COMMENTS

38 responses to “Open Thread Update: Favorite Family Sayings”

1. My mother used to say (when I was being stubborn) :
   “A hard head makes a soft behind.”

   Reply to Michele

2. My husband was born 3 months premature in a small town with only one doctor. When his aunt called the doctor to say that the baby was coming very early, he kindly replied (inappropriately), “The first baby can come any time, the rest take nine months.”

   Reply to Barb Marchello

3. I had 3 brothers and no sisters. I was certainly the most dramatic and usually unhappy with whatever. My mother used to say “That’ll DO , sister! I had no idea what she meant because it never DID anything. …and I thought it was weird that she thought I was her sister!

   Reply to Rosalie Bennett

4. Such lovely stories from America’s heartland and times long ago. Mine’s more modern and urban. My father loved football and we had season tickets to the Giants for over fifty years. At one game, frustrated by a seemingly interminable break for tv commercials, he yelled, “DRINK BEER! BUY CARS! NOW GET ON WITH THE F****** GAME!” – a chant promptly taken up by the whole section. To this day, whenever someone’s taking too long to make a point, that’s what they’ll hear from us.

   Reply to Ellen Ross

5. Dad would say, “You made your bed. Now you get to lie in it” referring to poor choices and the consequences of those choices. Now my sister and I quote to each other when we chat about our children or friends or other family members as they make their own poor decisions.

   Reply to Elaine Noble

6. My parents and grandparents had so many….but one my sisters and I still quote to this day is “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without!”

   Reply to Catherine M Gervasio

7. Mom to dad chasing a bug in the house: “Don’t hurt it, just kill it!”
   Dad paying bills: “Can’t get blood from a turnip!”

   Reply to CdeB

8. Heard as a kid: those dishes won’t wash themselves; money doesn’t grow on trees; monkey see, monkey do.
   Grandma answered “I don’t want to” with “do it anyway; do it now; do it right” in beautiful Spanish. At 80 I have to repeat it to myself often ….in two languages. My brother-in-law’s grandmother from deep East Texas could stop us gossiping harshly with: “Did you evr stop to ask yoself how come him to be that way?” That we would do that all the time!

   Reply to Carol Matteson Pascal

9. When someone just would not learn a lesson or make a needed change in his/her life, my families response was often “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make ‘um drink.”

   Reply to Sharon L.

10. My mother always told me after I had been out late and I didn’t want to get up she would say, “If you’re going to hoot with the owls, you need to soar with the eagles.
    Another one was ” I wouldn’t spit down that cheating SOB’s throat if he was dying of thirst.”

    Reply to Kristy Ramirez

11. We had a few! When I was very young, I mis-heard some words. When my father said his “lousy” foot hurt, I repeated it as “Daddy owsy foot hurt”. Later, we always said our “owsy” something hurts. My father used to say “You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die”, which I heard as “speck” of dirt, and wondered how a speck of dirt could hurt me! When we went through tough times, my parents said it will get better “when our ship comes in”. Also, “you get too soon old and too late smart”.

    Reply to Rose Marie Wilson

12. “CAN’T never did nothin’ and the Impossible just takes a little longer. “

    Reply to Mary

13. We did not have a lot of money growing up, but my dad always encouraged us to look our best, dress well, polish our shoes, and not be intimidated by others with more privileges. He would say, ‘if you look like a million bucks, you will feel like a million bucks.’ He built our confidence and helped us believe we could do anything.

    Reply to Elizabeth Ann

14. On a wild horse, it will never be noticed.
    My Mother’s famous saying. Mostly used when my sisters and I would complain about something. We never figured out if we were on the wild horse or the subject of our complaint was on the horse….our hair, our clothing, etc.

    Reply to Ann Jinnett

15. Our funny and playful grandfather would begin many meals and parties with the toast ‘Here’s mud in your eye fishface.’ We still say it when we are together and remember the fun with had with our gramp.

    Reply to Helen Lockwood

16. I just want to say “Thank You” to all who have replied. It was great reading your stories!

    Reply to Ernie Cadenas

    1. Think before you speak. Once you say something, you can’t take it back. My grandmother taught me this.

       Reply to DonnaJoy

17. My mom, a 1950’s homemaker who often issued this warning: “A hard head makes a soft behind!” Now ain’t that the truth. In almost eighty years of living, I’ve learned that truth over and over again. My dad, a hard working country bumpkin from Texas … after I’d done something wrong: “If I put your brain in a bird, he’d fly backwards! Come here gal and hug me!”

