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Original poster

Sayings from childhood you remember

163 replies

hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 21:46

Thinking today about all the things my grandparents / parents used to say :

Put wood in"t hole = shut the door

If you were dallying you were "like a fart in a trance "

What's for tea ? "Shit with sugar on"

My gran to express shock would say " oh my godfathers teeth"

Another fave was "it"ll all come out in the wash "

"Gods strewth" was another

Am I alone in these ? Any others people remember?

OP posts:
goingtotown · 09/02/2023 22:50

Face like a smacked arse.

BigMandysBookClub · 09/02/2023 22:51

hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 21:58

Used to get
Called fanny adams and still no idea who she is .....

I used to hear that saying and when I looked it up I was horrified what it referred to - a very disturbing child murder. Not sure why people used it.

Equimum · 09/02/2023 22:54

'What if the Queen of Sheba comes?' Was said daily by mum as a reason for needing to tidy up.

'If the wind changes you'll be stuck like that'.

'Who do you think you are?'

'I could ride bare bum to London on that lip' (when pouting in a silk).

user1234653085 · 09/02/2023 22:54

ScreamALullabye · 09/02/2023 22:49

Black o"er our jacks mothers

Wind u'll change and your face will stay like that

Sights you see when you ain't got your gun

Fetch us that, I can't, I've got a bone in mi leg

I've got a bone in me leg!!! I came here just to say that. What does it mean?

Defiantlynot41 · 09/02/2023 22:55

Mums leg and half her stocking

... nope, no idea!

SnowFir · 09/02/2023 22:55

I never realised before I read this thread that strewth came from "God's truth"
One man's meat is another man's poison.
I remember my dad threaten to wallop us/you won't know what's hit you/the living daylights etc
Patience is a virtue
Don't speak ill of the dead
A cat may look at a queen
Who's she the cat's mother?
Lip hangs down full of woe (or something)
Don't care was made to care, don't care was hung, don't care was put in the pot and boiled til he was done

SnowFir · 09/02/2023 22:55

Oh my giddy aunt

ofwarren · 09/02/2023 22:57

If I asked my mum where something was, she would say "up me jumper"
If I asked her where she was going she would say "there and back to see ow far it is"

MrsScrubbingbrush · 09/02/2023 22:57

My dad used to say "it'll never do for the Cunard" meaning it's not good enough and "I've got a bone in my leg"when he wanted to get out of doing something. I'm not sure if he made up the first one or not.

DinosaurOfFire · 09/02/2023 23:00

Lots of these are familiar!
"Were you born in a barn" for open doors
"It's like blackpool illuminations in here" for the lights all being on
"Who's 'she'? The cat's mother?" When we inevitably whined that "sheeee did it"
We also went up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire to go to bed.
"You look like you got dragged through a hedge backwards" always used to puzzle me though, as a very literal child I always wondered why people said this as there were no leaves or twigs in my hair...

PitYerTapOan · 09/02/2023 23:01

I still say 'like a fart in a trance'. My kids get really fucked off at it. Ha!

Also "neither use nor ornament".

"If I don't see ye through the week I'll see ye through the window" - always sounded a bit menacing but is apparently a cheery sign off

"Like a dog with two dicks" - person who is overly pleased with themselves

"Who's she? The cat's mother?" - never really understood this one tbh, think it's some kind of rebuke for not using a person's name

"Not as green as he's cabbage looking" - appears to be vegetatively unintelligent but is not (quite), although not as smart as he thinks either

Costacoffeeplease · 09/02/2023 23:02

‘Since Adam were a lad’

ofwarren · 09/02/2023 23:03

MrsScrubbingbrush · 09/02/2023 22:57

My dad used to say "it'll never do for the Cunard" meaning it's not good enough and "I've got a bone in my leg"when he wanted to get out of doing something. I'm not sure if he made up the first one or not.

My mum said bone in me leg!

PitYerTapOan · 09/02/2023 23:03

@MrsScrubbingbrush LOL I remember 'got a bone in me leg'! People never say that now do they? I may revive it.

Original poster
hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 23:06

God yes if I asked "where you going?" I'd get "there and back to see how far it is " !

And if I said I couldn't do something it would be "what's up? Got a bone in yer leg ?" 😂

OP posts:
Original poster
hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 23:07

I also regularly say I'm not as green as I'm cabbage looking

And
I didn't come down in the last shower !

OP posts:
Isithotinhere · 09/02/2023 23:08

'Not the full shilling' for someone who wasn't too bright

sunsoutagain · 09/02/2023 23:08

She's got a face like a bag of spanners - a hard look and a boney face

AlwaysLatte · 09/02/2023 23:09

What's for tea ? "Shit with sugar on"
Wow, never heard that one!

ofwarren · 09/02/2023 23:09

Built like a brick shit house (either fat or very muscley)

That's a bit Ann Twackey (That's a bit old fashioned)

Up the dancers (go to bed)

Yer marde arse (you big baby)

Original poster
hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 23:09

Also if I looked like I was gonna cry I had a "pet lip"

OP posts:
echt · 09/02/2023 23:10

He was playing Hamlet about that: reacting in an extreme manner.

Years later I mentioned this saying to a boyfriend who said: Did they know who Hamlet was?

Hmm
AdaColeman · 09/02/2023 23:10

Being disheveled or untidy so "looking like the wreck of The Hesperus", comes from the famous narrative poem by Longfellow, published in 1842, it's amazing how far back some of these sayings go!

AlwaysLatte · 09/02/2023 23:10

Stop crying or ill give you something to cry for
😢

Original poster
hellobethyname · 09/02/2023 23:10

And our kitchen was "the scullery "

Very upstairs downstairs! 😂

OP posts: