I've received several hilarious sayings from some friends.... I just have to share!
- Sue: My grandmother used to say "Come on in, sit on the floor, and let your legs hang down."
- Kevin: Grandma once fed us dumplings made with "buggy" flour. When we figured out the black specks weren't pepper, we all freaked out. Grandma's response? ,"You kids, you'd swallow a camel and strain at a flea." I would never have said this to her face, but yes Grandma if you feed me fleas, I will "strain" at them.
- Another from Kevin: A couple from my Mom Dorothy, '29-'05. When she was teaching me to cook, we were about to measure butter and she said, "Let me show you something I learned in the Army." She then showed me how a 1/4 inch on a stick of butter was about a Tablespoon. I asked her, Mom when were you in the Army? She said, never, it's just a saying. She also said you had to hold your mouth right to do something that required dexterity, like threading a needle or clasping a chain around her neck. (I agree with Dorothy on that one! Especially when you're putting on mascara!)
- Sheila: I was teased a lot when my family moved to California from Indiana. I was just starting school and said things like "pig in a poke" and "crazy as a pet coon" both of which I picked up from my grandfather and they thought I was from the south. Then in 1996 when I moved back to Indiana, people kept asking why I talked so fast, I managed to combine the old family sayings in conversation at California warp speed. LOL
- Mike: Here's a southern saying from a college roommate referring to a great meal.
"That tastes so good it will make you want to whoop your mama and reach across the table and slap your daddy." - Another from Mike: Also my grandparents used to refer to aggressive driving as "Slow down who do you think you are Barney Oldfield." This was the first person to drive over 60 MPH.
- Kenneth: I've never figured out why my mother always says "I feel fagged out" when she is just in a "blah" mood! She is the only person I've ever heard say it!
Thanks everybody for sharing! Do you have an old adage that we need to know about? Leave a comment - just click on "Comments" below and follow the instructions.
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comments:
Lorine McGinnis Schulze
said...
This is interesting, thanks for collecting these sayings. My mother had a few (why is it mostly mothers??): These are so funny, Lorine - thanks for sharing! My Dad (' 15 - '07) used to say "It's as slippery as owl poop on a wet pine board." That's hilarious!! Hmmm .... I know I've heard a lot of "sayings" in my family, but I'm
having a hard time remembering. One that stuck with me was, "If brains
were dynamite, he couldn't blow his nose." My Dad, turned 80 in January, created what he called "Clark's Corellary to Murphy's Law" I've cleaned it up from how he said it. More great sayings. The one that Mike mentioned-I've always heard it
as "tastes so good it'll make you slap your Granny" funny how the
saying change in different areas/families. The buggy flour-yuck! But I
bet she was practicing Waste Not Want Not! Thanks for your comments - it's so fun to hear what people say in different families and different parts of the country!
"I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been cut"
"Might
as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" This might have been an English
expression - both my maternal grandparents were born in England. It
refers to the days of poachers being hung for shooting an animal, and
means if you're gonna do something wrong you might as well go all out!
Not what most moms teach their children but I know she didn't mean for
us to go out and do terrible things.
"The probability of everthing going to heck is inversely proprotionate to the desireability of having it happen."
He
was a Family Doctor in Southern California and always had a fresh batch
of jokes to tell that had been shared by his patients. He said the
little old ladies always seemed to tell the most off-color jokes.
