"Old sayings" continuation...what about the ones our elders used that maybe didn't even make sense. Growing up in North Carolina, the elders would say "I be jumped a stump". Depending on context, it meant "I have no idea" or "wow, look at that". What phrases did your elders use?
Posted by saltyhashbrowns@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 61 comments
PeterPalafox@reddit
Lawsey lawsey lawsey.
Raxus333@reddit
My grandparents and my mom would often use a phrase that, when I got older, I had to advise them against using in public.
When they spent all the money that they were able to until the next paycheck, they'd say something like "Yeah, I shot my wad earlier on groceries".
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
This is like people using raw-dogging these days 😄
GarminTamzarian@reddit
The grocery store raw-dogged his wallet.
Raxus333@reddit
A trend that continues today
Bandit6789@reddit
My grandmother would say “two shakes of a dead lambs tail” to mean something would never happen. And just “two shakes of a lambs tail” for the opposite.
El_Guapo_Supreme@reddit
"that thing is on there tighter than dicks hat band"
When I was young I thought this was a lewd reference to the sensation of an erection. Then I found out it was a reference to Oliver cromwell's son, Richard, and how he had to abdicate the throne before people killed him.
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for this. My siblings and I always wondered who Dick was and why his hat band was so tight!
El_Guapo_Supreme@reddit
No worries. I don't think anyone in their right mind would interpret this as a reference to an ill-fitting crown. I think that was part of the joke though.
Neither-Mycologist77@reddit
My grandfather used to say "Lord love a duck." Roughly equivalent to "oh goodness" in meaning.
GarminTamzarian@reddit
A polite way to say "fuck a duck"?
For those that don't know, here's its Wiktionary entry:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/fuck_a_duck
fubo@reddit
Screw a kangaroo
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
This is exactly the kind of nonsense I was hoping for. Thank you 🤣
Basic-Biscotti-2375@reddit
Grandma would always say she was "fine as frog hair" when you asked how she was
rdit_atl@reddit
Memory unlocked! My grandma’s response to how are you was always “fat and sassy”
camarhyn@reddit
I’m adopting that response now.
EdwardDorito@reddit
My grandma had some golden southernisms:
Quit cuttin the fool! = stop acting up
Well, I Suwannee = oh, wow!
Makes my fanny wanna chew soap-wrappers! = I am so fucking pissed!
I be dawg! = honestly, i cannot believe it!
I'm fixin to tan your hide in a double-wide! = keep it up, I'm gonna whup that ass
The devil beatin his wife over the head with a frying pan = it appears to be sunny outside but also raining
Honorable mention for: I reckon! and That's all she wrote!
I know there's more but those are the first that come to mind
tjeepdrv2@reddit
"Well, I Suwannee"
My grandpa shortens it to "Well, I swan!"
EdwardDorito@reddit
Haha thats very interesting. Was your grandfather from northern Florida, by chance?
tjeepdrv2@reddit
Nope, west Texas.
EdwardDorito@reddit
Ok cool. Just curious. Thanks for responding. I was going to say still a southernism but i guess west Texas could be classified in multiple ways lol
Planetofthemoochers@reddit
One grandma used to say “here’s mud in your eye” before she took a drinks. Other grandma was very prim and proper, but when really worked up in an argument she would say “blow it out your ass!”
Fine_Jung_Cannibal@reddit
I was in my 30s before I understood “can’t have your cake and eat it too”
I kept wondering, like, how the hell can you even eat cake unless have some?
Just never clicked for me
Ps I went to grad school twice
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
This phrase def makes more sense the other way around. You have more in common with the Unibomber than you should ever admit 😄
GarminTamzarian@reddit
*Unabomber
-the pedant in me
TheEschatonSucks@reddit
Let him out
GarminTamzarian@reddit
I'm afraid Ted died back in 2023.
xpacean@reddit
I was well into my thirties when I realized why sort of douchey dads used to call their kids “squirt.”
Similar_Tie3291@reddit
My friend’s grandma used to say “that makes my ass want to take a dip of snuff,” meaning she was angry about something.
EdwardDorito@reddit
My grandma would say "makes my fanny wanna chew soap wrappers!" Yours is the closest thing to that i have ever heard. Both are terrible mental images of grannies lol
polygonalopportunist@reddit
Christ on a bicycle
Consistent-Ease-6656@reddit
Pennsylvania Dutch grandfather: “Make out with the lights.”