    Reply to Yvonne Savior

18. I didn’t “get” it at the time, and now wonder how he could say it to his girl children…My dad used to say, “girls, keep your voiced and your dresses down.”

    Reply to Victoria Loudis

19. When I was a kid, every time we went anywhere on the highway — you know, those newfangled roads where everybody is traveling in the same direction — my dad would chug along at the speed limit (at that time, 60 mph) and people would pass him like he was stopped. He always commented (every single time): “Everybody’s in a hurry to go nowhere!”

    Reply to Charlotte Cody

20. My best friend’s Mom would always say, “If wishes were fishes, we’d all have a fry.”

    Reply to Pat

21. When I was unsure about a decision that I made, my grandmother always told me, “If in doubt, don’t” I believe she was relying on that gut feeling that we all have!

    Reply to Cynthia Hopkind

22. My dad would say, “Don’t let anyone give you any guff.” He never defined guff, as I recall, but we all knew what he meant.

    Reply to KATHLEEN DOHENY

23. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

    Reply to Dolly

24. My mother would sometimes say, “The world is going to HELL in a hand-basket”.
    She passed away in 1988…..she would be so shocked at how much worse it’s gotten since those days.

    Reply to Judy A Jaeger

25. My grandmaw used to say, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” It took me a while to figure out what that meant, and I think of it often when I’m trying to solve a problem. :-)

    Reply to Danise

26. My dad had two sayings – “A little dirt never hurt anyone,” and “It’ll put hair on your chest.”

    Reply to Diane Bethune

27. My father was 93yo when he died znd would occasionally, in frustration, say “Gosh oh fish hooks!”

    Reply to Cheryl Hanks

    1. I cried and throw a temper tantrum as a youngster which seemed like an entire day, but in actuality was probably only a few minutes. As a result my aunt said ” I’m going to give you something to cry about ” In my little self centered mind I thought she was going to give me something and then take it right away. Boy was I wrong.

       Reply to Gina Broadnax

28. Ours was “onward and upward”. Began when hiking with my parents at Devils Lake State Park. Usually my dad would lead us (brother about 9 at the time, me 6 years old), but somehow my mother got into her head that this would the hike should not end just yet. So, despite tired little legs trudging up the rocks we kept going. When any of us asked which way to go or when we would turn back, she replied”p “onward and upward”. Good for a lifetime of decisions and challenges.

    Reply to Thomas F

29. My grandmother was born in what was then called Indian Territory in 1905, two years before Oklahoma became a state, and had a way of putting things that stays with me. There was her take on an old saying, “Two heads is better’n one, even if one is a goat’s head…and I ain’t sayin’ which one’s the goat’s head!”
    She assured me women were stronger than men, citing this saying: “If the man was to have the 1st baby & the woman the 2nd baby, wouldn’t never be no 3rd baby!” (Man wouldn’t do it again!)

    Reply to Diana G

30. My father would say, “That really burns my butt.” After being asked, “what?”, he’d respond, “a fire about this high,” and measure up from the floor with his hand.

    Reply to Marilyn Mariani Lay

31. My dad would say FHB (family hold back) when it seemed like there
    might not be enough food with company. When I grew up during the 30’s friends and relatives would just pop in so you didn’t know how many you were going to feed.
    Marilyn Ellis

    Reply to Marilyn Ellis

32. As a child we ate a lot of fruit and sometimes we had complaints about a cantelope being not ripe enough or a peach not sweet enough. My mother would always say, “If I could climb inside and give it a taste before I bought it this would never happen”. Sums it up nicely.

    Reply to Beatrice Segev

33. When I did a dumb thing, My stepdad would always say “There’s no in being dumb unless you show it “.

    Reply to ML

34. When someone is being difficult, argumentative, etc. my dad would say “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is made up.” I love that. In business, he would always say “You have to own the building.” “Don’t rent; if you are successful, the landlord will raise the rent.”

    Reply to Susan Stevens

35. When being overly stressed to find the ideal solution to a problem and worrying we might just make the wrong decision, my Dad, a farmer, always said, “A farmer never plowed a field by turning it over in his mind”.

    Reply to Maryellen Reed

36. In my “own” family (wife and kids), we have watched the various versions of “A Christmas Carol” so often we know much of the dialogue and songs by heart, and quote them when appropriate. After he was grown and married, my wife and I were visiting with our son, and, at the end of the evening, as we were getting ready to leave, he walked across the room and said, “This is the door, you may use it.” (from the Muppet version, Scrooge ushering out the fundraisers). I was VERY proud of him.

    Reply to Eric Wallace