Charming, old fashioned sayings

[randomer]

My IL used to say they couldn't "get on with " something like a cooker or a book.That used to make me smile.
My mother used to say " Oh I like you in that" meaning that suits you, another one which made me smile.

If we were being cheeky my nana would say "sauce!"

If she was telling us about showing off some minor accomplishment of her grandchildren to her friends she would say she had been "swanking"

My granny asked, if someone was in a new relationship if it "was a case?" to find out if it was serious.

My mum (mid 80s now) would refer to an attractive young man as a "spunky guy"

Loving this thread! My 90 year old mum died a few days ago and there are so many phrases here from my childhood - it's making me very nostalgic.

Sometimes it wasn't 'shit with sugar on' for tea, but 'a run around the table' and if something was nonsense it was 'all my eye and Betty Martin'.

I can just hear my mum singing 'put your shoes on, Lucy' to me

My Dad used to say 'red hat - no drawers'
(A bit like all fur coat and no knickers)
At school we used to say Charley's dead if your slip was showing below your skirt (or frock)
My Mum , when surprised about something, used to say, "Well, bugger me drunk," 😮😮
I don't think she knew exactly what it meant...she was quite strait-laced, really!
My Dad also used to say he was going to see a man about a dog, i.e. going to the pub.

My aunt used to say someone a bit thick was 'A sandwich short of a picnic'
My great uncle called someone 'steady' if they were a bit slow or not very well.

also 'are you talking to me or chewing a brick'
and my grandad's favourites were ' Blow the expense, buy the cat a goldfish' or 'lets splash a bit of money about' If he decided to spend on something frivolous.

I remember as pp’s have commented, being sung to when being told to put my shoes on (name isn’t Lucy like the song but mum would change it to my name).
Put your shoes on, Lucy, don't you know you're in the city
Put your shoes on, Lucy, it's really such a pity
That Lucy can't go barefoot wherever she goes
'Cause she loves to feel the wiggle of her toes

Beth sy'n bod Cariad?

S Wales. Every older person I knew seemed to use this when I was a child, even when they didn't speak a word of Welsh otherwise.

Fall in the playground. Runny nose or cough. Looking tired. Whether it was a teacher, grandparent, random elderly person in a shop. Always met with 'Beth sy'n bod Cariad?' - What's the matter love?

I still hear it occasionally but it's use as an everyday phrase amongst English speakers in Wales definitely seems to have declined a lot.

If someone was too late for something 'too late wi' yer Barra' (too late with your narrow?) I never did understand that one

"Don't strain your cutlet"
"You wouldn't want it for a wart on the end of your nose"

"Dry bread" too tight to butter their bread

@Littlesilverbird

If someone was too late for something 'too late wi' yer Barra' (too late with your narrow?) I never did understand that one

It means “Were you late going to bed and getting up? (barrow = bed)

"I'm not gay,but I kissed a man who is "

My dad had a few classics
Its a curse to be good looking but thank god you're blessed
If you had brains youd be dangerous

@Cattenberg

This coat will see me out Spend a penny Wearing your birthday suit

My Lancashire granny called children “chickabiddies”. My Devon granny called young girls “little maids”. And a naughty child was a “toad”.

My Yorkshire gran used to call naughty kids "toads" as well. You little toad! My parents adopted it too, mainly for use on naughty pets, and now my dad says it to my snakes when they poo on him.

My friend has a pet rabbit, who is also a toad.

Bikerunski thank you! I've been wondering about that since 1986!

@VienneseWhirligig much obliged is very Irish. My dad used to say it all the time.

Another one he said in reply to 'what's for pudding' (when there was none) was 'a doll, a drum, a kick in the bum and a chase around the table'.

My Irish Aunty always used to say 'there's a lid for every pot' when I told her I wasn't having much luck with men.

Another one about not getting pregnant was 'keep your hand on your ha'penny' 🤣

There's no point crying over spilled milk, meant no point crying over something you can't do anything about.

It'll be better before you're twice married, meaning it won't last long.

