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You daft apeth

416 replies

Kasterborous · 30/10/2013 08:50

No, not you but I heard this phrase yesterday and haven't heard it for ages. We used to say it when anyone had done something daft, but in a lighthearted way.

Another old favourite is 'crosspatch' as in 'don't be a crosspatch' when someone is being -well - cross.

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 30/10/2013 17:51

"Stop grizzling!"

Grizzling being crying that the onlooker considered unjustified. eg - you "cry" if you have a broken leg, but you "grizzle" if you are shedding tears and making distressed noises because your Mum won't let you have some sweets in a supermarket.

My Mum used to say "Mon Dieu!" but in her Sarf London accent it sounded to me like "Mange" and I couldn't understand why she said the French word for "eat" when exasperated. (She also called me a daft ha'p'orth and I too thought an Apeth was a kind of Yeti)

My stepfather used to say, when describing someone large and burly, that they were "built like a shithouse door." I know the phrase is supposed to be "built like a brick shithouse" but I rather prefer his version of it.

My Dad used to call us "cloth ears" - I don't know whether that was when we weren't listening or just being dim.

When we left the door open it was "were you born in a bus?" not born in a barn as most people say.

"Willy" was considered far too vulgar a term for us to use. Penis? What was THAT? No, in our house, the main male reproductive organ was . . . wait for it . . . a tassel. Cue much spluttering when we heard about "Joan's new curtains, gorgeous they are, with lots of lovely big tassels on them."

Female genitalia was one's "fluffy bit." Grin

BalloonSlayer · 30/10/2013 17:52

oh and we always used to be promised "kippers and custard" for tea.

Reprint · 30/10/2013 17:59

Reminds me of the standard answer to "whats for dinner?" ........air pie and a windy rasher!!

Kasterborous · 30/10/2013 18:36

Another favourite is 'you make a better door than a window', said if someone was standing in front of something you wanted to look at (like the telly)

OP posts:
WhoKnowsWhereTheSlimeGoes · 30/10/2013 18:39

Oh, my dad used to say that to me when I stood in front of the telly.

MargeryAllingham · 30/10/2013 18:52

I use "stood there like one o'clock half struck" for people staring into space, dithering about getting something done.

BIWI · 30/10/2013 18:53

Heavens to Murgatroyd

Re being hungry/eating scabby donkeys - we used to say 'I'm so hungry I could eat a scabby horse between two bread vans'

sazzle82 · 30/10/2013 18:58

Yep toomanydicks I think it's all very particular to North Wales.

I've had the 'it was moider!' in the new York accent thrown at me before too Grin

Standingonlego · 30/10/2013 19:06

Lots of familiar phrases here...a variation on "put wood in hole" in my house was 'do you come from Warsop?" Warsop is a town near parents where allegedly the houses linked to local pit had no internal doors as they ran out of money whilst building...no idea if true Hmm

And one I know I got from my Grandad "skin a rabbit" when asking DSs to lift arms in air to take a t shirt off.

onetiredmummy · 30/10/2013 19:16

More coming to me now Smile

I could eat a scabby dog

Cast off Jack I'm in the dinghy (if you do something for yourself but nobody else e.g. Make a cuppa)

onetiredmummy · 30/10/2013 19:17

Let the dog see the rabbit - hurry up

Jemimapuddleduk · 30/10/2013 19:26

My mum used to say Crikey Moses.
Also heard lots of daft apeth, cloth ears, giddy kipper and grumpelstiltskin (for grumpy moods). My mum used to call me flossy tea cake and I am not too sure why!

Jemimapuddleduk · 30/10/2013 19:28

Keep remembering more! My dh's family always say they have a spot of 'gip' when they have indigestion.

Kasterborous · 30/10/2013 19:30

I'm going to change my nick name now.

OP posts:
YerDaftApeth · 30/10/2013 19:32

Done! Had to be Yer instead of you 'cause that's how I say it.

Redhatnoknickers · 30/10/2013 19:35

"There's dirty work afoot at the crossroads" (there's something suspicious going on)
"Done is the deed, the deed is done, but what have they done with the knife?" (What have you been up to?)
"Gone, and never called me mother!" (Melodramatic phrase that my mother used to come out with randomly - who knows why!)

GemmaTeller · 30/10/2013 19:36

'It'll put skin on your back like velvet' as in 'eat this homemade wholesome food...'

Bitofkipper · 30/10/2013 19:41

"Manners, Pianners,

Tables and chairs,
Belong to the lady
Who lives upstairs".
Said by my dad if you didn't say please.

"I'm standing here like two of eels waiting for liquor"
Said by my mum when she was dithering.

(Pianos doesn't sound right)

Snozwanger · 30/10/2013 19:47

My dad used to say 'change the record' if I kept going on and on about something Smile

SorrelForbes · 30/10/2013 19:47

Oh yes,

Its black over Bill's mother's
All around the Wrekin
I'll go to the foot of the stairs

stubbornstains · 30/10/2013 19:49

Oh, some more....

"You're asking for a knuckle sandwich" (charmed I'm sure Dad)

"You're so sharp you'll cut yerself" (likewise Grandma)

TeamEdwooooooo · 30/10/2013 19:50

Haven't read the whole thread.

When talking about a miserly chap, I've been known to use the phrase "tighter than two coats of paint"

Katiebeau · 30/10/2013 19:57

Loads of these and mardarse if we were grumpy and San fairy Anne (that well known French phrase murdered by my DM!!!).

Redhatnoknickers · 30/10/2013 20:22

"Back in the knife box Miss Sharp" (if you'd said something sarcastic)
"All mouth and no trousers"
"You know what thought thought? He thought his leg was out of bed so he got out and out it back in again!"

Redhatnoknickers · 30/10/2013 20:23

put it back in again.....