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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?

GrandmasueUK Tue 12-Sept-17 11:48:32

"They'd spoil another couple" (2 unattractive people together.
"Peas above sticks" ( too big for their boots)
"This is neither fishing nor mending the net" (when we were sitting doing nothing and there was work to be done)
"Lay'oles for meddlers" (when asked "what's that?) - just found out that lay holes is another name for graves, so is another way of saying that 'curiosity killed the cat'! Who knew?

MinniesMum Tue 12-Sept-17 11:44:12

"Actions always have consequences", "ye shall reap what you sow", and most of the ones read above. Lovely trip down memory lane especially when I heard my son telling GD off and adding the first one. "What are consequences" she said!!!!! Probably thought it was a new chocolate bar.

curlilox Tue 12-Sept-17 11:43:52

"Hunger 's the best sauce" when I wanted ketchup.

sue01 Tue 12-Sept-17 11:37:11

Take your coat off, otherwise you won't feel the benefit.

MissAdventure Tue 12-Sept-17 11:32:05

"Talk's cheap" was one of my mums favourites, and one I often quote myself. My daughter said it to me a while back, when I was telling her all the promises someone had made me, which never materialised.

Charleygirl Tue 12-Sept-17 11:30:14

Almost on a daily basis I heard about the starving children in Africa Imperfect. I also used to say that they are welcome to my food and this was with the tears streaming down my face. I always regretted it because my mother then resorted to violence.

inishowen Tue 12-Sept-17 11:15:45

My mum told me a shopkeeper had "wiped the floor" with a child who was stealing. I was horrified, taking it literally and thinking he had cleaned the floor with the child's hair.

Yorkshiregirl Tue 12-Sept-17 11:15:13

Talks cheap my mother used to say, and how true it is, as people can talk nonsense and can't back it

A pounds your best friend

Another, but not words of wisdom ha ha was "I'll give you a clout round t earhole " I'm a Yorkshire lass, but she was Scottish though

Icyalittle Tue 12-Sept-17 11:12:44

My mother's was 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly!' when we tried to skimp on chores we'd been set. (We didn't think it was worth doing in the first place)

trisher Tue 12-Sept-17 11:07:58

Franbern we sometimes got "Bread and pullet" as well. Other times it was "Windmill pie-if it'll go round"

Daddima Tue 12-Sept-17 11:03:50

Our dinners were " straw and caramels", or " tripe and treacle".

" Nae sense in wastin' two hooses" ( when two unattractive people got together!)

" This won't get the bairn a new bonnet".

" The old dog for the hard road and the pup for the pavement".

And many more....

Franbern Tue 12-Sept-17 10:57:25

If asked what was for dinner was told by my Mum 'bread and pullet - the one the pulls the hardest gets the most'. No idea where this came from and have never heard anyone else ever say it!!!

grannysue05 Tue 12-Sept-17 10:42:48

From my Mum ....
It takes two to tango ........ when there was any scandal.

Tinkerbell2208 Tue 12-Sept-17 10:23:52

Imperfect 27 - my mother said exactly that - and I got boxed ears for telling her to post my toast crusts out to them !!

FarNorth Tue 12-Sept-17 10:22:24

If you eat all that you'll be sick!
(I never was)

MissAdventure Tue 12-Sept-17 10:16:34

What's for dinner was answered with "Air pie and kick-of-the-cat!" Or "Sh*t with sugar..

Anniebach Tue 12-Sept-17 10:07:54

my mother had so many gems we could never work out

Much wants more

A complaint of it's cold or tough

Brought- colder / tougher where's there none

But it's too hot brought - hotter where's there none , left us baffled

I want doesn't bring I've got

My father to the cry of - but everyone is going

Not every one, your not

trisher Tue 12-Sept-17 10:01:19

Pride feels no pain -when she was raking a brush through my tangled hair (and putting it in rags for ringlets when I was little-too little to understand what it meant!)

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other.-or
I don't care who started it but I'l finish it-both when my brother and I were fighting.

MissAdventure Tue 12-Sept-17 09:48:08

We used to hear about the children in Africa too.

CariGransnet (GNHQ) Tue 12-Sept-17 09:45:12

Imperfect27 That was a favourite in our house too!

MissAdventure Tue 12-Sept-17 09:41:46

"Its my door, and if anyone is going to slam it, it'll be me!"
Said by mum when we were trying to flounce out of the room.

MissAdventure Tue 12-Sept-17 09:39:11

"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it!"

Imperfect27 Tue 12-Sept-17 09:38:50

"Children in Africa would be glad of that!" -when we were being fussy over food. My parents were very strict and we had to have our clear plate before we were allowed to depart from the table. If dad was out, we would sometimes backchat my mother by grumbling "Well, put it in an envelope and send it to them!" We knew we wouldn't get a backhand from her - but we did still eat it all!

gillybob Tue 12-Sept-17 09:37:27

My dads famous lines when we were having fun ( and perhaps getting carried away)

" cut it out, a joke's a joke but you've gone too far"

Miserable git .

Gagagran Tue 12-Sept-17 09:32:16

"Self-praise is no recommendation" - said by Mum to any sign of boasting.