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"old saying"

  • Thread starter Thread starter margaret sheridan
  • Start date Start date
Di.Poppitt said:
The conversation went like this:

Mom - What have you been doing

Me - Nothing

Mom - Well this is what you get for doing nothing, wait till you have done something.

???
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I can remember going down the garden to my dad and he'd say 'what do you want?' I'd say 'nothing'. He'd say 'well you've got it- take it and go'!

I work at a school and say it to the kids now and they haven't a clue! I've seen more intelligent expressions on a stone!
 
How about :-

Mother "What have you been doing ?"
I say "I aint done nothing mom"
Mother "Well if you aint done nothing, you must have done something"
 
Rupert said:
What is 'codswallop' really.
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Rupert found this today update to your question posted 04/2006

Codswallop

Wallop has always been used to describe cheap beer.

The word Cod has been in the English language since ancient times.

Codpiece to describe a vital piece of defence of the Male body.

A load of old Codswallop would certanly be a derogatory expression.

Rupert better late than never
 
Didn't an old beer bottle, the type with a glass stopper, used to be called a 'cod'. If so this would tie in neatly wouln't it

Bob
 
Alf. This came up in a quiz and if I remember correctly it is the glass marble in the top of an old beer bottle. Double check though. While I'm hear [digressing again] have a look at that postcard I posted last night and see what Lloyd has done. He's even put what is written on the back. Jean.
 
"In 1876, British soft drink maker Hiram Codd designed and patented a bottle designed specifically for fizzy drinks. Though his Codd-neck bottle was a success in the fizzy drink industry, alcohol drinkers disparaged Codd's invention, often saying it was only good for "wallop" (a slang term for low quality beer in the late-19th century). The term soon became "Codd's Wallop" and was eventually used for anything of low-quality or rubbish."

Codd's bottles were sealed by the pressure of the gas in the drink holding a glass marble up in the neck of the bottle. Children would smash the empty bottles to get the marbles out to play with.

Also https://www.mpotten.freeserve.co.uk/
 
Well done Lloyd - tidies it up neatly. Mind you, when you say kids took the marble don't you mean glarnie!

Bob
 
They still have a couple of these bottles on the display shelf at the Button Oak pub. When I was naughty [frequently] my mom called me a little tinker. GGJ.
 
My dad used to refer to the glass ones as glarnies. Maybe the word means glass in another language. Will look it up. I still have a bag upstairs with at least a thousand marbles in some from when I was a child. Been told to sort through them as they have become collectable. Bye. Jean.
 
As I recall Lloyd most of my mates said marleys. My grandad called them glarnies so I suppose I picked it up from him. He'd also say there's a bobowler (moth) in the house or a spug (sparrow) outside.

Jean, you've set my mind on a different track. In the 50's we used to have a weekend 'retreat' in the forest and most weekends in summer this would mean a trip from Brum on the Whittle's bus, getting off at Button Oak followed by a weekend of great fun in the country. I've retained a love of the countryside ever since, you didn't get many cherry trees, woodpeckers or adders in Winson Green!
 
Daft as a brush
Blind as a bat
Dry as a baggers Bum
Tony's dad used to say that, might be a Black Country thing
 
No but I have always said 'donkey's ears' which my wife thinks is very odd. I seem to recall reading once that this may have been the original saying but ears got corrupted to years.
 
Hi everyone! enjoyed reading all your posts. I have just remembered a few sayings that we used a lot in our house.

If we had piled our plate too high with food and then couldn't eat it all - we were told "Pelican, Pelican - beak holds more than it's belly can".
or our "eyes were bigger than our belly"
if we were hungry - stomach feels like your throats been slit.

See you later aligator - in a while crocodile
cold hands warm heart
up the wooden hills to bedfordshire, daddy was the old gee gee
if the wind changes your face will stick like that
 
Hows about can't teach granny to suck eggs. It' a bit rude but red hat no draws. Careful round your aunt Nelly's. Bye. GGJ.
 
Oh Beatrice I wish you hadn't quoted that one. 'Couldn't stop a pig in an entry' is what my brother always said to me and 'Olive Oil'.
Ann
 
I think you hit the nail on the head there Lloyd. Next size up from a pin. I was always told I was found under a goosberry bush. I know parents didn't talk about the facts of life back then but why a goosberry bush?. I prefer strawberries. Mind you they are a bit too close to the ground. Jean.
 
I was always told I was found under a goosberry bush.
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I was told the Stork brought me, I didn't know the Stork was a bird, but I'd seen packs of Stork margarine. I was confused for ages!
 
Gee Gee Jean said:
I remember a saying. See a pin pick it up all the day you'll have good luck. Jean.
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I too remember this one. But mine continued.....

See a pin and pick it up .............. all the day you'll have good luck
See a pin and let it lie......you'll be sorry by and by
 
l was told l came in a little black bag...and never doubted it as you remember the midwife nurse would always ride around with her little black bag on the back of her bicycle, and lo and behold there was always a baby left at the house she was visiting....so l never questioned it....how innocent we were in those days....l also remember my dad would be talking about the past etc and always said it was before l was a twinkle in his eye.....Brenda
 
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