What an odd phrase or saying!

When someone says, 'Bear with me,' I am always tempted to say, 'where?'

"Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs"
Why? would that help?

"Has the cat got your tongue?"

"He tried to butter me up"

and
"He's kicked the bucket"

Reading the weather forecast with my grandson it said there could be the odd shower.
He wanted to know what an odd shower was, and why it was odd.

My dh acquired the 'shake a stick' expression when he was in the Royal Navy, along with many other expressions.

My father was in the Buffs during WW2. They were an East Kent regiment and so-called due to their one-time buff-coloured uniforms. The expression came from an order to keep discipline on the parade ground by an adjutant. Kipling used it in one of his stories.

One reply my grandfather would give if I asked him where he was going was to say he was going to see about 'a wigwam for a horse's bridle'. I have no idea what that means!

Thank you Sue for the explanation for the Buffs. I had no idea.

And in our family "Going to see a man about a dog". Whenever someone was going out suddenly.

Heard the expression, "it's a bit black over Will's mother" , meaning, I think , that the weather looks dodgy.

Someone once told me that "too many to shake a stick at" related to there being too many of the enemy to throw a spear at, he was an ex soldier so perhaps that was just the way his mind worked!!

When my mother got annoyed she would say "Ye Gods and little fishes" - I think it was her form of swearing

One of my DH's favourites was "I didn't come up the Avon on a push bike" meaning I'm not an idiot (for those who don't know the Avon is a river!).

Just googled the shake a stick origin. Seems to be either related to counting with a stick or threatening with a stick/ spear.

On a trip to The Victory in Portsmouth I was amazed with how many expressions come from old naval times on sailing ships.

The one I like is 'Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs', usually used sarcastically when some has said something blindingly obvious (why 'blindingly'?) as if it were a new and profound observation.

On our invariable damp and overcast 'holidays' at the British seaside my mother would declare that the sun would come out when there was "enough blue in the sky to make a pair of Dutchman's trousers". Oddly enough, she was often right...

And my Mum said Sailor's trousers .

We always said 'enough blue to make a pair of Sailor's trousers' as well (and still do!)

'Well, I'll be jiggered' (surprised)
or DM used to say she was 'jiggered' when she was very tired from working hard.

My father used to say Swap me Bob, possibly a corruption of So Help me God, but used in his case as an expression of surprise.

My Dad used to say, if something was missing, 'it'll be up in Annie's room behind the clock'!
If I asked where we were going he'd say 'there and back to see how far it is'. I used that one on my children and now with the gc's

When I was a child and was caught misbehaving, my gran would call me a "little blinder".
I'm not sure if it was a way of disguising a coarser word or whether 'blinder' was something to do with the street gangs of her youth called Peaky Blinders.
Also, when my cousin's daughter visited us from New Zealand, we took her for a trip into the Shropshire countryside and pointed out The Wrekin. She was surprised that it existed as she thought 'Going round the Wrekin' was just a saying that she picked up from her mother and grandmother.
I wonder how many other local sayings have made their way to former colonies?

Have an inkling 'Steady the Buffs' refers to a regiment known as 'The Buffs' and it was an order to hold their position.

Local expressions for messes are interesting. My mother would look at my bedroom and announce it "Looked like Howden Fair" here in Newcastle it's always "Paddy's Market"

My mum use to say " that's as far fetched as a bucket of shit from China" if we tried to stretch the truth or worse a lie. Or when we shouted " it's not fair" she'd reply " nor is a pigs arse" I was well into my 50's when I realise that a pigs arse isn't fur it's pig skin. She'd been dead for over 30 ears by then. How slow am I. My sister remembers her saying better than me. Mum had so many. They did the trick though because we couldn't answer back, simply because we were trying to work out the meaning of most of them.

I think "I'll be jiggered" is euphemistic for a less polite expression.

If we asked our DM what was for dinner she always said 'Air Pie'

My Gran had some sayings that would infuriate me as a child and I'm glad to say that they still do my grandchildren.
When I would ask why? the reply would be "because there's railings round the park"
What's that? would get "Leo's for Meddlers" and "he says" would get "It says Oxo on the back of busses but they don't sell it"

My Dad used to say, if something was missing, 'it'll be up in Annie's room behind the clock'!
Marmite - my Mum used to say that to me when I was small. I always thought she was saying "up in Nanny's room behind the clock". But my Nan didn't have a clock in her bedroom bu I was always looking for one!

What about 'she's no better than she ought to be'? Doesn't really make sense!

when I worked in a school the kids would often ask me how old I was as kids do no messing with them, I heard this saying once and I think I got it right as old as your hair and as young as your teeth. Always thought that was a strange one any body heard that one before?

I always wanted to know about "more than one way of skinning a cat" - loved the riposte from the Cheshire Cat in, if I remember properly, I think it was Jasper Fforde, "a most unfortunate turn of phrase - please refrain from using it in future".