What does 'holding your mouth wrong' mean

[Wicker382]

A couple of years ago our lovely neighbour was struggling with the timer on her boiler. I went over to help her but couldn't figure it out. She made a comment that 'its the way you're holding your mouth' or something like that. I didn't know what she meant and just laughed along.

Today as I was coming out of m&s a lady was struggling to get her £1 out of the trolley. I tried to help but couldn't get it out either. She said 'so it wasn't me holding my mouth wrong then'.

I've never heard the phrase before. Both women are/looked in their 70's. What does it mean? I'm welsh currently living in the Midlands.

Never heard it but just had a quick look online and a few posts seem to point to a similar explanation;
"It's something oldsters (myself included) say when something needs to be "just so" in order for it to work right. If you are fighting with a particularly tight lid on a jar, and the safety button suddenly pops, you might say, "I just had to hold my mouth right!" If you fail at this, but the person you ask to help gets it right away, you might say "Ah, I guess you were holding your mouth right.""

They say it up here in the North West. Usually something like I can't get something to work, get a lid off, etc but someone comes to help and it sorts easily. To take the sting out of that they might say "it was all in the way you were holding your mouth"

Never heard of it (I'm from Manchester)

I'm from the north west and never heard of this either!

I've lived in the Midlands all my life and have never heard this phrase until now!

I grew up in the Midlands and I've never heard this! I must pay more attention!

Midlands here too and never heard of it.

Maybe it’s a northern thing but we say “You’re not holding your mouth right” when trying to fix or do something like opening a jar or threading a needle for instance. You’ll often find when people concentrate on something they mouth changes, like they may stick out their tongue slightly or purse their lips or tighten their lips etc... that’s where the saying in comes in! It’s all a bit of fun.

I've never heard it, I've lived in the South West, South East and North East Midlands.

It's one I've heard and used frequently, both in NZ and over here.

DM was born in Manchester & often said it. I say it occasionally (Wales then North West) and it’s never occurred to me other people may not have heard this before.

One of my Mother's favourite sayings.

If I was ever struggling with something fiddly and not succeeding "you're not holding your mouth right". Usually followed by me going"gaah!" and jumping up and down on the fiddly item.

She was Welsh but lived in Yorkshire most of her life.

“It’s the way you hold your mouth”, common saying here in very rural north Lancashire. Usually said with a laugh when someone gets something to work after you’ve been trying for ages to no avail.

Midlands - not something I've heard of!

I spent part of my childhood growing up in Oklahoma. Our family went fishing a lot since the lake was a stones throw away. My stepdaddy use to tell me that phrase all the time when I wasn't catching fish, "You're not holding your mouth right." I'm headed for 60 now, living on the other side of the planet. Still to this day I don't really know the origin of the phrase, but you should of seen the kid I was, making a world of faces trying to catch those fish! Good times. 💝

In America, it's an old fisherman's saying for why you aren't catching any fish. They also say, there's always tomorrow. Fisherman's aren't usually in a hurry. It's more about the process and enjoying the day.