What's a phrase or saying your family used that you assumed was universal, and when did you find out it wasn't?
Posted by IV-Manufacturer@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 575 comments
Growing up, any leftover bit of food had a name in our house, "the snodge." Last roast potato, end of the loaf, whatever. You'd ask "do you want the snodge?" and someone would claim it or nobody would and it'd just sit there. Completely normal to me until I was about 20 and used it in front of someone outside the family. The look on their face. Still genuinely don't know if my nan invented it or where it came from.
elementarydrw@reddit
My mum used to say:
"If there's enough blue sky to make a pair of sailors trousers by 11 o'clock, then it will be a nice day".
I think it may be hyper localised to the small area in west somerset she grew up.
midlifecrisisAJM@reddit
Your sailor's trousers are my Sparrow's waistcoat.
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
My mum would say 'to make a cat a pair of trousers'.
ReallySmallFeet@reddit
In our family it was cats pajamas!
f1uge1babe@reddit
So did my grandma!
Mysterious-Ad-1131@reddit
My gran said this, and it stuck with me!
Fufferstothemoon@reddit
Ha! I read that saying in an Enid Blyton story!
frankieramps@reddit
Think I read it in a Monica Edwards book!
Whollie@reddit
That may be where I got it from, it's certainly been in my mind since I was very young so I read it somewhere.
dantemortemalizar@reddit
My gran used to say that. She was a Londoner, though, and rarely saw it.
Inevitable-Care@reddit
Mum in law would say aunties bloomers!
DameKumquat@reddit
I learned it from an Enid Blyton book. I assumed it was from somewhere near a naval base, when light blue trousers were worn...
Jenny-Wren54@reddit
Ooh, is that where I got it from? Thanks for the memories.
archaon6044@reddit
I remember being taught that by my year 4 teacher when we were learning about weather. That would have been in like '97-98-ish I think
BirdieStitching@reddit
My great grandmother used to say that and there was also an Enid Blyton (I think) short story where a girl, impatient for the sun, made trousers for a tiny sailor by cutting out the bit of blue sky with special scissors.
hiresometoast@reddit
Ah I'd forgotten this, I'm sure mum used to say it when I was little!
treesofthemind@reddit
This reminds me of a children’s book can’t remember the name
SacredandBound_@reddit
I read it in a Topsy and Tim book many aeons ago
zhvj@reddit
My grandma (Gloucester) had a similar saying which was something like 'if there's enough blue sky to make a Dutchman a pair of trousers' 👖
Dutch_Slim@reddit
Hallo! Where’s me trooosers?
40andbored@reddit
r/beetlejuice
nico735@reddit
London : enough blue to patch a Dutchman’s trousers.
ComposerDependent971@reddit
My grandparents used to say that as well, grew up just along the A38 in Churchill...
zedexcelle@reddit
Welsh roots here, we definitely had that too. On good days I’d make an entire suit
Kimbob1234@reddit
My nan said it too! She was from Bournemouth, born & bred. I say it too now.
ThginkAccbeR@reddit
I read that in a book at least 50 years ago!
t0riaj@reddit
Showing my age but I know that from Victoria Wood's comedy. "Is there enough blue to make a sailor a pair of trousers?" "There's not enough to make him a pair of pop socks."
CLWggg@reddit
My mum also said this. She grew up in Dagenham.
Swordfish1929@reddit
My nan used to say this just without the timing bit. She was from London but her dad was in the merchant navy so maybe it comes from there
SpaTowner@reddit
I knew someone from Barnstaple who said that.
LiorahLights@reddit
My mum used to say that! She's from Essex and moved to Birmingham when she was 10.
Adventurous_Ad3451@reddit
My mum said that too (minus the specific timing). She was Brummie born, but her dad was from Devon.
drpumpkinspicey@reddit
Badger flapping - to fart around with something irrelevant just before leaving the house. Came about because my uncle used to do this a lot and famously before the family tried to leave for a day out he disappeared to make a flap in the garden gate for the badgers.
Didn’t realise it wasn’t a thing until I went to uni!
llksg@reddit
Just learned I’m a master badger flapper
MarsStar2301@reddit
My dad’s equivalent of this phrase is “counting [your/his/her/their] Captain Scarlet cards”, because when they were much younger, his cousin insisted on counting his collectible Captain Scarlet cards instead of getting ready to go out…!
keyholes@reddit
We have a hedgehog flap, might need to borrow this phrase!
Hold-My-Shnapps@reddit
Omg we regularly mention badgers in our house for no reason what so ever, absolutely trying this out!
summerpeachxox@reddit
I am now going to refer to this as badger flapping whenever my partner does it (every time we're trying to leave the house)
Resonant-1966@reddit
Rose pruning and missing the ferry 🤣
spare_tomato4671@reddit
This is the best one. So anecdotal, pure gold 🤣
LongBeakedSnipe@reddit
How could it be a ‘thing’ if you literally know the event that led to your family coining the expression? Lmao
drpumpkinspicey@reddit
I didn’t know the story until I went to uni and was told by my housemates this wasn’t a thing. Asked my mum that Xmas where it came from and she explained.
One-Confection6994@reddit
That’s really funny cos we call it ‘faff badgers’ when you’re all ready to go and then someone has to just… I thought we invented it, but maybe it comes from your uncle!
drpumpkinspicey@reddit
Ha! Although maybe you are in my family …!
LikeEveryoneSheKnows@reddit
My husband is a textbook badger flapper.
-The-New-Shmoo-@reddit
Why did I read that as fart around the house?
RevolutionaryBee6859@reddit
I roared with laughter at this one, having grown up in a household of similar faffers - getting out the door was an event that required at least an hour of contingency time set aside.
moonfax@reddit
This is relevant because I've considered installing a badger flap... and I am also a massive badger flapperer.
AutomaticInitiative@reddit
That's really funny as someone who lives with a similar faffer.
feralwest@reddit
Was his ADHD ever diagnosed? 😂
Milky_Finger@reddit
My mum always said "Less haste more speed". I believe it is a real saying but every time I use it, the other person nods like they've never heard that saying before.
ReallySmallFeet@reddit
It's "more haste, less speed" :)
Nice-Goose-7599@reddit
Give it to me straight, like a pear cider made from 100% pears.
Joshthenosh77@reddit
A fart in a trance ! Wtf
Still_Recognition652@reddit
NOBBLER:
the crusty end slices from a loaf of bread
mentioned that i didn't mind the nobblers for my toasted-cheese-sammich at Uni Student Union bar, & the whole staff & queue stared at me as if i were speaking wookie or something...
it was universal both sides of my family, but not one of the 10+ people at the bar who heard me knew anything of the like or similar...
jajwhite@reddit
I've heard it called the rind and heel of the bread. And despite using both, I've had it misunderstood even working in a cafe!
I used to love nothing better when I started working at a motorway cafe aged 15, than a heel of bread, toasted and slathered with melty butter and maybe a tiny bit of marmalade.
I was very upset when I was told we had to throw out the "ends" of the bread, but told that despite the fact we were told to throw them out, that I was "stealing" by toasting and eating one.
I pointed out that my 35p an hour "lunch allowance" covered it and they grumbled that it should be binned anyway. I never saw the point of rather binning stuff than letting someone who wanted to have it, just have it. Particularly if it's the staff getting sustenance.
Still_Recognition652@reddit
I’ve never heard “rind & heel”!!! That’s awesome phrase - which is which 🤔😂
sconebore@reddit
Nobble from the ends of a baguette here!
Active_Arugula_7079@reddit
When clearing up the dishes/cutlery, my wife’s family descibed anything not requiring a wash as a ‘T.G’ as in ‘Thank God I don’t have to wash it up’ …now very common in our house: ‘Are these T.G’s?’ ‘Yup T.G’
No_Improvement2317@reddit
Any time someone told my grandad they'd pop round to see him, he would answer with "ok, if I'm not in, I'll be out" and I always thought it was a common saying until a friend heard him say it and burst out laughing as they'd never heard it before.
Hollskipollski@reddit
If you asked my aunt what was for tea, she always replied ‘ham nabs’ which meant, wait and see, essentially
ReallySmallFeet@reddit
My dad would say "bees knees and gnats eyebrows" lol
open-d-slide-guy@reddit
In our house the same question would have received the reply shite with sugar on it, but that was a common one in Lanarkshire.
JoSwinsonsSlingshot@reddit
I’ve heard that in South Yorkshire too
nico735@reddit
For us it was “air pie and windy pudding “
Lollygagger105@reddit
Same!
Key_Plum_99a@reddit
My Nan used to say “Windmill pudding - if it goes ‘round you’ll get some”.
Or Pigs whimpers!
bubbles6912@reddit
We got told windmill pie!
Hollskipollski@reddit
Love this. 😆
orangescantdance@reddit
We got told ‘wait and see’ when we asked what was for tea, and I’d forgotten about that until now!
Inevitable-Care@reddit
Sawdust and hay here!
Just_Curious_76@reddit
“You can chew coke” 😆Mum used to say that all the time when we were kids (which basically translates as “not likely”). Never knew what it meant until later in adult life 😅
crankgirl@reddit
My nan used to say “I can’t quick no quicker than I’m quicking!” if anyone tried to rush her. Never heard anyone else use it.
LogPlane1030@reddit
I bet she liked it dodgy style
PennyBunPudding@reddit
Straight up preinternet memeing
BabyBearBennett@reddit
I like this one. Lets make it a thing.
Jenny-Wren54@reddit
Thirding this. Let's do this, gang!
crankgirl@reddit
Ruby would have love that! :)
twirling_daemon@reddit
One of my dogs was one of life’s amblers so whenever we crossed a road I’d prepare her to quick across it
Which she always did and her quicking was duly noted and appreciated each time 😂
inflatablefish@reddit
She can't quick quicker than a kwik-fit quicker.
relapse_central@reddit
I say "I'm quicking, I'm quicking!"
glytxh@reddit
Once heard an old man mumble ‘fucking fucker’s fucked’ on trying to open a broken door.
