Mumsnet users discuss phrases that teachers always say

[EllieMumsnet]

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With National Teacher Day coming up on the 8th May MNHQ would love to know the phrases you remember your teachers always saying….also if you are currently a teacher please share the phrases you most commonly use during your classes.

Do you have strong memory of one of your teachers always using the ‘I’m not angry just disappointed’ line? Perhaps whenever your teacher was annoyed at someone they would say ‘It’s your own time your wasting’? Or maybe as a teacher you’re becoming known for saying one phrase in particular?

Whatever phrases you remember your teachers always saying, comment on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

"Are you thick, stupid or both?" never at me thankfully

Always don't swing on your chair.... I didn't take on board this advise and found myself wedged between a wall and locker after falling back off my chair. My friends and I found it hilarious though.

"It's your time you're wasting not mine" and "Don't think out loud !"

I was always described as "conscientious" and use it all the time now im a teacher, especially during report time!

I'm going to come down on you like a tonne of bricks!

The more effort you put in the more you get out.

School years are the best years of your life.

Save your breath to cool your soup!

As you can imagine - my teachers were old and I was at school some considerable time ago!

Mr Morgan at my primary school always used to monitor us returning our plates at lunch. If anyone had so much as a drop of gravy left on their plate, he would mutter ‘oh lummie’ (whatever that means?!)

No such word as can't, you can do it

I’ve got my GCSE’s/a levels/ career

'life's not fair' was the most memorable one from a teacher who just wanted to say 'tough sh*t' whenever anyone moaned about anything. True life isn't fair but it did annoy me that he had the ability to be fair in most of those situations but CHOSE not to be opting for the 'life's not fair' line instead.

A few gems from a secondary maths teacher:

"If you'd pushed that chair in, you wouldn't have to climb over it."

"Go into your attic, you will see right-angled triangles everywhere."

"Whenever my maths master drew a circle on the board, he used his tie as a compass." With the class egging him on, he tried to do this himself, but it was less good than his freehand one!

When writing trigonometry questions, he would illustrate them, perhaps with a triangular pub sign labelled "the happy teacher".

When explaining Newton's Third Law (for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction): "You know, when they caned you, this is why they'd always say 'this hurts me more than it hurts you'."

"It's the last lesson of the day, and it's raining. While you're going home and I'm stuck here marking, I shall watch you all getting wet, and have a good laugh."

While giving an assembly: "I'm going to talk about a three-letter word that has changed its meaning in recent years. Sad. Yes, you heard me right, 'sad'. My family say to me every day: 'dad, you're sad.'"

To show us that last-minute revision didn't work, another teacher got us to watch five minutes of Blackadder, before giving us a test with questions such as "why didn't Blackadder consider a career in the church?".

Also a Latin teacher gave a whole lesson on one single word. He gave us some paper which said "Have you seen this 'QUAM'", which explained that this word had four different meanings. It concluded with "look out for this blighter, because if you do not, he is sure to cause you bovver and attack your exam mark".

when the bell used to go everyone would get up and the teachers always used to say "That bell is for me not for you! Sit down until i tell you you can leave"

I remember many times when a pupil corrected a teachers mistake they would always reply that "I was just testing you!".

I heard "shhhhhush" quite a lot.

I also got "If you've got something interesting to say, maybe you would like to share it with the rest of us?"

So I did - but it wasn't.

I just remember the horrid lunches and hearing "you won't get pudding if you don't eat it"

I think these decisions are really hard and I'm seeing it with my mum who is looking after her parents and finding it incredibly difficult. Her parents left it far too late and they could not have moved into a home as it would have been too stressful. Dementia and strokes... all the other challenges that many older people face, mean that moving later on is really hard. The cost of care and the emotional stress the upheaval meant that moving into a home wasn't something they would consider. There is only one upside to the situation they're in which is that my mum now opening is talking about what her wishes are raher than ignoring it. She hasn't really wanted to think about it but it's highlighted how hard it is if it's not discussed and agreed beforehand.

Opps - quite clearly that was meant for another thread!!

After being given the look in playground.... today has not been a great day.

'It's your own time you're wasting'

'If you've got something interesting to say, maybe you would like to share it with the rest of us?'

'The bell is for me not you'

'It's your future not mine'

I seem to spend most of my day saying....

“Have you washed your hands properly with soap?”
“Get a tissue and blow your nose”
“Run it under a cold tap”
“Do you need the toilet?”

I work in Reception.

Bit random but my teacher used to go mad if anyone killed a bee or a fly and would say 'Imagine poor mummy bee waiting at home for baby bee to come back from his adventures and now you've gone and killed him.

Had a french teacher who repeatedly said "One egg is un oeuf" then laughed in the manner of one who was stoned.
Also had a chemistry teacher who liked to say "by the same token..."it used to really annoy me.To be fair,that and having a very inappropriate (as it turned out)tantrum cos he sent me to collect "poison tape"from the technicians lab onetime is about all i remember from chemistry

"You've let yourselves down and the whole school down"

"If you had been listening you would know what to do!"

The only phrase that sticks out for me, sadly, is the horrid nun head teacher of my primary school telling any child who admitted not going to church the previous Sunday to "Get Out Of My SIGHT".