Old expressions your parents/grandparents used

[Gazolba]

Can't remember too many.
My father used to say of a poor boxer "He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag".
If a footballer dribbled past a few defenders he would say "He went though them like a packet of salts".
If you were getting exasperated at searching for a lost item, my mother was fond of saying "It must be somewhere".
Anyone else got any good examples?

 

[bringbackrattles]

My mum would say to me if I asked to borrow money " you should eke your money out. " Meaning not spend it all at once. My dad would say about a soft footballer " He's a right Jessie. " He'd be saying that a lot at games these days ! "

 

[olderskyblue]

Can't remember too many.

If a footballer dribbled past a few defenders he would say "He went though them like a packet of salts".

My grandad used to say "like epsom salts" a laxative when taken with water.

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

What time is it grandad ?
" it's five and twenty past "

 

[Sky_Blue_Daz]

If me granny didn’t like someone she would say “ they are the two ends of a whore”

Rather cruel way to describe her grandson though

 

[shmmeee]

My Great Uncle used to say “Eat what you can and the rest rub in your hair”. Still use that today with my kids.

 

[bezzer]

If I used to turn up at my Nan's house in a T-shirt and it wasn't 80+ outside she'd say I'd catch my death.

My Dad used to comment on crap players (usually ours) saying they were 'Good off the ball' or they 'Couldn't trap a bag of cement'

 

[Monners]

My parents, and grandparents etc..were Irish - where to begin!?

Blarney Castle in case anyone is wondering

 

[hill83]

My Nan used to say “I’m not eating any of that foreign muck” for anything spicier than a boiled potato.

 

[Joe King]

My Irish mum used to say "May ye be in Heaven half an hour before the divil even knows yer dead!"
And, when bumping into a friend in town: "Ah hello, Mary. 'Tis yerself!"

 

[vow]

"Go and play on the A45" was a favourite of my parents...

 

[bringbackrattles]

My elderly Uncle Jack who lived in Walsgrave would say to anyone going to the City centre to shop:" Are you going to Coventry ? " Even as a kid I thought that doesn't make sense !

 

[Sky Blue Harry H]

If you can't fight, wear a big hat (via my mate's dad)

Edit: I can't and I don't !

 

[shmmeee]

My elderly Uncle Jack who lived in Walsgrave would say to anyone going to the City centre to shop:" Are you going to Coventry ? " Even as a kid I thought that doesn't make sense !

Walsgrave used to be a village outside Cov didn’t it? Until Cov consumed it. Earlsdon too IIRC.

 

[Gazolba]

My mum would say to me if I asked to borrow money " you should eke your money out. " Meaning not spend it all at once. My dad would say about a soft footballer " He's a right Jessie. " He'd be saying that a lot at games these days ! "

Was you Dad from the north of England? I think that's a northern (or perhaps Scottish) expression (Jessie I mean).

 

[bringbackrattles]

Was you Dad from the north of England? I think that's a northern (or perhaps Scottish) expression.

No my dad was born in Northamptonshire, then lived for years in Rugby. He was from a family of 9 raised on a farm, so maybe it is a rural saying ?

 

[bringbackrattles]

Walsgrave used to be a village outside Cov didn’t it? Until Cov consumed it. Earlsdon too IIRC.

Yes it was a village, but inside Coventry. My mum would do his shopping in Ball Hill and in the city centre. My dad said He was talking stupid calling it going to Coventry, but he kept saying it.

 

[Joe King]

Just going off subject slightly, this got me thinking of when my mam got her first telephone installed. It was around 1967 or so. She lived in Clifford Bridge Rd back then and she would answer the phone in a posh English voice: "Hello, Walsgrave on Sowe 4321 (or whatever the number was.) If it was one of us kids or a friend of hers, it was "Garn, yer daft wee ting. What'll yis be wantin'?" We used to rib her all the time about her "telephone voice"!

 

[Gazolba]

I remember a couple more:
My mother used to use the expression "Lord, love a duck" whenever she was shocked or surprised at something.
My father when he was scared of something (which wasn't often) would say "it put the wind up me".
I haven't heard either expression in decades.

