posted on October 3, 2000 12:55:10 PM new
Rawbunzels comment on the poetry thread made me think of a silly thing my dad used to do.
Every time we would pass a cemetary he would point to it and say "People are dying to get in there"
As a young child I would giggle every time he said it but as I got older I would cringe when he said it for the fiftieth time in front of my friends.
What I wouldn't give to hear him say that again.
So what kind of little family sayings or quirks do you want to share. (here in Texas it seems "pull my finger" is a family standard )
Grandmother would say sometimes as she sent us up to bed "Remember it's prayer not "let's make a deal"
posted on October 3, 2000 01:20:57 PM new
I would give anything to hear my dad say his favorite little sayings too. Here is one I love, lol, pertaining to those who always say "IF only":
If a frog had wings, it wouldnt bump its a$$ as it hopped.
posted on October 3, 2000 02:25:04 PM new
Whenever I'd ask what was for dinner when I was a kid, my dad wouldn't tell me and instead he'd just say "larupin," meaning delicious. That would bug me because I really wanted to know what was for dinner!
posted on October 3, 2000 02:32:28 PM new
Whenever my Grandfaher was asked a question he could not answer, or when confronted with a situation he could not relate to, he would say, "I don't understand all I know about that."
Great Uncle Dahl was repairing his 1937 Chevy...after a couple of years of overhauling the engine, he finally was able to get it to crank. When my Grandfather came to inspect his work, he saw a washtub full of various parts whch obviously Dahl had not reinstalled...when questioned , Dahl exclaimed,"Listen at it! Just listen at it. (It was popping and backfiring.)DAMN ole Henry Ford (and the car was a chevy,lol)look it all them damn parts he sold us, I didn't need."
The vehicle was forever named the "Hookin' Bull" because it would jerk back and forth going down the road.
posted on October 3, 2000 02:46:04 PM new
My mothers favorite thing to say to the three of us girls (when we were little and someone would comment on our being pretty).
"Pretty is as pretty does." Always reminding us our behavior was much more important than how we looked.
Another thing she always said was, "Put yourself in the other persons shoes, before making a judgement".
posted on October 3, 2000 03:05:59 PM new
My dad grew up in the south (and was a flirt), which might help explain some of these witticisms he was fond of saying:
"If you lay down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas."
"A dog who chases its tail, is dizzy."
"She was so fine, I'd drink a tub of her bathwater."
"You remind me of collard greens and cornbread, I could just eat you up."
posted on October 3, 2000 03:07:19 PM new
When I was very young (ages ago) I often used the word "WISH" as in "I wish this or that", etc. My Grandmother who was from South Carolina would always reply with "If wishes were horses, beggars might ride".
I honestly never understood what that saying meant until YEARS later but I have never forgotten it and I still remember it fondly.
posted on October 3, 2000 11:03:18 PM new
Too funny! And I thought my dad was the only person who said "larupin"!
He has several other phrases too ...
"Hurts like the dickens"
"Like water off a duck's back" (when someone insults you)
"A tad" (meaning a little bit)
"A sup" (meaning a sip)
"Far" (something that burns)
"Tar" (the things your car rolls on)
"You were a pumpkin last night!" (when I'd come home a few minutes late from a date - i.e. Cinderella)
He also used to tell me that whenever a boy would come to pick me or my sister up for a date, that one of his hairs would turn gray, and one would turn loose! he he
Oh! And he gets a kick out of getting very young children to say "I'm a smart feller!" over and over again ... it inevitably gets switched around and comes out "I'm a *art smeller!" Goofy, huh?
posted on October 4, 2000 11:16:14 AM new
When Dad was really upset driving--"Dog gone dummy!" (Dad's road rage)
When Dad wanted some peace during the evening cocktail hour--"Make like a drum and beat it."
Mother--"We do not tolerate moods in this family." (Ah Mom, I am in a bad mood today)
Mother---"Our family doesn't get cramps." (Yep--my two sisters and I were brainwashed with that one.)
Grandma---"Oh Little Jeanie!!" To which the standard reply was--"Oh Little Grandma!!". (Grandma was a hefty 280-300 pounds,great irony which she appreciated--she was one of the best influences in my life. Such a hard worker and had such a great positive attitude towards life. We had such great giggles together. Miss her!)
edited to add--thinking about how our Grandparents might have tackled this new Internet thing--thought about my Grandpa White. He always refused to wear a seatbelt while riding in a car. "Not going to strap me into that deathtrap if there's a crash!"
