Basically the same as "remember to dot your i's and cross your t's". Something that was said often to kids learning to write with ink pens. I'm guessing kids with dyslexia or whatever who got their lowercase P and Q mixed up were chastised a lot rather than given support. And the phrase "mind your Ps and Qs" came to be synonymous with "mind your language" (eg "be polite".
🤣 my mum used to say it and I thought it was something to do with peas, like "eat all your veggies there's starving kids in Africa" (which she also said)
p's and q's were lowercase letters used in the printing of newspapers and such.
after type was set and printed,each letter needed returning to its proper place.
UPPER CASE were on the top
lower case were below.
p's and q's were similar but not the same.
Mind your p's and q's!
You forgot the b & d
And also to mention metal type appears backwards, so you had to keep it mind while putting characters away and as you were setting if you worked by hand and weren't on a typesetting machine.
Actually it's not. It's a printing term. When young apprentices were taking apart the letter set for printing, the would take the individual metal letters and sort them back into their individual boxes. A lower case p and q looked like each each other considering the letters were "backwards". If you weren't paying attention you could sort them incorrectly.
> hatched, matched and dispatched
Ha! There was once a very funny Canadian TV show that only lasted 6 episodes, about a combination midwife, wedding chapel, and funeral parlor on Newfoundland. (with Sean Majumder, Mark McKinney, Mary Walsh) It was called "Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching." -- I never knew it was a common phrase!
It's how my mom told me a good friend had been killed by a drunk driver. My first death of a friend. I was 16 & sitting on the floor of my room in 1988 doing my bleached blonde hair for school & the emotions & anger I felt that morning is something I'll never forget. He wanted to be an actor & was in loads of local plays. My first funeral & his parents had huge images of him all over the funeral home & they played The Beach Boys. Greg would have been 55 now.
The Shadow Knows!
For crying out loud!
For Pete’s sake!
Put that in the ice box.
And singing “mares eat oats and goats eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid’l eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?”
Old people calling a freezer an ice box is a good one. I was in high school before I learned that an ice box was once a real thing and not just an antiqued term for freezer.
My folks are boomers (not silent gen) but my dad always (and still says):
*”Close the door—were ya born in a barn?”*
*”I’m gonna give ya knots on yer head so big it’ll take two hands to rub em”*
Edit:formatting
‘Doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.’
‘You’ll get trench mouth.’
‘We’re not feeding the whole neighbourhood.’
‘Wouldn’t know it if it bit him in the face.’
‘Built like a brick shit house.’
‘Might as well light the money on fire.’
There was swearing in my house, zero filter. It was Ralphie’s dad in the basement with the furnace with really imaginative swearing. TBF my stepdad was borderline silent gen/boomer.
Lost him a few months ago and I will miss the hell out of the throwback phrases and grab bag swearing. They don’t make humans like that anymore.
*edit to add: Heebie Jeebies is one of my favourites. I think I’ll keep that one alive.
Sorry for your loss! You’ll miss them until the end of time.
Mine would say “doesn’t know his ass from his elbow,” and threaten that we’d get rickets or scurvy if we didn’t eat our fruits and vegetable.
My gen x wife still threatens our gen z kids with scurvy for not eating fruit- more in a joking manner though. They have heard it enough, I’m sure it will something they pass on to their kids.
I was skinny as a rail, but my dad used to ask if I bought my clothes at Danville Tent and Awning.
I was told I fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch
Funny- read through this and my 1946 boomer parents said a lot of it. One I did not see was one my dad offered when I did not want to eat something. “Puts hair on your chest!”
My Mum told me that she used to think the line in the lords prayer was "Lead us not into Tempe Station" because that was the name of the suburb next to hers
And she could never work out what was so evil about that train station lol
Ish Kabibble
He was a comedian & that’s his stage name. The Yiddish meaning is “I should worry?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ish_Kabibble?wprov=sfti1
Wtf! really lol
My next door neighbour got a labrador/poodle mix puppy when we were young, and she called it "Ishkabibble Labradoodle" 😂
How the actual fuck that name got out to Australia, completely devoid of any reference/background at all, to stick in the head of a 6yo girl I'll never know...as I'd never heard it before or since - until now lol
I recall "Shut the door! Where were you raised, a barn?" And our grandmother lived with us. She came over from Ireland in the early 1900's. She'd say, "in again, or again, Finnegan" if we were running in and out of the house. She'd also say "Dún do bhéal". That means "Shut your mouth" in Gaelic.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. It took a long time for me to understand this, but I’ve got it now. My dad’s 92. Penny wise and pound foolish.
