Life in progress

Day 6 – Nano Poblano: My Mama Said…

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Expressions. We all have them. We all use them. There are so many we all know–he’s pushing up daisies, or busy as a bee, for instance–but how about the ones you grew up with? You know,  the ones that come out of your mouth with a satisfied grin because you’ve just uttered the most perfect thing at the perfect moment EVER, yet you get a strange look because the person you’re talking to has never heard them before. So then you have to explain that what you just blurted out was something your mother, father, grandparent, or old Uncle Fred always said when blah blah blah and by the time you’ve finished going through the entire history of your fabulous phrase, its lustre has worn down to the brilliance of a twenty-year-old tractor tire.

You’ve been there before, right? So tell me, what are some of your favourite expressions that no one has ever heard before, and where did they come from?

 

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Author: Linda G. Hill

There's a writer in here, clawing her way out.

41 thoughts on “Day 6 – Nano Poblano: My Mama Said…”

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  1. crayolaj74
    November 7, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    My Mom taught me two favorites: “stick with me, kid, and I’ll give you horse turds as big as diamonds” and “you oughta kick a man while he’s down and give him the incentive to rise.” Oh.. And “Eat, drink, and re-marry.” That’s my Madre.

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  2. Deborah Drucker
    November 7, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    Ok. At first I drew a blank. It is probably because I am writing so much lately and reading so many posts as well. But the prompt for SoCS reminded me of this one, ” Bats in the belfry” as in he’s got bats in the belfry meaning crazy. 🙂

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  3. Pingback: I Love My Grandma | Love Marriage Worms

  5. Sandi
    November 7, 2014 at 9:14 am

    I was a bit sad when I read something on WordPress encouraging us to avoid cliches. Sayings like these aren’t exactly cliches, but they slip out sometimes and can add a touch of local color. Since reading the article, I’ve tried to weed them out of my posts — but it would be okay if they slipped into a stream-of-consciousness post, right, Linda?

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  6. joeyfullystated
    November 7, 2014 at 9:06 am

    There are just so many, I can’t even. 😛 AHAHA!
    Seriously, half of my family comes from the south, where aphorisms rule. Indianapolis, despite being a major metropolis, is up to its eyeballs with people who talk like me. For instance, I’ve known the corn should be knee-high by the Fourth of July since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and that sort of thing. I think you can definitely see it in my blog. Crow and corn cain’t grow in the same field, even in the back 40. I reckon us corn-fed girls are fulla metaphors just as much as we’re fulla hoecakes.
    I always think people know what I’m sayin, til they think piddlin in my garden means I’m peein, or they ask me what a mess of greens is.
    I’m a damn Yankee, and some would say an uppity one, but I don’t get riled up about it. Some people are dumber than a box of rocks.

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    • LindaGHill
      November 7, 2014 at 6:26 pm

      Haha! That was a great comment, Joey. 😀 I always got the impression that people down south used a lot of aphorisms. You’ve illustrated it well, and yes, you do on your blog too. 🙂 Thanks for this! 😀

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  7. PsiFiGal
    November 7, 2014 at 8:27 am

    When my Mom made something really good to eat, Dad would say it was “larruping good.” I said it once to my future father-in-law and he was so tickled, he hadn’t heard anyone say it for years, he thought it was a mid-west thing.

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  8. Paul
    November 7, 2014 at 4:43 am

    I can recall a few such sayings. I had a physical chem prof who would enter the class room, fill all the blackboards with complex equations that no one understood and as the bell was ringing he would write the last line along with the comment “And, the answer is immediately obvious to the most casual observer.” He did that every class and it soon became a part of our sayings whenever anything was inscrutable. Also, i’m from eastern Canada and it has always been a part of my commentary when repairing a car or piece of equipment to say – “climb under the car”. I said that in front of a central Canadian a while back and she laughed so hard i thought she would fall over and then she asked if I wanted a ladder – smartass.

    Fun Post Linda. Thanks.

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  9. Rose Red
    November 6, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    When I was a kid and we’d complain about something, my mom would say, “It’s better than a stick in the eye!”

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  10. the worm keeper
    November 6, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    I had a law professor that used a lot of old-timey sayings. I thought he was hilarious. I loved that class! I don’t think any of my classmates got his jokes though, which maybe should be a lesson to me, as an aspiring amateur web comedian. 😁 My dad and his mom use tons of these things. One that comes to mind at the moment: “When I was knee high to a grasshopper…” My grandma has also been quoted as saying, “Someone get that blabby bird a worm!” (meaning, shut up.) Wow. I guess that’s perfect for my blog. Thanks! 😉

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  11. Doobster418
    November 6, 2014 at 11:06 pm

    “It’s a shame for people.” That was something a girl I dated in college used to say; I think she got it from her mother. I believe it was intended to communicate when someone was doing something others would consider shameful or inappropriate, but it’s not an expression I’ve ever heard from anyone else and to this day I’m still not sure exactly what it’s supposed to mean.

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  12. This Caring Heart
    November 6, 2014 at 11:02 pm

    I just used one in a post this week that my mom used to say: “I got my tongue caught around my eye tooth and couldn’t see what I was saying.”

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