Mums sayings.

"Earwigging" meaning listening in on a a conversation
My mum also told us we would be put in a home "with a tin hat and welly boots"

Eloethan my brother always said he had a bone in his leg and I thought he had made it up himself! My dear MIL when annoyed always says she is 'vexed' about things. For some reason my children and their cousins found this hilarious when they were younger and we all tend to use the expression with each other.

"I've got a bone in my leg" (when asked to play a game)
"Handsome is as handsome does"

Oh and me ethel I was told I was going into one the following Saturday!!! It frightened me to death. Obviously child psychology was unheard of back then.

I've just caught up with this thread and I saw the one about ' I will put you in a home'. (I CANT FIND ITALICS), I'm relieved to see others said this phrase as I really thought I would be put in a home. It bothered me for years.

Someone being nosy wanted to know "the ins and outs of an 'ags arse"

"good things come in little packages"(My mother was only about 5 feet tall!)

Just back from walking the dogs and it's really cold. I remember my mother saying - have you got hot ache, the pain in cold fingers when they started to warm up.
Also'frame' when you were not doing so thing in the right way.

"He couldn't knock the skin off a rice pudding"

MiL (brought up in Hull) always described an untidy room as 'Like Strickland Street) my DM described an untidy room as an 'ark'

Also my DM (on being quizzed about something by a nosey neighbour) "she wants to know the far end of Meg's arse"

Anything grubby was 'as black as hell's doorknocker'

I'm enjoying this thread; my contribution to posterity is to tell my squabbling sons "if you're going to fight go outside"

Have enjoyed this thread and it has brought back lots of memories.

My dad used to say "steady past your granny's (cos you should never shove your granny when she's shaving).

My dad : if a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing well. ( comes in handy when hubby leaves something un finished, which is quite often ! )
Everything in moderation
It takes two to tango

When my Mum threatened to start spring cleaning she announced she was going to Do the devil and break delph

Yes heard nearly all of them from my mum or some other family member. If I asked how much something cost my mum's reply would be "money and fair words". Several months ago my SGD advertised her car for sale on FB. I dealt with her privately and bought it for my youngest son. She put "sold" on her post and her brother asked how much she had sold it for. My reply was "as my old mum used to say - money and fair words".)

'Mutton dressed as lamb' - just used it again last week!!!

Another thing my granny used to say, once I got older,
'It only takes a minute!'
No prizes for guessing what she meant by 'it'...

My granny used to say Keep your hand on your ha'penny, too!
I think it came from an old music hall song - I heard it somewhere recently.

Talking of my granny, she once told me about some young man she was 'walking out' with - 'He tried to get his hand down my placket fastener!! My dds still find this hysterical.

End of that relationship then! Having said that, my granny was no,prude.

The younger generation just don't know them ... in conversation they look at you blankly! Not just the younger generation though.

In a mixed group of pensioners recently I mentioned keeping your hand on your ha'penny. All the women laughed but the men just looked blank, so I had to explain it was what all our mothers told us girls when we were going for a night out!

My Dad used to say (showing his fist) see this sudden death! It was just a joke. I think it's a shame all these old sayings are dying out. The younger generation just don't know them and when you drop one in conversation they look at you blankly!

She'd cut her nose off to spite her face, someone who was being stubborn

If we asked what's in there? Mum said, 'Layors for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.' In other words, nothing to do with you.

Dad was the one with the sayings we still quote and he died 50 years ago.

When he was trying not to swear in front of us girls he'd say, Jumping, dancing Moses.

Don't trust anyone, not even your own father.(Pause for effect) Not even your own father. We'd say, Daaaaad!

New Year's Eve he'd say, If you go to town today you'll see a man with as many noses as there are days in the year. We'd go and look till we caught on!

My mother would never have mentioned knickers or anything unpleasant or rude, and didn't use many colourful expressions.

Things she repeatedly said were:

"No sense, no feeling" (Took me years to work out what that meant, I have used it myself lots since, though)
"I'll back your heads together, you two"
"(That comes from) talking too much"

And my paternal grandmother would say "xxx o'clock and no baby bathed".

It would be interesting to see which of these expressions come up the most, and if they vary from region to region.

I want never gets.

Short arms long pockets my dad said this if someone didn't stand their round in the pub

Stick a broom up my arse and I'll sweep the floor as I go along my mum if you ask for something and she was busy. I use this one

'Put some jam on your shoes and invite your trousers down to tea'-to anyone whose trousers were too short.

My mother cautioning me on the perils of premarital sex and securing a husband "...and why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?!"

My dad's favorite was about children...."They're so cute you want to eat them up but if you don't raise them right, you'll be sorry you didn't!"