Setanta wrote:The ghonst walks--means payday . . . hey, don't ask me.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride--people don't, i think, use this one much any longer.
I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat has been cut . . .
There's lots more, they just don't necessarily spring to mind right away . . .
I've found postcards from your grandparents era in antique stores and some of them are truly dark with the express purpose of being entertaining. So, the last expression, especially seems to ring true.
fishin wrote:My dad always used to say "If you don't have anything nice to say to your mother then don't say anything at all." Most of us still don't talk to her... I guess that was because her fav saying was "I'll give you something to cry about!"
Have you ever found out what your father thinks of your mother?
ossobuco wrote:When ever I came back from an event in my teen years or young adulthood, my mother asked "were there many people there?" Clearly an effort to get me to open up, it sometimes rankled (slaps self upside the head now).
Ha. If my mother asked me that now, I would get rankled. In this case it would be an opportunity to hear gossip. Blech.
Wy wrote:Every time one of us left the house, mom would say, "Write if you get work!" She picked it up as a child in the Depression... the men would go looking for work, leaving wives and children at home. A penny postcard was too dear to use for simple keeping in touch -- but news about a job! Oh, boy!
So I said it to my daughter as she grew up. A few weeks ago she left me a note: "Gone to spend a few days with Chrissie. I will write if I get work."
Good story, Wy.
I say okie-doky and p's and q's because they're funny expressions and they're old fashioned, which usually surprises people. I wrote "okie-doky" in response to a work email the other day-- I still haven't gotten what I requested from the person, maybe they were a little mortified? Ah, who cares...
ebrown_p wrote:¨It takes two to tango.¨ (When kids blame each other for 'starting it").
Whenever I asked (i.e. complained) why my brother got something I didn't have, my mother would say very plainly "because we love him more". They said the same thing to him... so this was just a way to stop whining.
It takes two to tango-- as a truth, it's annoying, because it's true. but as a construction of a clever sentence, it's pretty great.
I like that..."because we love him more."
Rockhead wrote:"Judas Priest"...!!!!
If only they'da known.... :wink:
RH
I could Google Judas Priest to find out who she/he is or was, but I'm wondering, if you could tell me instead.
littlek wrote:My mom used to say, "That's not yelling! You want to hear yelling!?!"
In retrospect, it's funny, but at the time...
Noddy24 wrote:Parental axioms from the bridge table:
Not through the iron duke.
Is this a bridge expression? The others I've heard, but not this one. (I changed idiom to axiom)
Roberta wrote:From my mother.
Eat your vegetables. People in Europe are starving. This ended when I told her to send them my veggies. I didn't want 'em.
Already mentioned but worth repeating: I'll give you somthing to cry about. And she always did.
You're too smart for you own good.
I've never understood how parents can get rankled over their children being smart. Also, I got some of those stock expressions--people in europe are starving, etc. I think it has to do with children knowing when their parents are on auto-pilot.