Did your parents have any phrases, sayings or wise words?

Oh!! This has bought back so many memories ...I can almost hear my parents saying so many of these.
"Off to bubby shuffles land!"...meant I'd got to go to bed to sleep

My Gran, you know, the one born in1872 always claimed she was unable to do something as she 'had a bone in her leg' ( see an earlier posting ).
In response to 'What's for pudding?' my Dad used to say W and S....Mum made lovely puddings so W and S usually meant something delicious anyway!

My Mum used to say to my sister and I when we were children " if you don't stop that grizzling, I'll give you something to cry about! ". That soon shut us up. My sister and I were constantly arguing and bickering as children and must have driven my mother mad.

Not one my mum said but one I read:

Never resent growing old, so many are denied the priviledge.

My mum used to say 'If - a little word with a big meaning.
There's plenty worse off than you and I would say well I'd like to see them!
Time heals all wounds.

My Granny used to sing:

Old Mother Hubbaby,
Come to bed and cuddle me.
Cock your leg all over me,
And call me Sugar Baby.

I don't know why she sang it, but I really liked it.

I just got one from my DS. "I'm a box of fluffies" meaning I am fine, on top form. Apparently it is common in NZ and alludes to a box of fluffy ducks. Nice image I think.

'What's for tea, Nana?' I used to ask. 'Run round the table' came the reply or 'Bread and Pull It / Pullet' [could never work out which one she meant!]

When talking about someone's traits, mum used to say 'it runs in the family like wooden legs'.

'Don't cast a clout before May is out' was another of her favourites and so I was probably stuck in woolly jumpers on the hottest of April days. Fortunately I can't remember.

Not exactly advice, but my father used to say "An apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze", which I found very embarassing!

DorsetPenn.. Very good advice indeed from your mother... but I don't necessarily agree with your comments about your DIL, or the going back to work as soon as possible after you have children. I personally think that if you want to stay at home and be a full time mum, and have the means to do it, it is not such a bad idea, and as far as losing your independence is concerned, why would you? A mothers job is just as important as going out to work, and therefore earns respect and a share in family income. Or am I just old fashioned?

My mum always says "What do you want, a medal or a chest to pin it?" when we tell her of an unimpressive achievement.

My dad says "Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear." when we pass something incredulous on.

I like the one about 'angels flying over the house' and the 'bone in my leg' one is genius. I'll have to use that one myself!

Hi Joan.... my Gran (born 1872.... they married late in my family) used the expression 'lazy man's thread' whenever I used a long length of cotton, as with you, it always tangled.
My Gran was deeply superstitious and was terrified of breaking a mirror, fearing 7 years bad luck, would never step in 'cracks' in the pavement and wouldn't look at a new moon through glass! She repeated these 'warnings' on a daily basis.

Yes, EJ, things seem to have settled down a bit. Thanks for asking - it really does help when you know you are not alone.

Joan....how you doing? Hope something better happening

My mother once told me that thunder was caused by the clouds banging together, I told my daughter when she was little and she believed it until she was 17yrs old!!! She also said if your shoes squeaked or made some sort of noise it meant you hadn't paid for them. If there was a sudden silence in the conversation it meant angels were flying over the house. However, she also gave me some good advice 1] always have either a joint bank account or your own account 2] always have the mortgage in your joint names 3] go back to work as soon as you can after having children the independence is good for you. I come from a long line of independent woman - my D.I.L. doesn't and sadly you can see the difference in our 2 families as far as the women are concerned.

I used to think this one was unique to our family - when something turned out a bit wrong eg a shelf was put up wonky - my dad would say 'That's a bit Harry Tate'.
I only recently found out that Harry Tate was a music hall star who specialised in getting things wrong.
We all still use the phrase in our family. Especially if we think others won't understand!

That'll larn thee! (That will teach you, in Yorkshire dialect) when I'd made a mess of something. I hated it!

Teachers used to say "Empty vessels make the most noise" to noisy schoolchildren.

And when I was an au pair in Austria, doing a bit of sewing, I heard "Langes Faedchen, faules Maedchen" ie long thread, lazy girl. That one rings true to this day, when I'm in a hurry and use a long thread in the hope it will do the job in one go. It always tangles.

My MiL used to say, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it....but what if there's no bridge?" (Cup half-full lady!)

yoga, I have four siblings so we learned very young how to divide things into seven equal portions! We also had the "you cut, I choose" rule.

I'm not as bendy as I used to me elizabethjoan

I can remember being told when I pulled faces at my older brother that "the wind will change"

And how to be supremely fair when cutting the last portion of cake, pudding or Mars bar that "one cuts, one chooses"

I love it that yogagran has a bone in her leg! Can you bend it behind your neck? What about the other leg? Is it jealous?

If the sky was a little dark and it was likely to rain my Dad would, and still says "It's looking black over Bill's mothers"

Whose Bill?

And while I am at it... who is Piffy on a drum?

Me.. "Dad where are you going" Dad.. "I'm going to see a man about a dog"

??

My father used to say, "The answer's in the negative" - daft thing to say to a child, I thought it was something to do with photographs.
My mother's advice on my unhappy marriage, "You've made your bed, now you must lie on it"

My mother used to say 'Never let the sun go down on your wrath' and my husband always misquoted it in bed after an argument. For instance 'make sure the wrath goes down with the sun' and other variations and this always made me laugh and I had to make up and forgive him!