 

[Sick Boy]

Just going off subject slightly, this got me thinking of when my mam got her first telephone installed. It was around 1967 or so. She lived in Clifford Bridge Rd back then and she would answer the phone in a posh English voice: "Hello, Walsgrave on Sowe 4321 (or whatever the number was.) If it was one of us kids or a friend of hers, it was "Garn, yer daft wee ting. What'll yis be wantin'?" We used to rib her all the time about her "telephone voice"!

This made me smile, my grandmother was just the same...my mother does the posh English voice on the phone to strangers as well hahaha

 

[Sick Boy]

From a young age I was told that people from Cork are the devils own people

 

[Joe King]

From a young age I was told that people from Cork are the devils own people

They sure are SB! :emoji_smiling_imp::emoji_smiling_imp::emoji_smile::emoji_smile:

 

[Joe King]

I remember a couple more:
My mother used to use the expression "Lord, love a duck" whenever she was shocked or surprised at something.
My father when he was scared of something (which wasn't often) would say "it put the wind up me".
I haven't heard either expression in decades.

I think they go back to the 40's Gazolba. I've heard those expressions in old films, the sort of Ealing Comedy type that actors like Stanley Holloway would star in.

 

[Joe King]

And another my mam always said when asked what was for dinner/ tea/ supper etc, was "Shit with sugar on it!" :emoji_smile:

 

[covmark]

Whenever my old man was going out, I used to ask him where he was going. His reply was always, "going to see a man about a dog".

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[wingy]

And another my mam always said when asked what was for dinner/ tea/ supper etc, was "Shit with sugar on it!" :emoji_smile:

We used to have a saying for a butter or margerine sandwich sprinkled with sugar, called a piecey.
Not sure where it came from
Dad was from Dublin but got a feeling its derived from Scotland.
Also pet name for genetalia was B side, beside.
Don't know what they came up with for our sisters lol.

 

[Joe King]

We used to have a saying for a butter or margerine sandwich sprinkled with sugar, called a piecey.
Not sure where it came from
Dad was from Dublin but got a feeling its derived from Scotland.
Also pet name for genetalia was B side, beside.
Don't know what they came up with for our sisters lol.

Bloody hell Wingy! Haven't heard that for years! My Mam was from Cork so it's possibly an Irish saying? I used to love a "piecey"

 

[oscillatewildly]

On Mum's side, My Grandad was a Welshman and Nan was from Burnley (Padiham.)
In a moment of exasperation or surprise, Grandad would utter "Stone the crows"!
If me or my younger brother were playing up or just generally causing mischief, my Nan would admonish: "You'll end up getting a four penny 'un".

 

[Gazolba]

On Mum's side, My Grandad was a Welshman and Nan was from Burnley (Padiham.)
In a moment of exasperation or surprise, Grandad would utter "Stone the crows"!
If me or my younger brother were playing up or just generally causing mischief, my Nan would admonish: "You'll end up getting a four penny 'un".

My father would say "Stop doing that or I'll box your ears".

 

[Gazolba]

What time is it grandad ?
" it's five and twenty past "

Must have been a remnant of an old way of counting. From an old nursery rhyme:
"Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie":
Sing a Song of Sixpence by Mother Goose

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

All from my nan:
"I'm a Cov kid with a button on me hat"
"I'm not well and no-one will let me be bad"
if she forgot something "I've been to bed since then"

And she did the posh telephone voice too, but also with strangers in person.

 

[LastGarrison]

Black over Bill’s Mothers.

 

[ovduk78]

Black over Bill’s Mothers.

My dad used to say that. He said it once and someone asked him who Bill was and where did he live?
If he caught us swearing he used to say that he knew language that would make our hair curl. He didn't. If my mum caught us swearing she would say that she'd was our mouths out with soap.

 

[Sky_Blue_Daz]

One me dad uses is “well fuck my old boots “

 

[Joe King]

"Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident!" What are the paramedics going to say? 'My God! I'm not touching him! Have you seen his underpants? Bloody filthy!'