Straight Up

Language never ceases to amaze me.  And I love to learn new phrases and idioms.  I heard this today at work:

A: What time is it?

B: Eleven straight up.

A: OK, thanks bud.

I'm sitting at my workstation looking for my cell phone to check the time and wondering if I've ever heard this expression before. So it's eleven o'clock... Well a new phrase for me. 
I don't think I had ever paid attention to the time being expressed this way. I can assure you that on the many books I used to learn/teach English (as a second/foreign language), this was never taught as an option for telling time.  I right away wrote it on a post-it so I would remember it.



I got home and told my husband that I had heard a new phrase. Of course he knew it, but he knows I get excited to discover and learn new idiomatic expressions. So if the minute hand on a clock is "straight up" at twelve, instead of saying it is (number) o'clock, you could say it is (number) straight up.  Now I just need to find a good situation to use it and put it in practice.

 

Second Banana. Part two (excuse the pun)

A while back I learned of the expression "to be the second banana: (part one here)  .   
I'm here to report that I was able to use it tonight.  We were at supper club (it was Thai night, if you were wondering).  I was talking to some of my friends about our plans for next month's supper club meeting. As our theme next month is Spooky Food, tonight we decided to also have a costume contest for the kids.  
We were telling Tiffany, who was one table over, about the contest.  She commented that one of her girls insisted and had her heart set on dressing up as a banana. She added that her other girl was still undecided as to what costume she wanted. 
Oh, she could go as the second banana, I replied. 
Jill sitting next to me burst out laughing. 

Perfect conversation, perfect timing.  
So there, I've successfully used  my phrase.