Expressions your mum and dad used to use ...

[Bimble]

A few I remember, post yours below:

"Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs" - in exclamation at something
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - when I groaned about the state of a bike that next door's had given me for free to do-up
"Bob's your uncle (and fanny's your aunt)" - at the end of fixing anything
"Up the wooden hill to bedfordshire" - when it was time for bed
"If someone asked you to put your head in the oven, would you?" - when you'd done something rather stupid after following someone else
"What did your last slave die of?" - when you were being lazy and asking for something you could easily do yourself
"Were you born in a barn?" - when you left a door open
"Don't sit that close to the telly, you'll get square eyes"
"Do as I say, not as I do!" - generally when you caught your dad doing something he shouldn't
"Money doesn't grow on trees" - well, actually, back then it was made of paper, so yes, it did grown on trees

 

[classic33]

Break your legs, don't come running to me for help. - You were doing something they thought would result in injury.

 

[Cathryn]

A few I remember, post yours below:

"Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs" - in exclamation at something
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" - when I groaned about the state of a bike that next door's had given me for free to do-up
"Bob's your uncle (and fanny's your aunt)" - at the end of fixing anything
"Up the wooden hill to bedfordshire" - when it was time for bed
"If someone asked you to put your head in the oven, would you?" - when you'd done something rather stupid after following someone else
"What did your last slave die of?" - when you were being lazy and asking for something you could easily do yourself
"Were you born in a barn?" - when you left a door open
"Don't sit that close to the telly, you'll get square eyes"
"Do as I say, not as I do!" - generally when you caught your dad doing something he shouldn't
"Money doesn't grow on trees" - well, actually, back then it was made of paper, so yes, it did grown on trees

We still use several of these...

 

[numbnuts]

Mother, never said much
Father, you usless little ****...........we never got on

 

[MontyVeda]

We still use several of these...

quite... more like 'expressions still in common use'

 

[raleighnut]

Do you want a Smack *generally a couple of seconds before you got one anyway*

 

[Smokin Joe]

"I know there were more cigarettes in that packet last time I opened it, let's smell your breath"

 

[biggs682]

Just coming over courtaulds bridge

 

[Dag Hammar]

When I voiced the idea of possibly getting married to my then girlfriend, my mother said “Why buy a book when you can get it from the library”.
She wasn’t being nasty or unkind in relation to the girl, I believe she was just cautioning me not to hurry into marriage.
But the best one IMHO was if she saw a ‘strange couple’ she would quietly comment “Water finds its own level”

God bless her, she had dozens more in her repertoire.

 

[ColinJ]

Break your legs, don't come running to me for help. - You were doing something they thought would result in injury.

My paternal grandfather apparently used to say that kind of thing to my dad when he was a boy. So, when he did something rather stupid and broke his arm on a Sunday lunchtime... he didn't (mention it to his father)!

He walked home in a great deal of pain, and as soon as he got back he was told to sit at the table because Sunday dinner was ready.

Shattered bones tend to make children lose their appetite so my dad only picked at his food. Grandad was very cross and grabbed my dad by the arms. He shook him and told him to stop playing with his food.

Dad woke up in hospital, having fainted from the pain!

He had to have the arm pinned back together and it eventually healed with a very obvious kink in it.

 

[Cycleops]

My father used to use these:

When he saw a rather overweight lady. " She's a real boiling piece"

" Never mix the grain with the grape". Whenever I went out to a party.

Whenever he saw a sexy woman. "Attractive in an ugly sort of way"

One of my aunt's who was rather ethereal was described as "Pixilated".

As used by my mother (who came from Sheffield).

"Don't pick your nose, you'll end up with nostrils like the Wicker Arches".

 

[Beebo]

My dad was always “going to see a man about a dog” when ever I asked where he was going.

And if I asked what we had for dinner it was alway “bread and pull it”. Did anyone else ever hear that one?

 

[Blue Hills]

Just coming over courtaulds bridge

??

 

[Blue Hills]

Things I overheard from parents often seemed to be to do with sex relationships or whatever, not that my parents were frank on such things for the phrases were kind of euphemisms.
If a pair had been going out for a while that was "courting". Told a foreign person this once and they thought it sounded positively medieval.
"Carrying on with" signified a maybe less serious relationship and was I always supposed where the title of the in/famous film series came from.
My favourite was "run away with" which I had the idea had something to do with extramarital adventures that lead to some sort of rupture. I always found this a damn odd phrase as I come from a pretty small (northern) town. Not far to run, just round the corner?

 

[Blue Hills]

My father used to use these:


Whenever he saw a sexy woman. "Attractive in an ugly sort of way"

Was that maybe to reassure your mum?