I don't know if you have similar to this one (I am sure you do).
I am originally from Liverpool but do not live there any more. Like many people from that area I came from a poor background, and the area is stereotyped by crime.
If I were to joke about stealing someones hub caps or car with a colleague they might respond by saying
"You can take the boy out of Liverpool.... but you can't take Liverpool out of the boy."
In other words I am bound to be a criminal even if I move areas.
It is usually a jocular put down based on stereotypes (a put down is to mock someone with a derogatory statement) and meant to imply you are still from your common background you came from.
You may also have heard someone say
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks"
This is a way of saying once people are old and set in their ways no amount of telling them something new will be accepted by them.
When you are in London you might hear person A describe person B as a
"Diamond Geezer", or as the "Salt of the earth"
Person A is giving you a personal recommendation that person B can be trusted and is a good man (A Geezer means a man, they may also say bloke instead of geezer - same thing).
"You can take the boy out of Liverpool.... but you can't take Liverpool out of the boy." - We say this too - usually around here it's this form:
"You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." (Country vs city - country being unsophisticated, down-home, etc.)
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks" - We say EXACTLY this.
"Salt of the earth" is a common phrase here too.
"Diamond Geezer" is a new one for me. Our variations of that are:
"He's top-notch" or "He's true blue" or "He's got your back."
When a person is direct and truthful, we say "He's a straight shooter." When a person is impulsive and quick to act we say "He shoots from the hip."
When a person goes from one job to another, or gets involved in one shady thing after another, we say his products or jobs are "fly by night operations."
If someone blatantly does something we say "straight up" as in "Wow, he straight up lied about where he was Saturday night."
We also say "He was drunker than Cooter Brown" even though no one knows who Cooter Brown really is.
"Ugly as homemade sin" is a common expression!
When we finish a particularly satisfying, big meal, we might say, "I'm fuller 'n a tick on a hound dog."
"Don't just sit there like a bump on a log - eat up!"
"I'm so mad I could spit nails!"
Here in Texas, we naturally have a lot of phrases to describe heat and weather.
"It's hotter than a two dollar pistol on a Saturday night." Speaking of Saturday night - any cheap handgun is called a Saturday Night Special.
We also say "hotter than Hades." Or, "It's hotter than blue blazes out there!"
Oh - "He was stuck to her like white on rice!"
To a kid who won't sit still or who's being disobedient, "If you don't stop that, I'll knock you into the middle of next week!"
