Unusual sayings

Grannmarie

MissAdventure, we say,

Do you think I came up the Clyde on a banana boat?

And, of course, we have a new variation on that now:

"I didn't float up the Lagan in a bubble"

Grannmarie

MissAdventure, we say,

Do you think I came up the Clyde on a banana boat?

I’ve heard ‘D’you think I came up the Mersey on a tea tray?’
So, yes that one is possibly regional.

Our family said ‘And what’s that got to do with the price of fish?’ Also, ‘well, he had a face that only a Mother could love’ - about anyone who thought he was really something! ?

‘It’s like Fred Karno’s in here’ - describing a bit of a shambles - was more often ‘Bostock & Wombwells’ (pronounced Wombles) in my Granddad’s house. That was another old Circus.

A mad crowded place would be described by my Gran as they were ‘all together like the devil found sixpence!’ And she would say that anyone she felt was not truly straight in their business dealings was ‘artful as a cartload of monkeys’.

When my grandmother was sewing the hem of a wide shirt she used to complain that 'once round this, is twice round a gas tank,'

My Nanna used to say "6 o'clock and no baby bathed!" (or whatever time it was)

Even when ours were little in the 80s we had a daily routine of bathing them in the evening. Nowadays it seems they don't make a big thing of it and bath even newborns only every few days.

At school we used to say" What's the time? Half past nine, hang your knickers on the line. When they're dry, bring them in and iron them with a rolling pin. "

It's surprising how often I ask myself what's the time and it actually is half past nine, and the rhyme pops up in my head!

On the bathing babies theme:
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater

This won't buy the baby a new bonnet.

This quote taken from the book I wrote after being evacuated from London to a town in the Midlands after a gruelling journey under fire from a Jerry while on the train.
That was over 80 years ago.
...............................
When we got to the Y.W.C.A. we were given a potted meat sandwich that was curled up at the edges and a black cup of tea but to us with being so hungry, dirty and tired it was like a four course meal.
I can recall someone saying that he was so hungry he could eat a " horse between two bread carts". I have never forgotten the giggle that went round our tired war weary group at that remark.

nanna8

My grandma from Yorkshire used to talk about sidn’in the table for clearing it up and I always wondered what it meant until I asked a friend from there who is nearly 90 now. She said it is ‘Side on’the table, push stuff to one side ready for a meal.

In my part of Yorkshire, to 'side' something just meant to put/clear/ tidy it away, so "sidin' ('t) table" just meant "clearing the table".

Until I was in my twenties, I had no idea that the verb 'to side' wasn't standard English. It really should be!

What a touching story Maywalk.

My grandfather used to say ,"That tea's so weak it's nearly a fortnight."

My father said that in the Navy they used to have "jam sandwiches" that were "two bits of bread jammed together"!

Mum lived in a very busy street. She used to say the only way to get across that road is to be born there!

I've just learnt a new one on another thread.

As Euripides said you can’t step in the same river twice

Thank you 25Avalon!

If someone was dithering about, or not getting on with a job, my Mum would say " Stop standing there like one o'clock half struck" !

My mum used to say that, too.
You've just reminded me.

Callistemon

I've just learnt a new one on another thread.

As Euripides said you can’t step in the same river twice

Thank you 25Avalon!

No man ever steps into the same river twice, it's not the same river, he's not the same man. Heraclitus
I've long been familiar with this profound quote.

Thanks for the correction, Aldom

I thought I'd better find a few from Euripedes so that he didn't feel left out:

A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side.

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad

Silence is true wisdom's best reply.

3dognight

A work mate used to say-
‘Like a dying duck in a thunderstorm’

I can’t remember in what context it was used unfortunately.

My mum used this 3dognight to describe someone who looked a bit dishevelled and miserable.

Back o' Bill's mother's to see Mary.
To see a man about a dog
There and back to see how far it is (an' if that's not far enough I'll go a bit further)- No wonder we never asked where anyone was going!

Me belly thinks me throat's cut- I'm very hungry
Windmill pie- if it'll go round- What's for tea?

In the same way that San Fairy Ann came from the French Ca ne fait rein, I think calling something Ann Twacky as they do in Merseyside for something old fashioned, must come from the word Antique?

'Two sandwiches short of a picnic' for someone not all there.

'Well they won't spoil another couple' - usually said when looking at the wedding announcements in the local rag for a plain/ugly pair.

'Here's your hat where's your hurry?' said if you appear to be hurrying someone out of your house.

Where are you going on holiday? 'I'm going to Rome - roam around me back yard!'

A frequent holiday destination in my youth was 'Windowview' in other words, staying at home.

We used to go to 'Stopatome'.

My mum who had a great sense of humour would look as if she was catching invisible things in mid air. When I asked her what she was doing she would say, “I’m trying to catch poomings!”
What’s a pooming?
I don’t know. I haven’t caught one yet.