Genealogy Chat

Hello all you sleuths After asking my daughter a question, her reply was 'Oh I don't care'. I came right back at her and said this saying. Don't care was made to care Don't care was hung Don't care was put in the pot Until he was done! This was a saying that my grandmother used to say. Another was ' I'll have your guts for garters'. Daughter then asked how old I thought that saying was. I don't have any idea myself, so I thought I'd ask the question on 'tips' History on grandmother is:- Born 1898, mother died in childbirth in 1901, father died 1907. Went to live with her father's mother [her gran] along with her sister[born 1896] and according to them lived a Cinderella existence [before the ball]. Maybe their granny would sceam these at them from time to time. Anyone else have old sayings to share? Sue.

My Granny always went on about looking 'The Bees Knees' What's that all about? I can honestly say I've NEVER looked at a bees knees...if they in fact have any! LOL We still say I'll have your guts for garters! Christine

Apparently 'Bees knees' originally meant small and insignificant, then when adopted in American slang, it came to mean the opposite.

I've always wondered about something my Grandad always said - If I was going out in the cold with a very short skirt (in the days of the miniskirt and 'younger' legs !) - My Grandad would say - 'Tha'll get chincough (chincoff?) in thar knees !' (Forgive the strange spelling - I don't know how else to put it !). Does anyone know where this comes from? Dea x

I don't know if it's right, but I found this on the web- 'Chincough (also kinkcough) is an archaic medical term for Whooping cough aka Pertussis.'

Unusual knees in your family then, Dea!! Merry

Thank you Geoff - half way to understanding now but, as you say Merry - I'm not sure where the knees came in - Very strange! Dea x

Gosh, it's difficult to remember...........Ummmmm These are all from my gran (1892-1985): ''She thought she was the bee's knees'' (or cat's whiskers)- always used in a negative way for someone who thought they were clever/looking good, when they were not. ''Well, you can't make a silk purse'' (out of a sows ear) - usually refering to me in some ghastly outfit or other!! ''You'd try the patience of Job''....when I argued. ''Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers'', when I had bought a new piece of clothing. ''You'll do, with a lick and a promise''........ I am beginning to feel she didn't think much of her granddadughter!!! LOL Merry

If anyone complained about meat being tough, my Mum used to say 'Tougher where there isn't any'

My mother had a lot of odd sayings (but then she was rather eccentric!!) including: 'Well he can go and run up a shutter' meaning that the person could basically ***** off! Don't know where that one came from. 'A blind man on a horse wouldn't notice that' when something was too trivial to be noticed. 'FHB' which stood for 'Family Hold Back' - If you had guests and there wasn't enough to go round then the family had to let the guests go first. I always wondered who Will's mother was as in 'It's looking a bit black over Will's mother's' when it is going to rain. In Yorkshire when I was growing up exclamations of amazement would usually be 'Well, I'll go to the bottom of our stairs' or 'I'll go to the back of our house' .

I remember my mother use to say have you got St Vitus dance . And you will wear a hole in that carpet . June

As a youngster in the 1940s if I was in and out of the house, my Mother used to say ' Your in and out like a blue **** fly ' My grandmother lived with us during the war while Mum was working on munitions, ( Liverpool ) if I asked Grandma what was for tea? she would say 'Pigs Cheek' ' Cabbage' and Potatoes ' My Mums family had a coal business, and if I said to Mum 'I am not hungry ' she would say 'Get it down you ' 'An empty sack won't stand ' Also my father never ever swore, but would say 'Suffering Cheese And Ice Cakes ' I don't know where he got that from ? Also In Liverpool if anyone was mean, tight, or miserly, the saying is 'He wouldn't give you last weeks wet Echo'

I also know the 'I'll have you guts for garters' (nan b. 1933, G-nan b.1900ish) How about:- A stitch in time saves nine You can't have the penny and the bun You can't have your cake and eat it I want, never got Don't ask, Don't want - Don't want, don't get. You're driving me up the wall You're driving me around the bend Get a wiggle on - (to hurry someone up)

I remember most of the above, except in our family, extreme amazement was always expressed as 'Well! I'll go to Buxton!' My Granny had a particularly northern expression, well, I've never heard anyone else say it 'I were that thrawn, I strangled mesen w' a dishclout' which meant she had been terribly busy! 'A man on a galloping horse wont notice that.' And in OUR family, chincough of the knees signified that your skirt was so short, it was round your neck!!! 'What's for tea, Mam?' always brought the response 'Duck and roll' (Duck under the table and roll on the floor) 'A proper bugger's muddle' (I still use this expression myself) 'Hoity-toity, me fine bootee' was the signal that I was pushing it a bit with my airs and graces! Olde Crone

My mum has said the sayings about guts for garters. Don't care was a rhyme we chanted in the playground. My favourite ones come from my Norfolk grandfather, who died before I was born :-( - you need that as much as a frog needs a back pocket and - a fact is a lie and a half! nell

My mum used to say when I was doing something I shouldn't and had been warned... 'I'll give it to you my lady!!' and to my brother when he was being cheeky 'Don't come the old tin man with me my boy!' I must still use that one as I caught my little granddaughter saying it the other day to her brother.

and at the tea table Mabel, Mabel, good and able Get your elbow off the table!

Just having a laugh reading these old saying, what about these ones my mum and dad use to say: When as a child I ask what was for tea. I was told 'Bread and pull it' .....meaning....wait and see/whatever in the cupboards. also: you are driving me round the bend'. when being a bit of a pain for whatever reason. When I couldn't find something. it was 'up in granny room behind the clock.' meaning how do I know.!! When something seem to take twice as long to do. it was 'why are you going all the way round to Wills mothers' (whoever Will was?) Then there was 'up the wooden hill to fairy land' going to bed.... and ......'I go to the foot of my stairs', meaning ' I can't believe that/surprise/shock......lol.....lol.... keep them coming, its bringing back lots of memories.......Lilly

Whenever we were leaving the house as a child and someone said'have you got everything' my dad would make the sign of the cross saying SPECTACLES TESTICLES WALLET AND WATCH relating to forehead, lower regions, pocket to pocket , and then for good measure say AMEN............ he stopped when us girls started saying too........MOE!

Lilly My nan had a variation on yours; ' Up in Annie's room under the sponge.' and She gave him a flea behind his ear. (a cuff on the head?)