irons in the firs I can sort of get . . . Have no idea about the latter. Can you please edumacate me?
Should be "... pinin' for the fee-ords", meaning "pining for the fjords", a key line from Monty Python's Norwegion Blue Parrot skit. A customer has come in to return a dead parrot, which had only been nailed to the perch to make it seem alive, and the pet store owner say the bird is just "pinin' for the fee-ords".
In 1524 you said you had a lot of irons in the firs, I figured you meant irons in the fire and I was sort of ribbing you about it because it sounded funny. The last was from a Monte Python bit.