Ghost_of_Smigger@reddit
Was your Nan one of the Highlander immortals?
Grouchy-Kale-6491@reddit
I love this!
HeavenDraven@reddit
I think I inadvertently created a version of this lol, it's "Let me do what I'm doing!"
IV-Manufacturer@reddit (OP)
I'm stealing this!
resident_queerdo@reddit
Same!
adrifing@reddit
Thirded, this is brilliant.
HanAVFC@reddit
Adopting this into my every day vocab now 🤣
campbelljac92@reddit
When I used to get sent down the shop it was always "Run both ways and walk back!"
Uhura-hoop@reddit
I love this, definitely going to try this out. There’s way too many people trying to hurry you along in life. Chill out chappies, I can’t quick quicker than I’m quicking.
CLWggg@reddit
Love this one!
60sstuff@reddit
For years and years and years i thought that sports direct was called “cheap jack Charlie’s” because that’s what my parents called it. apparently it was the name of a similar shop in aberystwyth when they went to uni and it stuck
Consistent-Show1732@reddit
My Dad used to say "make a noise quietly" if we were too loud. His usual 'telling off' was "next time you do it, don't do it again," which used to diffuse the situation. I don't know of anyone else who said these things.
soupy_e@reddit
My mother used to call a quick bath a 'cat lick', and I never even really thought about the words she was saying.
My family now refers to all tablet devices as 'pup pads' because of paw patrol. Every now and then it will slip out in conversation outside of the home.
LmbLma@reddit
If I heard someone say “pup pad” I would assume they’re talking about puppy pads, the absorbent toilet training pads.
the-TARDIS-ran-away@reddit
My mum also used to say cats lick. Until two weekends ago she called it a 'whores wash' and it turns out she only used 'cat lick' because i was too young.
narnababy@reddit
My parents used to call it a squaddie wash, but that was usually when you either used baby wipes or a flannel to just wash pits, bits, and anything noticeably dirty. You didn’t get into the bath or shower for that, sink only 😂
Snoo_23014@reddit
Squaddie wash for us too, unless it was spitting on a hanky to clean a bit of muck off your face. That was a cat lick
BamberGasgroin@reddit
I've also heard Squaddie Shower, which is just a spray with deodorant.
lem0njelly103@reddit
I thought that was "the gentleman's rinse"?
Snoo_23014@reddit
That's a "lynx over"!
DeepPanWingman@reddit
A gentleman's wash
soupy_e@reddit
I'll have to ask my mum if she also uses that one.
PuddingBrat@reddit
Ooh! Thank you for reminding me. My Mum used to say have a quick lick to mean bath as well :)
DameKumquat@reddit
A 'cat's lick and a promise' was a common phrase.
Along with instructions - you wash down as far as possible, then up as far as possible, and then you wash 'possible'!
HeavenDraven@reddit
Nah, "lick and promise" was mum/Nanna spit on a hankie or finger, then muck wiped off faces!
Occasionally a baby wipe would appear for the same purpose
spookystarbuck11@reddit
I call it a bird bath - because I end up splashing water all over like the bloody birds do outside
Large_Reindeer_7328@reddit
My daughter once asked me, when she was very little, "are you going to put it in your crowave?" Like she thought the microwave was my personal crowave, and I thought that was adorable so it's stuck ever since.
Old-Cauliflower-1414@reddit
That's adorable! 😍 Also, it makes complete sense why she would think that.
VermilionKoala@reddit
See also my kwebber
adamlbiscuit@reddit
My mum always said 'has anyone seen the donger?' when she was looking for the TV remote. I know it's fairly common to have a random name for the TV remote, but I genuinely thought they were called dongers when I was a kid.
Local_Refrigerator_5@reddit
We all call it a doofer, we grew up believing that was what it was called and my adult kids still call it a doofer.
BeagleMadness@reddit
My MIL and her partner/"companion"/"gentleman friend" that moved in with her 10 years ago refer to their TV remote as the "Doofer".
But they also refer to their PC mouse as the "Doofer" too, which can cause confusion. All of their Dyson vacuum cleaner attachments are "Hoofer Doofers", which caused confusion too - "Where's the Hoofer Doofer, love?" - "The Big Doofer's up here, or do you mean the Crevice Doofer? That's in the cupboard on the landing"...
Also their big metal slotted spoon, used for cooking, is named the "Scoopy Hoofer". Their metal spatula, used for cooking, is the "Scrapey Hoofer". But also so is is anything else used for scraping purposes (ie windscreen scraper, wallpaper scraper, etc). Dog poo bags are "Pooper Doofers". Cleaning sponges are "Scrubby Hoofers".
Basically everything has a cutesy name ending in Hoofer or Doofer.
Imagine a weekend at their house - full of "Pass us the Doofer, love, I want to watch that thing that's on at at 9", "Oh no - have you got a Pooper Doofer on you, love? I didn't bring any cos [the dog] went earlier when I walked him!", "Pass us the Scrapey Hoofer, will you, the windscreen's all iced up", "Damn it... Where's the Scoopy Hoofer gone?!" - whilst me and my kids look on, amused but baffled.
It's quite sweet, but somewhat confusing at times!
StrainTiny7349@reddit
When I was living in Lurgan any miscellaneous item would be a perjabber.
iwantauniquename@reddit
This seems excessive
Dazz316@reddit
My friend's family called it the doofer, you're the second person in the last 30 years to call it that.
ladybigsuze@reddit
We called it the doofer too! I was quite old when I realised that wasn't what it was actually called!
gundog48@reddit
We called it a 'doofer' too! Now I'm wondering about the etymology given there's at least half a dozen of us!
TheCaptainsHook@reddit
I came to say we used this. it’s a hoofer doofer in our family. I think it goes back to a TV show from my grandparents era? I’m so glad to see we’re not alone!
welshlondoner@reddit
Grandparents era? It was a television programme when I was a teenager. Telly Addicts hosted by Noel Edmunds in the 80s and 90s. The giant remote control was called the hooferdoofer.
TheCaptainsHook@reddit
It does not surprise me that this was embellished and exaggerated (knowing my grandmother!) Thank you for sharing where it came from, it’s really nice to know! Despite being an 80s baby I have zero memory of this show.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Ours was a doofer but my stepdad called it a flickometer
JackyRaven@reddit
"Doofer-dabber", "zapper" or 'mote for us.
EdwardSpaghettiHands@reddit
We're a doofer house too!
sputnikandstump@reddit
We called it the button box
tomahawk66mtb@reddit
The gun. Confused the shite out of our American cousins.
frankieramps@reddit
the telly gun
DoctorOctagonapus@reddit
It's a box with buttons on, why call it any different?
laser_spanner@reddit
Ours was always the zapper!
Euphoric-Wall-2576@reddit
Same here
werewolfbutch874@reddit
We called it the buttons and neither of my parents know how this started. They both blame the other one - “well my family never said that growing up so it must be from their side”.
West_Guarantee284@reddit
I call it buttons. I think my family call it the remote, no idea where I got buttons from..
Thlaynle@reddit
My mom calls it the ‘gadget’ as if it were the only type of gadget in the house. No one else on her side of the family does, so who knows where she got it from.
She also calls your belly button your ‘belly poke’ and says ‘outside in’ instead of ‘inside out’ so who knows where with her.
LuLutink1@reddit
We called it the do dar😀
Carta_Blanca@reddit
Ours was just a remote, until we got an NTL box. From then on it was the boat shaped remote, and now its been condensed even further to just the boat or boat shaped. Even though its no longer than shape
Sil_Lavellan@reddit
It's the controller, the sometime Fat Controller when we got NTL to distinguish it from the tv controller.
Large_Reindeer_7328@reddit
It's just the button pusher in our house!
jajwhite@reddit
I'm sure we used to call this a dongle, before that took on a specific meaning. And it applied to all little mechanical objects - mouses, calculators, remotes.
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
On Mid Morning Matters, Alan Partridge interviewed a computer expert (played by Darren Boyd), and he asks 'do you dongle, Daniel?'
Non-sequotter@reddit
We don’t have a family name for the remote, but if something’s recorded, when the ads come on we can “do the whizzy whizzy” to fast forward through them
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
It’s the bippy box for us. Or the box of bips if being formal!
spookystarbuck11@reddit
We used to call it the block. "Anyone seen the block?"
rosegoldqueen28@reddit
Doodlebug was one we had lol.
EnjoyableEmployer@reddit
Whizzer in my family, I still call it that and now so does my wife. I've had a few odd looks at people's houses when I've asked where the whizzer is though and had to explain I meant the tv remote.
narnababy@reddit
It was the “flicker” in my house, drives my partner mad when I ask him for the flicker haha
B0-Katan@reddit
They were "the (ntl) beads" in my house and I still don't understand why
NecroVelcro@reddit
"Where are the beads? Change the ch-anal."
giantturtleseyes@reddit
That was the word for a large flaccid penis at my school
Embarrassed-Coat5279@reddit
My friend called hers the Doofer 😂
mysterygirl487@reddit
When having a coughing fit we always say "cough it up, might be a dishcloth" I said it at work yesterday and realised it made no sense to the person trying to clear her throat!
romeo__golf@reddit
Any cutlery or crockery cleared from a table without being used is referred to as a "thank god", as in "thank god I don't need to wash this up."
"Could you put these spoons away? They're thank-gods."
No idea where it came from!
BovingdonBug@reddit
My mother-in-law who grew up in New Zealand calls them GBs - God's Blessings
ezeebee@reddit
My husband's family also call them thank-gods, or TGs!
PostModernistTrash@reddit
Those were known as "sunbeams" in our house.
betineri@reddit
'moonbeams' in ours!
Cardabella@reddit
Blessings in ours
ToughLingonberry9034@reddit
'leftover cutlery' in ours
Wilfthered1@reddit
Birthdays in ours
ProofOfPlasticity@reddit
My Liverpudlian relatives called them this too
PersonalityTough6148@reddit
My grandparents call them "angels"
box_frenzy@reddit
We called them OBJs (Oh Be Joyful), but I’ve also heard them referred to as “god be praised” which is closer to your one.
inflatablefish@reddit
Huh. My sister calls them that as well, and it wasn't a phrase when we were growing up so I've no idea where she got it from!
