Idioms and sayings

My granny had a similar saying, but it was 'to make a pair of sailor's trousers..'

"She looks as if she has just stepped out of a bandbox" was my mother's expression when saying someone was looking very smart. I said it recently to my daughter who had never heard it before, so is this another saying that has gone out of use?

I was never sure what a bandbox was. Anyone know?

I never knew what a 'bandbox' was either - you just accepted that it meant 'brand, spanking new' - and that's another phrase that's disappeared...

When we used to mither Mum about what we were going to have for tea she would frequently reply, '3 jumps at the cupboard door!'

In our house it was always duck, as in "duck under the table and out again"

I read the bit about making a sailor a pair of trousers in a childrens story book when I was about 8. My grandma used to say that I was tied up like a rice bun, meaning that my belt was too tight. And when the sky was a bit black and stormy looking in the distance, she`d say "it`s a bit black o`er Bill`s mother`s.

jane meant to say that "mither" isn't heard much these days, but my Grandmother used it frequently! (Mainly in relation to me

I used to tell my class to write stories that were interesting but not to over egg the cake i.e. get carried away with adverbs and adjectives. After I'd explained it....most had never baked ...it became a favourite phrase used to describe a range of situations.

phoenix my children certainly knew the meaning of the word
vqyou have reminded me of my old English teacher, except she would say she wanted no 'purple prose'. She used to go through the weekly essays in front of the whole class, and one day reprimanded one of the boys for writing that 'the clouds disgorged their aqueous loads' instead of simply saying it was raining.
My dad though, used to look out of the window and remark that active precipitation was taking place

A bandbox is just another name for a hatbox.

I would guess that taking coals to Newcastle is pretty meaningless to the younger generation given the closure of the Durham mines.

My Mum used to tell me I was "as clever as Dick's hat band". I think the explanation of why it was clever was that it went three times round his hat and tied in a bow at the back!

We also had enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers

"Thin as a galloping hatpin" was one of my mum's sayings.

“Ah’ve seen mair meat on a butcher’s pencil” my gran used to say about me...I was very skinny as a child. Not any more.

Ella that's just reminded me of what I was called when I was a teenager!

My friend and I, who were fans of Mary Quant and Twiggy, would delight in being called 'Galloping Hairpins' by 5th year boys who would hang around outside school as we were leaving. Looking back, we both had legs like long twigs!

If i ever asked my Dad if I looked alright before going out he would say "who's going to stop a galloping horse to look at you"

If we had any ham we could have ham and eggs, if we had any eggs.

Said while looking into a nearly empty larder and wondering what to make for tea.

'Doan't take yer hat off, yer not stoppin'

What's the time...'two hairs past a freckle'.

That's when the time was on your wrist, of course...

I'm watching you with two eyes - one of my MIL's favourite expressions.

When my Mother said she was going to buy something my Dad would always say she was playing cricket again (never understood that one!)

My gran used to say (in broad Devon accent) "Keep your 'and on your 'apenny" when we were teenagers going out for the evening - I think I know what she was gerting at, and it wasn't exhorting us not to have our purse stolen!!

When we asked my dad a question, he would say 'if I told you, you would know as much as me, and that would never do!' Probably meant he didn't know the answer!

If my Dad was asked where he was going his reply was always ' there and back to see how far it is'