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Sayings, legends and customs.

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Smudger said:
If tha does owt for nowt, do it for thee sen. ( A Yorkshire saying i think)
Pardon me for being so rude, it was not me it was my food.
Snafu. Old soldiers will know that one.
As black as the hobs of hell.
One swallow does not make a summer.
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my dad said that. he came from Derby
 
Sugar said:
There is many superstitions that has been around for generations whether we believe in all of them is down to ourselves .the main one I believe in and have always kept to is never walk under a ladder or it will bring you bad luck even though many a time I have put myself in danger going round a ladder walking into the road when the ladder is across the pavement !!!
I believe in time gone by women believed in them more than men.My favourite ones our mum believed in were
If your palm was itchy scratch it on top of your broom handle and you will come into money and if you have a little spider on your body let it stay as it will bring you money also another one I remember is if you dropped a silver fork or knife on the floor a stranger will come to your door.I am sure there is hundreds of them that people remember and keep too but I wonder if they will still be remembered in years to come or will they just die out ?
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We had loads of superstitions in our family - I still have some of them:

Slight variation on the dropped cutlery - If you drop a knife on the floor, never pick it up yourself or you'll have an argument.
Never cross with anyone on the stairs.
If you spill salt on the table, throw a pinch of it over your left shoulder to blind the devil (I'm left-handed so that one's a bit tricky for me ).
Never open an umbrella indoors.
Never put shoes on a table.
 
rosie said:
My nan gave me some knives she no longer used, I had to give her a few pennies because it would have meant she wished me trouble!! The same thing with a purse, always put a penny in a new purse if it's a present.
rosie.
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That's something we've always done - if you buy somebody a wallet or purse as a gift you put some money in.
 
waverlee said:
Seeing Ta rar mentioned,I seem to remember most people saying it.And it wasn't only people that said it.
I went into a pet shop in Oldbury where a customer was just about to leave.
The man behind the counter said to him "Ta rar now"
As the customer opened the door a mynah bird said "Ta rar now".
Tojo.
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The now, bit is interesting, I noted in Cumbria they ad 'now' to phrases, there you go now, My Dublin friend's mum when giving us our dinner would say now Bob, now Nico as she handed us the plates.
 
I Am Nico said:
If I put my tee shirt on back to front it's good luck.
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Bob Davis said:
or inside out
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mw0njm. said:
if so leave it.
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Friend of mine reckons he can wear his boxers for 4 days using that method. :mask:

Ta Ra familiar to me, as is toodle pip with the same meaning.

Julie uses "knife to the floor, man to the door". Also don't put shoes on the table, with or without feet in them.

From schooldays, suet yer sen, meaning suit yourself, I don't care what you do.

Sugar said:
if you have a little spider on your body let it stay as it will bring you money
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I was told "its only a money spider, leave it"

Smudger said:
Pardon me for being so rude, it was not me it was my food.
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Same here, but without the "so".

I Am Nico said:
I'll be two shakes of a lamb's tail.
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Exactly that.

I Am Nico said:
If Nan knew she got to someone she would say, I bet that rattled their tin!
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For me it was cage rather than tin.

I Am Nico said:
who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong
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I confess.

Andrew.
 
paul stacey said:
When a boy, on the morning tram, people would often, call "morning all", and shout "Tara a bit" when alighting, seems, funny now, But Brum was avery friendly place back in the 50's!!
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Made me smile reading these. I remember Tara-a-bit and toodle pip as normal goodbyes. Also made me smile thinking how I still use some of the old phrases even though I'm now in Wiltshire, where they don't understand why, when someone has a misrable look, they 'have a face as long as Livery Street', or, when making a lot of noise , they will 'hear you down the Bull Ring'....
 
TommoCo said:
Made me smile reading these. I remember Tara-a-bit and toodle pip as normal goodbyes. Also made me smile thinking how I still use some of the old phrases even though I'm now in Wiltshire, where they don't understand why, when someone has a misrable look, they 'have a face as long as Livery Street', or, when making a lot of noise , they will 'hear you down the Bull Ring'....
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I posted this before but.....'er fairse 'ud stop a clock.
Mardy pants, and mardy britches. In the Cov playground I used to hear mardy @rse.
At work titty la la. Apparantly means a bit of a wimp or a cry baby.
I loved, spittin' feathers.
and cussin' .
If nan saw a sailor, 'the fleet's in!'
 
I Am Nico said:
I posted this before but.....'er fairse 'ud stop a clock.
Mardy pants, and mardy britches. In the Cov playground I used to hear mardy @rse.
At work titty la la. Apparantly means a bit of a wimp or a cry baby.
I loved, spittin' feathers.
and cussin' .
If nan saw a sailor, 'the fleet's in!'
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In my childhood in brum it was a bit different, being a wimp or a cry baby was called being a 'titty baby'.
And, people who got really annoyed did have a 'blue fit' as mentioned above.
Other old words from my nan and grandad; they always referred to any road or street as the ''orse-road',
nan was always worried that I would 'catch 'is death o' the ague' (the flu) if I went with outside with the top button of my shirt undone, and worse still if I did not wear me ganzee (a jumper or pullover), and this was said in the height of summer!
 
I Am Nico said:
Yow'll be the death 'o me.
Nan wore a very long sleevless vest, tucked in, 'to keep me neck warm' she said with irony.
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My nan always wore 'cover-all' black clothes (just face and hands uncovered) and had her hair done up in a bun on top of her head. She never went out without a hat, fastened on securely by long hatpins into the bun. At night my mom would help her (she was over 80 by then) by undoing the hair bun, combing the hair with cold tea from the pot (to darken it) and then platting it into a pony tail - this was believed to help the angels pull you up to heaven if you died during the night.
Anyone else heard of that old custom, or anything similar?
 
TommoCo said:
My nan always wore 'cover-all' black clothes (just face and hands uncovered) and had her hair done up in a bun on top of her head. She never went out without a hat, fastened on securely by long hatpins into the bun. At night my mom would help her (she was over 80 by then) by undoing the hair bun, combing the hair with cold tea from the pot (to darken it) and then platting it into a pony tail - this was believed to help the angels pull you up to heaven if you died during the night.
Anyone else heard of that old custom, or anything similar?
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No but it sounds like something my Nan would have you believe!
 
TommoCo said:
In my childhood in brum it was a bit different, being a wimp or a cry baby was called being a 'titty baby'.
And, people who got really annoyed did have a 'blue fit' as mentioned above.
Other old words from my nan and grandad; they always referred to any road or street as the ''orse-road',
nan was always worried that I would 'catch 'is death o' the ague' (the flu) if I went with outside with the top button of my shirt undone, and worse still if I did not wear me ganzee (a jumper or pullover), and this was said in the height of summer!
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Nan used to get an attack of the agues too. The hot and cold shivers, my mate used to say the hotaches. Mum said the heebiejeebies but that was when she was scared.
 
My dad used to say,if an insect got into his cup, "There's a wirly in me tea ".
Also for a snack, he had bread and a "nog" of cheese.
I remember,one day(gory story coming),my dad was in fits of laughter telling my mom that he and a butcher friend,George,were talking outside,when,calm as you like,George broke off a large splinter from the shed "to get a nog of meat out of his false teeth"!!
Tojo.
 
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