Goatsandducks@reddit
They're known as blessings in my house.
ZigZagIntoTheBlue@reddit
Thank gods here too!
romeo__golf@reddit
Oh my god you're the first person who uses this! Where in the UK are you?! I grew up in north London.
ZigZagIntoTheBlue@reddit
Surrey mostly though it came from my grandparents and I'm not sure which one of two of them it came from!
Kimbob1234@reddit
My dad (Hampshire/Dorset) would use "a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse" which I never understood but he'd also say "a blind man would be happy to see it" which I have combined to make, "a blind horse would be happy to see it". My daughter thinks I'm bonkers. She may be right.
MemoryKeepAV@reddit
I encountered that phrase, or one similar to it, in a Monty Python skit with Eric Idle using confusing euphemisms
"A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, nudge nudge"
https://youtu.be/4Kwh3R0YjuQ
West_Guarantee284@reddit
I've only heard "a nod is as bad as a wink", no mention of a horse or a badger. I used to take it to be either is good, make no difference, same outcome but adding the blind horse makes it both are pointless.
Physical_Salt9373@reddit
If I was ready to go out and not happy with how I looked my mum would say " a man on a fast horse won't notice "
spookystarbuck11@reddit
We have "a nod is as good as a blink to a blind badger"! No idea what it means though 😂
Angelf1shing@reddit
It means it doesn’t matter what you do, it isn’t going to make any difference given the situation you are in.
Shanobian@reddit
It means useless
Appropriate_Rub_961@reddit
Similarly my grandad used to say about an imperfect job done, 'a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't see it'
Sil_Lavellan@reddit
My Dad's from Hampshire and uses 'a blind man would be pleased to see it.'
Fluffy-Exchange-2053@reddit
My mum always used "reknolp" when I was being silly growing up. I use it on my children now.
MarsStar2301@reddit
It’s more conventional the other way round🙂
Spirited-Ad-9558@reddit
Better than a kick in the bread tray! (From Red Dwarf)
MarsStar2301@reddit
Did someone say toast?😆
DesignTwiceCodeOnce@reddit
"purpled out" for somewhere crowded. Eg "We're not going to the beach, it'll be purpled out".
Never heard it anywhere, can't find it on the internet, parents have no idea where they got it from either.
MarsStar2301@reddit
I can imagine “peopled out” meaning it’s full of people, so perhaps it’s a pun of mispronunciation of that.
Unlucky_Fan_6079@reddit
Nan used to say "what do you know" and then answer herself "cold potatoes ain't hot"
MarsStar2301@reddit
One of my university housemates used to say a similar phrase to this, which was “Know what? …Cold beans ain’t hot”, which really only amused her.
aspieringnerd@reddit
Whenever someone has a question in my family, they'd say "Question!" with the response being "Answer!" I didn't realise it wasn't in other people's regular vocabulary until I said "Answer!" to my ex saying "Question!" and she looked at me like I grew three heads
MarsStar2301@reddit
One of my colleagues said this (responding “Answer”) today! Interesting timing, as I don’t recall hearing anyone do that before.
JakeCMMA@reddit
Not sure if this counts but my Mam has always said “slam the hankers on” if she ever had to brake heavily when driving. It wasn’t until I was an adult I realised it was it was supposed to be “slam on the anchors” but she still insists it’s hankers even after both me and my step dad have asked her wtf a hanker is
DameKumquat@reddit
Overcorrection to put a h on words starting with vowels was a thing, especially by people who naturally dropped Hs but were trying to sound posh. Like a ship's captain.
MouseEmotional813@reddit
Definitely a humorous thing for many
MadWifeUK@reddit
"I hapologise for the hinconvenience but I ad to slam the hankers on."
JaffaMafia@reddit
"That's quite alright. Parker"
_studio_sounds_@reddit
Lovely to see Parker mentioned here. That’s brought back some really fond memories of David Graham. He was such a lovely man.
JoSwinsonsSlingshot@reddit
My mum’s terrible for things like this. “Chester drawers” “trickle treating”
AlonsoHamiltonVettel@reddit
I wonder if this is just a misunderstanding of slam the anchors on 😂
Princessp3ach88@reddit
r/boneappleteeth
SaavikSaid@reddit
I ain’t studying you.
I ain’t paying you no mind.
That ain’t worth a hill of beans.
belle_amore@reddit
Because of my little brother, eyebrows are known as actuallies in my family, and eyelashes as eyebrows.
Something to do with not remembering which one was which, but he also inferred eyebrows were named actuallies because when correcting someone you'd raise both brows and say "Actually..."
Dry-Tumbleweed7427@reddit
My nan used to say she was going to "bimble" round the shops whenever she was window shopping/browsing
West_Guarantee284@reddit
Love a good bimble. Bit like a mooch.
JoSwinsonsSlingshot@reddit
God this reminds me of when we were at bonfire night and my cousin asked me if I “wanted to go for a smooch.” I was sure it was a joke but she seemed so earnest. Turned out she meant mooch
tobycj@reddit
There's a stage at Glastonbury called the Bimble Inn, and the signage for the exit is "bimble out"
iffyClyro@reddit
That’s fairly common. Or maybe it isn’t and we have the same nan.
MolluscsGonnaMollusc@reddit
I'd that's the case then I've met your Nan, adorable lady!
DameKumquat@reddit
Who's also my mother in law?
She could bimble for hours, even with a walking frame. Got to the point we'd take her to car boots for the exercise and she wouldn't be seen for dust, returning two hours later...
iffyClyro@reddit
Dad?
DameKumquat@reddit
Nope. Possibly mum, in which case get back to your GCSE paper...
missiongiraffe@reddit
I’ve come across bimble in the context of cadet forces. If we weren’t in uniform but we were formed up and needed to move from A to B, we’d get by the left quick bimble, and we’d just walk in formation. Dunno whether it’s legit military or just weird.
No-Improvement-6591@reddit
When I wore a salad suit for a living, I was told it was: Basic Infantry Manoeuvre But Lacking Enthusiasm
IV-Manufacturer@reddit (OP)
Bimble is such a good word for that though :D
jajwhite@reddit
Reminds me of pronking (or stotting) which is when an animal jumps up with all 4 legs at once. Like a deer or excited dog.
nico735@reddit
Or a frightened cat - a verticat we used to say.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Still use it! "Gonna bumble round CEX for a bit..."
mainukfeed@reddit
Bimble is very common word, doesn't count.
Atcoroo@reddit
Indeed. My wife and I have bimbled for years.
DebaucheV5@reddit
saucy
Bloatville@reddit
I have never heard bimble, but I've bumbled and pootled plenty of times.
AmbitiousLie9992@reddit
We use the word Bimble ... My four year old says 'Nimble' though. 😅. It's so cute when he says 'shall we take Rubble (his whippet) on a Nimble in the woods.' 😍
Firthy2002@reddit
Bimble is legit a word though.
ClydeB3@reddit
"What does that have to do with the gasworks on the isle of Wight?" is a normal saying in my family, usually from my Grandma, when someone mentions something irrelevant.
I assumed it was a common saying until I said it and everyone looked at me like I'd gone mad.
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
I like it. Not sure what it's got to do with the price of fish, mind.
summerdog-@reddit
In my family it’s the price of cheese. I have no idea why
GretalRabbit@reddit
My mum used to say: "the state of you and the price of cheese"
JoSwinsonsSlingshot@reddit
My mum used to say: “we import two thirds of our cheese. That is a disgrace!”
Dean_Learner77@reddit
UK here. My family said price of eggs in china.
Betelgeaux@reddit
Price of chips for me
shesinadeadfunk@reddit
Corned beef in ours!
narnababy@reddit
Price of bacon in our house!
emimagique@reddit
My mum says "price of carrots"!
NJellybean@reddit
Ours was “price of rhubarb”
Gretal122@reddit
Ours was " What's that got to do with the price of eggs " ?
folklovermore_@reddit
So was ours!
(You're not from Liverpool by any chance are you?)
Gretal122@reddit
Hi, no , I'm Australian 🙂
Old-Revolution-1565@reddit
Price of potatoes in our house
Lokiira1@reddit
Ours was “what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?”
ddmf@reddit
"What does that have to do with the price of lightbulbs" is our version.
prof_hobart@reddit
"What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" is the one I've always heard
DanS1993@reddit
Yeah I think “what’s that got to do with the price of….” Is the universal version
dr_wtf@reddit
I think this is just one of those common phrases that has a lot of random variations, like "mad as a transit van" or "face like a bag of spanners".
Large_Reindeer_7328@reddit
Yeah I always said, "what's that have to do with the price of a pack of Walkers cheese & onion?" No idea why, I don't even like cheese & onion crisps! No idea where I got it from.
Squirrel_Worth@reddit
Price of fish was ours, I think it’s a normal saying though
Rocky-bar@reddit
No, the normal one is "the price of eggs"
king_ofbhutan@reddit
'How does this effect the trout population' is a popular I often see online
Hot_Palpitation_3595@reddit
It's from an A Level Biology paper a few years ago! I love the kids
Literally_Taken@reddit
I like that
Hot_Palpitation_3595@reddit
My mum (RIP) would say "What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?"
Marianimo@reddit
The price of eggs!
GarageIndependent114@reddit
Price of tea in China
JoSwinsonsSlingshot@reddit
I’ve always slept with a V-shaped pillow, but growing up it was always referred to as a sausage. I only realised in my teens after making a reference to my pillow as a sausage and people being confused
awkwardandroid@reddit
For my messy room - “it’s like the wreck of the Hesperus in here!” My mum.
Bobilar@reddit
Also heard this growing up
DisorderOfLeitbur@reddit
The Wreck of the Hesperus is a nineteenth century poem about a shipwreck.
Appropriate_Rub_961@reddit
My Dad too 🤣
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
My mum said this about my bedroom!
putrifying@reddit
In my house, if you’re feeling particularly ravenous you’d say ‘I’m feeling a bit scabby!’