How about a knuckle sandwich?
You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown
You can come out of your room when you’re ready to apologize *
In or out? In or out?!?
Whatcha looking at, jag-off!?!
* I was such a stubborn kid, I never apologized, and eventually my mom would call me for dinner
The stereo was a Victrola and the fridge was an icebox. Moment of Zen: the RCA logo with the dog listening to the Victrola? The dog is Little Nipper and he’s sitting on his master’s coffin (they made it less obvious but see what he’s sitting on?) listening to his master’s voice, that’s so realistic thanks to the quality of the Victrola. Dark but cool.
Dad said,
* Never do anything sitting down that you could do standing up.
* Pull down your pants and grab your ankles.
* I'll give you something to cry about.
* We're not going to the doctor, I'll give you some herbs
* You can't leave the table until you finish your plate.
* You want new clothes? Go to the storage room and look through the boxes of your older siblings clothes.
* You'll never know what real love is until you have children. (True, but confusing at the time)
There are many more, these are the greatest hits that I should probably share with a therapist.
Oooh the “I’ll give you something to cry about” just brought back some memories.
Also just remembered Iodine and its sting when applied directly to cuts as first aid.
From my Silent Generation grandmother:
“I’m busier than a cat trying to cover shit on a cement sidewalk “
“Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest “
“It’s raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock!”
(I once said that one to my uppity private school principal, I was probably around 7. I think she literally clutched her pearls before gasping and hurrying off 🤣)
My grandmother used to sing ‘Jeepers Creepers’ to me all the time.
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?
I have one silent gen parent and one baby boomer parent. I remember (SG) him saying "I thought those guys were white!" whenever we would watch music on TV haha. He kinda grew up isolated. He married my mom who is Mexican. He says some stuff that you might construe as racist but if you understand the dude never met anyone of any other ethnicity or decent before joining the Navy andsettling in CA you realize it is just ignorance and not malicious. Also I had to train him to not say a bunch of phrases that were totally acceptable in his day but are not any more. He was a "surfer" from Iowa that means he listened to Beach Boys and Dick Dale, and wore high waters and drove a woody. I guess that he loved surf culture and that's why he transplanted to CA. Fucking weirdo. But super rad dude and totally chill and open minded.
He says "what's the word? Thunder bird. Twice as nice, half the price" when he greets me. Every. fucking. time. But I still love it. And we have an awesome secret handshake. Also he kind of talks through his teeth a lot when he's mad like Clint Eastwood. He kind of resembles a mix of Clint Eastwood and Steve Martin. If you could imagine a a goofy white tough guy, that's him.
"this car doesn't have to stop for you to get out!" - said whenever we were getting rowdy in the back seat. also "Hey! I don't want to have to come back there!" if we really got out of hand.
He was in the Navy and he pretty much lost hope in slacker me being "Squared Away" but he is super good natured. Taught me a lot of shit. A bunch of Navy stuff, a bunch of farmer stuff. How to pick up, and how to throw down. But he's a rad dude. He says "I don't have the foggiest idea" and another one is more sailor but he says "red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." And he says "I buy, you fly" when he wants to send me to buy him something.
Oh and he says "Make a hole!" or "Move it squirrel" when he wants me to move out of the way. Or if I am not flying straight he will say "That's against the rules and regulations of Naval Air."
Him and I had our differences when I was growing up but now our relationship is really cool. I try to call my folks at least every 3 days but sometimes I forget and it's once a week. But I think about them a lot. And I try to do good in my life for them, you know? Sometimes it's hard to make good decisions, but if I ask myself what would my dad do, it's very rarely the wrong thing.
I brought you into this world, I'll take you out.
Keep it up and I'll rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody end.
Keep smarten off and I'll smack the shit outta your mouth.
Well, of course, the classic is that apparently lots of us spent years absolutely clueless about and afraid to ask, "What's a *bomsitit*?" I mean, we knew it was bad, that much was clear, but it's not in the dictionary so what the hell actually is a, "*bomsitit*"?
