It dawned on me (in the midst of using one of them) that there was a plethora of sayings I've heard all of my life. They are indicative of my background, that is to say, the rural upbringing I was exposed to, and although I've never heard them anywhere else, I do find them apt at times, and at others, downright fun....
1) "You'll eat it before it eats you." A saying my grandmother made infamous after my uncle Paul, at the age of 11 months refused to eat anything but orange custard. My grandmother, at age 41, and after four other children, threw her hands up and basically left him to my mother (age 12) to feed, raise and mother, after that.
2) "A blind man would be glad to see that." Something my grandfather would say after you would be standing on top of the dining room table trying to string the Christmas cards across the doorway, and hoping you could stretch far enough across without falling off and killing yourself. If it was all crooked, he'd smile and just say the above.
3) "Waste not, want not, woe the day." My Dad's mother's favourite saying; usually done after you'd requested a piece of toast and she cut up an entire loaf, buttered it all, and put it in the oven and then wondered why you couldn't eat it all. The fact that you were six, and weighed 50 pounds not really mattering to her. But after eight children, and umpteen grandchildren, did you really think she could just cook for one? Not a chance.
4) "Burn a church." An epithet reserved by my father's family when some unforeseen calamity occurred, ie; the spilling of alcohol.
5) "A lean horse lives longer." My Mom's dad said that once when some relative was commenting that I was too skinny. Grampa would know. He'd had horses for years and his sister raised Clydesdales. I think I stuck my tongue out at the relative.
6) "Its a bad cook who can't eat her own cooking." Yet another epithet from my Mom's mother, who despite her obvious lack of maternal solicitude, was a fabulous cook. Thankfully Mom inherited this skill AND the maternal solicitude in spades.
These are the ones I remember. I'm trying to see if my folks remember anymore. If they do, I'll add them as I hear them.
1 comment:
Though not as pithy as those above, here's one from the Victorian WASPy side of my family who were militant about table manners. "Mable Mable if your able get your elbows off the table!" That of course would be followed by a "thwack" of the elbow to enforce the point.
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