The long version being ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a scabby dog betwixt a pair of piss stained mattresses’
Bobilar@reddit
I've heard 'I could eat the arm of a scabby child'
jajwhite@reddit
Lily Savage had a great one she often used in her sets.
She told a story about going to a coffeeshop in Amsterdam and trying their cakes. She was a bit hungry, so she had a cake. It made her more hungry, so she had another, and then ... "I was so hungry I could've eaten a nun's arse through the convent railings."
West_Guarantee284@reddit
My dad used to say he could eat yhf house between two bits of bread. I always questioned why bother putting the bread outside when it would be consumed along with house contents anyway.
throbobular@reddit
Newcastle here, my mam says 'i could eat a scabby horse between two loppy mattresses'
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
'A scabby donkey', my mum would say.
TresWhat@reddit
I like the short version better!
keyholes@reddit
"I've had an ample sufficiency." My grandmother's favourite phrase to say she'd had enough dinner, thanks. I remember saying this at quite a young age when I was at a friend's house. Their mum looked at me like I'd grown two heads.
Bobilar@reddit
People in my family used to say 'night night, see you in the morning, if God spares you'.
In fact 'If God spares you' would be used after making any plans for the future, like 'come and see us next weekend if God spares you'
Basically 'if you don't die'
RGRegulator@reddit
My mum always used to respond with ‘who’s she, the cat’s mother’ if any of us dared to use that particular pronoun. Never heard anyone else say it. Also used to do ‘the three rings’ after getting back from someone’s house to let them know we got home safely.
summerpeachxox@reddit
My Nana always says the cat's mother and now so do I but definitely an old fashioned one!
ManicWolf@reddit
That cat's mother thing is definitely an old saying. My mum used to say it too when I was a kid.
iwantauniquename@reddit
Yes. Although it's really only meant to be used if you refer to somebody present as 'she" (rude, as opposed to "you" because you're talking about them as if they aren't there)
Complete_Carpenter18@reddit
My mum would call the TV remote the boa ...no idea why 🤣
foxfunk@reddit
My family call the end bit on a loaf of bread the "nobby". Let me tell you I got interesting reactions as a child, telling my friend's parents I'm "happy to have the nobby" for my sandwich.
TeaVC15@reddit
Nobby here too! :)
Key_Plum_99a@reddit
It was the nob-end in our house until knob end became a word!
Siamese-Celerystick@reddit
My husband calls it the Nobby too!
rhingthnigherething@reddit
Nobby of a good loaf is considered premium in my house too
Dutch_Slim@reddit
Nobbler in our house
Aromatic_Pea_4249@reddit
I call it the nobby, too!
Tsarinya@reddit
Daddy granfers. Thought that was their legitimate name until I was much older. Same with scagged, ie ‘I’ve scagged my tights!’.
iwantauniquename@reddit
Come on. What is a daddy granfer? Grandfather?
Tsarinya@reddit
Woodlice!!
arjay555@reddit
My family has always the TV remote the “gadget”, and later in life I have used it in front of friends who look at me with utter confusion.
officialariacat@reddit
This is a wider phrase, but we used it wrong.
My mum has always used “a sight for sore eyes” as a bad thing. Like “Huh, SOMEONE’S a sight for sore eyes!” said with contempt if you looked dishevelled or messy. My understanding was that it meant, like, “by looking at you, you’re making my eyes sore”.
It took me until about three weeks ago to realise it’s supposed to be a positive thing, after confusing my friends by saying it as a negative. On a literal level I can get why it might be meant as a good thing ‑ “looking at this makes my sore eyes feel less pained; it’s nice to look at” ‑ but she and the rest of my family had no idea!
MatlockandBatshelter@reddit
Had this exact debate at uni. Anecdotally seems that it was used positively in the North and sarcastically in the South
Every_Stand4168@reddit
I'm from the south and I've only ever heard it used as a negative
officialariacat@reddit
Fascinating! I know that when I asked some school friends, the more local one agreed with me while the one from the next town over sad it was positive. So it could be a very specific patchwork!
gundog48@reddit
I'd say it's mixed. Because it also kinda means "you are a (positive) sight, but I only because I'm currently in an undesirable situation"!
Also, sometimes it can be used when the person in question is the cause of the 'sore eyes'. For example, if you're half an hour late to your shift and it's been really busy, the person who's been covering you might call you a "sight for sore eyes" which is a bit pointed, because you're saying "you're late and caused some grief, but glad you're finally here!".
Usually it's meant as being pleased to see someone who is giving them relief in some way, but can be a bit accusatory in some situations.
Dutch_Slim@reddit
Yes it’s definitely positive, a sight for sore eyes makes them feel better.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Think it's an old naval thing for when they were up in the crows nest scanning for land.
Greippi42@reddit
I've always heard it used in the negative sense. Or if someone's looking good you'd say it to be sarcastic/funny.
Pr1ncifer@reddit
Gook, for the inside of an apple or other fruit. As in- hoy that apple gook out for the birds, if you eat the seeds you’ll grow a tree in yer belly & your pants won’t fit.
dugongxy@reddit
No, you'll get cyanide poisoning.
dospc@reddit
hoy?
Pr1ncifer@reddit
Aye.
Kingstinator@reddit
It means throw in Geordie.
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
I'd heard Michael talking about 'hoying a monkey' over a cliff on I'm Alan Partridge. The monkey was stealing his cigarettes.
Atcoroo@reddit
To throw.
DeepPanWingman@reddit
Is it just northern for "gunk"?
Pr1ncifer@reddit
No, specifically the stalky inner bit of a fruit.
rssvitamins@reddit
Was apple gowk in Newcastle
dugongxy@reddit
Here's something from another part of the world: I'm in the US and come from a French Comedian town. A saying I heard when someone was about to go to bed was that they were going to faire do do. I think do do is a small child's version of dormir, the French word for to sleep.
Cloverfield1996@reddit
My father is German but has lived and worked in English speaking countries for decades. He passes for American everywhere. However, he misheard "liar liar , pants on fire!" so now if anyone is caught lying they're a "pencil drier".
Also asked the lunch lady at my brand new school for "la-sagg-nee" because I'd never heard my parents refer to it as lasagne. I was mortified.
Sparky833@reddit
My mom used to tell us girls not to leave the house looking like a "Schlampe," which since we were always in jeans and shirts or jumpers, we interpreted as "sloppy or unkempt." I went to Germany and, within earshot of his cousin, quietly asked my hubby to change his shirt (it was stained) because he "looked like a Schlampe." His cousin whipped her head around real fast and cocked her head questioningly, but didn't say anything. This prompted me to Google it later that evening. Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered it means "slut!" I haven't used that word again and spent the rest of that vacation absolutely mortified. I don't think my mother really knew what it meant either, or was using it I DON'T KNOW WHY. 😑
Merle-Hay@reddit
That’s interesting because in Yiddish you would say someone looks like a “schlump” and everyone understands it to mean like a hobo.
UnperturbedBhuta@reddit
If you're old enough, "slut" used to mean dirty or unkempt, too. My Nan used to talk about her eldest daughter keeping house like a slut and I think the usage of slut to mean "messy woman who keeps house badly" persisted into the 60s or 70s.
Sparky833@reddit
Ohhhhh, that makes me feel a lot better about this! Thank you SO MUCH for this! ❤️
UnperturbedBhuta@reddit
You're welcome!
Here, so you know I'm not making it up.
Slut
bill_end@reddit
Is that because if you're rapidly "drying your pencil" your pants might catch on fire?
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
My auntie called lasagne 'la sarnie'!
anyavailible@reddit
Fog on off to bed
beatsshootsandleaves@reddit
Not family but my old bosses used to use the word "popping" to refer to when you start talking but then tail off a bit and end up appearing to be muttering to yourself. Mostly due to a client we had that would do this exact thing.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Morrisons was "Morridogs "
Steak and kidney was Kate and Sydney
Fish and chips was fish and finerks
Anyone who worked in a supermarket was "Tracey on't till"
The nurse who checked our hair at school for lice was Nitty Nora the bug explorer.
Walking anywhere was "riding Shanks's pony"
Water from the tap was "corporation pop"
Black Swan pub was The mucky duck
fairysdad@reddit
Completely unrelated to the conversation in hand, but not to me (har har), my great-grandparents were called Kate and Sidney.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Well, unbeknownst to them, they had a popular pie unofficially named after them!
fairysdad@reddit
I think they would have liked that.
Snoo_23014@reddit
😇
No_Fan6456@reddit
Not family but town. The town I grew up if a boys voice went high during puberty you know the type when they’re voice starts to get deeper but goes higher on a random word - it was called “ballage” (pronounced ball-idge) assumed this was generally used until said around people who didn’t grow up in our town who didn’t have a clue!
Fondant_Crazy@reddit
"what we having for tea?" "shit with sugar on"
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
The answer in our house was "what paddy had in the suitcase"
Carlstonio@reddit
My Mum has always referred to sweets and chocolate as trash. As they're bad for you. "Here's some money to get the paper from the shop. Use the change to get us some trash for later."
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
In our house they were "mollock "
DeepPanWingman@reddit
My wife's family call the saucey/juicey bits at the bottom of the pan "jollop." Never sounded very appetising to me.
Cryptoprocta42@reddit
My mom would call some foul, gloopy concoction "jollop". Like the kind of thing you have to drink before going for a bum scan.
Superb-Pudding-6532@reddit
"Looks a bit dark over Wills mum's" as in, sky is getting dark with bad weather in the distance.
No idea if it's an actual saying or just something my mum and dad said 🤷🏼♀️
I still use it though, no idea who Will is or where his mum lives 🤔
aliclang@reddit
We say "looking a bit black over bills mothers" so similar
PrinceFan72@reddit
"Are you fit?" which means are you ready to go? Anytime I still use it, I get a puzzled look.
aliclang@reddit
I use this too!
Inevitable-Care@reddit
We use that too!
