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What would my mother say?

(52 Posts)
kittylester Fri 17-Oct-25 11:23:33

Why do I always wonder what my mother would say everytime I take the rubbish to the bin through the front door rather than through the back door which would be much more 'appropriate'.

Does anyone have any more silly hang overs from their parents.

StripeyGran Fri 17-Oct-25 11:24:46

Too many! One which rings in my ears is " You can't have it both ways"

Oreo Fri 17-Oct-25 13:57:01

kittylester I don’t have to imagine what mine says as she’s often here saying things😂

Oreo Fri 17-Oct-25 13:57:48

At least that way I never think of any ‘hang overs’.

loopyloo Fri 17-Oct-25 14:00:00

When I am sorting out clothes Mother always says " that'll do a turn"
So I can't throw it away!

JamesandJon33 Fri 17-Oct-25 14:13:07

I try not to think about what my mother would say. I spent far too much time thinking that when I was younger. I realise now it limited me a great deal.

Aely Fri 17-Oct-25 14:15:29

Well, it would be daft not to take my rubbish through the front door, as my kitchen is at the front of the house and so is the bin. I used to keep the bin at the back, but I live at the far end of the rear access path plus it often gets blocked with bikes and other objects by unthinking residents. Probably, in her mother's day, it was normal for the bin men to carry the bins from the back gardens. Now we have to have them ready and waiting on the pavement.

I am trying to think of something silly my mother used to say and the one thing that sticks in my mind is "Eat everything on your (overfilled) plate. There are starving children in Africa". My thought was "Can I send them some of this, rather than stuff myself into an uncomfortable stupor?" I later understood the concept of avoiding waste and my elder daughter sometimes thinks I am taking it to extremes, although I draw the line at sewing worn sheets side-to-middle. I do have one I am hanging onto though, with the thought that I could make myself a couple of cotton waist slips. I hate the too long, clingy, nylon slips which are all I can find in the shops.

52bright Fri 17-Oct-25 14:25:34

My dear mam ...still as sharp minded as ever and going strong at age 94:
'Manners maketh the man ...and that man has no manners'

Still said occasionally if someone is too loud/too boastful ext. smile

Flutterby345 Fri 17-Oct-25 14:47:38

After a belch my grandfather would say
Manners, pianners, tables and chairs all.belong to.the man upstairs.

Babs03 Fri 17-Oct-25 14:50:43

Whenever I am tempted to cut corners I can hear my old mum saying ‘may as well make a good job of it, whilst you’re doing that you’re doing nothing else.’

52bright Fri 17-Oct-25 14:55:33

Another one from dear mam was:
'Why spoil the ship for a ha'peth of tar'

Usually said when dear dad was trying to urge her to some kind of economy choice when, in general, she always went for the more extravagant option.

Primrose53 Fri 17-Oct-25 15:09:28

My Mum used to say “you die if you worry, you die if you don’t. So why worry?”

Another one was”There’s no such word as can’t.”

M0nica Fri 17-Oct-25 15:21:18

I loved my mother dearly, but we were chalk and cheese, and we spent most of our lives talking at cross purposes.

It is her mother and her sayings that stay with me. 'buying clothes you look nice in costs, no more than buying clothes that don't suit you'.

In fact that was her whole philosophy of live, getting the most well being and beauty out of her money, especially when, for her, it was so tightly limited.

fancythat Fri 17-Oct-25 15:25:13

Oreo

kittylester I don’t have to imagine what mine says as she’s often here saying things😂

Same here.

Madgran77 Fri 17-Oct-25 16:19:20

Getting up and staying in pyjamas until mid morning occasionally when having a lazy start to the day a nice breakfast and reading! My mum would be rather taken aback at gge pyjamas once up and about!

Grannybags Fri 17-Oct-25 16:22:28

I’ll try killed can’t
You can’t be bored if you’ve got a book
It’s rude to point

All from my lovely Mum. I miss her every day

Romola Fri 17-Oct-25 16:26:37

My mother would never put the milk bottle on the table, and neither do I. But I have a dishwasher, which she never had.

AuntieE Fri 17-Oct-25 16:29:09

Oh yes, I think of my mother any time anything gets broken. She made such a fuss about breakages, irrespective of whether the broken object was an heirloom, or Woolworth's best! Heraring her, you would have thought we had broken whatever it was on purpose.

Grannie (my paternal grandmother) comes to mind whenever I look at a garment and decide it is "too young" for me. "Mutton dressed as lamb" resounds in my head.

And if anyone sits at table waiting for something to be passed to them, instead of asking politely for it, I hear my father saying, "Have ye no a guid Scots tongue in yer heid, so ye can ask for what you need?" Presumably, a saying of his maternal grandmother, as he usually only spoke Doric Scots at home if he was quoting her. Out on his rounds, he spoke Scots if his patients did.

Iam64 Fri 17-Oct-25 16:30:21

You only get this day once, no matter how hard things may be there will be something positive. Imagine if you were a butterfly, you’d get this day once so look for a positive

Yours sincerely
Pollyanna 🥰

shysal Fri 17-Oct-25 17:11:42

My mother always insisted that I wore a vest, or even worse a liberty bodice, much to my embarrassment in the school changing rooms. I have never worn a vest since! The same applies to wearing an apron.
She always worried what the neighbours would think. When my father was sent out to buy fish and chips they had to be hidden in a shopping bag.

hollysteers Fri 17-Oct-25 18:04:16

Do what you don’t want to do first of all. A good saying.

However my mother gave me a complex about my glasses which I really needed. “Take them off” she would say when out.
I still hate wearing them outside of the house, unless tinted and wear contact lenses.
She wore glasses herself, but many people never knew. She took them off at the bottom of the road before arriving home.

Luckygirl3 Fri 17-Oct-25 18:11:20

The hovering statement from my parents that is in my ear all the time is "waste not, want not."
I find it so hard to throw anything away. My DDs go thro my fridge sometimes cos they know that they will find veg looking very very sad ....

MissChateline Fri 17-Oct-25 18:16:54

“Don’t put down, put away “

Crossstitchfan Fri 17-Oct-25 18:19:18

JamesandJon33

I try not to think about what my mother would say. I spent far too much time thinking that when I was younger. I realise now it limited me a great deal.

Absolutely! Looking back, I realise I had the same problem!

Astitchintime Fri 17-Oct-25 18:30:47

“although I draw the line at sewing worn sheets side-to-middle.”
I remember my mum doing this with the striped flannelette bedsheets…….and what a palaver it was too! And when the sheets were really past their best she made dusters and hankies out of them……..apparently the dusters were perfect for the windows and the hankies much kinder on sore reddened noses when we children were poorly.