by some with superstitious fear . ” But there ’s no account as to why “ the practice should have been regard as self - evidently worthy or unproblematic . ”
4. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO POUND SAND DOWN A RATHOLE
The same seems to go forpounding grit down a rathole , something you ’ll hear chiefly Mae West of the Mississippi River , according to DARE , and in theNorth Central regionand upstate New York . The idiompound sandmeans to languish meter or do ineffectively . The Oxford English Dictionary ’s early citation is from 1857 ; slang expertJonathan Greensays that it might be a euphemistic shortening ofgo pound Baroness Dudevant up one ’s ass . However , like bell a buzzard , why pounding sand down a rathole would be considered basic is n’t clear .
5. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO POUR PISS OUT OF A BOOT
Or , if you desire to get even more colorful , pump piss out of a boot with the directions on the blackguard . dump urine from footgear before set it on unquestionably seems smart , but we wonder how the piss got in there in the first station .
6. NOT ENOUGH SENSE TO CARRY GUTS TO A BEAR
This odd expressionmight be hear in Maine , New Hampshire , Maryland , Virginia , and Louisiana . There ’s alsohe ’s not primed to carry sand to a bear , or he ’s unable “ to do the most lowly or simple project . ” The idea might come fromold - timey bear - baiting day , when carry innards to the poor beasts was obviously primary . The OED ’s early citation is from 1692 : “ Wee , the Kings Officers , crys the Fellow that carrys Guts to the Bears . ”
7. NOT TO KNOW B FROM A BULL’S FOOT
This expression signify someone “ unknowing or ignorant ” is chiefly used in theSouthandMidlandregions , perhaps from the idea that “ the foot- or track - print of a crap is pretty like the letter vitamin B complex , ” or perhaps simply as a colored sport onnot knowing A from B. Varieties includenot to know bee from a bull ’s foot , not to know beeswax from bull metrical unit , andnot to have a go at it beef from bull ’s base .
8. NOT TO KNOW SPLIT BEANS FROM COFFEE
In theSouth Midlandand Texas , you might say this of someone who is “ very unknowledgeable or stupid . ” From a December 2005 upshot of theAustin American - Statesman : “ Former Rep. Barry Telford of DeKalb [ TX ] , a Democratic loss leader under Laney , enunciate : ‘ Bush did n’t hump disunited beans from coffee about the Legislature when he was first elect . ’ ”
9. NOT TO KNOW SIC ‘EM
You ’ll hear this ignoramus phrase in theInland North , thePacific Northwest , Rocky Mountains , andUpper Midwest . But what does “ set ‘em ” mean?William Safireexplored this back in 1993 when then Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole told him , " Those hombre in the White House just do n’t know sic ‘em . ” Safire put in a call to DARE and found out that at least one reader guess someone who does n’t knowsic ' emis as lazy and shiftless as a dog who evince no “ inst reaction to the command ‘ sic ‘em . ’ ”
