Please or to access all these features

Mumsnet classics

Relive the funniest, most unforgettable threads. For a daily dose of Mumsnet’s best bits, sign up for Mumsnet's daily newsletter.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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:
catinboots · 30/10/2013 23:08

Pick us a winner

(For the dirty nose-pickers out there)

GemmaTeller · 30/10/2013 23:01

'I'm that tired I could sleep on a clothes line'

'You're not as green as you're cabbage looking' meaning you're on the ball / not as thick as you look.

'Mind your beeswax'

Going to see a man about a dog we got told that all the time, I swear to god we never got told what was actually happening/where anybody was going.

minsmum · 30/10/2013 22:39

If we asked my mum what was for tea she would always say bee's knees and spiders ankles. The first time I said it to my ds he cried and said I don't like them.

Winceyette · 30/10/2013 22:35

We were always being told to stop being "gormless' and to "stop standing there like Clem" - still no idea who or what Clem was...

YerDaftApeth · 30/10/2013 22:33

Another one I remember is when someone tripped up you'd say 'nice trip, where's me rock'.

Redhatnoknickers · 30/10/2013 22:33

"What's for tea?"
"Iffits."

If it's there you can have it, if it's not you can't.

clary · 30/10/2013 22:21

Ooh also Dad used to say "tuffies" for sweets - but any kind of sweets, not just toffees.

I was delighted when I met my husband that he said the same (a bit random - they were not from the same area at all!)

clary · 30/10/2013 22:20

Have googled both wiggle on and wriggle on and both appear. So who knows.

Pretty sure my dad said wiggle. Sadly he's not here to ask.

He also used to say when you were really tired you could "sleep on a hatpin" which I still say.

youretoastmildred · 30/10/2013 22:19

Someone on MN said today (perfectly reaonably) "fuck that for a bag of toffee." I love that and am going to struggle not to say that to someone at work tomorrow who is asking me to do something pathetic and pointless.

DameEdnasBridesmaid · 30/10/2013 22:17

Standing there 'like one of Lewis's'

FreshBloodandGutsLeticia · 30/10/2013 22:14

Standing there like a tin o'milk.

Like a pimple on a knicki ( looking ridiculously ineffective)

Wild woman of Borneo (that's me that is Grin)

Spare prick at a wedding? Grin

Awks · 30/10/2013 22:11

"what's for tea mum"
"windmill pie"
"eh"
"if it goes round, you get a bit"

makes ABSOLUTELY no sense, that.

wizzler · 30/10/2013 22:09

We say " It's coming down in stair rods" to mean it's raining hard...
Heard someone say "it's coming down in steroids" which is not the same thing at all!

ThisIsMyRealName · 30/10/2013 22:06

These have bought back some memories.

I love 'well i'll go to t'foot of our stairs!' My dad and grandad used to say that all the time. I've got some odd looks the few times i've said it though.

I'm definitley familliar with the 'barm cakes' conversation. I've not lived up North since i was barely walking but still say barm cakes and can never think of the 'proper' word to explain to people what I mean.

One my mum always says is "He's all there all there with his lemon drops." Meaning someone is mentally competent and able to understand things Confused Never understood it and don't think i've ever heard anyone else say it either

YerDaftApeth · 30/10/2013 21:58

I'd never thought of it like that BalloonSlayer suppose it makes a kind of sense. Don't think I'll use it again though!

Paddlinglikehell · 30/10/2013 21:58

We had 'daps' too!

Looking like a wet weekend

Bloomin' heck

Your necks so dirty, you could grow potatoes

Cat got your tongue

Running around like a blue assed fly! (No idea where that is from)

Going to see a man about a dog

You must think the sun shines.....(out of his arse)

BalloonSlayer · 30/10/2013 21:36

When people were cross they'd say "I'll swing for you!"

I thought it meant that they'd take a swing at you, ie try to punch you.

But apparently it means that they would happily kill you and be hanged for the crime - "I'll swing [be hanged] for the pleasure of killing you." Shock

ThePearShapedToad · 30/10/2013 21:23

No! danielhellhound

My dad told me he'd made up the Xxxx xxxx is no good, chop her up for firewood rhyme- though I was always eaten with gingerbread, not lava bread

Sad

Actually kinda gutted I've got to 30 and only just found out he didn't make it up

Brittapie · 30/10/2013 21:22

Like a cockle on a rock - a small hat on a big head.

Why this warrants it's own expression I have no idea. Are small hats a regular issue in Lancashire/Kendal in the 1950s?

KissesBreakingWave · 30/10/2013 21:21

He's had nowt but a sniff of the barmaid's apron - he can't hold his drink.

Brittapie · 30/10/2013 21:21

Bigger milk round than the co op

  • a lady with larger than average breasts
Brittapie · 30/10/2013 21:20

My children are half geordie half lancashire.

Asking for monkeys blood on their ice cream only works up there in geordieland. But asking to play in the ginnel is confined to down here Grin

GemmaTeller · 30/10/2013 21:19

'Eee, she's got more front than Blackpool that one' said when hoiking judgy pants.

Q. Whats for tea mum? A. 'shit and shinola'

Brittapie · 30/10/2013 21:19

Is it just my school that had sausage roll on toast as an option for school dinners? Or garlic bread and gravy?

Lancashire, if it wasn't obvious.

Hippymama · 30/10/2013 21:17

I use loads of these phrase :)

The conversation with the MIL about the bread rolls made me giggle as I've had a fair few conversations that have gone like that. Where I grew up bread rolls are muffins, which leads to confusion in chippies anywhere else if you go and ask for a chip muffin :)