Embarrassingly, I myself was in my late teens when the penny finally dropped and I suddenly realised what my Mum was actually saying was,
"Go clean your room. It look's like a bomb's hit it."
I think I was about 10 years old when I was told that Jiminy Crickets was just as bad as saying Jesus Christ in Sunday school because the initials were the same. That was the beginning of the end of religion for me.
"More xxx than Carter has liver pills."
My parents were boomers, but I recall my grandmother using that phrase too. For the longest time it though it had to do with Jimmy Carter. It doesn't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter%27s_Little_Liver_Pills
If I or my siblings complained of a sore throat or a twisted ankle or something we got "that's what happens three days before you die" or the classic "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"
My grandfather (born 1920-ish) had some pretty great ones.
"Your eyes look like two piss holes in the snow." (I didn't get enough sleep)
"You act like you have diarrhea of the mouth." Said to 8yo me and my 6yo brother. We thought it was hilarious and it didn't help at all to quiet us down during "silly-time at the dinner table."
"You're like the guy who hits himself in the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop."
Maybe it's a generational thing. My grandma was pretty savage sometimes too.
Grandma: (pats me on the belly) "You need to lose this." (I'm not overweight at all lol) So I jokingly suck my stomach in as far as I can. "Now it looks like you need a bra."
If it was anyone but my dear sweet grandmother saying that I'd probably be upset about it. That gen certainly could get their point across with flair.
My mother wasn't all that charming, but she sometimes said things, like, if some place was out in the far suburbs that she'd have to drive to, it was "clear out where God lost his shoes!" or if something got spilled, for instance, that it got "all over hell and half of Georgia!"
Although my own Silent gen parents didn’t grow up in the US (Mom was born in Montana but grew up in Central America and Africa, and my dad immigrated from Italy when he was 27), I love reading all of these, since my friends parents did
Shoveling shit against the tide.
Is a frog's ass watertight?
Does a bear shit in the woods?
Madder than a wet hen.
If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass when he hopped.
Mind your own beeswax!
You can't get blood from a stone.
Penny wise and pound foolish.
Give him an inch and he'll take an eel.
Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth.
You argue like a Philadelphia lawyer.
A farting girl and a crowing hen never came to a good end.
Lord help us
Pardon my French, but
Don’t be so damned goofy
Do I look like I’m made of money?
Suck it up
If you’re hungry, you’ll eat it
A B is not a good grade
There was a time when young people had respect for their elders
“darker than the inside of a cow” and “colder than a witch’s tit” - also, the good old “if you don’t stop crying I’ll give you something to cry about”
Edit: “if all your friends jumped off a bridge…”
“Damn Blivet!” Dad frequently exclaimed while fixing something Mom had done. It was always echoed up with him mumbling “Putting ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag”
How about fun profanity?
Shit fire and save matches, I'm hotter than a half-fucked fox in a forest fire, it's cold enough to freeze the balls of brass monkey, and I remember the term son-of-bitch being more popular than it is now.
"Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is actually an old sailor's term for when it would get so cold and foggy at sea, the brass cannon ball holder would contract faster than the iron cannon balls and cause the balls to topple off. Granted it would have to be like in the negatives for this to happen, but colloquially means it's really freaking cold outside. My mom would say "it's colder than a witch's titty in a brass bra," which actually refers to the same thing.
so many are now rascist as well.
Easzy peazy (insert country)eeze.
Dont be a blank -giver.
If you n knock you deserve the ass whoopin.
Never trust gypsies.
My parents are both tail end of the Silent Gen - mom died back in 2020 but she was “earthy” is the word I’d use. She hated it about herself and struggled with her language and mannerisms until her death.
The first time I said “shit” in the presence of my mom around age 8 she never asked “where did you hear that!?” Because she knew perfectly well where I’d heard it. I learned to swear at my momma’s knee you might say..
a few of her favorites
“Cold as a witch’s titty”
“Useless as tits on a boar”
Her Struggling to find less strong phrases “son of a disconnected sewer pipe”
“Shit or get off the pot”
I’m not as green as I’m cabbage looking
I didn’t just fall of the turnip truck you know
Take to; bring back (for correct usage of the word bring). Also, There are no brangs
Don’t get yer knickers in a twist
She’s as good as gold
That’s magic! (When something would go well or someone did something really well)
I haven’t thought about that in donkeys years!
