Phrases your mother used

This will probably get censored here but

No man wants second hand goods to marry

Marydoll ditto 're coming up the Clyde.

And whenever times were a bit difficult......
I can picture her now, hands on hips ' we will be fine, just remember we are Clyde built'.



e

All fur coat and no knickers, my grandma`s way of describing someone who thought they were better than us.

I remember when I started experimenting with make up, and my Mum said my eyes looked like 'p((sholes in the snow'. Disgusted me then, disgusts me now!

In my teens I used to fasten my belts as tight as I could get them, my grandma said I was tied up like a rice bun. I never did see a rice bun!

There is enough blue sky to make a sailors suit it’s going to be a sunny day

You may have a bone in it ' said if I had a pain in arms or legs.
' You are sure to die after it' if you felt ill. Both worried me as a young child.

When asked what’s for food she’d say”bees knees and chickens elbows”
If she was surprised or shocked at something she’d say “well I go to the foot of our stairs”
Just what she would do when she got to the foot of our stairs I never ever found out and didn’t think at the time to ask ??‍♀️

I suppose many of these are homely proverbs now forgotten, which is a pity.
Off the top of my head:
'Frame'
'Were you born in a born'
'All dressed up and nowhere to go' [never understood that one]

Bigred18

"I didn't come over on the boat yesterday" We lived in liverpool and think she was referring to the Irish! Apologies!

Further inland, I didn't come up the ship canal on a tea tray'

English was not my mother's first language, so it was Daddy and Grannie (his mother) who told us that our faces would get stuck if the wind changed, asked why our coats were on the highest peg in the house (the floor) and told us to stop looking at people with our eyes standing out like chapel hat pegs, if we were staring.

"Ye'll catch your death of cauld if ye gae oot dressed like that!" was another one from the same source.

Anyone else remember, "Ca' you come in oot a' there ye bold, unbiddable child?"

I wasn`t born yesterday you know.
errrrrrrm.

A blind man on a galloping horse would be glad to see it.
Said after doing a job that doesn’t seem to be finished as well as you would like.

It's hung up on t'dog shelf, ie it's on the floor.

If you were standing in front of the TV my Dad would say Were you born in St Helens? (St Helens, the home of Pilkington glass).

"Be careful what you wish for"
"Calm seas never made a good sailor"
"I can't see it for looking" (when she'd lost something)
"You'll catch your death of cold" (when I went out wearing a mini skirt)

My lovely Mum used to have many sayings,
"It's only the difference" meaning try to buy or do the best you can as well as "Don't spoil the ship for a hap'worth of tar"
"This to shall pass" - often a great comfort to me, especially in these times, I can hear her lovely calm voice.
"Sleep makes sleep" - don't let babies and small children get overtired

“Suffer a wee and be hardy”. Meaning suffer a little bit and be stoical or resilient. Very much part of the Scottish character.

A stitch in time saves nine
Wait till your father comes home
Wash your mouth out with soap
She has a face like the back of a bus

Anticipating whether or not we would have fine weather in summer by looking at the leaves of the trees in spring:

'If the oak before the ash
Then we'll only have a splash.
If the ash before the oak
Then we're going to have a soak....'

My kids remind me that when they were having a strop about something ridiculous I would tell them to stop crying or I would give them something to cry about. It always worked, they knew I stuck to my word! They have both ended up as delightful men happily married with families of their own and not too emotionally scarred!

Lots of these, and one I caught myself saying in exasperation to my 6' 2", 30 year old son yesterday - "do you want a smack?" Ooh, yes please! NOT!
I'd have to stand on a stool to give him a thick ear!

SisterAct My mum used to say " good things come in small packages" " and so does poison, choose carefully"

Also "the best thing since sliced bread - but even that goes mouldy"

I don't know if she was wise or a pessimist :-) but bless her she had some saying that didn't make much sense when I was a child but they do now.

You’re not hungry, you’re greedy

Cor blimey O’Reilly!

Not my mother but my father, of someone rather plain, "she has a face like the north end of a south bound cow". All I remember of mother's have been quoted.