Gransnet forums

Chat

Things my parents said ...

(168 Posts)
Imperfect27 Tue 12-Sept-17 08:44:10

Yes, a.n.other shameless attempt to get some chatter started this morning ... Some things my parents said have definitely stayed with me and (mostly) made some sense to me over the years. Here are a few I have remembered:-

On losing weight:
"Breakfast like a king, dine like a prince, supper like a pauper."

On household cleanliness:
'Everyone has to eat a peck of dirt before they die.'

And on social relations:
"If that person is being high and mighty with you, just imagine them sitting on the toilet ... it's a great leveller."

What words of wisdom - or silliness - have stayed with you over the years?

Charleygirl Wed 13-Sept-17 09:44:42

You will meet yourself going backwards was one of my mother's expressions.
You look like a pig or a dog's breakfast
He/she looked like death warmed up if not feeling well.
Your feet will not touch the ground because you will not know what has hit you.
My dad also used to go and see a man about a dog. I think that is a Scottish expression.
Only floozies go out dressed like that.
Eye makeup, wearing white shoes and/or mini skirts was "common".

MissAdventure Wed 13-Sept-17 09:46:41

How about "like a blue arsed fly"? grin I love some of these sayings.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Wed 13-Sept-17 09:54:44

If we were wailing we'd be told, "I'll give you something to cry about."
When my sister and I were going through a giggly stage as teenagers she'd say, "You'd laugh to see a pudding crawl!"

downtoearth Wed 13-Sept-17 10:03:19

Or happy as a pig in s**t...
two helpin's of sheeps cock and pullet..
A face only a mother could love....
Smile on the other side of your face...
Here there and back again to see how far it is ....
Some one who smirked a lot was a grinny s**t a**e
Someone was 'apenny short of a shillin'..if a bit slow
My brother and I always remember the words she used ....most of her sayings where unprintable grin

morethan2 Wed 13-Sept-17 10:08:29

smile these are making me grin and feel happily nostalgic

downtoearth Wed 13-Sept-17 10:23:00

You would laugh if your a**e caught alight
Someone limping had one leg and a flapper
When asked if she had a match her reply "your face my a**e
Wash your hands face and ha'penny..
have a cats lick and a promise....
Keep your 'and on yer ha'penny...

My squints as a child was having one eye on the pot and t'other up the chimney
and as I was rather rotund as a child she had one arm round me and twice round the gasworks
grin

annerogers Wed 13-Sept-17 11:25:23

Charleygirl my father was always going to see a man about a dog and we're welsh, so these things do travel. He was also fond of saying if you want to get ahead get a hat!!!!! Oh yes we had the blue-arsed fly too and if something was dirty it was blacker than the hobs of hell.

MissAdventure Wed 13-Sept-17 11:27:32

My Nans saying when we were swooning over someone good looking - "ever seen my arse on a windy night?"

Katek Wed 13-Sept-17 11:45:09

As black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat

Well, I'll go to the bottom of our stairs.

Neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring

Ye gods!

I now find myself exclaiming "Good God!" with exactly the same intonation and look as my father.

MissAdventure Wed 13-Sept-17 11:47:19

Someone with eye problems had "one eye and a whelk" (pronounced whilk)

yattypung Wed 13-Sept-17 12:27:26

Pride must abide was one of my dad's sayings

Charleygirl Wed 13-Sept-17 12:40:07

My parents never ever swore but I did hear the blue arsed fly comment d=from another member of the family.

NameChange2016 Wed 13-Sept-17 12:46:27

My granny used to say 'Up the wooden hill to bed' (going up the stairs to bed). And eating my crusts would give me curls.

My mother used to say (about gossip) 'If it's nice say it, if it's not don't'. When I asked her about this shortly before she died, she said her headmistress said it to them. Now I think that is a good rule to live by!

My dad used to say 'Hands, Knees and Bumpsidaysees' in a German accent, which I found out recently was from Max Bygraves.

What I would give to hear one of them again.

gillybob Wed 13-Sept-17 13:25:45

My grandad ( of my grandma singing)

Your voice is like the sound of a cow farting through a small tooth comb . grin

MamaCaz Wed 13-Sept-17 15:39:23

If that's what you think, you have another think coming!

Late MiL used to describe someone who she considered a bit of a tart as "all fur coat and no knickers!

FarNorth Wed 13-Sept-17 15:50:10

Very cold = Chilly bon bons.

Never heard anyone else say it.

MissAdventure Wed 13-Sept-17 15:53:07

If asked where she was going: "round the corner and up Jack's arse"

TriciaF Wed 13-Sept-17 16:26:41

Something I still try to practise:
When in doubt, say nowt.
That was my Dad.

TriciaF Wed 13-Sept-17 16:29:36

Thinking back, probably partly from his mother's, my Grandma's, warning when someone gets cheeky - "hold your tongue!".

linjon Wed 13-Sept-17 17:59:36

One of my grandmas sayings if we showed bad table manners was "couldn't take you to Frascatti's" (I assume Frascatti's was a posh restaurant)!!!
Also "She thinks her body every self because her mother has a mangle"!!!
When my brother and I were being boisterous and having fun my mum "this will end in tears"
"Least said soonest mended"
"Enough blue sky to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers" meant it would be a nice day.

Christinefrance Wed 13-Sept-17 19:19:24

When I reached my teens I was told " don't bring any trouble to this house " I had absolutely no idea what was meant by this.
Does anyone remember the sketches with Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough where they dressed as two older ladies and talked in hushed tones about " everything being taken away" so true of that era.

Imperfect27 Wed 13-Sept-17 19:30:43

Yes Christinefrance, I once did a skit based on those two, with a good friend at an evening of 'Harvest Supper Entertainment.' We kept descending into fits of giggles between lines as we tried to hitch up our massive (false!!!) bosoms and fiddle with our 'knicker - lines'! grin

Eloethan Wed 13-Sept-17 19:47:58

"Handsome is as handsome does" (which her Mum used to say to her)

"When poverty marches in the door, love flies out the window"

Cheery stuff like that.

callgirl1 Wed 13-Sept-17 21:20:11

My grandma used to say about having wind "In church or chapel, let it rattle!"

MissAdventure Wed 13-Sept-17 21:21:46

grin good old grandma!