Words you've only heard your parents use for things

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

My Mum calls the cupboard under the stairs the 'spence' and I've never heard anyone else call it that or use that word.

@scarecrowhead Joe Soap! My mum says that to mean "some unspecified person". Like Fred Bloggs.

My Dad has loads of peculiar sayings that I've never heard anyone else use but I think he picked up most of them during his time in the forces. He calls all chocolate bars "nutty" regardless of whether they contain nuts. He calls the laundry basket the "dhobi bin" and talcum powder is "foo-foo" which always makes me snigger.

Hole in the wall is what Barclays call their ATMs

Hoofer doofer is what Noel Edmonds called the remote on Telly Addicts.

To those who mentioned mardy - have you never heard Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys?

@ParkheadParadise my Scottish granny called ice cream cones pokey hats too

My dad used to use a very archaic turn of phrase : I’m going would be I’m a-goin (pronounced a goo in) and is he going would be ‘be him a-goin ‘. I’ve no idea where this comes from, he was from Worcestershire but it doesn’t seem to be local dialect.

@DrMadelineMaxwell I love Tappleaid! can I adopt it?

If I spell it correctly?

@Shockers no she's from London, but where I've grown up is near the Welsh border and a lot of the slang has come across so it's possible she heard it from someone.

She also says 'tinny' if something feels cheap/plasticky. Aka - this car feels tinny.

On the subject of embarrassing sayings, she will call someone untidy a 'slut.' I've told her the word meaning has changed but it gave me quite a shock in my teens when she shouted across the garden that I was a slut who needed to come and tidy my room! 😳

Jalop
Mehansome

myidentitymycrisis With my pleasure.

Dhobi means laundry in an Indian language (i don't know which) and dhobi wallah is a someone who does laundry. I don't know if it was in general usage or was a British Raj term. There's also punkah wallah - person who hand operates the fan!

@saveallyourkisses - my mum used to call me a slut if my room was a mess too! I think it might’ve had a different meaning in times past.

@SarfE4asticated many thanks! I've no idea where my mum came by the phrase, but she always loved odd words, play on words, etc.

My grandad used to call my DBro and I "Screaming Abdabs" when we were making a lot of noise / being destructive.

Dimpsy is Devonshire dialect for twilight, my (very Deb'n dad used to use it). Also 'taddy' for frogs.

He served out in India for a while and used a lot of army slang, also taught us to count in Swahili. 'Imshi' for 'hurry up' was one of his (I think it was Indian?)

Mum was born in Windsor but lived in London before they met and she used a lot of Cockney Rhyming Slang. So all the 'let's have a butcher's' stuff.

I'm practically multilingual as a result.

In the same vein, my gran would tell us to "stop performing" when we were being dramatic / having tantrums.

Oxter (armpit), craitur (not really sure but for context "he's a poor wee craitur") , bochgins (scary things that live at the bottom of the garden), shut yer geggy (be quiet).

I could go on. Highlander here!

@Shockers how strange! How old is your mum? Sounds like they're from a similar era.

miaCara my GPs always said tattybye! We say it now and I've no idea why

Skriking and mardy are NW too, also, mither.

My Dad always said Frock for dress
Cruet for Salt and Pepper set

I thought lavatory was the correct word to use for loo/toilet
I’d love a pantry. We had one when I was little, I think most houses had them in the 50s/60s

My dad used to say screaming abdabs too ( Wiltshire)
My mum used to call a cloth or food that smelled a bit as “ fowsty”
Derby folk say “ you’ve got a cob on” when you look annoyed or moody .

I didn’t know the nmodern meaning of glory hole til recently and am now really worried what my builder thought when I asked him to give me ideas to replace my glory hole in the kitchen.
At the same time that I was educated about glory hole, I was also told the modern meaning of daisy chain)

DadCanIHaveAZedgie I think Ken Dodd always said tattybye at the end of the Diddymen show

Breeches pronounced 'britches' for trousers, I still say frock and cob on.

I’m clearly ancient, because I call it “hole in the wall”. That’s what they were called when they were new fangled things. Presume Barclays do it to be ironic.

Dimpsy is west county speak.

One my mum uses is “peely wully” for feeling unwell.

My parents are a little eccentric, so these are the first few that come to mind:

Oolah - snake. Plural Oolahs.

Wobbit - a state of feeling a bit tired and woozy.

Peelie wallie - to look pale and ill.

Shoofty - a seated sideways manoeuvre.

Shoogle - what one does with a teaspoon to mangle the inside of one's runny boiled egg.

Peep peep - vagina.

Killikillies - armpits.

Humdinger - something awful, or great, or surprising; this is apparently a completely interchangeable metaphor.