use your loaf
think more carefully
TRANSLATION
use your loaf = denk mal nach, schalte dein Hirn ein --- GOOGLE INDEX use your loaf: approximately 50,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
I was told by the platoon sergeant, who had heard part of the conversation, that the commanding officer was telling him to USE HIS LOAF as he didn’t want needless casualties.
(BBC History)
---
A bread van driver failed to USE HIS LOAF when he got stuck in the floods in a Doncaster village.
(The Epworth Bells newspaper, North Lincolnshire)
(BBC History)
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A bread van driver failed to USE HIS LOAF when he got stuck in the floods in a Doncaster village.
(The Epworth Bells newspaper, North Lincolnshire)
Did you
know?
use your loaf
idiom
- used to tell someone in a slightly angry way that they should think more carefully about what they are doing
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
Use your loaf is an example of rhyming slang. Referred to as Cockney rhyming slang or simply Cockney, it is a working-class dialect that is prevalent to the East End of London. It's not clear whether Cockney originated as an accident, a game or a sort of encrypted language to keep outsiders confused. One of the most popular theories is that criminals devised it as a means of concealing conversations from the police.
Rhyming slang phrases are formed by taking an expression that rhymes with a word and then using the expression instead of the word. For example, "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook." The he rhyming word is then omitted - so instead of "having a butcher's hook," you would simply have a "butcher's" if you want to have a look at something.
How can dog mean telephone? Just take the phrase "dog and bone" and rhyme the last word to understand "phone".
In the expression "use your loaf," loaf is short for "loaf of bread," which rhymes with head. Thus head becomes simply loaf.
Following are examples of Cockney rhyming slang for other body parts:
- feet = plates (plate of meat)
- legs = Scotches (Scotch eggs)
- hair = Barnet (Barnet Fair)
- eyes = minces (mince pies)
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SYNONYMS
use your head, use your noggin, use your brain
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Don't print out every e-mail. Use your loaf, we have a save-paper policy."
idiom
- used to tell someone in a slightly angry way that they should think more carefully about what they are doing
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
Use your loaf is an example of rhyming slang. Referred to as Cockney rhyming slang or simply Cockney, it is a working-class dialect that is prevalent to the East End of London. It's not clear whether Cockney originated as an accident, a game or a sort of encrypted language to keep outsiders confused. One of the most popular theories is that criminals devised it as a means of concealing conversations from the police.
Rhyming slang phrases are formed by taking an expression that rhymes with a word and then using the expression instead of the word. For example, "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook." The he rhyming word is then omitted - so instead of "having a butcher's hook," you would simply have a "butcher's" if you want to have a look at something.
How can dog mean telephone? Just take the phrase "dog and bone" and rhyme the last word to understand "phone".
In the expression "use your loaf," loaf is short for "loaf of bread," which rhymes with head. Thus head becomes simply loaf.
Following are examples of Cockney rhyming slang for other body parts:
- feet = plates (plate of meat)
- legs = Scotches (Scotch eggs)
- hair = Barnet (Barnet Fair)
- eyes = minces (mince pies)
---
SYNONYMS
use your head, use your noggin, use your brain
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Don't print out every e-mail. Use your loaf, we have a save-paper policy."
