Thursday, August 25, 2011

Things our grandmothers said...

Did your grandmother have lots of funny and old fashioned expressions? Mine sure did...

Whenever we sat down to eat at her table we would first say grace but then she would look up, grin, and say, "Pick, shovel and dig!" I used to think that was the funniest thing ever, especially since I thought she said pig, not pick!

Remember being told to "Hold your horses!" ? I would always, always say....but I don't have any horses and my grandmother would say, "Watch that mouth, young lady."

She would give directions "as the crow flies" and threaten to "lambaste" us if we were fresh. When we were anxiously awaiting something she would remind us "that a watched pot never boils" and when someone was gossiping about someone else she would often whisper to my mother, "Now there's a pot calling the kettle black" which always confused me. I didn't see any pots or kettles....

Did your grandmother have fun sayings? Please add them in the comments.

3 comments:

  1. I remember lots of "Well, I'll be!"s and, because she was a beauty queen (literally!)she would always say stuff like, "Beauty knows no pain!" and "Better to live like a pig than look like one." Whatever the heck that meant!

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  2. Never knew my grandmothers - being 71, that's not unusual perhaps.

    However, I too share a Scottish ancestry, but on my father's side. But I don't know ANYTHING about them, because he died in 1941 (when I was 10 months' old) by which time I had gone to live with an aunt and uncle who just happened to live the other end of India to where I was born (the place of my birth was Peshawar - which is now Pakistan, but then was British India!).

    My maternal grandmother died during WW1, I think: don't know when my paternal one went to her heavenly reward! However, good luck to all of you who can remember yours!

    Am going to follow you, so hope you'll do the same for me - you can find me at www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com where I post about the stuffed toys I make, mend and otherwise create - and then TRY to sell at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com. Hope to see you at both places sometime, maybe? Cheers. Isobel

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Thanks for taking the time to comment ;-)