Genealogy Chat

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)

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

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' .

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

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

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

Unusual knees in your family then, Dea!! Merry

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.'

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

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

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

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.