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Things you said when you was a kid

G G Jean said:
... I said to my grandson the other day when it was hot and sticky that it had become very close and he looked at me like I was a bit bonkus ...
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Jean, "close" isn't even Brum dialect: it's a quite "standard" English adjective to describe a "stuffy or humid" atmosphere. I do agree though that it's not much heard nowadays. "Bonkers" or "bonkus" (I think I prefer your spelling, Jean!) is a real "blast from the past": widely used when I was growing up in Brum in the 1950s.
 
HI ARKRITE
How are you keeping these days hope you are well i have not heard from you i a long while
yes i like the old names better and with the shorting of the word to there names
i have a son called richard ; but he will not respond to dickie ; i have ried for years he is thirty years old and from the day he was born i tried but he told me never to used that name so we dropped the idea of calling him dic;
the other son is anthony named after my brother we call him tony ; [ thats my brother ]
and he prefferes that to anthony ; but my son will not except that his name is anthony and thats all he is gonna respond too so he says ; its like john ain,t it there names are most often called jack ;
i do like the old fashioned names my self for ladies my grand mother was bertha;
now thats a name disapeare ain,t it
enjoy the rest of your day arkrite and take care of your self best wishes astonion ;;
 
I remember playing on the "bompecks" in the 1950s in Hockley I believe they were the bombed out houses and later the slum clearance of the old back to backs, some times playing hide and seek you would fall into cellars, they would be like aladins cave to us kids, I remember my brother fell into one and came out with a stuffed owl complete with its glass dome and mom trotting to Outrams the pawn shop and getting ten bob for it mmmm mmm we had boiled bacon for dinner that night
 
What a great story ten bob was a fortune then. I bet you went back to see what else you could find!
 
Len this is a great post and made me more than smile. My mother also used to say, "I'll knock your block off" or "I'll swing for you." Golly what would the pc mob make of thing like that said to children today? Strangely enough I didn't need any form of counselling for the threats issued, nor the slaps I received when i had done something that my mother thought merited a smack , In fact it did me no harm at all, but it did ensure I knew right from wrong. did as I was told, (most of the time) and was taught respect for other people and their property. All in all, I think my mother did a pretty good job
 
My Mom would say sometimes when she had been sitting down "This won't get the babby a new bonnet" It always made me smile.

When Dad was angry with my brothers for playing up he would shout "i'll stick the rake in yer ed!!" We still laugh at this he never did by the way!..lol
 
We used "ARLEY BARLEY" with fingers crossed when we were kids! I can't believe I found this today. I now live in Devon and asked my Mrs the other night if she'd ever heard this? LOL
 
I remember Arley Barley too, but can't remember in what context we used it. Also we used to say Ackey one two three, and can't remember why with that one either. It may have been when we were playing hide and seek and we had to get back to the starting place and bang on the wall.
 
Arley Barley was if you wanted breathing space. Perhaps you had run out of wind when being chased and by crossing your fingers and saying it, it was accepted that you wanted to just stop for a minute.
 
maggs said:
I remember Arley Barley too, but can't remember in what context we used it. Also we used to say Ackey one two three, and can't remember why with that one either. It may have been when we were playing hide and seek and we had to get back to the starting place and bang on the wall.
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maggs i think ackey 123 was when we played tig and tag and caught someone..mind you it was a long time ago lol..
 
We used Arley Barley to call a pause in a game of tig or something similar, but it only worked if the first two fingers of your right hand were crossed as well.
 
Thank you Lyn, I am sure you are right about our game of tig and tag and saying Ackey one two three. As you say, it's a long time ago since we played those games.
 
I never heard "Arley Barley" used in south Brum.
"Ackey one two three" comes from playing cards but for the life of me I can't see the connection !
We used to chant "Sam Sam the dirty old man, washed 'is face in the frying pan".
There was some mention earlier of bedroom china. The chamber pot was always called "The Jerry", to do with the German helmet, I imagine.
 
Mapolebaz, I have never heard of ackey one two three used in cards. Ackey 1 2 3 was when someone would stand say at a lampost and hide his face counting to 100 while the other players would hide, then he would go looking for them. If a person who was hiding got back to the lampost before the person trying to find them, they would shout ackey 1 2 3. We used to sing Dan Dan instead of Sam Sam. Carol
 
My husband who is a Londoner always used Ackey 123. You've just reminded me of Sam, Sam, the dirty old man. Washed his face in the frying pan. Combed his hair with the leg of a chair - can't remember the rest of it. Think it was just Sam, Sam, the dirty old man!
 
I had completely forgotten Ackey 123 and Sam Sam the dirty old man, but my husband's version is this, Sam. Sam dirty old man, washed his face in the frying pan, combed his hair with a horse's tail, And scratched his belly with a big toenail. And he was a Brummie too, brought up in Stockland Green. These regional differences fascinate me.

Any of you local Brummies going to the Birmingham Literary Festival which starts this week? As I will be involved in the Festival in March my publicist thought I ought to go to a couple of the events and introduce myself so will be at the Launch Party on Thursday evening and at the Reading Afternoon on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it.
 
even my friends had forgotten having some donuck, we also used it for anything good such as its come up a donuck.
a ducker was a large stone, we also used the term he threw half house brick at us. perhaps I,m an old codger but I stilluse most of the sayings now.
we never said pavement it was always the footpath and horse road still slips out
 
the call round hockley was "arley barley feet of ground" do you remember the rhyme inthe game Queenie, Alley balley who,s got the ball.
sam,sam dirty old man
washed his face in the frying pan
combed his hair with the leg of a chair
pooh sam you dirty old man!!
 
Someone early in this thread asked about "Tell it to the Marines" and where it came from. The answer is when someone came out with a tall story they'd get the reply "Tell it to the Marines " because the Royal Marines had been everywhere and done everything so they would know if the tall story was true.
 
I remember during hard times in the war years having the following remark said about the ever frequent hole in the sock at the heel,
" yove got a tatter in yower sock". In my case the grimey skin of the unwashed heel burst through the large hole in the sock exactly like a potato!!
My friend was often told when out playing ,"don't get playing in the horse road", and if caught by his strict father would be told "get in doors".

As a child I would often pester my aunt for a treat ( and they didn't occur veryoften). She would reply " I'll have to see how bonny trots".
She was from the potteries so it maybe an expresion from there.

I can hardly believe I would ask friends eating an apple if they would "save me the core". It still makes me cringe that I would also ask, when they were eating chewing gum for them to " give me some of your gum" (ie that that was already being chewed!!!!).
 
Anvil man, mom and dad refer to holes in socks - toes or heels - as taters too.
See how Bonny trots in Staffordshire was a reference to how much delivery work the pony could/would do in a day, when the owner was paid by how much load was moved, sometimes clay , sometimes finished goods, the more done, the more they earned similar to piece work on the building sites.
Sue
 
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