Are there any variants of “a bit grey over Bill’s mother’s way”?

Posted by singingnettle@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 20 comments

English is my mother tongue but I grew up and live abroad so my exposure to it has been insular: largely my parents - outside of media. They, along with my grandparents on one side of the family, know no Bill or a Bill’s mother. However, they say Wilf or Wolf or smth similar. I’m sure there’s an “f” in it so it’s not Will’s.

So my question is: does anyone know if this is a regional variant or could it be one of those things you think is normal until you’re exposed to the world and realise your family is a little odd?

If it’s regional, it’ll be from the Berkshire Wiltshire Oxfordshire area, if that helps

[-]

publiusnaso@reddit

Leicestershire. “Bill’s mother”.

[-]

ScientistJo@reddit

It's black over t'Co-op (pronounced Cwop).

[-]

Impressive-Car4131@reddit

“Bit black over Bill’s mum’s” was the saying in my family - East End dockyard workers that got bombed out in WW2

[-]

Least_Temperature_23@reddit

‘Black over Bill’s mother’s’ is a saying I first heard used by a friend from the North East, so I think it’s probably fairly widespread.

[-]

Brilliant-Figure-149@reddit

I've never heard this in my 55+ years. it's possible that your family are, as you say, a little odd.

[-]

Douglesfield_@reddit

It's a common midlander saying.

[-]

Nancy_True@reddit

I’n with you. This is the first I’ve ever heard of this idiom.

[-]

singingnettle@reddit (OP)

I figured as much. I blame my gran - she did like her drink!

[-]

blondererer@reddit

It’s stormy over Bill’s mother’s

[-]

Mia_Leacey@reddit

We sometimes say Bill's grandmother's - but I think that's something my Dad made up, just to be different.

[-]

bluejackmovedagain@reddit

It's looking black over Bill's mother's is used by older people in the Midlands to mean there are lots of rain clouds on the horizon. I've heard Will's instead occasionally but it's much rarer.

I don't know if this is the true origin, but I've always been told that the Bill is question is William Shakespeare as Stratford-upon-Avon is about an hour away.

[-]

herne_hunted@reddit

The Black Country side of our family say this and I'd had it explained as referring to William of Orange whose mother lived in the Netherlands so that makes no sense at all.

Bill Shakespeare makes a bit more sense but rain usually comes in from the West and Stratford's South East of Lye so that doesn't really work either.

[-]

Left_Condition2044@reddit

“A bit black over Wilf’s”, Lincolnshire/Norfolk border (the other side from Newcastle)

[-]

CuriousNowDead@reddit

In the Black Country they say “Bit black over Bill’s mothers” to mean there are rain clouds

[-]

wheresyourgodnoweh@reddit

Ditto in north Nottinghamshire, pronounced "Bill's movvers".

[-]

Playful-Success2912@reddit

My mother used to say, "it's a bit black over Bill's mothers house" She was from Hampshire.

[-]

Old_Introduction_395@reddit

Black as a bag over Bill's mother's house.

I first heard it from a woman from Kent. She would have been born in the 1930s.

[-]

When repling to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.