General Chat

My folks pretty much said many of theose I have just read ( and cried with laughter at ) Up the apple and pairs - stairs Dial - face Whats this Bill Smarts circus - when too lively I'll slap you silly Waste not want not - when food left on plate The Devil makes work for Idles hands - used alot in my teenager yrs Who do you think I am Rothschild granddaughter? - when asking for money lol When calling for MUM at the top of our lungs and she'd be on the Loo she would reply " Im not here I've run away with a blcak man" not very pc theses days lol The be all and end all.

Rach My gran also said if you can't be good be careful and as we walked away added and if you can't be careful buy a babies pram !!

My Grandma use to say to anyone who was caught scratching their bottom " Butter will be cheap when grass grows there". I am a carer and have asked so many older people if they have ever heard of it, no one so far. Has anyone ever heard of this saying or perhaps it was something she made up. She was born late 1800's. Lynne

Look with yer eyes and not yer hands!

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

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

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

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)

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.

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"!

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.

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

If yer cant be good be careful!

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

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

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

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

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.

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!