Idioms and sayings

All fur coat and no knickers!

When I used to ask my Nana what was for tea she would say 'sop m'lad'... and I was a girl ....I never did know what 'sop' was.

All fur coat and no knickers.

interesting yummygran my Mum used to say when asked what ws for tea, bread and pull it!! never quite got my head round that!!

Sorry, not quite sure what went wrong there!

My dad, when asked what was coming on tv: "Boris Karloff and Shirley temple in "Playmates"

Before I knew better, and asked my older relatives 'How old are you?' they would reply 'As old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth'.

I think 'bread and pull it' is supposed to sound like 'bread and pullet', i.e. chicken.

Then there was the excuse for inactivity: 'I've got a bone in my leg'.

When my father had an afternoon nap on a Sunday, he described it as doing Persian PT.

Am loving these!

My very unforgiving very Mancunian mother-in-law if you were getting too pushy would slap you down saying "You can't have y'cake and y'ha'porth". Being "pushy" was very undesirable in her book.

Also if someting was near she'd say it was "no'but a cock'stride" which always seemed pretty eloquent.

Mithering and mardy were two importantly different but equally undesirable description used by my Manchester mother-in-law.

If she was taken aback by something she'd say "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!" But she made it clear she knew that getting a bit close to a Coronation Street cliché.

When I worked in Liverpool there were many great sayings. One was "She loves the bones of him." What a great use of English that is.

Another, which I still use, please excuse the vulgarity, is "He's pissed on his chips" meaning he's spoiled his chances.

And a Londoner I met once described a tinpot braggart as "very Billy-Big-Potaters" which I thought was great.

when my old mum used to be frusrated with me , she used to sat " your as much use as a chocolate fireguard". oh to hear her say those words again x

sorry whoops sat should be say!

Someone said that to me yesterday - about Tony Blair...

Or "as much use as a chocolate teapot"!

alie they may have been making a valid point there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

isthis As a child I was frequently told not to be so mard, on occasions such as having gravel removed with dettol after grazing my knee.
Dad also used 'nobut a cockstride' and greeted people with 'how do' rather than 'hello'

"How do?" Yes it's a long time since I've heard that! Is it a Yorkshire form of greeting? I don't think I've heard it much in (South) Manchester and it's certainly totally non-Liverpool. In my experience.

There was a female BBC Local news person. (?Pat someone). Who once made the remark that someones political fortune or reputaton, had been..
"up and down more times than a brides nightie!"

This really upset some of the more staid BBC listeners by being considered very coarse.

Having a catnap ' inspecting the inside of my eyelids'

In and out like a fiddlers elbow.

Up and dwen like a whores drawers.

If you got too big for your boots "he/she has a ha'penny on themselves"

Picking your nose...he pulling the lining out of his hat.

Yuk! nellie...

Nellie

isthis my dad's family were from Stockport.
nelliem I always thought 'off like a bride's nightie' was Australian, but then I suppose it could have originated in England!