ChatterBank5 mins ago
what does it mean?
5 Answers
when dick docks?
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by bigbus. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I've only ever heard it said in Liverpool. And its a common phrase here. I don't know its origins but it basically means I don't know. Its usually in response to someone asking for a timescale on something, in which the response would be When Dick Docks - meaning I don't know. If the answerer things the timescale may be a long time there is usually the addidion of "and he hasn't got a boat yet"
Hope this helps
Hope this helps
In my seafaring Lpool family "when Dick docks" means "don't hold your breath" or, NEVER! Its origin easily pre-dates that Dick Lewis rubbish.
In the 1890s a new (or fitted out) ship (see Lloyd's Register) by the name 'Richard Donnelly' (a well-known local) put to sea and sank before it got out of the Mersey. Ever since, the phrase has been a derisive dockland slur at a lack of competence
by either shipbuilders or sailors and was still common parlance when I was a lad in WW2 Everton.
In the 1890s a new (or fitted out) ship (see Lloyd's Register) by the name 'Richard Donnelly' (a well-known local) put to sea and sank before it got out of the Mersey. Ever since, the phrase has been a derisive dockland slur at a lack of competence
by either shipbuilders or sailors and was still common parlance when I was a lad in WW2 Everton.