# Phrases your (grand)parents used **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245 "2009-07-25T20:53:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/41 "2009-07-26T21:43:34Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > My dad used to say, of someone who looked bad (tired, sick, whatever), that the person looked like they’d been “ **rode hard and put away wet** ” I still hear that a lot out here in Montana. In fact, my wife and I use it. > [@notfrommensa](#): > > My paternal grandmother would say it is “half-past seven” if it was 7:30. I had no idea this was old-fashioned. Still hear (and sometimes use) half-past, quarter-past, ten 'til, and so on. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > **Be kind to otters** (others) There’s a fairly new (last couple of years) kids’ book about manners with this title. > [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > **“He wouldn’t make puke for a buzzard.”** My older brother uses “His breath could knock a buzzard off a shitwagon at thirty paces!” ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/42 "2009-07-26T22:22:11Z")
“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas!” ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/43 "2009-07-27T04:54:30Z")
Just thought of another Dad-ism: whenever I cooked a meal he particularly liked, he would proclaim it ‘Jolly good’. He is the only one I ever heard use that particular phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/44 "2009-07-27T05:08:37Z")
My mother uses “Hotter than billy blue blazes!” all the time. Also, some things are “harder than a brickbat”. I don’t know what a brickbat is, I always assumed it was a bat made of brick, which would make it very hard indeed, I guess. My dad used to tell us, “Wish in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up faster!” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/45 "2009-07-27T05:30:20Z")
**It warmed the cockles of my heart.** Not sure where the cockles were supposed to be located. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/46 "2009-07-27T06:15:23Z")
> [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > And if our rooms were messy, they looked like “Fibber McGee’s closet” something apparently from an oldtime radio show. The running joke on [Fibber McGee and Molly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibber_McGee_and_Molly) involved someone opening the closet door and having a cavalcade of junk fall out on them. _“This gag appears to have begun with the March 5, 1940 show, “Cleaning the Closet.” Molly opens the closet looking for the dictionary, and is promptly buried in Fibber’s “stuff” (“arranged in there just the way I want it.” )”_ A catchphrase from the show “T’aint funny, McGee” appears in one of the John McDonald Travis McGee novels, and I didn’t know until looking up the radio show just now where it came from. The program must’ve been a repository of sheer hilarity. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/47 "2009-07-27T06:29:55Z")
The Hall Closet [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/h9FGC68YcwM/hqdefault.jpg "Fibber McGee & Molly The Hall Closet") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9FGC68YcwM) ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/48 "2009-07-27T06:47:53Z")
I think that Dad used to tell Mom, “Stick with me and someday you’ll have cowchips as big as diamonds!” Mom thought that it was cute, which may be saying more about Mom’s generosity than Dad’s cuteness. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/49 "2009-07-27T07:36:45Z")
When you asked my grandfather for something “I reckon not” was the absolute end of the line for your request, and it was impossible to even conceive of further discussion on the topic. I’m still trying to figure out how “I reckon not” had so much conversation ending power. When my dad was sick and I asked how he felt, he said “I feel like 10 pounds of shit shoved into a five pound sack.” ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/50 "2009-07-27T09:54:59Z")
This one I’ve heard for years, when we would get a prolonged, heavy rain: “It’s rainin’ harder’n a double cunted cow pissin’ on a flat rock!” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/51 "2009-07-27T10:52:52Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > My paternal grandmother would say it is “half-past seven” if it was 7:30. > > I never heard anyone else express the time in that fashion. I still say the time like that, and I’m 27. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/52 "2009-07-27T12:03:00Z")
When we were leaving her house, my gandma would say. **Don’t stick any beans up your nose.** I use it myself, mostly for the shock value. She would also call any of the grandkids _Schnicklefritz_. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/53 "2009-07-27T15:14:31Z")
> [@nonacetone](#): > > double cunted cow This phrase made my brain hurt and made me laugh like an idiot at the same time. It would be a great superhero or band name. It is the perfect brainscrambling phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/54 "2009-07-27T15:37:31Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > I don’t know what a brickbat is, I always assumed it was a bat made of brick, which would make it very hard indeed, I guess. A literal brickbat is a piece of brick, which is thrown as a missile. A figurative brickbat is an insult ‘hurled’ at another. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/55 "2009-07-27T16:45:29Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > This phrase made my brain hurt and made me laugh like an idiot at the same time. It would be a great superhero or band name. > > It is the perfect brainscrambling phrase. I intend to add it to my repertoire of insults. ---
**Author:** ![levi1820](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@levi1820](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levi1820)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/56 "2009-07-27T17:55:48Z")
My Grandfather says all of the following: “Slicker than a mole’s butt” “Tender as a Mama-in-Law’s love.” — always referring to a tender steak or roast “Good as snuff and not half as dusty.” “He couldn’t stand up in a 10 acre field.” — about a clumsy person “I’d bet you a dollar to a donut hole.” “He couldn’t stick his finger up his butt with both hands.” — referring to a particularly inept person And he always tells my son (age 6) that he was hatched on a flat rock. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/57 "2009-07-27T18:33:00Z")
It’s Rainin’ like a cow pissin’ on flat rock. That’d knock a buzzard off a gut wagon. He’s tighter than the skin on bologna. He’s tighter than bark on a tree. Well Shit fire and save the matches! In response to: “How ya doin’” “If I were any better I’d need a twin!” “I’m so happy I have to sit on my hands just to keep from clapping!” He doesn’t know shit from Shinola You couldn’t whip shit off a shirt tail. (said to someone who’s talking tough… like they’d be able to whip someone’s ass) Watchin’ her bend over is like trying to fold a basketball. (said about a fat person bending over) I’ll bet you dollars to donuts… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/58 "2009-07-27T18:42:51Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > My paternal grandmother would say it is “half-past seven” if it was 7:30. > > I never heard anyone else express the time in that fashion. It is always “seven thirty” or “eleven thirty.” > [@Idlewild](#): > > I say ‘half past’ and so forth … > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I still say the time like that, and I’m 27. Does anyone remember “half past the monkey’s ass”? ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/59 "2009-07-27T19:08:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Does anyone remember “half past the monkey’s ass”? No, but my grandpa, whenever a little grandkid asked him what time it might be, would usually answer “It’s half-past kissin’ time and time to kiss again!” and swing the kid up into the air and plant a big raspberry on his or her cheek. He also liked to sing the [Kiddley-Divey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mairzy_Doats) song and to hum/sing/make noise like a trombone. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245/60 "2009-07-27T19:16:14Z")
Grandma always said, “Wish in one hand, and piss in the other, and see which one gets full the fastest.” I still say that, but have substituted spit for piss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-your-grand-parents-used/504245.md?page=4)