Has anyone else heard this saying….

[IncognitoUsername]

… or did my family just make it up?

When I was a child, if the sky was darkening due to incoming rain, my DM would say ‘It’s a bit dark over Will’s mother’s’. I grew up thinking this was a saying everyone used but if I’m honest I can’t remember anyone outside of our family saying it!
My DH thinks I’m crazy - or at least my family is. Please tell me someone else has heard this?!

Cabbages is fenland in my experience

Going dark over Bills mother's - in Stoke - ie its going to rain.

Edited to say we live in Leicester
Yes mum used to say ‘it’s a bit black over Bills mothers’
quite confusing as my dad was called Bill so I thought it was just our family that said it!😂

My dad used to say this. I thought he was referring to my uncle Bill 🤔 herts

I've never heard of that saying.I'm in Scotland

Haha ! Yes I grew up in the Midlands and one of my old work colleagues used to say, when the sky was dark,
'It's a bit black over (pronounced uvu) our Bill's mothers (pronounced Moh-thurs)
Ah that's taken me right back!

I'm from Worcestershire and had never heard the saying until I was about 26 and my boyfriend at the time said it. He was from Lincolnshire and said Bill's Mother's.

If we ever went the long way round we went 'round the Wrekin'. This may originate from my Mum's side of the family coming from Shrewsbury.

It was a muck cart where I'm from(Lancashire) Ususal context was when we as kids did something wrong and made and excuse .eg. I thought it was ok
Mum would say''yes well, you know what thought did...''
The unspoken follow up was 'followed a muck cart and thought it was a wedding'

Yes, Shakespeare's mother.

My Dad used to say "enough blue to make a pair of trousers". Which meant there was a patch of blue sky so the day was brightening up and would be sunny. Anyone else heard that one?

Wilf's mum's in my family (London).

Yes, it was 'enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers' in our house.

Yes!

I heard it as "it's a bit dark o'er our Will's Mum's house"

That was when I worked in North Yorkshire

I always loved the saying 'i'll go t'foot of our stairs'!

As in: well I never!

Here's a link below to an interesting article about the history of it, which says it's in the Oxford English Dictionary as black or dark over Bill's or Will's mother's, and dating it to 1930.

It quotes a couple of extracts from local newsaper articles in Suffolk and Bucks, suggesting it means the west. It seems to be known in several counties in the midlands and south east.

The Daily Mirror also published readers' response to a query about it. One reader from Lincolnshire posted a different version: “It’s looking black over our Bill’s tates.”

https://wordhistories.net/2020/05/21/bills-mother/

It was, and still is, a bit dark over Bills mothers! So I'm assuming my Bill and your Wills mothers live close!

Oh and we're South Yorkshire!

Over Bill’s mothers’. Very well known phrase.

East Miss here and we say 'its black over Bill Smiths' I have heard Bills Mothers but doesn't roll of the tongue as well for me.

Definitely a Cov / Warwickshire phrase too - meaning towards Stratford ... Bill Shakespeare.

Nope, never heard that (SE)

Never heard of it. Lancashire based.

During tough times my Grandma would say:
" It won't always go dark at 6 0'clock"

BirthdayRainbow · Today 20:27
Yorkshire sayings are the best.

You're not as green as you're cabbage looking. 🥬
They followed a dustbin wagon and thought it was a wedding 💒

Not only Yorkshire. Very popular in North Staffordshire too.

From the NW and I say ‘it’s black over Bill’s’. Never a mention of his mother though! Still say it as the dark rain clouds gather.

In my family, the saying was "there's enough blue to make a pair of sailor's trousers" to indicate the weather was brightening up