Our parent's sayings

[grahamg]

Dad always said "wish in one hand and spit in the other; see which one fills up first" when we were wishing for things we couldn't have.

Mom always said, "don't go buying a pig in a poke," meaning don't accept something you haven't checked out.

"Oh look, someone got there first"! .

 

[grahamg]

"You're asking me to buy a pig in a poke!", (one of my dads needing no explanation obviously. ?).

"This one I mean". .

 

[grahamg]

I think I remember my father asking people, "How's your mother?", (when not really interested in the health of whoever's mother, though I can't recall the real meaning of the enquiry, so probably just a nonsense conversation starter!).

" How's your father?", is of course a euphemism for something very rude, as I'd guess we all know, and yes dad did use it occasionally. .

 

[jerry old]

please explain the euph. of 'how's your father?' don't grasp...is that exclusive to brit, the continent ?

 

[grahamg]

please explain the euph. of 'how's your father?' don't grasp...is that exclusive to brit, the continent ?

"I'll come back to you old man", (wonder if its in the dictionary? ). .

 

[grahamg]

"How's your father?"

Dictionary definition:
"used euphemistically to refer to sexual intercourse". .

 

[hellomimi]

I remember dad always said,

"My house, my rules. *Period"

As a kid, I bended a lot of his rules, and got away with it. Right then, I knew I was a "special child".

* Emphasis on period to mean no further discussions.

 

[hellomimi]

"How's your father?"

Dictionary definition:
"used euphemistically to refer to sexual intercourse". .

I don't get brit slang....

 

[grahamg]

I don't get brit slang....

I struggle myself with regional slang, (Cockney rhyming slang often leaves me mystified. ).

This isn't slang so much as cheeky none sense, my dear mother would not have approved of very much, and called "smutty", (she still managed to shock one of my brother in law's by her own innuendoes!). .

 

[grahamg]

"Wait for it"....., and "That'll do"!

These are off repeated phrases used by an auctioneer friend, whose father was a neighbour and farming friend of my dad.

He told me last night a racehorse has been named, "Wait for it" in honour of his big catchphrase! .

 

[grahamg]

I used to hear both my parents use this one occasionally:

"There are two sorts in this world, the quick and the dead"! .

 

[win231]

"How's your father?"

Dictionary definition:
"used euphemistically to refer to sexual intercourse". .

Wouldn't that be, "Who's your father?"

 

[tbeltrans]

My dad's favorite saying was : "The dog would have caught the rabbit if he hadn't stopped to pee"
Three other of his favorites were "I see said the blind man"
"There's a pony under there somewhere"-part of the famous barnyard joke
"Let's play it by ear"- A saying I say just about everyday myself.

The remainder of that saying...

I see said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

My dad used to say that from time to time.

Tony

 

[tbeltrans]

Here is one I don't think I saw mentioned yet:

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

We were raised to work for what we got, so I assume this supported that work ethic.

Tony

 

[grahamg]

Here is one I don't think I saw mentioned yet:

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

We were raised to work for what we got, so I assume this supported that work ethic.

Tony

Yes, and a warning against "wishful thinking" perhaps too! .

 

[grahamg]

"There is still corn in Egypt"..............

.....a biblical reference my father used when he wanted to show there's still hope, said when things might have gone wrong, or look a bit bleak, (he wasn't that religious though !) .

 

[grahamg]

Grahamg wrote:
"How's your father?"

Dictionary definition:
"used euphemistically to refer to sexual intercourse". .

win231 wrote:
Wouldn't that be, "Who's your father?"

It used to be said you always know who your mother is, and never can be sure who your dad might have been, but DNA tests have put paid to that old saying haven't they.

However, we've a more modern issue over who the "real father" might be, (in the sense of who someone with an interest in promoting the "new daddy" they've just imported into the child's life, and the industry supporting them, wishes the rest of the world to think or say !).

 

[old medic]

MY grandmother's birth control advice: "Don't let your juices mix." (It got passed down the family line!)

If you dont want butter, you need to pull the dasher out in time....
from my great grandfater

 

[peppermint]

hurry or you'll meet yourself coming home !!
i'll knock you into the middle of next week
youll soon be laughing on the other side of your face
but her favourite was 'are you being arabotious' i have yet to find out what that word means

My Dad would tell my younger brother, I'll knock you to dumbs day....He never did..
My brother was the youngest and got in trouble.....He is now 65 years old and a Lawyer...
I have more, but I can't say them here....

 

[grahamg]

This wasn't my fathers saying, but he did say something similar, (only using a bit rougher language perhaps):

"It is much easier to become a father than to be one."

 

[grahamg]

This one is maybe heard everywhere, but may have been said first to me by my godfather......:

"Don't let the b****rs wear you down!". .

 

[grahamg]

We have all probably heard it said when someone gets married: "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is yours, now we are married".

I knew someone with a different take on this statement, and it goes thus: "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is my own" !

(now who might have said those words to me do you think.....? Correct, the former Mrs Grahamg when we were still together, and she meant it obviously ).

 

[grahamg]

"Its no use crying over spilt milk"

You dont hear this saying quite so much nowadays do you, (maybe it has a modern equivalent?).

It came to mind today when my mates young collie dog, ate his son's bacon sandwich, the dad had foolishly left on the sideboard whilst going outside to take a private call on his mobile. When the dad came back in to take his son the aforementioned tasty sandwich no sign of the whole tasty meal was to be found, and once it had been established the son hadn't been down stairs and found it, there was only one culprit to account for it. Cue accusations of stupidity levelled on all sides, and happy, well fed dog got an ear wigging!

There we are, "no use crying over bacon sandwich eaten by the dog".

 

[grahamg]

Another one of my mothers sayings, (do tell me if I'm repeating myself, or else this is becoming b......?)

"Much wants more, and more wants most"! .

 

[grahamg]

One of my brother in laws used to use this one quite a lot:

"The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing"...
(means expressing unawareness or deliberate ignorance of ones own doings!)