CrunchyLizard123@reddit
Bonger the pillow/cushion
Equivalent-Lab9075@reddit
There’s always an arse or an elbow. I think my gdad mixed up not knowing your arse from your elbow with there’s always bloody something.
Neacag@reddit
My Gran and Great Gran used to say "several cats" instead of swearing. I've not heard it anywhere else. Should bring it back. I saw a little boy with stabilisers on his bike shouting f and c words going past my window the other day.
aliclang@reddit
This reminds me of a girl I work with who doesn't swear, instead one day she came out with "rats on stilts". Fantastic
Sploshee@reddit
I love this!
sxckerpxnch@reddit
Springey.. as in, you go outside in the cold and when you come back in your face is springey. The look on my southern friend and northern boyfriends faces when I said it in front of them..
hellyfrosty@reddit
The phrase ‘when we get home I’ll put us some tea on. What d’ya fancy?’ perplexed and confused my non-northern partner at the time.
Quinncidental@reddit
The knife we used to keep above the toilet for dicing up our huge turds used to be called the 'poop knife'. I only found out it wasn't a normal thing after I clogged my friend's toilet and asked to borrow theirs!
bethjnott@reddit
As a kid, every night before bed, my mum would say “nighty nighty” and I would respond “pyjama pyjama” Not sure why, but it’s stuck and I still say it occasionally now at 27yrs of age
Existing-Fan8579@reddit
We used to call the indicators on your car Winkers... after a quiz at school one day years ago I was teased about this for ages!
blihblahh3948@reddit
That we’re having pig shit and cauliflower for dinner
alicemarblegrey@reddit
my mum said we were having shit & pepper
Mumlife8628@reddit
My daughter says its turn the lights off its not Blackpool illumination in here - she's never heard anyone else say it apart from her nan 🤣🤣
I'm like it's pretty common
Melj84@reddit
We definitely use this one!
alicemarblegrey@reddit
MIL ( Devon) calls a treat a frozzie
alicemarblegrey@reddit
We used to say it was as dark as a cow’s innards when it got really dark. My mum would sometimes say i looked like a crab going to Ireland. She would say some people were proper cakey looking. My dad’s favourite exclamation was “Aquehela!” which ive never heard anyone else use.
Sharp_Budget_4416@reddit
"Giving it beans" for doing something at full effort. Turned up to uni and used it in a group project, everyone looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Pretty sure it's just a midlands thing but my family threw it around like it was standard English.
alicemarblegrey@reddit
Devon here & we said it.
Minsc_NBooToo@reddit
My Dad would always use the phrase "weighed off" to indicate your were proficient at something
So in context it would be "i was really bad at playing the guitar. I can now play Stairway to Heaven, so I've got this weighed off"
It might be Navy slang but I've only ever heard my Dad say it
alicemarblegrey@reddit
My dad used to say that. He was in the Navy
Minsc_NBooToo@reddit
I just assumed it was a common phrase, but my wife didn't know what I was talking about
I guess it must be Jack Speak ⚓
alicemarblegrey@reddit
I assumed going to the cemetery on Xmas morning to visit family graves was completely normal but apparently it isn’t!
spookystarbuck11@reddit
My dad also says this. Means to finish something though, like "let me get this paperwork weighed off"
_Yorkshire_Pirlo@reddit
Calling tinnitus 'Cat alarms' because of the similarity in sound
alicemarblegrey@reddit
My dad went to hospital and told them at reception it was for his tittiness. That one stuck.
Petrichor_ness@reddit
My grandmother used to grab all the leftovers in the fridge, dump them in a casserole dish, pour some stock and a tin of tomatoes over it and this was called a 'sod up'
I didn't know it wasn't a normal meal until I got told off for using the word 'sod' at school
Euphoric_Rough_5245@reddit
We called it a chuck in.
Petrichor_ness@reddit
Well there were many nights I'd want to chuck up after eating it, does that count?
NJellybean@reddit
I think we referred to it just as bubble and squeak? Did she use the wrong word to describe that!?! Is Bubble and Squeak different??
Petrichor_ness@reddit
Isn't that just cooked potatoes and cabbage?
I wish my grandmother kept it to that, your typical sod up could have the chicken 'curry' (just chicken, vegetables in stock with curry powder), pasta bake, lasagne, a random piece of cod; in it all goes, drowned in a tin of tomatoes and the nearest stock cube she could grab.
Inevitable-Care@reddit
Mum in law would say “it’s a bandy-ann tea tonight” - never heard that before I met her but I use it now! Not sure if anyone else uses this?
Local_Refrigerator_5@reddit
We had a meal my mum called stewed bugs and onions and the shocked looks on my friends faces when I told them I'd had it for dinner was priceless.
Jenny-Wren54@reddit
Ah. My Dad calls that YMCA. Yesterday's Muck Cooked Again.
CatSlag@reddit
We had stewed puss and onions!
Longjumping_Dark_460@reddit
In our house we called Wotsits 'slugs' - because of the shape. i got strange looks when I asked someone to pass the slugs at a birthday party!
Wooden_Permit1284@reddit
For us it was ‘sheep’s cock and onions’
open-d-slide-guy@reddit
In our house (central Scotland) a dinner like that was called a “gazintae”,because everything gazintae it!
Shanobian@reddit
This only makes sense in a Scottish accent
open-d-slide-guy@reddit
Absolutely!
nico735@reddit
And my Scout troop referred to this dish as Orlin (all in). Delicious.
Snoo_23014@reddit
Haha we had "After Sunday pie"
No-Club3690@reddit
We called that a "muck up" e.g "muck up rice "
tricks_23@reddit
Sod is a clump of dirt too
Emergency-Living6584@reddit
“Arse twitching like a rabbits nose”
Amazing-Ad-3924@reddit
My Mum used to say "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" which basically means not to put all your focus and effort on one thing I think. Like, if you met a new guy, instead of focusing on just him, keep your other eggs in other baskets! Bloody hell, I don't know how to explain it properly!
iwantauniquename@reddit
This is an extremely well known proverb outside your family, I'm afraid
Amazing-Ad-3924@reddit
That's cool, I've used it outside of my family and nobody had heard of it before!
layzeebish@reddit
My nan used to call me a pest of hell - but said phonetically like pestovel. Took me years to suss out what she was saying. She was born in Wales but brought up in North London then married my g'dad who was Cockney - so somewhere in between all those is pestovel?! No one else has ever heard of this as far as I can tell hash
EveningHere@reddit
Walking into an unnecessarily brightly lit room and exclaiming “It’s lit up like Anfield in ‘ere!”. Usually when trying to save electricity.
Conscious_Macaron_20@reddit
When I used to ask why about something my nan always used to say ‘Y is a crooked letter that can’t be straightened’ basically means stop asking and be quiet
Mumlife8628@reddit
My brain is chogging
Kewoowaa@reddit
Not sure if any of these count
'Memoo' for medicine
'Mag to grid' for get rid (although believe that's the military thing at least how it came to be in our household)
'GTF' for when you just want to leave somewhere swiftly (perhaps the same as an Irish goodbye?)
iwantauniquename@reddit
Mag to grid=get rid is a mnemonic (I know that's not the right word quite) for converting map bearings to compass bearings.
Magnetic north is a few degrees off from grid (this was in the 90s and I believe it varies over a scale of decades) so going from compass to map you needed to "get rid" of about 3 degrees.
The counterpart was grid to mag= add for the reverse procedure
Seems like this was then extended to just be rhyming slang for "get rid" of anything?
Kewoowaa@reddit
So…based on the similar comments I asked my dad as he’s where it stems from in our family. It is indeed map related but he says they (errr his military colleagues? Fellow squaddies? Whatever you wanna call them) would use it as general term for getting rid although not a new thing as this was the 80s/90s
JackyRaven@reddit
Grid to mag, add. Mag to grid, get rid. For converting compass North (magnetic North) to map (grid reference) North. They're not quite the same direction, so you have to add or subtract a few degrees to covert one to the other - I was a scouter a few decades ago, but can't remember the numbers!
iwantauniquename@reddit
It will have wandered significantly since then anyway. I remember that magnetic north wanders about alot
ExecutiveChimp@reddit
The numbers have probably changed since then as magnetic north moves around
folklovermore_@reddit
As someone from an Irish family, the Irish goodbye thing makes no sense to me, because we're the opposite - you have to start saying your goodbyes at least 20 minutes before you need to leave or everyone wants to talk to you!
campbelljac92@reddit
Are you Scottish? GTF could just be an abbreviation of get tae fuck
Kewoowaa@reddit
Alas I'm English through and through! (as are family/extended family)
loaloaloa55@reddit
Not a phrase but a word -
The toilet paper 🧻 kids wet and throw up on the school bathroom roof?
Gnumphs.
lokodiz@reddit
My family call the act of rocking on the back two legs of a chair “queedling”. I’ve never known anyone else use it and have always got blank looks when I bring it up
Inevitable-Care@reddit
When someone does that in my house I shout “six legs please!”
Mk3Toni@reddit
Squibby cream... My cousin said he's never used that word, then literally his daughter came in asking for Squibby cream 😂
As far as I'm aware, it's only my mom's side of the family that say it... No idea where it came from
Captain_Stable@reddit
My old Gran used to scratch the back of the dog and say she was giving the dog "the soldier's cake". Neither me nor my mum had any idea what it meant, but we used to use it all the time for anything.
katalyna78@reddit
My gran (born 1909) was taught to strip wash with the instructions: Wash up as far as possible, down as far as possible, and don't forget possible!
Genius
Roxygen1@reddit
When slicing up something like a pie, cake, quiche etc. Instead of using a fraction or something else, my family uses minutes eg. 10 minutes of pie is a sixth, 1 minute of cake is what people sometimes call a sliver.
Inevitable-Care@reddit
We do this too!
West_Guarantee284@reddit
That is actually really clever, you need to cut it anyone 3rds so you slice at 12, 4 and 8! Genius. I'm going to visualise cakes and pies as clock faces from now on.
nico735@reddit
Love this, so practical!
