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sayings

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Astoness said:
oh crikey pen thats just taken me back...we sang it slightly different...eeny mey macaraca...dare die dumeracka sticka racka lollipop a rum tum push...out goes one out goes two out goes another one and thats means you....

where on earth this came from and what it meant i have no idea lol :D:D:D

lyn
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Looks pretty much the same Lyn, doesn't it? It's amazing how these things got around. I heard it in the playground and park (which were quite near to each other but I suppose if youngsters went to visit relatives they'd play the same games and take the sayings with them.
 
Edifi said:
Don't know if it's been on before,my NAN used to say if my mother was moaning.Shes got her knickers in a twist.
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Knickers in a knot. Coventry.
Drawers in a tangle.
Don't let your dingle dangle, dangle in the dust.
Only let your dingle dangle, dangle if it must.
Sung by dad.
 
Radiorails said:
Living in a coastal community many expressions I hear have a marine connection.
Being inebriated can be referred to as "dree (three) sheets (sails) in the wind i.e all over the place and unsecured.
Another way would be to say "' ee be shippin' some watter".
A cup of tea in the rural areas might be known as '' a dish of tay'.
A comment might end with 'daunee knaw' (don't you know).
One saying I never fathomed its origin was 'ees fay' which is an agreement of a comment heard.
'Ma dear zawl' is often used as an exclamation.
'Towing in the tide' was an older custom for dealing with promiscuous women. Men, as usual, got no such treatment.
The 'higher the collar, the lower the church' was often said of Anglican clergy.
Older fishermen would always remind you 'that you zails by permission, Zir'
a person who has 'a lot of ole crams' would be someone fussy.
Older women would be apoplectic if you picked up their teapot, This was likely to 'give them ginger twins'.
A cup of tea, not filled well might cause the comment 'Aw, be the vicar cummin?'
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To your last item mum would retort .
has the cart gone past?
 
When my family moved from Stourbridge to Coventry people asked were they from Brummijum. Or found them hard to understand and vice versa sometimes with slang.
No one here knew what bally draft was, or chawl. Or sparrak chops. Batch cerk. Chickerlins. pays.
Snail buns. etc
 
Edifi said:
Does anyone remember when girls were skipping a saying , Chic a licka lollypop out goes one.
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Ibble obble black bobble out goes you ibble obble black bobble out goes 2.....sometimes adding your shoes are dirty go and clean them at once. I always thought this was the rhymer not wanting to be out and adding a bit on.
 
From the latest Black Country Magazine...

In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts, so in old England, when a customers got unruly, the bartender would yell, “mind your pints and quarts and settle down.” It’s where we get the phrase, “mind your P’s and Q’s.”
 
Pedrocut said:
From the latest Black Country Magazine...

In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts, so in old England, when a customers got unruly, the bartender would yell, “mind your pints and quarts and settle down.” It’s where we get the phrase, “mind your P’s and Q’s.”
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Gosh, I never knew that - very interesting!
 
Pedrocut, That's really interesting. I always thought it meant 'mind you pleases and thank-q's' but that doesn't really make sense does it? Also I used to think the saying 'No peace for the wicked' was 'No peace for the wicket' and wondered for years what peace had to do with cricket until I read 'No peace for the wicked and the righteous don't need none'!
 
RE pints and quarts, In "My Old Man Said Foller The Van", doesn't she sing, " And I stopped on the way to have me old have quart or quarten? " That's what Nan sang anyway, I wonder what a half quart or quarten was?
 
"Where are you going Nan?" I wold ask, "Arm off to see Tip'n Run" she would reply. Can anyone tell me what that means please. Mum said people called Tipton Tip'n sometimes.
 
Nico said:
RE pints and quarts, In "My Old Man Said Foller The Van", doesn't she sing, " And I stopped on the way to have me old have quart or quarten? " That's what Nan sang anyway, I wonder what a half quart or quarten was?
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I remember a small bottle of whiskey, bought from the outdoor, being called a quarten.
As for your mention of" tip 'n run", wasn' t that another name for a game of "Tag" ?
 
maypolebaz said:
I remember a small bottle of whiskey, bought from the outdoor, being called a quarten.
As for your mention of" tip 'n run", wasn' t that another name for a game of "Tag" ?
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Thanks Baz, I always assumed Tip'n was short for Tipton like they say Bed'th here.
mw0njm. said:
my mom would say if you don't stop it. you will go were Herbert went. i never did find out who herbert was:)
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I used to say "I thought I had", and grandad would reply, "yow know what thought did dow ya? EE thought ee ad an ee adn't!"
 
Nico said:
Thanks Baz, I always assumed Tip'n was short for Tipton like they say Bed'th here.

I used to say "I thought I had", and grandad would reply, "yow know what thought did dow ya? EE thought ee ad an ee adn't!"
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mom used to say that... but he only parted
 
Eric Gibson said:
Mind your ps and qs is actually from the printing trade, an instruction to the compositors, lower case ps and qs mixed up in the box of lead letter fonts
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I never heard that one. I remember widows and orphans. ....and my mate being sent for a long weight (wait) . And they told him ingots were ignots. I got sent for a bag of sky hooks but fortunately my grandad had me with that since I was little. Sorry for going off a bit. I do you know.
 
Pedrocut said:
From the latest Black Country Magazine...

In English pubs, ale was ordered in pints and quarts, so in old England, when a customers got unruly, the bartender would yell, “mind your pints and quarts and settle down.” It’s where we get the phrase, “mind your P’s and Q’s.”
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I didn't know that, very interesting. I do recall that you could also order your beer by the gill as well.
 
In France you can get a galopin not sure how to spell it, pronounced Gallow pan, of beer the size of a wine glass.
I fetched gran's stout from the outdoor in her jug. I was about 4! I don't know how much they gave me.
Nan said beer used to come in a bottle with a top like a pasteurised milk bottle (I am imagining this as I am not sure what it was like). If you were sly you could peel the top back and have a sip.
Nan's friend drank gin and pip. I wonder what pip was?
 
Galopin - a rascal or urchin.
I cannot believe it was a pasteurised type foil top on beer bottles but more likely a 'sterilized' bottle type. Bottles are still capped that way.

Some have this other type of seal:
1578242413887.png1578242585539.png
 
Radiorails said:
Galopin - a rascal or urchin.
I cannot believe it was a pasteurised type foil top on beer bottles but more likely a 'sterilized' bottle type. Bottles are still capped that way.

Some have this other type of seal:
View attachment 140457View attachment 140458
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I only know what I was told. Nan said you could peel the top off a little then reseal it.
Partner often has a galopin as she only wants a sip or two.
 
Nico, I wonder if it was the bottle as in Radiorails second pic. I seem to remember they had a paper seal - perhaps this is what you Nan meant. It sort of went across the top and down two sides (if bottles have sides?) I remember going to the outdoor in Leamington Road with my Uncle Vic. Ooh! that smell, beer and damp floorboards. They pulled the beer into a copper jug by hand pump and poured it with a copper tundish into bottles like the one above which we had taken with us. The screw tops were like black stone but I don't know what they were really made from. I suppose the paper seals on the original bottles proved that they hadn't been opened. 1950's tamper proof?
 
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