BS: The death of old sayings

Subject: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:55 AM

We all grew up with old sayings. We may not have always lived by them, but most of them were passed on for a long time because they had at least some wisdom in them. Every once in awhile I use one in conversation and realize how meaningless some of them have become. Some seem as wise as ever.

Here are a few:

"A penny saved is a penny earned." Maybe that should be changed to "A penny saved will be taxed when you withdraw it from the bank if you earn any money on it." That's probably too long to become popular.

"An honest day's work for an honest day's pay." I'm not sure that that was ever true, but you don't hear it any more. There are still many workers who believe in giving an honest day's work for their pay. I'm not sure how many employers like the idea of an honest day's pay, though.

"He's good with his hands." As life becomes more technological, being "handy" becomes less important.

Got any others?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:10 AM

Respect your elders................Yeah right!
Give up your seat for an old person or a pregnant lady.....See above
Always say please and thank you...............Who me?
An apple for the teacher...........Look for the needle marks
Don't be rude to your parents...............The money tree you mean?
Spare the rod and spoil the child........You touch me I'll tell the cops
Little kids should be in bed by 8 PM.......But the porno channels don't start till midnight!
If you want something you should save up for it.................What are grandparents for then?
Animals should be kept off the furniture.........My cat has her own sofa

Miserable old curmudgeon.....................Who me????????
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Peace
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:26 AM

STATEMENT: "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar."

RESPONSE: "Well, we have one. Thing is, it costs a quarter. What this country really needs is a good five-cent nickle."

Don't know where that's from (sounds Will Rogers-ish) but I like it.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:34 AM

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" - a really really bad aphorism. It was unlucky for the Irish, unlucky for the American Native tribes, and pretty much anyone else who ever used it.

"We only use x (really tiny) percentage of our brain cells" - obviously wrong. We have all that gray matter because biology and the process of evolution determined we need them, they are expensive to maintain. (And currently we use them not at all!)

"This will hurt me more than it hurts you!" When has this ever been true?

"We can never comprehend infinitude" Actually, infinity is a human concept, so it has already been comprehended. It's just large numbers of things we can't usually keep in the mind at the same time.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:35 AM

What this country needs is a good five-cent politician!

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:37 AM

WIll a "two-bit hack do?"

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:41 AM

My father always promised to make me a time-traveller, he used to say "I'll knock you into the middle of next week"....s did a lot of other English dads I'm sure.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: SunnySister
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:50 AM

I love old says but I am the worst at saying them correctly. I think I've ruined so many that I am not quite sure how they go...

Here's a try at one: A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush.

Or is it that six birds makes half a dozen?

Or is it A bird in the hand, makes for a very messy hand??

Sigh.

--SunnySister

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: freda underhill
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:57 AM

It may be that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Flash Company
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:17 AM

Wow Freda, I've known a lot of people like that! I'm probably one of them.
One of Sheila's favourites, speaking of mis-matched marriage partners, 'Still, they aren't spoiling another couple.'

FC

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: leftydee
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:18 AM

My Grandfather used to say "What the Sam Hill....". Does anyone have any idea what that means? I always meant to ask but never did.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: SunnySister
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:22 AM

I've been to Sam Hill. It's south of Helenback which my grandfather used to say he's been when he came back from WWII.


Sam Hill is a nice place but the restuarants there are the pits! Your grandfather must of had a real great time there, since he used to bring it up so often...

By the way, Helenback sounds absolutely horrible and I would advise everyone here to stay away from the place.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: dulcimer42
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:29 AM

Judas Priest!   Mom always said that.   Never did know what it meant.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: freda underhill
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:34 AM

me too, FC, me too!

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: freda underhill
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:38 AM

and btw..
May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down!

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:52 AM

Well, if various people would have their way, almost any saying with the word black in it would be consigned to history, regardless of their origins.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:54 AM

When I was a little lad my Grandmother regularly used to look at me and say, " You mucky Arab"

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 11:56 AM

And in the spirit of Transhemispherical reciprocation Freda may I respond in kind.
I hope your earholes turn to arseholes, and shit runs down you neck.
G'day
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Scoville
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 12:01 PM

You can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want -- a favorite of my maternal grandmother. Try telling that to the average modern American.

My paternal grandmother never swore in her life but her vocabulary was filled with the likes of the following:
"Piffleberries"
"Horse puckey" (but only if she was really mad
"Fiddlesticks"
"Away we go in a cloud of heifer dust" (I assume this refers to the dust kicked up by a herd of cattle, but the woman was from Chicago and spent her entire adult life in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where, to the best of my knowledge, there are no herds of cattle)

I know there were others but they escape me right now. My grandfather was worse--that part of the family has a restless talent for puns, spoonerisms, and word-play and once you get them started, they can't be stopped. My father is bad. My uncle is worse. Put the two of them in the same room and, if you killed them, you'd probably get off on self-defense.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 12:32 PM

In these days of economic challenges, perhaps we should remember some of the phrases & attitudes of those "back home" who survived 2 world wars and the "great" depression:

Plant your Victory Garden!

DIG FOR VICTORY

CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES
   (the enemy will hear--now it's "big brother" the government!!)

