You what??

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Many years ago (1972) not long after we arrived in Australia we were asked to a BBQ.  BYO, the neighbour said, oh and bring a plate.  Now I knew BYO meant bring your own drinks but being a new chum was mystified by ‘bring a plate’.

Some of the groups I belonged to previously (usually young wives/mums groups) had met in members homes and we were often asked to bring cups and plates to help out at morning coffee or supper time because in those days not many young families had oodles of crockery or cutlery,

So you can guess what we did the day of the BBQ – yes, we each turned up holding an empty plate – not a skerrick of food on them.  Now if the neighbour had mentioned ‘shared food or potluck’ I’d have known what to do. Meat and salads or a sweet to share would have come along with us.

Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms
Bring a Plate
An invitation to bring a plate of food to share at a social gathering or fundraiser. There are many stories of new arrivals in Australia being bamboozled by the instruction to bring a plate. As the locals know, a plate alone will not do. In earlier days the request was often ladies a plate, sometimes followed by gentlemen a donation.source

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Last week at the pool my ‘neighbour’ was telling jokes and I smiled inwardly (remembering that day) when she told this one.
It’s all in the understanding and interpretation of the words 🙂

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Young Blonde Cowboy

A Sheriff in a small town in Texas walks out into the street and sees a blonde haired cowboy coming towards him with nothing on but his cowboy hat, his gun and his boots.

He arrests him for indecent exposure.  As he is locking him up he asks, ‘Why in the world are you walking around llike this?  The cowboy says, ‘Well it’s like this Sheriff…

I was in this bar down the road and this pretty little red head asks me to go out to her motor home with her….

So I did.

We go inside and she pulls off her top and asks me to pull off my shirt….

So I did.

Then she pulls off her skirt and asks me to pull off my pants…

So I did.

Then she pulls off her panties and asks me to pull off my shorts….

So I did.

Then she gets on the bed and looks at me kind of sexy and says…

‘Now go to town cowboy’

.

.

‘And here I am’

Bring a plate – Go to town.
Have you ever misunderstood the words??

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19 thoughts on “You what??”

  5. I thought the bring a plate tale might have been an urban myth, but here is the proof that it isn’t. Noted that you learnt BYO before bring a plate.

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  8. That’s funny! Down here they say, “Well, go with me now.” when they are leaving – that confused the bleep out of me until I figured they meant thoughts, not bodily going with them.

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  11. hahaha! I would have made the same mistake with “bring a plate.” I would have assumed that this meant bring a plate because the host didn’t want to have dishes to wash. Oh well at least you had drinks! Enjoyed the cowboy joke too. 😀

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  14. You could have started some thing here.
    Cathy, live, love and laugh.
    It is my turn to tell you one.
    In Thailand they are not being impolite when they ask you your age and the like. A woman asked me were they my own teeth.
    Yes I said with a clear conscience, as I had bought and paid for them. 🙂

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  17. “Bring a plate” is also very common here in NZ! Though it does seem to be going out of fashion, as I think these days we are much more likely to say “pot-luck.”

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  19. In the RVing world, bring a plate would mean ‘bring the plate you plan to eat from’. Bring a dish would mean bring something to share with the others who will be eating. Thanks for explaining the custom. Perhaps I should now go to town. 🙂

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