Did your mother used to say……..

Someone of your intelligence should know better!

There are plenty of children in the world who would be glad to have this to eat . ( I used to think , then why dont we send them it, but darent say it out loud!)

Get your head out of that book, (or more often get your nose out of that book) and get some fresh air.

How can you sit in this mess and read? Tidy this place up at once!

You are the eldest, dont let Denise get in the puddles
or You are the eldest, make sure they behave themselves, you are responsible
That was from about the age of 5/6 for my sister and later my brother. Whatever they did wrong, they would be told off , but then I would also get told off for not stopping them, My sister was my height and probably a bit heavier too. There was no physical way I could actually stop her doing anything!!

Jobs must be done first. Have you done your homework. put your clean things out for the morning?

Dont eat in the street, dont eat in your school uniform.
What would your granny think of you doing X or Y.

(Actually my beloved granny was the most kind and caring person who told me she loved me and that I was a good and kind girl, and could do anything I wanted if I tried enough. Her example , to this day, is my yardstick. On any occasion I am worried or unsure of what to do, I simply think " what would my granny do?" . Over the years she has steered me from wrong paths and been my comfort in any hard places.
She gave me many gifts, an important one being a love of reading, which has been a joy all my life)

When driven to distraction by my brother and me arguing my mother would say " I've a good mind to put on my hat and coat and leave" - which puzzled me as she didn't have a hat

" Neither use nor ornament" is a very useful phrase handed down the family.
It's in regular use today...
My contribution to family wisdom, repeated by daughters, is " pearls before swine", a Bible quote.

I thought to see a man about a dog referred to going to the toilet which was not the word to be used as it was common

I've heard most of these before but it's true about chilblains and a hot fire.

I arrived in England aged 10 from NZ in February. There was snow and my feet were wet and freezing. No central heating so I would warm up in front of the fire and had the itchiest chilblains.

I was told never to go in a car with a stranger. That was sensible advice except as a small child I didn't know what a stranger was so refused a lift once, in the pouring rain from my mum's friend.

dustyangel

Always moisturise your neck at the same time as your face and rub any left over cream into your elbows. I doubt if anyone ever notices my stunning elbows.

I wish I'd known to moisturise my elbows!

'You must have been born in a field.' That's because I used to leave doors open!

And 'You make life hard for yourself.' At the time I'd got three children under five, the eldest totally blind, so things were a bit challenging but I do wish I'd asked her what she meant. (She and my dad helped a lot with the children, by the way, so she wasn't uncaring.)

If you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about meaning a good smacking.

My DH says if he said 'I wish such and such would happen' his mum would say 'Wish in one hand, poo in the other and see which one gets full first'.

My mum used to say about my brother in law ,he'd skin a flea for a ha'penny

Cossy

Many many things:

Don’t pull faces, the wind will change and you’ll stay like that

Wear clean knickers, in case you get run over!

Wear a vest or you’ll catch a chill
Put your coat on or you’ll catch a cold

Close your mouth or flies will get in

Wash behind your ears, do you don’t grow potatoes (really haha)

Eat your carrots so you’ll see in the dark.
Eat up your crusts so your hair will curl

Don’t eat walking down the street, it’s common.

And my two particular favourites,

Don’t sit on radiators you’ll get piles
Don’t put cold feet up at the fire, you’ll get chilblains, I did both, I got neither!

I did wear clean knickers every day and I did get run over!

Did we have the same mother? 😂

Yes all of those above
Don’t wash your hair when you’re on a period
You ve got potatoes growing under your nails
When the sun was coming out on a dull day “Here comes Pheobe”
Dark sky “Looking dark over Wills wife s mothers”
If you ask where they re going “to see a man about a dog”
If you re pulling faces “if the wind changes you ll stay like that”

Sadgrandma

The day before my wedding my Mum told me “if you don’t both reach an orgasm at the same time you won’t get pregnant”! She had three children, nine years between the first two and twelve years between the second and third!!

🤣🤣🤣

This thread has me in stitches- I had never heard the one about “if you fall off the wall and break your leg don’t come to me for sympathy “! Hilarious!

Neither use nor ornament seems to be a common one and I actually say it myself now.
One thing my old mum would say if I ever asked for something like more mashed potato at the table etc., would be ‘you’ve had more than soft Mick and he’s had enough’.
Another, when someone looked cheesed off with something was ‘he’s had his egg and chips’.

If you used the word “she” instead of someone’s name my mother would say,”Who’s she - the cat’s mother”?

I’ll try killed can’t
I want never gets, please is o’er late

"Actions speak louder than words"

Yep;
- "It's easier to put it on than take it off" (weight)

and

"Don't eat in the street - it's common".

"You're clumsy" (thanks a lot mother - and I wasn't clumsy either in actual fact). I just wasn't going to turn out with the 1970's size 8 figure she had - but I was going to turn out 1970's size 14 (and 36-26-36 is a good figure too!). If she didn't want the risk her children would be a bit bigger build than her then she shouldnt have picked out a man from across the dancefloor that she'd taken one look at and decided he was going to be her husband - but he wasn't skinny build.

'Get your head out of that book!'
Always wear clean pants - you might get run over'
' No such word as can't'
'Dry between each toe- your cousin didn't & he got athlete's foot'
Don't sit too close to the TV you'll ruin your eyes'
' Eat up your greens or your won't get pudding'
'Always get up from the table before you feel full'
'It's easier to put it on than take it off (weight)'

Neither use nor ornament was frequently used in our house
Don't bring trouble to this house - no explanation of what that trouble could be
Keep an eye on the coalman we don't want a lot of slack
Don't sit there like patience on a monument.

The two I remember most are

Neither use nor ornament, a regular negative about anyone she didn’t like or who was judged to be lazy.

If the wind changes you’ll stay like that - something I’ve also said to our children and now grandchildren. Oh dear. 😂.

On going indoors an a cold winter's day (even if 'indoors' was a cold, unheated building), my mum used to tell me to take my coat off, otherwise I wouldn't feel the benefit when I went outside again.

If you go out in that you’ll catch something you can’t caste in a hurry! ( Bare midriff and tiny skirt)

Ah yes, neither use not ornament. My grandma would often say that!

She also told me I'd melt my bone marrow if I sat with my back against the radiator.

From mine also;
Wear clean underwear in case you get runover
Wash your ears or you'll grow potatoes and cauliflowers (cfCossy)
Waste not; want not.
She chivvied me to make an effort with my appearance when I went out because " you never know who you might meet".
My favourite mother's saying was her ultimate put down
that someone or something was
"neither use nor ornament".