BS: Did your mum say this to you.....

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 06:26 PM

Goodnight,
Mind the bugs don't bite.
If they do,
Cut 'em in two
and they won't bite another night!

Silly really as there were never bugs in our beds....just food for thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 06:23 PM

Well Uncle DaveO, it just shows to go you! ;.)

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 11:05 AM

Dave's Wife, you understood me perfectly.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 09:34 AM

TruBrit, I think Dave knows that and so did his Mum - she was merely repeating something another child said that she found amusing in that the child got it backwards.

David mamet includes a number of lines like that in his scripts and plays, for example in The Spanish Prisoner, one of his very sharp witted female characters ( played by his now wife) says "It just shows to go ya" rather than "Goes to show ya" and it's meant to be ever so cleverly amusing.

In Dave Oesterreich's Mum;s case, I imagine she thought the mix up was not oh so clever but oh so cute and endearing which is why she still said it.

When I was a child, a younger playmate who hadn't quite mastered speech yet use to say "I'm saucy" for "I'm sorry" and it was so adorable that even to this day many of the kids who grew up with him will still say it to others from the neighborhood as an eanderment when they are apologizing for some little thing or other such as interupting you or bumping into you, that kind of thing.

Another one from my childhood was that I grew up with a little girl who had Downs - same age as me in fact. She used to come up with some of the best descriptive expressions for a child! Our favorite that the same bunch of us as above use is for someone being gluttonous or refusing to share - she'd call them a Hogamapig - pronounced "Hog-a-ma-Pig" .

Another item like that is one kids in my highschool picked up from a teacher who was a "colorful" personality but universally loathed by the students because he was a bully.   He used to say "bull-ka-twang" for bullsh*t. Kids took the word from him and little else since he was a lousy teacher and an even lousier human being. It figures he was the football coach, huh? Well, at least he passed on one memorbale thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 10:43 PM

Well - Brits say -- that hits the spot................could it be a variation on the theme? IE when you are dying of thirst and you take your first sip of gin and Tonic of the day -- that hits the spot......

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 07:23 PM

My mother habitually used a phrase which I don't think anyone else here has ever heard uttered by their mums, because she picked it up from a chance comment by some little girl she once knew. When she'd eaten (or imbibed) something that really was refreshing, it was:

"That hits me with a spot!"

I'm not sure whether you'd call that a mondegreen, or a malaprop!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 05:56 PM

You reminded me Paula.

My mums one was "Slow down, you're like a flea in a fit"
also            "Slow down or you'll run into yourself coming back"

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: paula t
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 05:38 PM

Just remembered being told to calm down when I as rushing about. Mum would say" Ye Gods! You're like a bee in a bottle!"

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Acorn4
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 04:25 AM

We had our firts thunderstorm of the year yesterday and I was reminded of:-

"It's looking really black over Will's mothers!"

Not sure who Will was?

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Acorn4
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 01:03 PM

You know what Thought did?

Messed his pants and thought he was on the toilet!

There are probably regional variations of this one !

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Acorn4
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 04:38 AM

"Ants in your pants" was the fifties version of hyperactivity or ADD, I'd guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Slag
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 04:26 AM

"What's the matter? You got the collywobbles?" Much later I discovered that "collywobbles" is a real word for diarrhea and associated symptoms.

Epizootis and all it's variants are from epizoetic disease, i.e. disease that is transmitted from an animal to a human.

"You look like what the little boy shot at."

"Here's your hat; what's your hurry?" and
"Why don't you come back when you can't stay so long?"

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 09:43 PM

Council Estate - that brings back memories.....

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 02:40 PM

My Mum said "I wish you would keep away from girls who live on that Council Estate" - and she was right!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 01:35 PM

Click here for info on St. John's Dance:
Dancing Mania article on Wikipedia

Most interesting is this bit of info:

>> During the initial outbreaks of the mania, religious ceremonies were held in an attempt to exorcise the demons thought to be causing the mania. People commonly prayed to St. Vitus for aid, and he soon became the patron saint of the dancers. The phrase "St. Vitus' Dance", however, is in fact a name given to a syndrome known as Sydenham's chorea, which is totally unrelated to manic dancing.<<

The craziest stuff told to me were by my Irish grandparents and Great Aunt (Grandma's sister) who used to scare me witless with threats of abduction by Sidhe if I dared walk alone after dark without a male relative. Grandma used to tisk tisk my habit of going to Saturday Evening Mass as a teen and admonish me to wait for my Uncle Brian to come and get me to walk me the six blocks back to her house. I used to think to myself but never say 'Oh yeah Grandma, the Fairy folk are just lying in wait on the corner of Whitney Avenue waiting for the sun to slip beneath the horizon so they can snatch poor little me off the corner."

