Funny little colloquial phrases

You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear.

Rather shocked me when it was said by the headteacher of my children’s primary school, about a mother who kept changing her children’s schools because she felt they weren’t achieving enough.

There was an open door policy and the woman went in every morning to complain to the head about the lack of progress.

The secretary had to pretend a call had come through to get her out of the office.

Stood there like Piffy on rock bun . Don’t know the derivation but it means looking silly.... I think.

'He thinks my head zips up the back.'
- thinks I'll believe anything.

Going round the Wrekin was new to me til we moved to the West Midlands. Dithering or taking too long. The Wrekin is real.

For someone standing in front of the tv etc you make a better door than a window

Knee high to a grass hoper, meaning short.

I love the English language and, as an American of English and Irish descent, particularly love the "old country" ones. My Irish grandfather used to say, "It all depends on whose ox is being gored " (it's a matter of opinion in a disagreement). He also said. "If you don't stop doing that, I'll jerk your arm out of it's socket" and beat you with the bloody stub". My grandfather was a gentle man with a quick, sarcastic wit. He had a ready temper, though, and this phrase was reserved for grandkids who mistakenly did not desist bad behavior upon the first request. This was rare.
My Mom always used "What in Sam Hill"? Obvious. I used it so often my daughter asked me once where Sam Hill was?

My grandmother used to say all my eye and Betty Martin too , when she thought something was nonsense. On that Aussie theme again my father , who spent a lot of his early life there, would say What do you think this is , Bush Week? If we asked for something extravagant .

One from my primary school headteacher/class teacher when no-one knew the answer: Don't just sit there like cheese at fourpence.

#paddyanne we used to say something similar along the lines if you're speaking to someone in a team that they all share the on brain and the person you're talking ti is never the one with the brain that day.

Sorry, don't think my brain is working very well tonight.

Bluesapphire 'blow that for a game of soldiers is one I use a lot and grew up with. My father was in the army!!

Mild

It's a right two and eight" said by a colleague looking at a mess. As a child complaining of a hurt leg my mother would say" you may have a bone in it " or " your sure to die after it"

That reminded me of something DGD1 said when she was about 3.
"Come on, Grandad, come and play in the garden"
"I can't, I've got a bone in my leg" he said

She looked at him in astonishment and said in disbelief "No, you haven't!"

Forestflame I'm not from Yorkshire but the word gopping is used in South Wales to describe something ugly or yucky.

One my sister in-law used to say, I'll leave as I've come - meaning that I came to have a nice day, someone's intent on spoiling it so I'll leave to have that nice day.

Blow that for a game of soldiers, meaning I can't be bothered any more.

Enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers.

She/he's not quite the ticket.

And in the privacy of the staffroom, the lights are on but there's no-one at home....

It's a right two and eight" said by a colleague looking at a mess. As a child complaining of a hurt leg my mother would say" you may have a bone in it " or " your sure to die after it"

One I recently heard from my daughter who now lives in Norfolk, ‘ normal for norfolk’, shortened to NFN, meaning not quite right in the head!
I’ll quickly don my hard hat while the residents of that lovely, beautiful county bop me on my head!

"You make a better door than a window" when I stood in front of the TV.
"Were you born in a barn?" when I left the door open.

Crazier than a box of frogs.

My mother, who was a Londoner, used to say ‘a blind man would be glad to see it’.

At the end of a long story: “that’s how Nelson lost his arm”
A generous person would “give you the top brick off the chimney”.

He/ she could raise mutiny in hell. My mother used this expression about difficult people.

When I ( my Dad or brother) couldn't find something which my Mum promptly found where she told it was she would say - " You're looking with your elbows again! "

grandma jet
Does not the saying 'all fur coat and no knicker's refer to female persons thought of as thinking they are better than anyone else ? I originate from midland UK and found this was a common saying.

'All my eye and Betty Martin' isn't rare but has gone out of fashion. Who was Betty Martin?

Ro60

I love the Geordie 'San fairy Anne' I think it means 'it doesn't matter' - but please correct spelling & interpretation. I often wonder about the origins?

Another Leicestershire one: manky for something that is dirty or mucky.

The french 'Ça ne fait rien!' means 'It doesn't matter'. The correct french pronunciation sounds much like 'San fairy Anne'

Many years ago I bought a navy suit and wore it to a wedding with red shoes, red handbag and a red hat. I thought I looked very smart

Someone at the wedding said, loudly,
"Red hat, no drawers!"

I never wore the hat again.