Part 0800.0005

[Lewis]

'pip'- the squeaky noise made by my light sussex , has been copied by my boys and now means 'yes'. trouble is they 'pip' in conversation with their grandparents, and it takes some explaining

I have noises too They all mean different things + family all understand

The best one is a bit like a quack which means "Mother, you're in the wrong gear " - she just 's

... and then changes gear

 

Wiggywigs are Weetabix

Googies are eggs

Eyeypiggle is Hospital

 

Sure there are more

[fluffyfeet]

Oootots - Apricots

[Yorkshire Pudding]

Just remembered a couple more...

 

Face like a dog licking wee off a nettle - someone sporting a sour look

 

A friend of mine always uses 'a face like a bag full of smacked bums' to mean anyone who is blushing.

 

 

Another one from when the kids were little - a grumpy/crotchety person is grotchy.

[Egluntyne]

Sour face ...face like a smell of gas.

[bluekarin]

my brain goes blank when trying to think of things like this. Hmm......... chuggypigs for woodlice, welliebobs for wellies, Nook for milk (ED used to say it when she was a toddler awww). If my hubby does something naughty or silly, I say 'you're terrible Muriel!' from Muriels wedding. I do sometimes find myself about to say something that makes me sound like my mum

[Olly]

One I learned in the East Midlands was "it's looking black over Bill's mother's" meaning a dark and stormy sky.

 

My mother had some great phrases, and when Dad used to buy something she felt was unnecessary or superfluous she would snort and say 'we need that as much as a toad needs a sidepocket'. Any pointless purchases are now known as 'sidepockets' in my family!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My OH says "as wet as an otter's pocket" on occasion .

[Sam Palmer]

My stepfather says I'm so tired I could sleep on a chicken's lip

and when he's peckish I'm so hungry I could eat a rotted fox - which tends to put everyone else off their food!

 

Being from South Wales, I was brought up wearing daps too, it was so hard having to get my head around calling them plimsolls to my boys, because no one here would know what I was talking about. I think they've missed out not wearing daps!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I was brought up wearing daps too,

 

We call them "gutties" up here .

[Chucky Mama]

Ah remembered another one - face like a bag of spanners.

[majorbloodnock]

...'better that than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick' (in other words, it could have been worse)

or

'better than a smack with a wet fish' (same thing)....

 

Our variation tends to be "better than a kick up the bum with a spiked boot". I told you my examples tend to be lavatorial....

 

As with Looney, we tend to describe mature cheese as "footy". Incidentally, does anyone else refer to a glass of water as "council pop"?

[meezers]

Just thought of another one. Due to oldest son mis hearing when he was a toddler, midges are now called midgets in our house. we delight in telling each other ' the midgets are biting this evening'

[chickencam]

We are a 'council pop' family,

[ClaireG]

...'better that than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick' (in other words, it could have been worse)

or

'better than a smack with a wet fish' (same thing)....

 

Our variation tends to be "better than a kick up the bum with a spiked boot". I told you my examples tend to be lavatorial....

 

As with Looney, we tend to describe mature cheese as "footy". Incidentally, does anyone else refer to a glass of water as "council pop"?

 

Yes council pop for tap water here!

 

Another i like and picked up when we lived in Manchester is " well i'll go to the foot of our stairs" when shocked or suprised about something.

[chickweed]

When my husband was little, his mother would tell him he was "more trouble than forty folk".

 

In our family a crescent moon is known as a "fingernail moon". This was coined by my son when he was very young. He said it looked like a fingernail cut off with scissors.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

'better than a smack with a wet fish' (same thing)....

 

We say "better than a slap in the belly with a wet fish"

[majorbloodnock]

I just remembered that I picked up from my dad the term "wally" for a pickled dill cucumber. This leads to a few blank looks in various chippies I've visited, but there was one notable exception down on the South coast which sparked off a long conversation amongst all the customers present, with several bemoaning how infrequently they hear the expression.

[The Dogmother]

I just remembered that I picked up from my dad the term "wally" for a pickled dill cucumber. This leads to a few blank looks in various chippies I've visited, but there was one notable exception down on the South coast which sparked off a long conversation amongst all the customers present, with several bemoaning how infrequently they hear the expression.

 

Not just you, I remember that one too.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Another , older friend, when wondering if it is going to be a fine day, will look at the sky and ask ' is there enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers?' ( I do it now, and it works ! )

 

My mum has a similar saying. When there's a bit of blue sky peeping through the clouds she says there's 'Just enough blue to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers'. I'm not aware of Dutch people being unusually keen on blue trousers but perhaps I'm wrong!

 

Another one I just remembered is when it's raining and someone doesn't want to go out, we say 'You're not made of sugar, you won't melt'.

[Egluntyne]

My mum has a similar saying. When there's a bit of blue sky peeping through the clouds she says there's 'Just enough blue to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers'. I'm not aware of Dutch people being unusually keen on blue trousers but perhaps I'm wrong!

My old Dad used to say that.

 

I think it is because in the old days, a Dutchman wore baggy trousers, so if there was enough to make a pair of those, you were OK.

[majorbloodnock]

Another , older friend, when wondering if it is going to be a fine day, will look at the sky and ask ' is there enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers?' ( I do it now, and it works ! )

 

My mum has a similar saying. When there's a bit of blue sky peeping through the clouds she says there's 'Just enough blue to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers'. I'm not aware of Dutch people being unusually keen on blue trousers but perhaps I'm wrong!

 

This is another example of language I inherited from my father. In his case, he referred to "enough blue to make a Dutchman's (or sailor's) britches", and since it's been raised a couple of times here, I decided to have a quick shufty round t'interweb about it. It seems that, during the golden days of sail, Dutch sailors had a bit of a reputation for poverty, even by the standards of the ratings in the Royal Navy. As such, the Dutch sailors were recognised both to make cheap trousers from any blue material they could find and to keep patching them as holes appeared until they were totally unsalvageable. Therefore, the term "enough blue to make a Dutchman's britches" not only alluded to the fact the Dutch would use the blue bits of sky if they could get hold of them, but also that any small patches of cloud dotted amongst the blue resembled the patches the Dutch would inevitably sew on sooner or later.

 

[Michael Caine voice]

Not a lot of people know that

[/Michael Caine voice]

[Lavenders_Blue]

Wow, Major, I am impressed!

 

That really is very interesting

[Cinnamon]

Remebered another one of ours today.

When we are putting on suncream we say we are getting spammed up. Goodness knows why

[Looney]

For someone who won't get off their backside - 'What's the matter, are your legs painted on?'

 

For someone tight with money - 'She'd peel an orange in a drawer that one' (rather than share the orange)

 

For someone not too blessed with beauty - 'Looks like the backend of a bus' or 'face like a bucket of smashed crabs'

 

For news badly received - 'Went down like a poo in a punch bowl' (sorry )

 

Growing up we called cereal 'soggies' .

 

My Gran used to get words wrong so we quote her - a he"Ooops, word censored!" was a 'hurst', the cemetery was called the 'symmetry'. And we still call a certain film Edward Scissorfingers Oh, I miss my Granny!

[Looney]

Another phrase I heard recently was referring to ladies that have overdone the fake tan......'Did your Mum go out with a Wotsit?' The language was a bit more colourful than that, not to be repeated on a family forum