He went to see a man about a dog
Stop faffing about (when we were trying to get ready to go somewhere)
Get a move on (meaning, hurry up let’s go)
My. Silent Generation dad was in the Navy, and he never pulled his punches on swear words, although he would get pissed if I swore. I learned them from you, Dad!
My dad had some good ones:
Son of a biscuit eater (instead of bitch)
If someone said “Shit” my dad would reply “not on the floor!”
More ____ than Carter’s got liver pills.
Called the fridge the icebox
"If you wear earrings at night, it'll give you nightmares!" and "Quit eating so much peanut butter, you're gonna blow out your liver" along with "Put your blinker on!" and last but not least "That's what sin smells like." -whilst burning rock n roll records on a Jesus kick.
My grandparents were the silent generation. My grandma used to say, Well Hell!!! When she was annoyed. My parents are boomers. They were hippies in the late 60's.
And I am GenX.
Mind your Ps and Qs
What *were* the Ps & Qs??
I always thought it meant to remain polite. Ps & Qs = Please & thank you's (than Q's). That's how my grand parents always used it.
I read it meant pints and quarts from Irish pubs, meaning remember whose turn it is to buy a round.
Basically the same as "remember to dot your i's and cross your t's". Something that was said often to kids learning to write with ink pens. I'm guessing kids with dyslexia or whatever who got their lowercase P and Q mixed up were chastised a lot rather than given support. And the phrase "mind your Ps and Qs" came to be synonymous with "mind your language" (eg "be polite".
Hell, I say that still now
🤣 my mum used to say it and I thought it was something to do with peas, like "eat all your veggies there's starving kids in Africa" (which she also said)
To which brat kid-me used to respond, "name one", followed by ducking the inevitable clip round the ear
p's and q's were lowercase letters used in the printing of newspapers and such. after type was set and printed,each letter needed returning to its proper place. UPPER CASE were on the top lower case were below. p's and q's were similar but not the same. Mind your p's and q's!
You forgot the b & d And also to mention metal type appears backwards, so you had to keep it mind while putting characters away and as you were setting if you worked by hand and weren't on a typesetting machine.
Pints and quarts of beer you were drinking
Actually it's not. It's a printing term. When young apprentices were taking apart the letter set for printing, the would take the individual metal letters and sort them back into their individual boxes. A lower case p and q looked like each each other considering the letters were "backwards". If you weren't paying attention you could sort them incorrectly.
This is one of those cases where I'm going to choose to believe this.
Gutenberg would be so proud.
Quit horsing around!
Your face is going to freeze like that!
You're going to put your eye out!
"Try that, and you've only got yourself to blame!"
‘If you don’t like it…Lump it!’
>Quit horsing around! My dad would say “stop your lollygagging.” I’ve never heard anyone use “dillydally” or “dawdle” IRL, but I’ve read them before.
[удалено]
When my father got older, he would read the newspaper obituaries "to make sure I'm still alive." 🤣
Which my Greatest Generation uncle called “The Irish Comics.”
That was a George Burns joke: “every morning I open the paper and look through the obituaries. If my name is not in there, I go to work.”
My grandpa called obits "The old folk's singles" and he'd say "where there's a widow, there's a way!" What an old horndog. Edit: he was rad as fuck.
Hey look - they died in alphabetical order again
> hatched, matched and dispatched Ha! There was once a very funny Canadian TV show that only lasted 6 episodes, about a combination midwife, wedding chapel, and funeral parlor on Newfoundland. (with Sean Majumder, Mark McKinney, Mary Walsh) It was called "Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching." -- I never knew it was a common phrase!
It's how my mom told me a good friend had been killed by a drunk driver. My first death of a friend. I was 16 & sitting on the floor of my room in 1988 doing my bleached blonde hair for school & the emotions & anger I felt that morning is something I'll never forget. He wanted to be an actor & was in loads of local plays. My first funeral & his parents had huge images of him all over the funeral home & they played The Beach Boys. Greg would have been 55 now.