It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

If there's enough blue in the sky to make a pair if pyjamas it'll be a nice day.

I'm wee-ing my leg off, meaning you want to go to the toilet but have to wait.

Be good. If you can't be good, be careful...

( Don't get pregnant...)

My parents and grandparents would call anyone cheeky a 'sauce pot'. Being saucy wasn't an entirely 'nice' thing to be however.

Great thread!

I have loads of these , I’m 41 but raised by my dgps , I still use some of them to the amusement/bafflement of dh & dcs!

The sun’s over the yardarm (time for a drink)

The pathway to hell is paved with good intentions

Simmer down

You barmpot

Don’t be such a Sarah Siddons (stop being a drama queen)

Fiddle Faffing around (messing around, wasting time)

You silly cat Anna

Lazy little ‘hape uth’ (half penny worth)

You duck egg (my Lancastrian dfil)

Put wood int’hole (also dfil)

Don’t let the buggers get you down
(my all time favourite dgf expression - I wrote a tribute to my dgf for his funeral but was too upset to read it so the vicar who was a complete sport read the whole thing and it ended with this expression - everyone had a giggle, i like to think Grand did too!) This will probably out me!

Pet (as term of endearment)

A canny lass (dgf was a geordie)

Nutty (another Geordie word for chocolate)

Two penn ‘uth of haircut

Better than a slap in the face with a wet kipper

Put your best foot forward

Have you got a flea? and also
have you got St Vitus dance? (If I was fidgeting)

Went the day well? (Dgf would always ask me this when I got home from school and later work)

I’m all behind like a cows tail (dgm would say this if she was in a rush)

Looks a bit green round the gills (looks pale/sick)

Gadding about (busy)

Money and fair words (if I asked how much something was)

Put can’t in your pocket and pull can out

You’ll get me shot (dgf to me if I asked him for something he knew my dgm would be cross about)

Go for a dander (go for a walk)

I must pay a visit (go to the loo)

I must spend a penny (same)

Don’t hide your light under a bushel

Gone for a burton (fell over/off something)

Gone the journey (referring to something that’s long been lost)

Pillow slip (instead of pillow case)

It’s not fair it’s the races

Go down the garden and throw bricks at yourself Or drown your head in a bucket of feathers (if I was whinging about something)

Not as green as she is cabbage looking (brighter than she looks)

No flies on her (not stupid)

Neither good to man nor beast (dgf would say this if he had a bad card whilst we played gin rummy)

Cut your coat according to your cloth (only buy what you can afford)

Robbing Peter to pay Paul (borrowing money)

Have it on the never never (on credit)

It looks like the black hole of Calcutta out there (it’s going to rain)

There’s enough blue in the sky to make a pair of sailors trousers (it’s going to be fine weather)

Don’t care got hung

Better to stay quiet and be thought dim than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

Ooh you look like orphan Annie (you look a mess)

Cough it up it might be a piano (dfil again)

The troops are gathering (the kids are hungry)

Saddle up Corp’ (dgf used to say this to me when we were off out somewhere)

I’m definitely a product of my upbringing!😂

No good deed goes unpunished.
God pays debts without money.

If he/she had a brain they'd be a half wit!

@iklboo

My nana referred to periods as 'the vicar is in the drawing room'

This is hilarious

neither use nor ornament
better door than window
like a blue-arsed fly
as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth
make a sailor a pair of trousers
not as green as you're cabbage-looking

and one I don't think anyone has said yet: ants in your pants, to a fidgeting child.

(my mother said that once to one of her daughters, who replied "I think I have!"... turned out there was an ants' nest in that part of the garden )

mardy bum
play the drum
tell your mother the cat's come 'ome (all pronounced to rhyme, with the playground minor third)

don't care was made to care
don't care was hung
don't care was put in a pot
and boiled till he was done

crosspatch, draw the latch
sit by the fire and spin...

• take a cup and drink it up, and call the neighbours in

time for bed said Sleepyhead
tarry a while said Slow
put on the pan! cried greedy Nan; we'll sup before we go