Phrases your mother used

Hellogirl1

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

Was she a Brummie by any chance?

I'm going to Nana's are you coming?
(after my dad had come home drunk and punched her)

Well, if you fall off and break both your legs, don't come running to me.

I noticed that quite a few characterful sayings were from people of Scots, Irish, Northern Englih backgtounds. I hope that some have survived. Rural English patois further south had many pithy expressions but seem, alas, to have largely died out. I blame education a couple of generations back which insisted on " proper" English. In Scotland there is a strong movement now to encourage the use of traditional Scots in schools and not to be ashamed of it.

"Where are you going mum?"
"There and back to see how far it is"

If you said: “don’t care” you would get the reply: “don’t care was made to care - put in a pot and boiled his hair!”

If you protested “yes but ...” would be asked: “who’s yes but - the brother of ah but?”

“You’ll get a chill on your kidneys!”

Asking “ where are you going?’ - “there and back again to see how far it is” or “going to see a man about a dog”

“have you lost your appetite and found a horses?” - which I heard as “ annorses”

“I know, said the blind man to the deaf dog”

“You look like the wreck of the Hesperus!”

My favourite - as a warning to be careful - “you don’t want to end up as a cabbage in a wheelchair! “

"Take your coat off" (indoors or in a car) "or you won't feel the benefit." "If you haven't got anything nice to say, say nothing."

hf59, my mother used to cite The Wreck of the Hesperus too.

“then you’ll be laughing on the other side of your face

“It’s looking a bit black over Bill’s mother’s”

Nellys room behind the wallpaper, or Run off with a ××××× man, her favourite replys to Mum were are you.

'Don't do that you'll give yourself away'

and on visiting anyone after knocking at the door

'We'll soon know the worst'

“Oh - beg your parsnips!”

Kipper kitchen and no knickers was my Mum's favourite, and even though she hardly ever swore I aren't repeat her other favourite..

Who’s “she”, the cat’s mother?

If it was windy and her hair got blown about:”I feel like the wreck of the Hesperus” If I got the giggles “you’ll be crying next”! “You are a soppy date”! “Put the wood in the hole” = shut the door. When I went out in the rain “don’t get wet” . “Like a bundle of muck tied up ugly”. “Silly ha’porth” “that’ll wet your whistle”, when giving you a drink. and so many more ?

She’s got a face only a mother could love!

My granny would exclaim 'Hell's bells and buckets of blood' if she broke anything, very exciting for children!

We'll all go to hell in a handcart!

When I asked what was for dinner my mum would say “bread and pullit, sit on the stairs and eat it”.
Still haven’t worked that one out.

“If wishes were horses beggars would ride” ...

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

Switch off the light. More lights on in this house than Blackpool illuminations.

Up the wooden hill. To mean upstairs.

Be nice to your sisters and they will be there for you when I'm gone.

Don't do wasjlhing on New Year's Day or you wash.a member of your family away. I don't believe.it but I never wash.on New Year's Day as I know it would have upset my Mum.

Don't worry about we hat you can't change, focus on what you can change.

One day you will be old.

If Mum got shocked about something, she would always say 'Great Scot'. Don't know why.

Sure to quell any enjoyment of an unseasonable mild spell: “Green winter, full graveyard”.

You could see it all as she waved her wooden leg??
You look as though you've lost a pound and found a shilling.
Can't see the wood for the trees. All from my Dad.

Oh my goodness, I remember most of them from childhood!

My dad had a saying that’s not been mentioned yet.
If a cats born in a stable is it a horse?

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