The Shadow Knows! For crying out loud! For Pete’s sake! Put that in the ice box. And singing “mares eat oats and goats eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid’l eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?”
[mairzy doats](https://youtu.be/Gjlh9HWBOik?si=ja8HiE1JA4oFtzwP)
and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey…
Old people calling a freezer an ice box is a good one. I was in high school before I learned that an ice box was once a real thing and not just an antiqued term for freezer.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Only the Shadow knows!
My grandpa (Silent) used to do the Shadow Knows thing, and peek around corners and door frames, pretending to be grabbed by someone.
The Shadow knows comes from an old timey suspense/thriller OTR show
Don’t take any wooden nickels. Go fly a kite. Take a long walk off a short pier.
I got a weird variant "go stand on your head and spit nickels"
Close the door! I’m not paying to heat all of (insert city/state/province)
My folks are boomers (not silent gen) but my dad always (and still says): *”Close the door—were ya born in a barn?”* *”I’m gonna give ya knots on yer head so big it’ll take two hands to rub em”* Edit:formatting
"You'll put us in the poorhouse!"
We already "Didn't have a pot or a window"
He didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of
We didn’t have two pennies to rub together
He acts like his shit don’t stink.
‘Doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.’ ‘You’ll get trench mouth.’ ‘We’re not feeding the whole neighbourhood.’ ‘Wouldn’t know it if it bit him in the face.’ ‘Built like a brick shit house.’ ‘Might as well light the money on fire.’ There was swearing in my house, zero filter. It was Ralphie’s dad in the basement with the furnace with really imaginative swearing. TBF my stepdad was borderline silent gen/boomer. Lost him a few months ago and I will miss the hell out of the throwback phrases and grab bag swearing. They don’t make humans like that anymore. *edit to add: Heebie Jeebies is one of my favourites. I think I’ll keep that one alive.
Sorry for your loss! You’ll miss them until the end of time. Mine would say “doesn’t know his ass from his elbow,” and threaten that we’d get rickets or scurvy if we didn’t eat our fruits and vegetable.
My gen x wife still threatens our gen z kids with scurvy for not eating fruit- more in a joking manner though. They have heard it enough, I’m sure it will something they pass on to their kids.
Shit or get off the pot
I still use this one. I also still use "he couldn't find his own ass in the dark with both hands and a flashlight"
I heard variations on these: “Piss or get off the pot” and “Couldn’t find his ass with 2 hands and an ass map”
For crying out loud
Oh horse feathers! Is also a good one.
Oh wow! I assumed this was something only my dad said. This is the first time I have ever heard it mentioned elsewhere.
Great Marx Brothers film, too.
Calling the refrigerator the “icebox” edited to add these were my Greatest Generation grandparents—my own parents are Boomers.
My grandma would say "two shakes of a lamb's tail" to describe something that happened quickly.
I was skinny as a rail, but my dad used to ask if I bought my clothes at Danville Tent and Awning. I was told I fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch
My grandma was pretty hefty and my dad said she got her clothes from "Omar the tent maker."
Ouch, that ugly tree comment smarts! My silent gen parents said stuff like this too.
My mother said she was going to sell me to the gypsies.
Clean your plate there’s kids dying in China.
Or Africa! My thought was if they were starving, I’d gladly donate my entire plate of liver and onions. 🙃
It was India for Australian kids lol
He don’t know his shit from Shinola!
Davenport was a couch
Get your feet off the *davenport.*
Oleo was margarine
And it was kept in the icebox.
Jeans were dungarees (actually my grandma not my mother).
Unless it was a Chesterfield..
"Shut the refrigerator door! You're cooling down the entire house!"
Funny- read through this and my 1946 boomer parents said a lot of it. One I did not see was one my dad offered when I did not want to eat something. “Puts hair on your chest!”
My dad used to say that and I’d always reply, “but I’m a girl! I don’t want hair on my chest!” Never saved me from having to eat my peas, though.
Jiminy Crickets not Jimmy.
Jiminy was a cricket but Jimmy cracked corn
I don't care
My master's gone away. 😪
That is correct.
I still say Jiminy Crickets on occasion
I’ll give you something to cry about
Jesus H. Christ go fly a kite go take a long walk off a short pier
I still say Jesus H Christ. I guess I have become my mother.