Petrichor_ness@reddit
My grandmother used to call me 'Mrs Ginockie' as a term of endearment. Like gin (the drink) and ockie (like hocky without the H).
To this day I've never heard it anywhere else and I don't know where that name came from, she just said it was something her mother called her.
Jenny-Wren54@reddit
My Australian grandmother was known as 'goolie' by some of her relatives, which to us Londoners meant testicles.
gundog48@reddit
Probably means your grandma or great grandma used to have fun nights out!
Miss_Type@reddit
My parents didn't invent this, but if you were walking somewhere with one of them, and needed to take a right or left turn, they'd say "right hand down" or "left hand down", like a rally driver's navigator. I still use it with my mum when we're out and she's using her walker. I always forget most people don't do this and have said it to several confused friends.
callandreturn@reddit
“Stop breathing the windscreen is hered up” said it to my husband the other day….no idea what I was talking about.
elhazelenby@reddit
"cash till" for a cash machine or ATM.
Melj84@reddit
Talking of coconut matting...
Used as a way to change the subject. Used often in our family, but never heard anyone else say it. I learned it wasn't a universal saying when I was 18 and said it in front of my then-partner's family, and they were totally baffled 😂
First_Folly@reddit
Not mine but someone at work called the microwave the ding-flapper.
DookuDonuts@reddit
My mum uses to say "Go to France!" when telling someone to clear off in a humorous way
Rhubarb-Eater@reddit
Wonder whether this is a polite-ified version of get tae fuck!
lem0njelly103@reddit
GET TAE FRAAAAANCE LADDIE
gundog48@reddit
This is just British localisation for "Go to Hell!"
Princessp3ach88@reddit
Have also heard get to France, definitely meaning get to fuck in some lyrics.
NenyaAdfiel@reddit
My family does a bit where we mispronounce words on purpose, so I grew up pronouncing “knife” like “kuh-niff-ee”
GrandDuty3792@reddit
One in my family was if someone said “bless you” after a sneeze you’d hear a “and all who sail in her!”
chuckles5454@reddit
"Kill your Aunt Miriam!"
RP2Parzival@reddit
My daughter has called anything grizzly/fatty in food as squabbie since she was a toddler. This has now been adopted in the family!
Medibot300@reddit
‘I can’t, I have a bone in my leg’. Excuse for everything and anything
PPMachen@reddit
You don’t keep a dog and bark yourself. (I’ve Never heard anyone else say this.)
HRHFlossie@reddit
If something is wonky or leaning over, it’s always ‘leaning to Penarth’. Courtesy of my Welsh Grandmother,
Short_Zebra5651@reddit
The scabby van. Any snack van container type food place that sells things like cheeseburgers, chips, morning rolls. Usually find them at industrial estates. No one had a clue what I was talking about when I asked if they wanted something from the scabby van🤣!
folklovermore_@reddit
According to a friend of mine, this is a "splash van" in Shropshire (or it was about 15-20 years ago at least!).
DameKumquat@reddit
Sounds like a Scottish version of the death van, down south.
When I was at college there were two late night death vans in the town square. People avoided one because apparently it did give people food poisoning, so went to Mr Burger's death van instead.
Until Mr Burger stabbed Mrs Burger one night mid-service, and was done for attempted murder.
Responsible_Slip6580@reddit
Sounds like the Cambridge Van of Life and Van of Death on market square.
JustHereForTheMechs@reddit
Somehow I spent 18 years of my life five miles away from this and never knew about the Van of Life and the Van of Death.
I do have a friend who converted a Landie into a mobile coffee shop, and sold alcohol from a converted horse box called "The Tow Bar", though, which I think is a legitimately great pun.
DameKumquat@reddit
Correct location! Though I never heard the name 'Van of Life' for Mr Burger or his replacement.
Short_Zebra5651@reddit
This also sounds like the type of stories my dad tells after a couple beers RE: burger murder, thanks for the laugh!😆
Short_Zebra5651@reddit
I asked my dad about it n he said it’s because the people who run those vans always look a bit scabby! Not a good stereotype for the poor folks there haha! I like death van 🤣
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
Ah, it was the botchy (short for botulism) wagon for us.
nico735@reddit
Ella and Sam’s restaurant (Sam ‘n Ella’s)
attemptedhigh5@reddit
My nanny always had a million expressions relating to Soft Mick. No idea who he was, like having “more money than Soft Mick”.
folklovermore_@reddit
My (very) Scouse dad also refers to Soft Mick a lot.
heidivodka@reddit
We use it in the north west
Snoo_23014@reddit
My folks always went on about soft mick too!
JackyRaven@reddit
We used "soft mick" too - Stoke-on-Trent.
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
And South Yorkshire
Cloverfield1996@reddit
That's hilarious. Do your family have any ideas?
bob-ombbattlefield@reddit
the end of the bread is the ‘noggy’!
alternatively, the ‘slag’… because everyone’s touched it but no one wants it ☺️
TurbulentHamster3418@reddit
I love the word 'snodge' lol!
My husband has a couple from his childhood, 'pippy' is tired and 'pecky' is hungry which I presume comes from peckish but who knows!
IV-Manufacturer@reddit (OP)
pecky makes sense but pippy for tired is just completely its own thing :D
honestFeedback@reddit
Pippy might come from putting on your pippy jim jams..
sossighead@reddit
My family used to say ‘peepy’ for tired which is because it’s how one of my dad’s siblings used to say ‘sleepy’ when they were very little.
It could be similar to that. Easy to see how a two year old might say ‘pippy’ for sleepy for example.
thelivsterette1@reddit
That's cute :) My brother goes by Bobby for a similar reason; my parents named him Baby for a while and my then 22 month old sister called him Bobby
It's stuck even 30 years later! Obviously for his business/legal matters he goes by his given name. The only people who used a "normal" nickname for his name were his teachers who'd call him Dan.
LikeEveryoneSheKnows@reddit
'Sleepy Peepy' is used commonly in our family. When the kids have gone to bed, they become the sleepy peepies.
JackyRaven@reddit
I reckon you're right - going peepies was always used for a child having a snooze/sleep.
louilou96@reddit
oh we say pecky in my family!
stoneballoon132@reddit
We refer to the TV remote as the “blobber” because my grandparents friends used to say it. Never heard anyone else use it.
EmFan1999@reddit
Joner - for a car that’s going very slowly
dude1943@reddit
My parents always called kitchen roll 'Elephant Looroll' (guessing cause it looks like a massive toilet roll). Didn't realise it wasn't called that until I was in my 20's
beneaththegardenwall@reddit
Scragg end of garlic bread (the crusty bit).
Gash bag for an outdoor bin, i.e. for a BBQ or camping. As you can imagine, this got me some Looks.
Major-Kaleidoscope83@reddit
Calling someone a cheeky little arab
yellowteapots@reddit
'It's black over Bill's mothers' - for it looks like it's going to rain over there. On the basis everyone knows a Bill so it must be raining over his mums house.
ThrowRAkitty13@reddit
As many have a nickname for female genitals, my mum always used to call it a "twink" which now just sounds very weird and I'm not sure how many others use that term.
Large_Reindeer_7328@reddit
It was a tuppence when I was growing up!
virella789@reddit
Same! Apparently I was distraught when watching Mary Poppins and the nasty bank men stole Michael's tuppence....🙈
Large_Reindeer_7328@reddit
Hahaha that's brilliant, I can imagine how terrifying that must have sounded as a kid!
Real-Strawberry-1395@reddit
We called it a ‘tig’. No idea.
ThrowRAkitty13@reddit
I need to know where these nicknames come from because how does a person decide what to start calling it?
kittysparkled@reddit
It's in use, but I believe twinks have little interest in ladyparts
meltymcface@reddit
May be used in a similar fashion, perhaps?
ThrowRAkitty13@reddit
🤣 you're right on that!
a-punk-is-for-life@reddit
If someone, especially an adult, has a tantrum it's a "Tommy Berry Do"
Took me years to realise that nobody else knew what that meant, and even more years to realise that Tommy Berry was clearly someone with a learning disability or something that my Grandpa knew when he was a child in the 1910s
inflatablefish@reddit
My little nieces and I had the concept of "serious time", which is when they need to be paying attention and behaving - such as when near busy roads or in crowds.
Infinite_College_235@reddit
For some reason I can't remember I call my children Goosebags as an affectionate term when their up to mischief I've noticed my wife does now as well.
RepairsYourKeeps@reddit
That's cute. My mum used "ratbags" in a similar way.
miklovesrum@reddit
My parents do that too!
Adventurous-Read-765@reddit
My Mum would say "Hell mend you" if you weren't listening to any advice. Quite a common saying in Scotland, but apparently not anywhere else.
jackarywoo@reddit
Instead of ‘better than a slap in the face with a wet fish’ we use ‘poke in the eye with a witch’s tit’
MungoJennie@reddit
My dad always said ‘better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.’
Sparky833@reddit
Anybody else call that tail flap on a turkey or chicken "the Pope's Nose"?
Worth_Kangaroo_6900@reddit
Snibble - knob on a kettle. ‘Can you push the snibble down please’. Urky - dressing gown. I was baffled when people didn’t know what I meant!
Dolphin_Spotter@reddit
Who's she? The cats mother?
Heathen-candy@reddit
A Sommersby. It is a film that has a particularly sad ending. Named after the film, Sommersby. We'd say to each other when a film started the dramatic turn where things look bad, "this better not be a Sommersby". Said it to a friend when I was at uni studying Film and they could not have been more confused haha.
bjmwanker@reddit
My wife’s family would say when you are sleepy that you ‘have eyes like sheep’s fanny’s’
Appropriate_Rub_961@reddit
Masting the tea. As in steeping/brewing. Possibly from pitmatic
Astropoppet@reddit
If something is cute, or would make you say aww, then everyone's a fluffy one... I think it was in an advert from before I was born
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
The ad was Jacobs’ chocolate covered marshmallow teacakes. Tasty, but not that cute!
