# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/101 "2017-12-21T16:11:19Z")
Watched a terrible movie from the 80s on Rifftrax last night, **R.O.T.O.R.** One guy says to his girlfriend, “You look like your eyes are looking out of the same hole”. I guess it meant she looked terribly worn out frazzled? It was a new one on me. > [@excavating (for a mind)](#): > > 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. I always remember the part in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings when she starts a sentence with “By the way…” and her grandma looks horrified and immediately gets on her knees and they all start praying. Since Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and “by the way” sounds like it’s taking His name in vain. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/102 "2017-12-21T16:14:31Z")
My mom would say a hard head makes a soft behind, which is probably some southern saying. I knew it meant that being stubborn would come back to bite you, but as a kid I still puzzled over it; did it mean you’d fail and fall on your butt, tenderizing it? Was it about spanking? ---
**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 21, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/103 "2017-12-21T16:16:57Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Mom used to threaten us. > “I’m going to mologize you” > or > “knock you into the middle of next week” Mine used to threaten to “box your ears”. It created an odd visual image of small boxes on my head. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/104 "2017-12-21T20:10:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Mine used to threaten to “box your ears”. It created an odd visual image of small boxes on my head. If your father was an amateur boxer, you’d certainly get a very different visual. ---
**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, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/105 "2017-12-21T21:22:18Z")
> [@simster](#): > > If your father was an amateur boxer, you’d certainly get a very different visual. As I understand it, when you “box” someone’s ears, you hold your palms facing their ears and then bring your hands together suddenly and with force. Like clapping your hands but their head was in the way. It can rupture someone’s eardrums. > [@](#): > > To strike someone on one or both thier ears with the flat of your palm. This totally destroys their balance and usually destroys their eardrums if done right. [Urban Dictionary](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=box%20your%20ears) This expression isn’t familiar to people today? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/106 "2017-12-21T21:30:20Z")
I associate it with cruel victorian governesses. ---
**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 21, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/107 "2017-12-21T21:30:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > As I understand it, when you “box” someone’s ears, you hold your palms facing their ears and then bring your hands together suddenly and with force. Like clapping your hands but their head was in the way. It can rupture someone’s eardrums. > > [Urban Dictionary](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=box%20your%20ears) > > This expression isn’t familiar to people today? Sure, but tell a five year old that and then ask what he thinks it means. ---
**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, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/108 "2017-12-21T21:57:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Sure, but tell a five year old that and then ask what he thinks it means. Huh? I meant familiar to adults who read this board. ---
**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 22, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/109 "2017-12-22T02:04:01Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I associate it with cruel victorian governesses. And Thomas Edison. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/110 "2017-12-22T17:06:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Sure, but tell a five year old that and then ask what he thinks it means. 🙂 I’m literal-minded too and for “going over it with a fine tooth comb” I pictured a squad of detectives literally scraping through my house with black hair combs. ---
**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 22, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/111 "2017-12-22T17:40:08Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Huh? I meant familiar to adults who read this board. I guess I’m confused, as I didn’t see where anyone asked what it meant. ---
**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 22, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/112 "2017-12-22T18:19:28Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I guess I’m confused, as I didn’t see where anyone asked what it meant. \ Anything else you want to get off your chest? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/113 "2017-12-22T20:35:29Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > 🙂 I’m literal-minded too and for “going over it with a fine tooth comb” I pictured a squad of detectives literally scraping through my house with black hair combs. I was a very literal-minded child. I remember driving through Kentucky and my father had been talking about “blue grass” and I kept looking for it. I wanted blue grass. Not to mention my obsession with “hidden drives.” I thought they were hidden like in the Green Hornet. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/114 "2017-12-22T21:09:56Z")
Hee. Did “DO NOT PASS” drive you nuts? But we just passed it! My father will be arrested! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/115 "2017-12-22T21:38:06Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Hee. Did “DO NOT PASS” drive you nuts? But we just passed it! My father will be arrested! Ha! I’m surprised I didn’t! ---
**Author:** ![Tempe\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tempe_jeff/32/7328_2.png) [@Tempe\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempe_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/116 "2017-12-22T22:00:17Z")
My Dad, used to wake us up early for road trips and such by flipping on the Ceiling Light and shouting “Daylight in the Swamp.” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/117 "2017-12-27T17:15:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 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.” I’ve heard “ugly as a hat full of assholes”, but nothing gets picked out. Goes along with, “dumber than a box of rocks.” Anyone else ever get told, “don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya”? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/118 "2017-12-27T18:24:18Z")
My dad blamed his flatulence on a “barking spider”. If I ever complained about the char on food, my mom would respond with “It’s seasoning. Eat it anyway.” That’s a common refrain now anytime something isn’t palatable or well cooked. Any injured extremity? Mom would console me with “too far from your heart to die.” Apparently, the heart is the only vital organ I had to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/119 "2017-12-27T18:33:55Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > My dad blamed his flatulence on a “barking spider”. > . . . My grandfather claimed that the barking spiders had very bad breath! mc ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/120 "2017-12-27T20:34:06Z")
Whenever I asked my mom to hand me something that I could easily have gotten myself, she’d reply, _“you’re big, fat n’ ugly enough to get it yourself.”_ You may think that was a somewhat mean-spirited thing for a mother to say to her 6-year old child, but she said it affectionately and I accepted it as such. I’d also delight in asking Mom (Mum) the name of that contrived, tongue-twister Welsh train station: [Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3b2F-bkAdM). She nailed the [pronunciation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXKsQ2nbno)every time! And, though Mom wasn’t raised in London’s East-end, she had the cockney [accent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmum5Pp5Rq4)and [rhyming slang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NxQO2ZZjjE) down pat. I miss my mom. I miss my dad, too, but he wasn’t so much into saying odd things as he was asigning nicknames to family members (e.g. he called me “Bunky” or “Bee” and Mom was “Stinky”–though, she didn’t really stink). She called Dad, “Butch”, though he wasn’t a lesbian. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721.md?page=7)