Out-of-date sayings

How are you - I'm fair to middling. What's middling - better or worse than fair? If Mum was in a muddle and bothered she would say she was "mithered". And I was sent "up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire".

She was Staffordshire born and bred, I always thought nesh and mardy were Midlands, as is calling someone "duck".
In Devon people are called "me lover" - whether male or female. That takes some getting used to!

Yes, but not only. Try
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesh

I thought 'nesh' was Northern?

Yes, Poppikok, my mother always used to recite it to me if someone had been nasty to me when I was little.
She also used to say I was "mardy" if I whinged, or said I was "nesh" if I felt cold - ie getting dressed under the bedclothes when there was ice on the inside of the windows! Perhaps these words are still used in the Midlands?

You're right, anno. I've always thought that saying was a nonsense.

We used to say that in my childhood in Scotland too, Paige. I think it's still around. And, going by the damage that text and facebook bullying can do, it's a cliché that isn't borne out in practice.

Poppikok in America we would say " sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me"

@NanKate - there was even a song called 'Keep You Hand on Your Ha'penny'!

When Molly began to go courting
Her mother was anxious to tell
How certain young fellas would want her
to stray down the pathway to 'ell
So Molly's old ma used to say:

[Chos:] Keep your hand on your ha'penny
Cover it well with your palm
Keep your hand on your ha'penny
And Molly will come to no harm

They'll hug you and kiss you so sweetly
They'll make you feel ever so nice,
But handle the fellas discretely
And follow this simple advice:

When Molly and I went out courting
I told her she'd nothing to fear
But down in the meadow last Sunday
I whispered these words in her ear

Take your hand of your ha'penny
Look into my bonny blue eyes
Take your hand of your ha'penny
And I'll give you --- a lovely surprise!

NanKate - W C Fields used the term ' the elusive spondulick ' when playing cards for money in one of his films.

'Is this a game of chance?'
'Not the way I play it....no...'

My mother used to say that I had 'a mouth like the parish coke oven'. Outdated even then, I would say. However, 'a voice like a foghorn' was - and perhaps still is - relevant to the coastal town where I was brought up.

Love your modern day equivalents Absent.

Do you remember spondoolicks for money ?

When we were called names at school we used to shout:

sticks and stones will break my bones,but calling names wont hurt me.

So what will replace the sayings we think of as traditional. "Not worth the paper it's written on" to ''Not worth the cost of an inkjet"?

Fine feathers make great fascinators.
Too many cooks spoil an evening's television.
Take care of the millions and the billions take care of themselves.
He who logs into Spotify calls the tune.

Do they know what a baker's dozen is?
Or where we're going when we "go to the flicks"?

Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs.
Think on!

What about 'green' bacon, rather than calling it unsmoked? My butcher said he hardly ever hears that anymore. Or my mother's Gloucestershire 'dripping cake'.

I guess there are lots of phrases that will survive with a literary footnote, like Shakespeare's 'hoist with your own petard' etc.

This is similar to a thread in Memories - We Used to Say.
Interesting how everyday language has changed so much in our lifetimes.

I once heard someone described as having 'a mouth like a crack in a pie'. I'm sure there is already a thread on this subject somewhere

And when we asked what was for tea we were always told, "Three jumps at the buttery door and a slurdown."

"It's black over Bill's mother's." Who was Bill?

There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle

Warning given to young girl going out on a date with her beau from her mother.

'Keep your hand on your ha'penny' !!!

It costs 20p to spend a penny in our local public toilets!

Some sayings do hang around long after their origin has vanished. We can still be 'on tenterhooks' even though the cloth sellers are no longer worried their cloth will be stolen while it is outside getting stretched on tenterhooks.

And we still say we'll get something done 'by hook or by crook' even though the days are gone, that the locals could collect whatever firewood they could reach 'by hook or by crook'.

But - we no longer 'tune in' the radio or telly, fiddling with the controls till we get the best sound or picture. And we can't call the radio the wireless, 'cos wireless means something else these days.

And we don't have to 'spend a penny' any more - which is just as well, given the state of our no-longer-young bladders.

And we can't send the kids out for a penn'orth o' chips any more.

Charlie's dead (when your petticoat is showing)
Petticoat
'A penny for them' (when someone appears deep in thought)
Don't get your knickers in a twist