Alternate Proverbs/Sayings

Obviously, in AH you're bound to have turns of phrase different to OTL, but you never really see many of them mentioned.

For example, I came up with "Consequential Avalanche" and "Deciding Pebble" as analogues to the Butterfly Effect and the concept of a POD - the idea being that history is a giant mountain covered in dangerously-perched rocks, and that the pebble in the right place could trigger an entirely different slope.

Any thoughts?
 

Thande

Donor
I think this probably counts as a 'Different Names for Stuff' subthread.

Battles are a good and obvious one - 'Waterloo' or 'Panipat' could have very different meanings to people of an ATL if they had gone differently.
 
The original draft for my TL also had "The promise of an Austrian" as a nasty little barb, after the Habsburgs betray England during the bi-annual match with France.
 

Thande

Donor
The original draft for my TL also had "The promise of an Austrian" as a nasty little barb, after the Habsburgs betray England during the bi-annual match with France.

:D

Mind you, that would work in OTL as well, what with "We shall astonish the world by our ingratitude"...well almost.
 
How could we get rid of perfidious Albion and replace it with something positive? That sort of thing we're after?
 
:D

Mind you, that would work in OTL as well, what with "We shall astonish the world by our ingratitude"...well almost.

With a Russian defeat, we could work something into their language about "An Austrian Astonishment", which would sound pretty cool, especially if you put it in context - a bunch of old Russian men growling it and spitting on the floor after saying it. :D
 

mojojojo

Gone Fishin'
Even the mightiest War Bear still has a sweet tooth!



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Different versions of expressions too?

E.g. Instead of "Bully!" we could have... um... [looks up etymology of "bully" first, realises it has nothing to do with bulls] OK, never mind about that.

Instead of "OK", how about...

this is harder than it looks.

I'd quite like the term "Dutch courage" to be a positive thing, if only because the Dutch don't have a lot to brag about as it is.
Maybe have the Dutch make some huge defensive stand in a war, against insurmountable odds, so it means "being incredibly brave" rather than "getting drunk before a fight".
 
I'd quite like the term "Dutch courage" to be a positive thing, if only because the Dutch don't have a lot to brag about as it is.
Maybe have the Dutch make some huge defensive stand in a war, against insurmountable odds, so it means "being incredibly brave" rather than "getting drunk before a fight".

It's quite surprising why "Dutch courage" means that in OTL if we bear in mind that the Dutch gained independence after a war that lasted 80 years...
 

Thande

Donor
Instead of "OK", how about...

OK is supposedly derived from a fashion for deliberately illiterate acronyms in America in the 1830s - "oll korrect". It was then used by a political campaign because it coincided with "Ol' Kinderhook". But there were other illiterate acronyms at the time that didn't catch on, including AW for "aul wright". So perhaps AW could be an alternative OK? Admittedly, you'd probably have to say it in an American accent (ay-dubya) for it to be as snappy as OK...
 
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