# Phrases You've Copied From Your Parents.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247 "2016-03-08T01:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/61 "2016-03-10T05:10:38Z")
_“…I’ll kick your ass till your nose bleeds!”_ Would ask for “The _brown_ screwdriver!”. There would be a yellow one, and a red one. You would\* never\* get it right. _“… When I’m done with you, your ass will be sucking swampwater!”_ Called my brother a \*“Hammer-Headed Un-Screwed Bird-Eye”. \*(We all still laugh to death at this. I’ve got tears of laughter running down my face as I type this!) Once said the following, in a completely serious context, to two teenagers, _“Well, that was a piss-poor analogy”_. Snerk, snerk! Giggle! Whatever point he was making was totally lost on us. _He he! He said, Piss-poor!_ ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/62 "2016-03-10T06:29:12Z")
I’ve heard five generations in my family calling a cute but pesky kid a “little dickens.” ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/63 "2016-03-10T07:49:18Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > My Dad, if asked to do something by us kids when he was busy or tired: “I can’t, I’ve got a bone in my leg”. > > Well, so you do, so you do. Now if you _didn’t_… I thought my family was weird. At least we aren’t unique! (I used this phrase just tonight when one of the girls wanted something ridiculous. > [@Bayard](#): > > My dad wasn’t one to dwell on things outside his control. If one of us kids complained about something that wasn’t ever going to change, Dad would often remind us, “If a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass.” > > I use this phrase at every opportunity. I gave the eulogy for my dad last year. I built it around this phrase. I adapted the phrase to “if frogs had wings, they wouldn’t bump their little tushies when they hop.” It’s just twee enough to annoy the living snot out of my 18-year-old. > [@Chefguy](#): > > “If you don’t like it, dinner’s over!” -my mother > "You’ll eat what’s served! We’re not running a short-order house > > “Use your head for something besides a hat rack!” Mrs. Malaprop used to work for my grandparents. She always claimed that she used her head for something besides a coat hanger. The phrase lives on. > [@even\_sven](#): > > When the kid gets on my last nerve. > > “I’m going to take you to the zoo…and leave you there.” I told my girls that I was going to sell them to the next passing circus the other night. Apparently, Miss Lily has been listening to the news. Her reply: “Good. I want to be an elephant, and the circus doesn’t have those any more.” (No one warns you that keeping a straight face is the most important part of parenting.) A few years from now, my kids will probably cite “did you live?” as my favorite phrase. “I scraped my knee!” “Did you live?” “My sister said something mean!” “Did you live?” “I didn’t get asked to homecoming?” “Did you live?” It’s a useful question. Also? “I’m hungry!” “Hi Hungry, I’m Mom.” “I’m sleepy!” “Hi Sleepy, I’m Mom.” That never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/64 "2016-03-10T12:30:34Z")
My mom always said things (usually me, when lollygaging) were slow as Moses. Which is, when you think about it, slower than molasses. I also tell people they make a better door than a window, but I do it ironically as a “God I feel like my dad” thing. I just realized that I say “you need that like you need another hole in your head” in utter seriousness. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/65 "2016-03-10T15:21:28Z")
**FtGKid1** has picked up the phrase “Boy howdy.” This was an expression his great-great-grandfather, who was on cattle drives out of Texas, used to use. While the gggf died before even I was born, the phrase is part of the family folklore about him. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/66 "2016-03-10T16:15:56Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > He also referred to my mother (you know, his wife and mother of his kids) as “your mother” and my siblings as “your brother/sister” as if they didn’t have names or he was in no way related to them. Cracked me up. My siblings and I still do this. “So I talked your mother earlier…” as if she isn’t mine, too. But of course. If he’s done something good, he’s “my child”; if he’s done something wrong, he’s “your child”. The following is a common conversation starter with the Bros: “Your mother is driving me crazy!” “You leave MY mother out of this, what has YOURS done?” Overexcited or complaining children produce: “is anybody bleeding?” Children looking like they’re about to hit each other: “Kill each other but don’t hit each other!” > [@WV lawmakers suffer stomach illness after drinking raw milk to celebrate legalizing raw milk](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wv-lawmakers-suffer-stomach-illness-after-drinking-raw-milk-to-celebrate-legalizing-raw-milk/748437/17): > > There’s no scientific benefit to drinking raw milk. It’s just that some people believe it’s more natural and therefore must be healthier. \<— from another thread. Another one, from Dad: “Veggies are good for you, natural is good for you, hemlock is a natural vegetable…” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/67 "2016-03-10T18:42:07Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > My mom said of going to an out of the way spot: “All around Robin Hood’s barn.” Long ago a thread on here revealed that other people said this, but most of them were in England. My mom would call any circuitous route “Going all around Paddy’s barn.” “You haven’t got the brains God gave a goat.” “No comments from the Peanut Gallery!” “You play with the bull, you get the horn.” “Dig you cats more later, man.” (Friend: “Your dad was Maynard G. Krebs?”) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/68 "2016-03-10T18:49:39Z")
In our house it was “… hasn’t got the brains God gave little green apples.” ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/69 "2016-03-10T21:04:12Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Overexcited or complaining children produce: “is anybody bleeding?” Ah, yes…I have been known on more than one occasion to say “Don’t bother me unless there’s blood or fire involved.” Also, “Try not to kill each other while I’m gone, okay?” ---
**Author:** ![Saro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Saro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saro)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/70 "2016-03-10T22:18:24Z")
I have a few. A “twirler” is a TV remote (I believe this came from my paternal grandfather?). Because you “twirl” through the channels, maybe? “Ipsquich” is a rascally, mischievous, slightly misbehaving child (or person). “Is that going begging?”, asking if something is claimed or if you can have it (like leftover food or whatever). “[You, it, we, etc.] went through it like a dose of salts!” When you go through something quickly (like tasty snacks), or alternately when something goes through you quickly (much less fun). “It’ll roll you up like a hoop!” Something that will make you very sick/poison you/etc. I know there are more, but these certainly stick out. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/71 "2016-03-11T04:54:10Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > A few years from now, my kids will probably cite “did you live?” as my favorite phrase. “I scraped my knee!” “Did you live?” “My sister said something mean!” “Did you live?” “I didn’t get asked to homecoming?” “Did you live?” It’s a useful question. That reminds me of another retort I’ve borrowed from my dad: If someone says “My head hurts” or “I have a headache”, the correct response is always “Amputation is the only cure”. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/72 "2016-03-11T10:56:57Z")
From Mom: (when I was bored) “Nothing to do? Spit in your shoe and give it to you.” “Lord love a duck” From Dad: (when someone trips) “Smooth move, Ex-Lax” “That could gag a maggot on a gut truck” mmm ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/73 "2016-03-11T11:46:26Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > Ah, yes…I have been known on more than one occasion to say “Don’t bother me unless there’s blood or fire involved.” > > Also, “Try not to kill each other while I’m gone, okay?” Also, as you’re about to drive away, “Don’t hit anything big!” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/74 "2016-03-11T11:57:29Z")
“You have me heart scalded.” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247/75 "2016-03-11T14:39:26Z")
A couple my dad and I would say to each other, though I don’t recall who taught it to whom: When someone is complaining that something hurts - "Does your \*face \*hurt? It’s \*killing me \* . After a stupid joke - “You’re funny but looks aren’t everything”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-copied-from-your-parents/748247.md?page=3)