# Odd or incomprehensible things your parents said to you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721 "2017-12-17T17:52:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/81 "2017-12-19T23:30:52Z")
A few more from Dad: “The apple don’t fall far from the tree.” (Dad’s all time favorite expression) “He’s all elbows and assholes.” “He’s lower than a snake in a wagon rut.”\* mmm \*I know for a fact he stole this one from the Beverly Hillbillies, cuz I was watching it with him and Jed said it; then, about a week later, I heard Dad utter it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/82 "2017-12-20T00:26:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > May dad sometimes says “Stop working like a Chinaman!”, which means to stop acting in a clumsy or half-assed manner. He’s the first to admit that it makes no sense - not only is it racist, it’s the wrong stereotype, as the Chinese actually have a reputation for careful, meticulous work. You’ve missed the (original) point: China is _upside down_ > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > In 1983 … a dish with a little sign that said, “2 p,” meaning you were asked to put two pennies there when you used the facilities. Which is to say tuppence. how big were the pennies in 1983 (physical size)? > [@filmore](#): > > I believe this is a reference to public toilets which have a coin-operated lock on the stall door. Or more likely, had an attendent. Cheap, functional coin mechanisms good enough to use on a door are a late development And in my experience (but this might well have been different in the UK) as well as taking your money the attendent would give you two squares of toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/83 "2017-12-20T01:59:12Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > … > Which is to say tuppence. how big were the pennies in 1983 (physical size)? I don’t remember. When I was a little kid (early 1950s), my father went TDY to England and brought back some pennies, and they were big–almost as big as a 50-cent piece. Don’t remember what they were in 1983. > [@](#): > > And in my experience (but this might well have been different in the UK) as well as taking your money the attendent would give you two squares of toilet paper. Often there was an attendant, but the toilet paper was in the stalls for the grabbing. In a lot of places the paper was printed with various slogans and admonitions, like [this](https://itcsecure.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/f96ba1599dd41bc9072ad0ec3c572c77.jpg) or [this](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4049/1949/1600/toi-edi.jpg). How can you get anything taken care of with only two squares?? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/84 "2017-12-20T02:52:30Z")
When I was a very little girl, somewhere around 1967, I had more than one very old male relative that I recall would goose me or poke me in the tummy area and say, “That’s where the Yankee shot ya!” It happened often enough I remembered it and asked my mother about it the funeral of one of them in the 70s. Mama said that old people said that to her when she was little, too, and they are referring to your belly button. To them it was a completely hilarious joke, (that your belly button was a Yankee gunshot wound scar) so you were just told to be polite and go along with it. The only thing I can surmise from it is that people who were old geezers in the 50s-70s were very young children themselves in the later 1800s and early 1900s when there were still veterans around from The War Between the States, so this must have been something these vets said to little kids as an inside joke about their own battle scars, and it stuck. Only in the South? Or in my case, only in South Georgia? Anyone else heard of something similar? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/85 "2017-12-20T06:00:39Z")
My Mother died when I was 10. But I do remember her telling me if you kiss your elbow you would turn into a boy. Of course you can’t do it. I used to worry that I might accidentally (?) do it. She also told me and my closest sib (bro) to go outside and hang from tree limbs if we wanted to be tall. Where does this stuff come from? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/86 "2017-12-20T16:09:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > How can you get anything taken care of with only two squares?? :eek: They’re metric squares. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/87 "2017-12-20T16:10:47Z")
Here I sit Broken-hearted Paid a nickel to shit But only farted. – a favorite of my Mom’s ---
**Author:** ![Kahlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/848f3c/32.png) [@Kahlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kahlo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/88 "2017-12-20T16:22:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > My mom is a long-time Yoga teacher, so from time to time she will offer one of us some advice based on her knowledge of Iyengar Yoga. Well in this specific instance she was trying to offer me advice on how to give myself at least some temporary relief from the pain in my rotator cuff tears in both shoulders. “Open your shoulders” she kept repeating, “just open your shoulders”. 😶 wat? This made no fucking sense to me. “You mean like this”, and I’d proceed to sort of mimic the types of movements I was trying to imagine she could possibly mean by this phrase. And to every-single-attempt of mine, she’d just shake her head and repeat herself, only each time she’d say “open your shoulders” with just a tad more frustration and irritation than the time before. > > That was at least 6 years ago and to this day I have no idea wtf “open your shoulders” means. Typing that stupid collection of words just pisses me off now (albeit very, very minorly). Sorry mom, my mind is now closed to believing I can open my shoulders. Absent surgical tools, that is. All that is needed is a little anatomy and physiology lesson… my pleasure: “Opening” when referring to skeletal joints, basically means extension of the joint(s). “Closing” would be flexion. Think of your arm and forearm… the joint where they meet is called the elbow and when you perform flexion of the elbow, you bring your hand closer to your shoulder. The shoulder (girdle) is the most mobile joint in the body and is a very complex (collection of) joint(s) where four bones articulate: the scapula (at the acromion process and glenoid fossa), humerus (at the head of the humerus), and clavicle (at the distal end), the manubium of the Sternum to the proximal end of the clavicle. The articulation of the humerus and scapula happens at the head of the humerus where it rests in the glenoid fossa of the scapula- this is the glenohumeral joint (also the shoulder- proper). The shoulder also includes the acromioclavicular joint where the acromion process of the scapula is joined to the clavicle with a dense network of connective tissue, and then the sternoclvicular joint. The fourth joint (the scapulothoracic joint) is a unique joint, a sliding joint, where the scapula slides over the ribcage and connective tissues. The movements at the shoulder include: elevation/depression of the scapula, protraction/retraction of the scapula, upward/downward rotation of the scapula, extension/flexion of the humerus, adduction/abduction of the humerus, horizontal adduction/abduction of the humerus, and Eternal/internal rotation of the humerus. So if you want to “open” your shoulders, you should depress and retract the scapulae, extend the humerus (bring your elbow backwards), and externally rotate your humerus… a little abduction would also be included. