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Original poster

You daft apeth

416 replies

Kasterborous · 30/10/2013 08:50

No, not you but I heard this phrase yesterday and haven't heard it for ages. We used to say it when anyone had done something daft, but in a lighthearted way.

Another old favourite is 'crosspatch' as in 'don't be a crosspatch' when someone is being -well - cross.

OP posts:
Yamyoid · 30/10/2013 10:02

'Creating' meaning baby making a fuss. Still said by my mum.

DawnOfTheDee · 30/10/2013 10:01

I still do too Yamyoid - especially as I live in Yorkshire now (I was born and raised in Lancashire). I refuse to say 'bread cake'. It's just wrong...Wink

Mmmnotsure · 30/10/2013 10:01

I use many of the above my poor dc

Also 'ye gods and little fishes', and looking 'like the witch of Endor' when my hair is a right mess.

Yamyoid · 30/10/2013 10:00

My northern family still say barmcakes dawn
I used to have a chip barm nearly every day when at secondary school.

MrsDeVere · 30/10/2013 10:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DawnOfTheDee · 30/10/2013 09:59

'Has someone died then?' - said if you're trousers were too short (i.e. at half mast.

FunnysInLaJardin · 30/10/2013 09:59

I love daft apeth. My mum also says 'all round the reeking' when it has taken her sometime to get somewhere. I think the 'reeking' is in Shropshire? Most likely not spelled like that either. And if something was dirty my dad would say 'black as Newgates knocker'

chebella · 30/10/2013 09:58

Not as green as he's cabbage-looking is a favorite of mine to describe someone canny.

Great thread. My dad uses 'corporation pop' for tap water.

My (Irish) granny used to threaten us with 'there'll be whigs on the green' - I think it means some sort of legal/judicial intervention would be required... She also used to threaten us with the 'sally rod' - no idea but you can sense the undercurrent of violence ha!

WhisperMen · 30/10/2013 09:58

my nan used to say standing there like piffy on a rockbun too! no idea of the origins though.

another one was he's like a pig in a ginnel. meaning the man was bow legged.

BlackStiltonBoots · 30/10/2013 09:58

rabbitlady my Grandma says 'skriking' for crying, not heard her say it for a while.

Teacakes here for bread rolls, or currant teacakes for the sweet kind. I felt really odd when I moved to Manchester and had to ask for a 'barm'.

Yamyoid · 30/10/2013 09:58

Ah yes, mrsD, guts fer garters was the one I was trying to remember Smile

DawnOfTheDee · 30/10/2013 09:57

Round bready type things: barmcakes.

Special round bready type things: oven bottoms (or oven bums in our house)

Large round bready type things: stotties

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/10/2013 09:57

Reprint - I use 'like piffy on a rockbun' too, but I am afraid I have no idea whatsoever where the phrase comes from - I just love it. DawnoftheDee - I always assumed that a rockbun was similar to a rock cake.

My dad used to call us rapscallions, if dsis and I were being cheeky.

Dogonabeanbag - I think it is 'swings or roundabouts' too - as in 'What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts' - I think that is the whole saying.

stubbornstains · 30/10/2013 09:57

Oh yes, "I'll give you a thick ear!"

Yamyoid · 30/10/2013 09:56

Also have a vague memory of being told 'you'll get a clout [sp?] around the ear'ole'! (Never did though)

DawnOfTheDee · 30/10/2013 09:55

vladthedisorganised I just spat coffee over the keyboard. I MUST use 'standing like a fart in a trance'. Why is this not in common usage..? Grin

funnyossity · 30/10/2013 09:55

My Mum and Gran always used "wreck of the Hesperus" and when I asked what the Hesperus was they said they really didn't know but it must have been in a hell of a state!

Am liking piffy on a rockbun.

stubbornstains · 30/10/2013 09:55

They used to call street urchins "street arabs" didn't they MrsDV ?

BlackStiltonBoots · 30/10/2013 09:55

I also thought it was daft apeth (an apeth being an overgrown ape in my mind), was disappointed when I found out what it really was.

I call DC little ratbags all the time sometimes.

One that used to make me laugh was my Grandad saying he was so hungry he could eat a scabby donkey between two slabs of concrete Grin.

MrsDeVere · 30/10/2013 09:55

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Nishky · 30/10/2013 09:54

visited my 83 year old aunt yesterday and when talking about someone she worked with she said ' he had a bob on himself'

my children were very Confused

rabbitlady · 30/10/2013 09:54

my cousins would 'skrike'. i never did that. at home, we cried.
i know daft apeth/ha'porth/rum 'un/chop him up for firewood/ginnel/ mither.
the ex husband was frequently told by his mum 'you've a face that only a mother could love', which he felt was affectionate.
what are your soft, circular bread rolls called? ours were teacakes. rougher-bread ones were muffins, muffins were harder and flatter, chewy things good hot with butter and jam. sometimes we heard them called baps or barm cakes.

stubbornstains · 30/10/2013 09:54

Yes, my dad used to say "daft ha'porth" a lot, which I also took to mean a kind of ape Grin. He also used to say "thick as a docker's sandwich" or "thick as two short planks". (He's still around by the way, but it seems he's forgotten all his London slang over the years).

Grandma used to call me "the wreck of the Hesperus" and the "Wild woman of Wonga" a lot, especially during the years I had dreads.

Another Londonism that I heard when I lived there was "Leave it for the sweep" if you drop a coin on the ground. I thought that was quite sweet.

MrsDeVere · 30/10/2013 09:53

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Yamyoid · 30/10/2013 09:53

reprint you've reminded me, my mum used to say 'you're standing there like piffy' but my memory tells me she said miffy. I think that's my childhood brain turning it into a character I knew!

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