Has anyone heard of this?

I have never heard it........could it be a regional thing?

I have wondered that H1954. My mum was from Southampton.

As well as courageous, "brave" it can also mean to dress showily, to boast, to bully or to menace. Might any of those have applied in the context in which your mum was using the expression?

My Londoner gran used to use the words swank, swanks or swanky to describe people who were showing off fine possessions - words I haven't heard in a long time - possibly too close to a commonly used modern-day soundalike.

Her neighbour's son has made a lot of money black-marketeering in the war and would park his Rolls Royce outside his mum's council house. My gran called him Tommy Swanks - which wasn't his surname!

Well I think swanky is a general word we always used that and
I m not from London or anywhere near
I ve never heard of the ‘oh braves’ remark though

Never heard of it..

I’m from Southampton and never heard of it either.

Swanky, yes.

Nor me.

Axe throwing is becoming popular, for reasons I don't understand. If it's got something to do with tomahawks, maybe it's that?

(You go to a centre and it's supervised - people don't throw them at each other.)

Caravan, my family used "swanky" but it wasn't derogatory- just a statement of something rather showy/fancy... as in "oooh, that's swanky"
"Braves" is new to me though. Sorry.

Doodledog - I did axe throwing last month ! I was useless, I wouldn't make a good Viking after all . If the target was my ex husband my aim might have been truer ?
Beechnut, I'm from Scotland but have never heard 'ooh braves' either .

Swanky car, swanky fur coat but never heard ooh braves.

I’ve heard of swanky. I think my ‘braves’ must have been made up by my mum. I’ve never heard anyone else use it.

I’m keeping out of the way of the axe throwers 🤣🤣

I'm from the NE and have heard both 'Ooh braves' and 'Swanky'. Though not heard 'Swanky' said that much down south where I live now.

tiredoldwoman

Doodledog - I did axe throwing last month ! I was useless, I wouldn't make a good Viking after all . If the target was my ex husband my aim might have been truer ?
Beechnut, I'm from Scotland but have never heard 'ooh braves' either .

Was it fun though?

Don't lose your brave is an expression I heard in my Shropshire days. It was used when someone was experiencing difficult or sad times.
Perhaps ooh braves has a similar meaning?

Ali08

I'm from the NE and have heard both 'Ooh braves' and 'Swanky'. Though not heard 'Swanky' said that much down south where I live now.

What context was ‘Ooh braves’ used in the NE Ali08?

I’m watching Best of Britain by the Sea and they’ve just used ‘Swanky’ to describe their accommodation on the Isle of Wight.

Surely Miranda in Shakespeare's Tempest exclaimed "Oh brave new world that has such people in it!"upon seeing other people apart from her father and the monster Caliban for the first time?

Could "OOh braves" be a shorten form of her exclamation intended to express astonishment at someone's get-up or behaviour?

Ali08

I'm from the NE and have heard both 'Ooh braves' and 'Swanky'. Though not heard 'Swanky' said that much down south where I live now.

She's right swanky her, from Jesmond all fur and nee knickers. One I often heard in the Northeast.

It sounds quite modern and sarcastic to me lol...something one of my teens my say if someone is acting in a confrontational way..x