# 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:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![MareIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MareIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MareIt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/121 "2017-12-27T20:53:17Z")
My mom’s favorite expression was “better than a slap in the face with a wet fish” sometimes the wet fish was replaced with a limp noodle. I get it, but I don’t… The expression of hers that I hated the most was “Just a mo”. It was her universal answer for anything involving time. “Mom, when are we leaving?” “Just a mo” “Mom, how long until we arrive?” “Just a mo” “Mom, when will dinner be ready?” “Just a mo” I can confirm that a “mo” was almost never less than 5 minutes and frequently up to half an hour or even an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/122 "2017-12-27T22:25:34Z")
My father was rather fond of “You couldn’t find a bass drum in a telephone booth.” ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/123 "2017-12-27T22:48:40Z")
When asking my mother, “What is that thing?” and if it was something she didn’t want to actually explain, I’d get the answer, “A wigwam for a goose’s bridle”. Or going somewhere that she didn’t want to divulge, “Going to see a man about a dog”. Always thought we were going to get a new puppy. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/124 "2017-12-27T22:54:10Z")
And quickly back to the ‘spend a penny’ example, when I was very young (under 6) the female public toilets in the CBD in Melbourne, Australia, had attendants who you needed to pay threepence before you went into a cubicle. Men could use the dunny free of charge. 😕 [Here’s a pic of one of our famous ‘underground’ toilets that were dotted throughout the city.](https://melbournecityuncovered.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/getfile-4.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721/125 "2017-12-28T00:43:27Z")
My Dad (West Virginian by way of East Tennessee) had some, well, idiosyncratic turns of phrase. The most colorful and peculiar ones I remember are: “It’s so good you can’t sit still and eat it!” “As easy as shittin’ the bed wide awake.” And there was one he often had call to use with me when I was a teenage know-it-all with a mouth as smart as I thought\* I\* was at the time: He’d call me a “sexual intellectual” --i.e., a fucking smart-ass. Never have I heard anyone else say any of those things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-incomprehensible-things-your-parents-said-to-you/804721.md?page=6)