Astropoppet@reddit
Ha, thanks for the info! I had a feeling there was a marshmallow involved somewhere. I think I've conflated cute with sweet
heidivodka@reddit
When my dad was recalling an incident and someone went berserk he would say they went apeshit bananas
Important_Lychee6925@reddit
The remote was “the gun”
heidivodka@reddit
We called it the change over, when I was a kid I was the change over as the tv didn’t have a remote
tomahawk66mtb@reddit
Yeah, we were a gun family too. Confused the shite out if cousins from America
ACalcifiedHeart@reddit
My step dad used to call it "the doofer"
CLWggg@reddit
I've also heard "hoofer doofer"
valhon99@reddit
“I’ll murder you!” My (uk) mum said all the time to me growing up. I visited her from US for first time with my 5 & 9 y/o sons. I had to nip to the shops across the road for some Hobnobs. When I came back home they were frozen in exactly the same spot on the sofa where I’d left them. When Grandma left the room the eldest whispered”We have to leave, Grandma is hoping to murder us!”…
Phat-Lines@reddit
Not one I use but my dad says ‘fag juice’ when referring to his vape liquid. Always thought it’s one heard out of context would sound pretty odd.
Simple-Warthog-9817@reddit
My partner has called it 'fillup' so often, I've started saying it too (we both vape).
CR1SBO@reddit
The television remote is named "the flicky", because you use it to flick through the channels (obviously).
Not until you're visiting a friends and you ask if they want you to pass them the flicky, that you notice something might not be normal about it
Sil_Lavellan@reddit
Electronic key fobs are 'the magic bean' or 'the dongle'. The original magic bean was vaguely bean sized.
yalliepants@reddit
The TV remote was called the Mando in our house but I've never heard anyone else use it.
Rocky-bar@reddit
https://mandoremote.com
yalliepants@reddit
Huh, didn't even know this existed!
Beginning_Tour_9320@reddit
Flutters- clutter. ( magazines, letters, anything not in its place)
ManicWolf@reddit
My mum had always called daddy long-leg spiders "fairy spiders" for some reason. I thought that was their actual name into adulthood.
Suspicious_Banana255@reddit
Beddies, I knew they were also called slippers but was surprised when no one else outside my family seemed to call them beddies.
Vickyinredditland@reddit
My mum and grandma have always used the phrase "you're shaping like a wooden butcher" (you're doing a bad job/ doing that in a really awkward or inefficient way) which I assumed was a common phrase, until I tried to Google it 😭. Bonus variation my grandma used to also put a twist on it "you're shaping like a wooden armhole" Pure nonsense lol. They're both intelligent, well read women so I have no idea what was going on there, but my mum is still convinced it's a real, common phrase and not some poppycock that her mother thought up 😅.
BlueMagnolia20@reddit
We had many, we would call them "(oursurname)isms". Bleeper- remote control Gizzy- if something's a bit deflated, imagine a deflated wrinkly balloon. Bloiky- being really full/fat from food. Could also be a verb, like imagine a seal bouncing along the ground bloik bloik bloik. Crappo- for a poo (I got in trouble at school for this one)
Individual_End_9004@reddit
“It’s Six and two three’s” had my wife baffled for years, which is odd given she’s a medical doctor.
She just could understand why it was the same 😭😭
rhingthnigherething@reddit
John Barnes Goes Shopping - the reaction when someone delivers a piece of news with enthusiasm but it’s actually really boring in a “did you know [boring fact]” kind of way - to be said with heavy sarcasm.
Mockmadmu@reddit
'Left, right and Chelsea' instead of 'left, right and centre'. Didn't know it was wrong till I left home for uni.
Veroorzaakt@reddit
My Gran used to say "Shit flies higher if you hit it with a stick"
FineRepresentative57@reddit
Nosey got hung and cheeky got choked.
laureno101@reddit
My nan used to call a brush and dustpan a brush and shovel, had some right looks calling it that, still do now.
thelivsterette1@reddit
My old personal trainer told me he was so obsessed with the Muppets as a kid his bedroom was a bit of a shrine to them and he called it the Muppet Room.
Would be weird for me to call mine the Mamma Mia Here We Go Again Room even tho I have a giant poster nailed to the wall that my friend got me from the premiere (he drove the Panamanian embassador to the premiere and snagged one and a giant Extra sign for me)
tumshy@reddit
Not just our family but we adopted “bombsy tit” from the Adam & Joe podcast years ago. If a room is a mess.
Menyana@reddit
Silly arse was my nan's affectionate nick name for my dad. Never heard it anywhere else.
Tiocfaidh__Ar__La@reddit
Aunty Kate's teaspoon. It's when you've washed the dishes and there's always that one last item you missed.
I've never had an aunt Kate, and I don't remember any of my family having one either, so I assumed it was an old saying that used to be in common usage but isn't so well known now. Turns out it's just our family. Still can't remember whose aunt Kate was, though.
doraisexploring27@reddit
My wife always says there are ‘pugs in her hair’ when it’s tangled needs a comb. She thought this was a normal, well-known saying for nearly thirty years.
womble-king@reddit
Describing heavy rain as "Tiling it down". Never heard anyone else say it.
FinnemoreFan@reddit
My parents used to say “who do you think you are, Pier Point Morgan?” to scoff at proposed extravagance. I mean I think it was ‘Pier Point Morgan’, that’s rendered phonetically. Haven’t heard this anywhere else.
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
It refers to J Pierpont Morgan who was a massive financier and investment banker in early 20th century America.
tricks_23@reddit
My old work tutor used to refer to people he couldn't remember the name of a Scrinson Dewberry
Spannerdaniel@reddit
My dad nicknamed the soap Emmerdale to 'Gimmerdale' and I repeated this in primary school not realising that I was just repeating my dad's slur based nickname for a TV show he didn't like.
tricks_23@reddit
What slur? A gimmer is a ewe between their first and second shearing. Oddly specific and fitting nickname for a farming soap
Spiritual_Bet3955@reddit
I'd heard my mum talk about 'old gimmers', not specifically about Emmerdale though.
I_drink_gin@reddit
Yi canny half kick a deed baw- when someone is good at something.
How many beans make five? Two in the hands and 1 in the mouth - absolutely not a clue what this was meant to mean
Relaxed_ButtonTrader@reddit
I’ve heard the ‘how many beans make five?’ (meaning that if you know that, you’re intelligent) from my nana, but I’ve never heard the extra bit. Maybe she wasn’t all that smart if she didn’t know how to make five beans!
Willsagain2@reddit
The snodge is the best. I've never heard this before
KirasStar@reddit
If my dad forgot the name of someone or something, he would always refer to them/it as “snah-bah”. I always thought it was a real term but it turns out he’s just using a Scots word for snowball and it’s a quirk he’s always had.
Ok_Dig1170@reddit
Bad drivers are mole stranglers
Mustard yellow colour is dogsh
Toes are snails and onions (from having little toes that look like snails and bunions)
Flickywoo@reddit
My grandad always used to say ‘kill 2 birds with 3 bricks’ instead of 2 birds with 1 stone.
Western-Cicada-6195@reddit
No the end of the loaf is called the knobler
Antergaton@reddit
When you hand someone like a cup of tea "Careful it's not hot." Meaning "careful, it's hot." Yeah, confusing, not sure if that's regional dialect or my extended family but we knew what it meant.
Responsible_Slip6580@reddit
My mum grew up in New Zealand so she always called our belly button a 'Puku'. Also the remote was called a 'Blipper'.
bikinikills@reddit
"Motey me" = hand me the remote please
Fondant_Crazy@reddit
My Brother used to tell me that I'm not my Mum and Dads actual kid and that they found me behind Iceland (the supermarket) and that's why on all the adverts they say "that's why Mum's go to Iceland"
Aliciyar@reddit
There are soooooo many in my odd, neurodiverse family but my favourite is chilly-bum-willy. It just means cold. “It’s chilly-bum-willy out there today.” I can’t remember the origin but I say it in mixed company all the time and it’s often made people give me funny looks. It’s just so silly! Bum and willy are just funny words. It makes me smile even when I’m freezing.
painful_butterflies@reddit
A fart is a "foof".
A lady region is a "moof"
Don't confuse them, or you'll sound crazy.
Myceliphilos@reddit
My mother was violent, and would say 'if you do X it'll make your nose hurt' She meant 'if you do X im gunna hit you in the face' was a common saying from early childhood and she'd follow through with it too, it was only in my mid 20s when laughing and joking about it, did a room full of very silent people, with horrified expressions, make me realise that it wasnt normal.
Im mid 30s now and still have those moments occasionally.
bedbuffaloes@reddit
My in-laws used to refer to people whose name they couldn't bothered to remember as "potso" or "pots". Like "Potso down the road".
My husband thought it was a reference to Pozzo in Waiting for Godot but I find that hard to believe. Anybody have this phrase in their family?
I joined their family as a young American in my twenties who'd never been to the UK before and figuring out what were Britishisms and what were his-family-isms was an endless source of confusion to me.
griffaliff@reddit
My dad used to say 'is it Buxton!' when I'd ask a question he found absurd.
gayjay-jpg@reddit
My dad always used to say "Same to you with brass knobs on!" Only found out knob was a swear word when the kids at school started to take the piss lol
-The-New-Shmoo-@reddit
My mum used to say " my stomachs touching my backbone " when she was hungry and dad always says if something is really small (usually food) that he could stick it in his ear
BatteryAt14percent@reddit
Tea going uphill meaning it was brewing.
Bowtie327@reddit
Lefty Losey, Clockwise To-Do
Classic-Wafer-7838@reddit
If you answered "so?" to anything my mum said, she'd answer "buttons on a pig's bum". It's obviously a play on so/sew, but I've never understood it, nobody else I've told has understood it, and I think I even googled it once and could find no trace of it online. I asked her about it once, and she just said her mother had always said it, and she didn't know where it came from, either.