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that pretty much keep your shoulder held together. They include the supraspinatus, infraspinatis, Teres Minor, and Subscapularus. I’m pretty sure you have to look up a lot of the words I used and so this may just be more burdensome than helpful. Good luck anyway. Look up “Brugger’s Relief Position”. It will include opening the shoulders but also addresses the whole spine. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/89 "2017-12-20T17:10:04Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Here I sit > Broken-hearted > Paid a nickel to shit > But only farted… …but better this than risk the chance of trying to fart and shit my pants. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/90 "2017-12-20T17:17:59Z")
I had a boss once who would say when someone was upset, “They’ll just have to get glad in the clothes they got mad in.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/91 "2017-12-20T17:18:06Z")
My bio Dad was full of these. “Did your Mom have any children that lived?” Plus he had a bunch of terrible disability jokes. “I see,” said the blind man. I “hear,” said the deaf man. And the man with no legs kicked them both out. “What do you call a woman with one arm and one leg?” Ilene. He also had a “Dead skunk in the middle of the road” song. Classy guy. The weirdest thing is he said them so much, I still get them stuck in my head, like an earworm. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/92 "2017-12-20T20:00:15Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > He also had a “Dead skunk in the middle of the road” song. Hey now, that was Loudon Wainwright III’s biggest hit! > **[Dead Skunk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Skunk)** > > "Dead Skunk" is a 1972 novelty song by Loudon Wainwright III. Released as a single in November 1972, it eventually peaked at number 16 on the Billboard charts on March 31, 1973 and appears on Wainwright's 1972 album Album III. > The song is musically a simple folk song based on banjo, accompanied by guitar, drums and fiddle. The lyrics describe a dead skunk in the middle of a road and the smell it produces for people as they drive by. Wainwright has said that the song came out of an actual acciden... We sang it around my house too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/93 "2017-12-20T20:39:15Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Which is to say tuppence. how big were the pennies in 1983 (physical size)? Same size as they are now; pennies and 2p coins haven’t changed since we went decimal and coins from the '70s are still in circulation. 1p is roughly the size of an Australian 5c (which I assume is the currently you’re familiar with), with 2p being slightly smaller than a 20c, iirc. I must say though, I don’t ever recall seeing a public toilets with a honour pay system, in the UK, pay toilets are still around, especially in bus stations, but there’s always been some kind of lock or turnstile. I was only born in the early '80s though. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a charity collection box at motorway services toilets with a ‘Spent a penny? Donate a penny’ sign. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/94 "2017-12-20T20:48:39Z")
I had a Chief in the Navy who would come in to work after a night of drinking and announce “I feel like a sack full of assholes with the good ones picked out.” He also liked to deride some hapless guy for whom things always went wrong: “It could be raining little fuzzy pussies and he’d get hit in the head with a big dick.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/95 "2017-12-20T21:03:59Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > …I must say though, I don’t ever recall seeing a public toilets with a honour pay system, in the UK, pay toilets are still around, especially in bus stations, but there’s always been some kind of lock or turnstile. I was only born in the early '80s though. … From your name I’m assuming you’re male? Maybe the honor system only operated in the women’s public bathrooms? (Anyhoo, I was there about the time you were being born.) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/96 "2017-12-20T22:23:51Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I heard this as “don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs!” But it wasn’t my parents who said it - I heard it on “Ren and Stimpy” and I had to look it up. I’m still not entirely sure what it’s supposed to mean (I get that it means “don’t explain how to do something to someone who already knows,” but I don’t understand why Grandma would be sucking eggs.) It’s a metaphor. I love the passage in _The Lord of the Rings_ where Gandalf is talking about some of the things Gollum did after he found The Ring. “He tried to teach his grandmother to suck eggs.” ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/97 "2017-12-20T22:58:07Z")
My father had one he used a lot: **For Pity’s Sake!** As a young child, I asked him what it meant (more than once, I recall, as I failed to remember until he started explaining). He’d say that some people would say “For God’s Sake!” or “For Christ’s Sake!”, but some people thought that was using the Lord’s name in vain, therefore a sin. So others would use “For Pete’s Sake!”, but as that was in reference to Saint Peter, some people still considered that swearing and not suitable to be used around children. So, he told me, he go into the habit of using “For Pity’s Sake!”, as in “For the sake of pity” when he had his own children (I was the 5th). He would switch between “for pete’s sake” and “for pity’s sake” depending on context. When"For Pete’s Sake" was used, it would convey a sense of idiocy in the situation. “For pity’s sake” would convey more of a sense of helplessness to change the situation than idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/98 "2017-12-21T11:00:57Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > From your name I’m assuming you’re male? Maybe the honor system only operated in the women’s public bathrooms? (Anyhoo, I was there about the time you were being born.) Incorrect assumption. Fairly sure I’m female. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/99 "2017-12-21T12:30:20Z")
Mom used to threaten us. “I’m going to mologize you” or “knock you into the middle of next week” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/100 "2017-12-21T14:48:48Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Incorrect assumption. Fairly sure I’m female. Then I got nuttin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721.md?page=6)