General Chat

My Dad always used to say 'Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire' when we went to bed. It often puzzled me because Dad was Canadian - how had he heard of Bedfordshire when we lived in South London? If we asked what was for dinner it was either "Bread and Pullet" or " 'are pie and duck under the table". If the house was noisy and we were being extra boistrous it was "Like Fred Karno's circus in here". Does anyone know who Fred Karno was? My Nan would tell us it was going to be a nice sunny day -"Because there's enough blue sky to make a pair of sailors britches!" My friend's Dad, when asked where he was going, would say "going to shake hands with the wife's best friend". It took us years and years to work that one out! LOL Sue

what about"wait till your father gets home", and i did! but nothing happened!! or, when dad was going to the pub on a sunday while mum cooked the dinner,i would ask:"were are you going?"i knew what the reply would be,"i'm going to church!"

At bedtime My Dad always said up the dancers (Fred Astairs) If we were dirty, we were as black as the hobs of hell . If we asked when we might get something or when something would happen, we were told when Donelly Docks, no idea who Donelly is Kathleen

Kathleen I just googled 'when Donnelly docks' and it is a Mersey saying meaning 'some time in the future'. Bernard Donnelly was an Irish civil engineer who worked on the building of Liverpool Docks. Sue PS Just found out who Fred Karno was as well!

One of my Nan's sayings were, If, ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no need for tinkers. If we ever questioned her about anything, with the usual childish 'why?', we were told, because y is a letter and you should know better than to ask. M.

Sue If we had blue sky the expression was always "enough to patch a Dutchman's trousers"!! But it still meant the same! Sue

c'mon Sue. After all these years I'm dying to know who Fred Karno was. Jeanette

Jeanette This explains about Fred Karno http://www.times1190.freeserve(.)co(.)uk/karno.htm He was an impressario whose real name was Frederick John Westcott. He apparently invented the casting couch and discovered,amongst others, Charlie Chaplin. Sue

Hi Sue ,(Langley Vale) Thanks for that, will go and have a look Kathleen in Hants( but from Liverpool)

If yer cant be good be careful!

My mum's very annoying reply to me asking her how long till dinner would be ready was always "when it's cooked". I always found this so frustrating - and so its scary that I've found myself using it when my 5 year old asks when dinner will be ready every 2 seconds from the time I get home from work. Angela

From my Mum - You got to eat a peck of dirt before you die (after picking up the sausage or whatever from the floor and putting it back in the pan) From my Father - If you are not in bed by midnight you might as well go home.

Just remembered another one - and it's one of those where you just can't win whatever you do:- "Ask - don't get. Don't ask, don't want"!

My mum always said "dont care was made to care!" - took me years to understand that. Another was "i will knock you into the middle of next week " er, how? Thing is, I find myself saying the same things to my kids, help, I am turning into my mother.

When we asked what was for dinner/tea, it was always "three jumps and a run round!" If the sky was becoming overcast my mother would say "It's getting a bit black over Bill's Mothers." We thought this was just a family saying handed down from my grandmother but actually heard someone else use it whilst on holiday in Derbyshire. Rosemary(Essex)

if you got no socks you cant pull them up. I think it meant you cant do the impossible lol

When i asked mum what was for tea she'd say 'what you can see with your eyes shut'!

When I promised to do something my mum would say " Pie crust promises easily made and easily broken. another was "Sleep tight mind the bed bugs don't bite" and in the morning she would say "I slept as snug as a bug in a rug" When we were noisey she would say"You are all driving me up the wall". I miss my Mum!

When my 5 year old grandson goes to bed he says "Night night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite". We then answer "If they do bite them back". Then he says "Will do, harder". I remember my Dad saying the first bit to us, and me saying it to my kids, but where he got the rest from I don't know! Sue

Look with yer eyes and not yer hands!