Adventurous_Ad3451@reddit
My granny used to say I ‘looked a proper mawkin’ if I was scruffy. Mawkin was her word for scarecrow. (Definitely not merkin. That’s a whole other thing. 😂)
Greggybread@reddit
We always called the TV remote "The Dippety Box". I was much embarrassed to find was not universal when I let it slip at school one day and got laughed at.
stupre1972@reddit
"Leave me alone woman, I'm Ragid" was an of used phrase by one of my grandfather's.
Ragid being and equivalent to hot and bothered and mildly irked
witchy-wonders@reddit
Not from when I was little but I am German and married to an English man. The kid is bilingual but languages often merge and I would often use the word “mopsig” in my dialect we use it when you are bit bored or listless. However a few years ago my then 17 year old said that they always thought I meant “mop-sick” as in sick as a mop. Still makes me laugh.
FedUpWithTexting@reddit
My mum, when asked what we were having for tea would say "bread and pull it round the room" i've no idea why
Major-Imagination-47@reddit
My family use ‘jumping from ships to trains’ for switching subjects. I use around all my friends, and colleagues. It wasn’t until my ex asked me why I was saying it last year to find out it was made up by my late grandma/her family
yesbutnobutokay@reddit
My wife's family always called ghosts, oakies. If ever there was a strange noise or strange atmosphere, they'd all say "Ooh, oakies!". They never knew why, it was just a thing they did.
After much research, it turned out that there was a creepy, allegedly haunted house down the road, and a family called Oakes once lived there.
Millietree@reddit
My Mum used to say you looked like 'The wreck of the Hesperus' if you'd come in from a particularly windy day & your hair had been blown all over. No idea at the time what the Hesperus' was, but now I know it's from a poem. Also, she used to say someone looked like a biafran, if someone was super skinny!! This was back in the 70's & 80's.
flyingfoxtrot_@reddit
My grandad used to call ugly or uncomfortable kids clothes "nodads". As in "no, Dad! I'm not wearing that, it's itchy!"
SylvarGrl@reddit
In our house, everyone always called the heel of a loaf of bread “the knobbler”. I was in my 20s when I realized that nobody else knew what “knobblers” were.
Greippi42@reddit
Gubbins for bits and bobs, or the little bits of vegetable etc left at the end of a casserole.
Rhubarb-Eater@reddit
My mother always called the physalis fruit syphilis. She really likes them, and would often put them in my packed lunch. When the other children asked what those strange looking fruits were, I would innocently say ‘syphilis’!
msma46@reddit
My parents had a swear-phrase I’ve never heard anywhere else. They’d say “P-U-S-Buh” with the emphasis on the Buh. I have no idea what the letters stood for, if anything. For context, they grew up in south London in the 1940s & 50s. Anyone else ever heard this?
Rhubarb-Eater@reddit
My granddad used to call all the grandchildren twinkletoes or stinker pinker, especially if you were being naughty or cheeky. Another child really annoyed my younger brother in the playground one day, and my brother went bright red, puffed himself up to his full height - we all held our breath waiting for what swear word might come out - and shouted ‘now look here, twinkletoes!!!!’
I still use them both!
BladesmanPhil@reddit
At home the TV remote was called the button box. My wife’s family calls it a blip. I keep trying to convince the kids that it’s a button box but they have sided with their mum and call it a blip.
HanAVFC@reddit
I know where it's from but since Raffa's press conference after a match once, where he used the word fact all the time, me and my brother started saying "Raffa fact" to say something is definitely 10000 percent the truth. We aren't Liverpool fans or anything.
When I tried to explain it to my non football watching partner, he was confused 🤣😂
MapOfIllHealth@reddit
It was around day two or three of living in uni halls, my new housemates and I were discussing what to do the next day, so I asked “what does the weather give?”. At 19yrs old I’d never felt like such a social outcast as they all turned to stare at me in unison before bursting out laughing and asking what I meant.
I confidently told them that everybody said that back in my hometown. When I went home to visit I asked everybody I knew outside of my family and they all gave me that same look of “wtf did you just say?”
emimagique@reddit
My parents call a ready meal a "box dinner" - obviously it makes sense but it seems to be something they've made up as no one else I know calls it this! No idea why they felt the need to invent a new word for it
betweenthelines010@reddit
The little cabinet in the hall that shoes, umbrellas etc live in is always called "the furniture". Nobody has any idea why and I didn't question it until I was an adult. Now I still call the one in my own house the furniture and my husband is regularly like wtf
HeavyPrint3@reddit
When we kids came home dirty and muddy my mother used to say 'Look at the state of you,you mucky Arab. Not PC i know, but she did used to say it.
Background_Angle4277@reddit
Doofer referred to both the TV remote and a car key that was remote opening (very fancy to use) rather than a proper key
Alyala@reddit
'Because Y is not a Z and it won't stand up' whenever we asked why. Never heard anyone outside our family to say it
Altruistic_Dare6085@reddit
One of my grandmothers referrs to small flying insects like gnats as "fleeps". I have no idea if it's a dialect difference or just a thing in our family.
Bexcellent500@reddit
My Granny, from Yorkshire, would say the rain was over if there was enough blue in the sky for a pair of sailor’s trousers
MessyPenguin@reddit
Go get your “goonie”on, which meant to get your pyjamas on. “He thinks he is all that and a bag of chips”. Let’s “skidaddle”.
zero_iq@reddit
They may not be 'universal', but none of those are unique to your family and should be recognised by lots of people across the UK and USA.
Goonie is a Scottish term for nightgown. That's probably the least widely known one. (But I know it, and I'm not Scottish!)
"All that and a bag of chips" very well known American phrase used in 90s TV series, movies, and pop culture. (E. G. Fresh Prince, Austin Powers)
"Skedaddle" is widely recognised 'old timey' slang. Originated in 1860s USA, but used all over the place. Kryten says it several times in Red Dwarf, for instance.
regalroomba@reddit
My Nan used to make up so many phrases that I just grew up thinking were normal, that even now there's a regular occurrence in our house where I'll say something, my boyfriend will be confused, and we'll have to work out if it's something my Nan made up, Scouse slang (my boyfriend is from a different part of the UK), or just regular UK slang that he somehow hadn't heard of.
aivlysplath@reddit
“Close, but no enchilada.” My mom said it a lot. She’s Mormon so I assume that she objected to the mentioning of cigars.
LavenderAndHoneybees@reddit
We took my younger siblings to see Nanny McPhee in the cinema many moons ago and my younger brother came out of it saying 'barga lemon' as a term for something being shite, like that meal was barga lemon. We still have no idea what he misheard in the film, my parents rewatched it to try figure it out to no avail. Over the years it got shortened to just calling something barga if it was a bit crap, with us often forgetting it makes zero sense to anyone else.
Just blowdried my hair, high expectations, came out looking barga 🤷♀️
SyntheticChinchilla@reddit
“Close, but no enchilada.” My mom said it a lot. She’s Mormon so I assume that she objected to the mentioning of cigars. Weird.
crickety-crack@reddit
Slightly different - I came up with a word when I was little: "partments" (pronounced just like "apartments")
When I was a young, my mam told me I used to love scribbling on bits of paper and organising them, putting different bits of paper in order and crossing off to-do lists.. etc. I told her I was "doing my partments"
Nowadays, both me, my mam, my auntie and other family members say that we "need to do some partments" for whenever we need to sort through bills, check receipts and to-do lists, and get paperwork and important letters in order etc.
Dunno where I got it from! I was thinking parchment? Like parchment paper? Who knows, but we all still use it today :)
seshwan33@reddit
If anywhere suddenly gets busy after we have got sorted we say pub golf.
It comes from one time I went for a pint with a mate and we said down to take our first swig and bunch of students doing pub golf came in in all the gear and flooded the bar. I looked at him and said thank god we got these in already. And he went what do you mean and I went ‘pub golf’ and nodded over to the bar.
Another one me and Mrs have is we say dewy when we want the washing bringing in or it’s about to rain.
It comes from us saying the washing god dewy when we’ve left it out to late and it’s gets they evening wetness to it. But now we just use it to say bring the maiden in lol.
Impressive_Mud_295@reddit
“Bed shoes” for house slippers.
Unable_Turnip5645@reddit
Give it to me straight, like a pear cider that’s made with 100% pears
diwalk88@reddit
My dad tended toward eating a single meal at an unconventional time of day rather than the standard breakfast, lunch, supper (always supper in my family, I think I'm the only one who says dinner). He called this meal "brelunner." My brother thought this was a real word and has used it unselfconsciously outside of the family for his entire life.
tiptoe_only@reddit
"Flitterbobbing" is pottering around the house (or at work!) ostensibly getting lots of things done but actually achieving very little, as you're essentially just jumping between unfinished tasks. It can be a noun too, as in "you're such a flitterbob - settle down and finish that laundry before you start on the garden!'
obbitz@reddit
Spuddle = to work ineffectively, to spuddle around. A Spuddler is someone who works ineffectively. My family are Devon/Somerset so it may be local dialect. It also gets used for wealthy grockles who move in and ‘play’ at being farmers.
Mojofilter9@reddit
'give it to me straight, like a pear cider made from 100% pears'
Maverick_Heathen@reddit
My Freind's family referred to bramble jelly sandwiches as BJs and it was only on going to secondary school she realised how weird it was to be asking her mum and dad for a BJ
Legitimate_War_397@reddit
I got told “you were born with a hole in your heart” I thought it was literally. Turns out they just meant I lacked sympathy for people going through minor life issues but I was always brought that a lot of people have it worse so there’s no point in crying over of it. I have the same attitude to myself as well, when something bad happens I just get on with it.
dmhrpr@reddit
I'll give it to you straight, like a pear cider that's made from 100% pears
josiejgurl@reddit
r/stewartlee
Squishyboooot@reddit
We always said daydays for taking the dogs for a walk, we'll, it's full phrase is, "are you contemplating a daydays?" Not sure why we said it, I think my mum made it up, but tbf I prefer it to walkies.
fastestman4704@reddit
"Chin bone-ing" to mean lying or making something up.
AutoModerator@reddit
Please help keep AskUK welcoming!
When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. If a post is marked 'Serious Answers Only' you may receive a ban for violating this rule.
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.