Idioms and sayings

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.

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

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'.

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

Sorry, not quite sure what went wrong there!

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

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!

If my Dad was asked where he was going his reply was always ' there and back to see how far it is'

When we asked my dad a question, he would say 'if I told you, you would know as much as me, and that would never do!' Probably meant he didn't know the answer!

My gran used to say (in broad Devon accent) "Keep your 'and on your 'apenny" when we were teenagers going out for the evening - I think I know what she was gerting at, and it wasn't exhorting us not to have our purse stolen!!

When my Mother said she was going to buy something my Dad would always say she was playing cricket again (never understood that one!)

I'm watching you with two eyes - one of my MIL's favourite expressions.

What's the time...'two hairs past a freckle'.

That's when the time was on your wrist, of course...

'Doan't take yer hat off, yer not stoppin'

If we had any ham we could have ham and eggs, if we had any eggs.

Said while looking into a nearly empty larder and wondering what to make for tea.

If i ever asked my Dad if I looked alright before going out he would say "who's going to stop a galloping horse to look at you"

Ella that's just reminded me of what I was called when I was a teenager!

My friend and I, who were fans of Mary Quant and Twiggy, would delight in being called 'Galloping Hairpins' by 5th year boys who would hang around outside school as we were leaving. Looking back, we both had legs like long twigs!

“Ah’ve seen mair meat on a butcher’s pencil” my gran used to say about me...I was very skinny as a child. Not any more.

"Thin as a galloping hatpin" was one of my mum's sayings.

My Mum used to tell me I was "as clever as Dick's hat band". I think the explanation of why it was clever was that it went three times round his hat and tied in a bow at the back!

We also had enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers

A bandbox is just another name for a hatbox.

I would guess that taking coals to Newcastle is pretty meaningless to the younger generation given the closure of the Durham mines.

phoenix my children certainly knew the meaning of the word
vqyou have reminded me of my old English teacher, except she would say she wanted no 'purple prose'. She used to go through the weekly essays in front of the whole class, and one day reprimanded one of the boys for writing that 'the clouds disgorged their aqueous loads' instead of simply saying it was raining.
My dad though, used to look out of the window and remark that active precipitation was taking place

I used to tell my class to write stories that were interesting but not to over egg the cake i.e. get carried away with adverbs and adjectives. After I'd explained it....most had never baked ...it became a favourite phrase used to describe a range of situations.