Pocleese@reddit
My grandpa used to say "If we had butter, we could have bread and butter... if we had bread".
I took it to be a rumination on the uselessness of the idea of "if". Kinda like in Wayne's World when Cassandra says "and if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its ass when it hopped".
XennialBoomBoom@reddit
Or the classic, "If grandma had wheels she'd be a bicycle"
GarminTamzarian@reddit
I recall seeing a clip on HIGNFY of former British PM Boris Johnson using this phrase in an interview.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1h2XpXoYTcc
TheNewGuyFromBahsten@reddit
I'm happy. Haven't heard that one in years by anyone
Kjler@reddit
Like a room without a roof. That's something people used to say, right?
GarminTamzarian@reddit
Clap your hands if you feel...
11229988B@reddit
"go piss up a rope" is my favorite old saying. I've always understood it but most people I've said it around never heard it before and usually ask what it means.
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
OK, I will bite...what's it mean? My best guess is "fuck off and do something stupid you will regret"
11229988B@reddit
The way my grandpa used it was basically fuck off. I think about it more technical, if you try to piss up a rope its just gonna rain down back on you lol. So i'd say it's like telling someone to fuck themselves
GarminTamzarian@reddit
You don't tug on Superman's cape...
Katherineew@reddit
The band Ween sang a song about this
11229988B@reddit
Nice!
Crowley-Barns@reddit
“You look like the wreck of the ‘esprus!”
= Survivors of the wreck of the Hesprus.
= You look (very) disheveled.
“Who do you think you are? King Farouk?!”
= You’re acting above your station or being a bit too demanding or acting spoiled.
“It’s like Blackpool illuminations in here?!?!”
= There are more lights turned on than necessary.
And countless more. My mother wonders why foreigners can’t understand her English. She speaks only in slang, idioms, curses, and dated references.
Just_call_me_Face@reddit
You don't know your asshole from a hole in the ground!
Noodle_Salad_@reddit
"Go to grass." What does it even mean?
ExampleMysterious870@reddit
My mom’s dad used to say “For crying out shithouses!” I have no other memories of him.
FlimsyTry2892@reddit
I’m stealing that
coffeegogglesftw@reddit
My grandfather (Wisconsin farmer/long-haul trucker) would say, "I'm all in but the shoestrings!" For some reason it meant that he'd eaten too much and was really full.
Great-grandmother said "oh for cry-eye," which had similar meaning to "oh crap."
moissan2nite@reddit
My Swedish-American grandmother used to say, “Oh ish!” When she thought something was distasteful. I never heard anyone else say it until I moved to Minnesota. I figured it must be a Scandinavian thing.
coffeegogglesftw@reddit
Ahhhh memory unlocked! We had a babysitter who was kind but very very odd, and she said "ish"! I'd forgotten entirely.
spinereader81@reddit
Keep your eyes peeled! My mom stopped saying that when I told her it grossed me out and made me imagine an eyeball being peeled with a vegetable peeler.
RicketyWickets@reddit
Me too! Such a horrible mental picture.
sator-2D-rotas@reddit
I remember it took a while to understand my great grandmother saying ‘living high on the hog’ to mean having extra money/time to spent on a meal, vacation, or anything fancy really.
Nadathug@reddit
“Well I’ll be dipped in shit and rolled in breadcrumbs“
rdit_atl@reddit
That’s awesome! My dad’s was “well dip me in shit and roll me in crackers”.
rdit_atl@reddit
No idea why she said it, but if you asked my Wisconsin born and bred grandma, “is today [day of week]?” her response was always “all day unless it rains”.
Ajuirs@reddit
tighter than a tick on a hound dog was my grandma's go-to
NW_Forester@reddit
Half a bubble off plumb is how the farmer that was my neighbor growing up would describe anyone he thought was stupid.,
He also described himself as "made in the shade" as in he has won at life, he has everything he wants, lives the pace he wants, no one tells him what to do and just life is good.
saltyhashbrowns@reddit (OP)
You just reminded me how impressed my kid (24yo) was last year when I recognized the name of that symbol above a Sim (plumb bob). I guess we should have kept your neighbor's saying around to help! 😂