He never did learn to drive or have a car.
But he was one heck of great yard master for the McKeesport Connecting Railway for many a years.
[ edited by jeanyu on Oct 4, 2000 02:03 PM ]
posted on October 4, 2000 04:37:09 PM new
Every time we made fun of someone on the Lawrence Welk Show my dad would say "Oh he's funny all right! He's laughing all the way to the bank!". He also used to say "It's a wonder I'm as sweet and charming as I am". Trust me, the man was never sweet NOR charming!
posted on October 5, 2000 04:21:59 PM new
My husband's grandmother used to make all the kids get up on her feather bed during lightning storms. Her logic-- did you ever see a chicken get hit by lightning?
No, I'm not new to AW -- just took all of your advice and changed from my eBay id!!
posted on October 5, 2000 05:08:45 PM new
My brothers, my cousin and myself were going to go on a backpacking trip into the pecos wilderness 1 time and my cousin did'nt bring any food along, when questioned about it all he said was i'll just shoot a rabbit and grab a munch. since then whenever someone in our family is obviously doing something that they are unprepaired for they allways get the line shoot a rabbit grab a munch. Needless to say, my cousin did not go on that backpacking trip afterall because we would'nt let him go with us without the proper provisions.
Another time my mother and my youngest brother were coming out of the grocery store and my brother had noticed a bank bag on top of the newspaper machine outside (my brother was about 5 or 6 at the time) and he started to grab it and my mom stopped him. Well they sat in the car watching that bag and argueing about it, my brother was saying come on mom let me go get it before someone else does and my mom would'nt budge. After some time my mom finally said now go get the money, when my brother opened the door to go and get it some other kids on bicycles rode past the bag and grabbed it and sped away with it and since then now go get the money has been used in all kinds of situations in our family.
posted on October 5, 2000 05:32:01 PM new
I have *no* idea how this started:
But when the family is watching TV and someone runs to make a 'personal whiz' (I'll explain that later) and the show comes back on before the person is back you let that person know the show is on by saying (and this is an exact quote): "Yaggaboooga".
Years ago my aunt (the rebel and my favorite aunt) was visiting and announced that she need to go "take a whiz" (use the facilities). Soon after my little brother and I started using the same phrase....which irked my mom to no end. Mom finally said, "If you *must* announce where you are going and what you will be doing, say you need to have a personal moment." That quickly turned into 'personal whiz'. Poor mom.
Another one that my dad and I use with each other is: "Peace Brother" while holding up two fingers in the peace sign. We use that when one of us is getting rilled up on a subject that the other already agrees with them on. As in: Ranting: "those damn republicans are at it again" "Peace Brother".
posted on October 5, 2000 06:20:08 PM new
My dad used to say, "Straighten up and fly right, or I'll have to clip your wings."
Mom was fond of "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?"
After my older brother ran off to California from Ohio, got stranded in the desert, sun burnt to a crisp, and finally made his way home again, (he was 17) my Grandmother on my mom's side was heard to say, "He went out to set the world on fire, and had to come home for matches!"
My dad, (wow I miss him), had a terrible time keeping his belongings to himself. With 2 sons and 2 daughters, the poor man never had a comb he could call his own. Well, he solved that problem by drilling a small hole in the end of his comb, (one of the long black types that is thinner at one end), and he tied a length of string to it and then to his sink. I never thought that was funny until I had my own 4 kids, and haven't a brush, scissors, pen, pencil, stapler, tape, hair spray, etc. to call my own.
posted on October 5, 2000 08:35:45 PM new
From my mother-"I'm going to pinch your head off and tell God you died"
From my sons (on the way to the bathroom)-"I have to meditate." Everyone in our family now refers to it as 'meditation'. As they got older, it was also referred to as 'making an offering to the porcelain god'.
Boys are great about inventing sayings-when both boys get me in the middle and squeeze the breath out of me, they call it a 'sandwich hug'-these were fun when they were little, tougher now that they're so big, but I wouldn't give them up for anything!
. Here is one I love, lol, pertaining to those who always say "IF only":
