was: RE: [semi-OT] News on Jon White, ex-list admin. Now about Britishisms

>Um...
>
>... "taking the mickey"?
>I assume you're not talking about Disney's mouse.
>

It's a British (and Australian?) expression that means "making fun of
something".
Also stated as "taking the piss out of ______" - means the same thing.

We might say "poking fun at _____" or "making fun of _____" or "hacking
on
____"

ie:  They might use it like this:  "I was at the pub the other night
with
my mates, and they were taking the mickey out of me something fierce"

Translated into Northamericanese, we might say "I was in the bar the
other
night with by buddies, and they were hacking on me something fierce"

I heard a story once about a military exercise that was taking place in
one
of the American desert training areas.	It was a joint exercise with
Australian, US and British troops.  They had severe communication
problems,
because they couldn't understand what each other was saying over radios.
 :)