COUGHS AND SNEEZES SPREAD DISEASES

KEEP MUM, SHE'S NOT SO DUMB
(conserve $$ by taking in relatives)

LEND A HAND ON THE LAND
    (help your neighbors & relatives whose men are away from the farm)

LOOK OUT IN THE BLACKOUT

SAVE GASOLINE-JOIN A DRIVING CLUB

WALK, DON'T RIDE-IT WILL SAVE A SOLDIER'S LIFE

MAKE DO, DO OVER, OR DO WITHOUT

Make Do and Mend

CONSERVE MATERIAL (fabric)

SEW FOR VICTORY

MAKE A VICTORY QUILT TODAY
(save the wool for the men's uniforms & blankets)

SAVE NOW FIGHT INFLATION

& from the Korean wartime:
IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR MAMIE IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!
   (Mamie Eisenhower chose to lead the women of the country by NOT spending money on designer clothes, but by ordering from the J.C. Penney's catalog(Jacque Penyay), and instead of furs, a cloth coat)

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 12:39 PM

"You can catch more flies with honey." That sure ain't true in here. Besides, who wants to catch flies?

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: GUEST,JMRinKY
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 01:47 PM

One I have treasured since I first heard Kay Ballard (commediene) quoting her Italian grandmother: "God never told nobody to be stupid".

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: fat B****rd
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:04 PM

"Haddaway an shite"
"Ya bugs nicks"
My dad was from Sunderland.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: fat B****rd
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:05 PM

PS "My dad was from Sunderland" is information and not an old saying.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jeanie
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:15 PM

And I've got a sister in the Swiss Navy

that IS an old saying (and not information), said by my dad when listening to someone telling a tall tale.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jeanie
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:16 PM

Just remembered, he also often used to add "with a white-handled pocket knife."

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:40 PM

LOL, Janie:

When my sons were little and they'd ask me what I was doing (when it was obvious, like painting a wall) I'd respond, "I'm riding an elephant." It got to be a family joke. One day my 4 year old son was sitting in his sand box in the backyrad when a neighbor walked by and asked him what he was doing and my son replied politely, "I'm riding an elephant." My neighbor almost fell over, laughing. My four year old son is now 37 years old and he still ocassionally uses that saying. Perhaps it's a new saying that's becoming an old one in our family.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Gurney
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 03:19 PM

A dog, a woman, a walnut tree,
the more you beat them, the better they be!

Old English saying, and probably true.


For a certain value of 'true'.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: GUEST,Wordless Woman
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 03:35 PM

Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

You done tore your drawers now.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 04:07 PM

They aren't dead in our part of the US at all, nor irrelevant.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 04:10 PM

I remember them because I am "long in the tooth." Ask my dentist.

And you're right, Susan... some sayings were always regional.. half the ones I remember no one has ever heard out here in the sophisticated? East.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 07:09 PM

"A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush."

A hand in the bush is worth two birds on the arm.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Bert
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 08:18 PM

Of course new ones are constantly replacing the old ones.

We add "with hand painted periwinkles" (from Keeping up Appearances) to anything that seems too ostentatious such as Norm's stacked head dado cutter. It sounds much better as "My stacked head dado cutter with hand painted periwinkles"

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 08:28 PM

Hey, Bert:

One of my favorites, which I picked up many years ago from someone I worked with is a comment about amateurish products. She referred to them as if they were "made with loving hands at home." I use that more than I probably should, but it just seems so right..

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Bert
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 08:31 PM

Yes, that could be a compliment or not depending on the object.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 08:34 PM

An old saying when I was a kid: "Going like sixty!"

It meant very, very fast. Well, 60 mph just ain't that fast any more.

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:19 PM

He musta been going "Lickerty split," LH

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:28 PM

I'm in the east too, Jerry. They say 'em here, and in Chicago, and lots of places.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: poetlady
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:21 PM

I say fiddlesticks. It's the result of having spent too long going to religous school where you could get a detention for saying butt. It's also handy to have substitutes for swear words when a good many of your customers are older than your grandmother. (Not that I'd swear at the ladies. I'm afraid I have been known to get my fingers caught in drawers, however. :) )

From my family, I mostly heard odd random phrases in Swedish and Latin, and such colourful phrases as "sucking canal water". I rather like that one. :)

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: Scoville
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 10:26 PM

RE: riding an elephant

My dad always said, "Is the Pope Catholic?" when somebody asked him an obvious question. Worked OK until he used it on me when I was about five and I had to ask, "I don't know. Is he?"




One of my old bosses (a DVM) listened for almost an hour to a heartstring-yanking yarn told us by a client who was trying to get his dog patched up for free. When he finally came out of the exam room, we asked him what he thought, and he scrunched up his nose and said, "He's so full of sh*t I can smell it on his breath."


And there was always my aunt's favorite: "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 01:50 AM

Many of the old "mild curses" are simply a mispronouncing of the "real one." As an expletive, "Hill" is a mis-spoken "Hell," but is a bit too close alone. "Sam Hill" adds an additional disguise/distancing, since you could be naming an inconsequential person.

Judas was a disciple, so "Judas' Priest" was the "priest" of all the disciples. The expletive "Judas' Priest" quite specifically names, without speaking the name of, J.C. This particular expletive was considered "much too rough" to be used in the presence of ladies (or preachers) of my grandfather's generation, and still too crude to be used by ladies of my mother's generation (and perhaps somewhat later ones). It was just too "specific," and had no other meaning one could pretend to believe was the real intent.

Or so I've heard ... a long time ago.

John

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: The Walrus
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 05:01 AM

My Father always tried to avoid swearing, around children. The number of times I've heard an extendeded "F" fololwed by "Fleas, flies, fishes and fairies" or "sh" then "Sugar and shoeshine" or occasionally "Oh Blood and Sand"
Total nonsense of course, but it served to release the tension (and partly to cover the original -partially escaped- expletive).

W

Subject: RE: BS: The death of old sayings
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 05:16 AM

I used to use Porca Miseria [Miserable Pig]a lot, still like it, but don't spend most of my time abroad now, so it rings hollow.
Giok