Now, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was the 1920's or 30's but it was 1977. I suppose she trotted that old gem out because of the stoop shootings* that were giving mothers and grandmothers white hair at the time.. Still, wouldn't that have made me safer on the streets? I dunno.


* Son of Sam

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 09:38 AM

Flash company -- now that mustache one I have never heard before........love it.....my mum definitely used to say the 'get out of my sight before I do something I regret....' and of course -- the full name syndrome when she was really p.o'd --- DEBORAH JEAN FIRTH -- COME HERE RIGHT NOW. And of course there was wait til your father gets home.....

When I have time I am going to do some digging on Sweet Fanny Adams -- I always understood it to bw 'Sweet Fuck All' and have never heard of a person or that story -- very interesting - thanks.......

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Flash Company
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 07:34 AM

Haven't had time to read them all, but someone referred to 'Sweet Fanny Adams' back there. There was a murder victim named Fanny Adams, and I think the body was either never found or found dissected. WW1 soldiers used to refer to any unrecognisable dish served up to them as 'Sweet Fanny Adams'.
We had 'If you don't get a haircut soon we'll have to buy a violin!'
And one that came to minnd on seeing one of Tony Blair's sons with an excuse fo a moustache, 'Never cultivate on your lip that which grows wild round your bum!'

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Eye Lander
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 07:02 AM

My mum used most of the above regularly! But when I was naughty (also a regular occurance!) she'd say 'Get out of my sight before I do something I shall be sorry for' I was usually hiding behind the door.
Jillie

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Alice
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 10:38 PM

Don, my voice teacher, who has performed in opera companies all over the world, once had a local hick say to her after a small concert, "You have such a beautiful voice. Have you ever thought of taking lessons?"

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 09:42 PM

No - that couldn't be.......

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 02:43 PM

Just thought I'd bung this in here.

Jean Redpath, who has had a singing career that's lasted at least forty years, was once asked after a concert of folk songs and ballads, "You have such a lovely voice. Have you ever thought of doing anything with it?"

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 02:31 PM

From an aunt, whenever anything was troubling - 'You'll die after it!' Took me ages to work out I hadn't died before it!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 10:33 PM

Ah yes -- forgot that one!!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Acorn4
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:37 AM

When are you going to get a PROPER job?

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:34 AM

I giggled too!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 03:48 AM

Thanks for that LOL.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 11:02 PM

georgiansilver -- my daughter is a vet tech -- one of her text books when she took the course started out .......'contrary to popular opinion, there really IS only ONE way to skin a cat..........!'

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 07:16 PM

Thanks Rowan,

Nothing came up on Google under that, but who can tell what the spelling ought to be.

When there was a ruccus and my Grandmother didn't know who was involved, she'd start with her first born boy's name and work her way down to the youngest (only the boys of course!) and end with Damnit!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Rowan
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 06:21 PM

Patrick Alloiscious is probably Patrick Aloysius, who was possibly, and stereotypically, the butt of the original Irish "joke" slanders.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Slag
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 06:13 PM

The point about the cat is that whatever it drug in was DEAD!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 05:44 PM

Just thinking about the expression "What the cat dragged in"

We must have had strange cats. They never brought in anything that was bedraggled or mangled which is what I believe the saying actually is supposed to mean. They only brought in the nicest freshly killed mice, moles, voles and occasional rabbit.

Sorry for the thread drift...

Anyone know who Patrick Alloiscious was?

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Becca72
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 09:48 AM

EJ,
My great aunt, Arlene used to tell us not to hang any body parts out of the moving car but her excuse was that a "big truck would come by and rip it off". For YEARS I thought that's what happened to all those odd shoes and gloves on the side of the road. Scared the shit outta me the day I saw somebody's hat in the ditch! :-) Of course I never could figure out how the 'big truck' was going to pass us on the right (US) and take my arm/leg off...

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 07:03 AM

Not so much my Mam, but when you'd get a dirty look from someone, the comment'd be

'He looked at me as if I'd dropped a bad fart'.

(Sorry for the slight thread drift)

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 06:21 AM

I've just remembered an expression my mum used quite often when expressing choices....
"There's more than one way to skin a cat"!!!

Apart from the far East...is cat skinning common?

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 05:06 AM

When looking particularly untidy: "look like you been drug over 40 miles of bad road...face down."

Mom was the disciplinarian in our household; but dad was the one you didn't want to have "talk" to you if you'd done something bad. I think between the two of them, they used every single one of the things listed above.

With us, it was "if you don't quit makin' that face, it's gonna freeze that way."

