I had to have some emergency dental work done this week after I lost an onlay from a back molar. Since the site was one where I'd already had a root canal no numbing was necessary; or so I thought! It was a lot more stressful (tugging, pulling, grinding!) than I had imagined, the time in the chair enduring all of this torture was well over an hour. I called Mr. G. when I was on my way home, he asked how it had been. I found myself saying "I feel like I was pulled through a knothole backwards"; this was a phrase that my grandmother used to use and I hadn't thought about it in years, it just came flooding back! Do you have those phrases, old sayings, that are stored way down deep in your memory? This made me smile. Thinking about her brought to mind another word (or maybe it's two words) that I don't know I've ever heard anyone else use. If I was in her care and wanted to go outside to play I was expected to stay in the dooryard (door yard?). I knew exactly what this meant, it described that area outside the backdoor that she could see when she when she stuck her head out to check on me. I wasn't allowed out of her sight. Have you ever heard that one before? How about you? What old sayings, or quaint phrases, are stored in your memories? We'd love to hear them.
Oh, PS- the tooth is all fixed and just fine again. 😉
Life is Good!
10 comments:
On long vacation car trips (no radio in the car, no air conditioning), when we got restless in the back of the station wagon, my dad would tell us: “You kids better straighten up and fly right!” Still don’t know what it means, but we understood the message.
https://www.learning-mind.com/old-sayings-meanings/
I have heard all of these! Being born to older parents...all of these were used frequently, and more!
My mom died in October and her ashes will be interred at the end of the month. For the luncheon after her interment, my daughter, who has Down syndrome, has put together a list of "Gram-isms" that have been included in the video with the photographs. My mom passed down many of her sayings to Emily and Emily loves using them. Some favorites are "The shades of night are falling", "We are in for a Jim cane", "What are you muttering about?" and "There is frost on the pumpkins." Many of the things my mom said came from her mother, so it's wonderful that they have been passed to another generation.
My British phrases seem to confuse people. “Pull the door to”, to me means pull the door closed but not all the way, just leave it open a crack. However, I just learned that oldest son uses this expression too! He was very surprised that people didn’t understand this. 🤣
I'm not familiar with either of the sayings you have shared here.
I know my Mom used a lot of sayings she got from her mom, but the only one I can bring to mind right now is "she's really taking a rag off the bush". But I don't think it meant to her what the experts now say it meant.
My mother used to say, "That makes the cheese more binding," which seemed to indicate that whatever it was made it all much worse. The best old saying was my husband's paternal grandmother who, when talking to us about previous visitors, would say, "I gave them goodbyes." I just loved that.
My mom used all sorts of these sayings! I know some of them occasionally fly out of my mouth unbidden. A co-worker introduced me to "a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket" and "one egg short of an omelet" which apparently are more southern phrases than the upper midwest where I grew up. Great post - glad the tooth is all better now (and phooey to those who say a tooth that has undergone a root canal doesn't need novocaine - perhaps not the full dose but at least a smaller one). p.s. Love the "dip me in vinegar and call me a pickle" from your graphic.
I live on east coast of canada, dooryard is used a lot.
my mother in law used to say "finer than frog hair split three ways.' and "nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs"
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