When sad, "you look like you just lost your best friend."

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: JennieG
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 03:14 AM

Guest Chief Chaos, I always I was in for it when my mother called me "my girl"......as in "now see here my girl".....

I was never called by my full name (Jennifer Grace) ever, unless it was a tease - "Jennifer Grace wash your dirty face" - that sort of stuff.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Rowan
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 01:15 AM

To a young 'un wearing a severe pout:
"A little bird is going to come along and perch on that lip."

Around our house it was "You've got a lip that'd trip a train!"
And many of the ones cited above, although the 'tanner and sixpence' version with us (when wearing a dismal expression was "You look like you've lost ten bob and found sixpence."

When I wasn't being as quick as she wanted my mother would say I was "as slow as a wet week!"

dad used to tell us we wouldnt get curly teeth unless we ate our crusts.

I was routinely told to eat my crusts so I'd get curly hair and/or strong teeth; for years now I've routinely told my kids they must eat their crusts so they'll get strong hair and curly teeth. They ignore this, of course.

Other ones my mother said and not yet mentioned were;
"This room is a pigsty!" when my bedroom wasn't as tidy as she wanted (this, of course, was my ploy to be able to disguise various things I didn't want her to discover) and
"You treat this place as a hotel!" when I was late getting back from studying, working, playing sport etc. It was the only one said to wound and did so.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Slag
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 12:06 AM

Concerning friends of shady character:

"A person is known by the company he keeps."

and more prosaic:

"If you lay down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas."

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Slag
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 11:51 PM

Yes Don F, "Don't trip over that lip!"

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 11:50 PM

Jennie G -- I guess I would have expected these expressions in Oz given the emmigration from UK to Oz--what is really surprisng me is the # of posts from folks in the US quoting those self same expressions....

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 06:26 PM

Some that I haven't heard from you lot

My father: Turn off the waterworks! (self explanatory)& "so help me I'll turn this car around!" (again self explanatory and also quite funny especially when he said it at the end of a twelve hour trip when we were pulling into our Grandmother's driveway!)

We knew we were really in trouble when our mother yelled at us and used our full name tacking on "Patrick Alloiscious"! at the end. I never stopped to wonder who he was or just what he did to deserve such infamy until now.

A friend of mine in Louisiana said about my son one day:
"He's got an alligator mouth and a hummingbird ass!"
Translation: He's all talk and can't back it up.

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 05:51 PM

I also seem to remember my mum telling me when I was doing something wrong that it was a good way to get myself into trouble...seems so silly now....getting into trouble in a 'good' way????

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 05:33 PM

Driving along sticking my arm out the rear window of our car, and Mom says "Stop! That's a good way to lose an arm!" Oh? And tell me what are some bad ways?

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: GUEST,melinda
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 05:17 PM

My Mother (when I'm looking for something in plain sight):
"If it was a bear, it would've bit you!"
Finally one day I said "If it was a bear, it'd be a lot bigger!"

and:
"If you go outside with wet hair, you'll get polio like Franklin Roosevelt!"
until one day I said "Yeah. And he never amounted to anything after that, did he?"

also:
"If you fall out of that tree and break your leg, don't come running to me!"

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 05:11 PM

To a young 'un wearing a severe pout:

"A little bird is going to come along and perch on that lip."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: folk1e
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 05:08 PM

"There's a tide mark round your neck!" .... not washed my face and neck properly.

"You look like you've found a Tanner and lost a sixpence" .... Tanner and Sixpence are the same amount of money!

"Do you want a clout?" ...... not usually (clout = hit or slap)

"This is going to hurt me more than you" ....... liar!

"Your eyes are bigger than your belly" ..... Too much food on plate

"Put wood in th'ole" .....close the door

"Don't try to kid them as as kidded thousands" ..... We used this on our daughter (who apparently never understood it) 10 years later she phoned us up to tell us that she had started to use it on her daughter after hearing some of the excuses she used to use coming out of her daughters mouth! Finally realization struck home!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: paula t
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 04:58 PM

How about...

"I'm standing here like cheese at fourpence!"(When being kept waiting.)
"If the wind changes, you'll stay like that!"( If I was pulling a face.)
"What a kind hearted skinny beggar!"(if someone offered as little as they could- e.g the smallest piece of chocolate they could.)
"Your eyes were bigger than your belly." (If you took more than you could eat.)

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 10:55 AM

Yes Mr Happy I remember the 'ears' one..."You could grow potatoes in them"!

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 10:15 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Hesperus

Subject: RE: BS: Did your mum say this to you.....
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 10:08 AM

Some of Mum's gems:

"have you seen the back of your neck?"

"have you seen the inside of your ears?"



..........how?