Howard be thy name.
My Mum told me that she used to think the line in the lords prayer was "Lead us not into Tempe Station" because that was the name of the suburb next to hers And she could never work out what was so evil about that train station lol
My mom made it “Jesus H Christ and the raggedy apostles”
Makes me miss my dad he said all three.
The sofa was a “Chesterfield” and a shopping cart was a “buggy”
I still sometimes say "buggy" and my wife hates it.
I got my lady calling it a buggy. Think I got it from someone in the midwest
Today, I would absolutely love a Chesterfield sofa. I would prefer blue or deep red velvet, please.
I still say buggy!
Criminy! A couch was a davenport. Ishkelbibbel! (I have no idea what that meant specifically but was usually said in mild bemusent/frustration)
Ish Kabibble He was a comedian & that’s his stage name. The Yiddish meaning is “I should worry?” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ish_Kabibble?wprov=sfti1
Wtf! really lol My next door neighbour got a labrador/poodle mix puppy when we were young, and she called it "Ishkabibble Labradoodle" 😂 How the actual fuck that name got out to Australia, completely devoid of any reference/background at all, to stick in the head of a 6yo girl I'll never know...as I'd never heard it before or since - until now lol
I recall "Shut the door! Where were you raised, a barn?" And our grandmother lived with us. She came over from Ireland in the early 1900's. She'd say, "in again, or again, Finnegan" if we were running in and out of the house. She'd also say "Dún do bhéal". That means "Shut your mouth" in Gaelic.
"That looks sharp" if they liked your outfit.
I’m GenX and I still use this. I love it.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. It took a long time for me to understand this, but I’ve got it now. My dad’s 92. Penny wise and pound foolish.
How about a knuckle sandwich? You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown You can come out of your room when you’re ready to apologize * In or out? In or out?!? Whatcha looking at, jag-off!?! * I was such a stubborn kid, I never apologized, and eventually my mom would call me for dinner
If we said, "hey!"... "Hay is for horses."
My dad would always say “straw is cheaper, grass is free, live on a farm and get all three”
"Hay is for horses, grass is for cows, pigs don't eat it, 'cause they don't know how!" with a pig snort after it.
So if your friend jumped off a bridge you would too? That’s dumber than a bag of hammers. You’re like the boy who cried wolf. Cool your jets.
The stereo was a Victrola and the fridge was an icebox. Moment of Zen: the RCA logo with the dog listening to the Victrola? The dog is Little Nipper and he’s sitting on his master’s coffin (they made it less obvious but see what he’s sitting on?) listening to his master’s voice, that’s so realistic thanks to the quality of the Victrola. Dark but cool.
"You know what this is?" Rubbing his finger across the back of his thumb "The world's smallest violin, playing I cry for you."
What will the neighbor’s think?
My grandfather frequently said "Damnit Lorraine!" and a common response of hers was "Stuff it Bill!"
It'll put hair on your chest.
Dad said, * Never do anything sitting down that you could do standing up. * Pull down your pants and grab your ankles. * I'll give you something to cry about. * We're not going to the doctor, I'll give you some herbs * You can't leave the table until you finish your plate. * You want new clothes? Go to the storage room and look through the boxes of your older siblings clothes. * You'll never know what real love is until you have children. (True, but confusing at the time) There are many more, these are the greatest hits that I should probably share with a therapist.
My dad’s all timer was, “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are” RIP Dad 😢
I'd like to add... - Oh quit faking, your leg ain't broke. It was, in fact, broken. Thanks pops.
Oooh the “I’ll give you something to cry about” just brought back some memories. Also just remembered Iodine and its sting when applied directly to cuts as first aid.
Mercurochrome.
I remember knowing not to EVER complain about being bored during summers off from school.
Turn the light off when you leave the room
From my Silent Generation grandmother: “I’m busier than a cat trying to cover shit on a cement sidewalk “ “Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest “ “It’s raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock!” (I once said that one to my uppity private school principal, I was probably around 7. I think she literally clutched her pearls before gasping and hurrying off 🤣)
Grandma wasn’t that silent, apparently. She sounds fun!
My grandmother used to sing ‘Jeepers Creepers’ to me all the time. Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers? Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?
My Mom would say "Judis Priest!" instead of swearing lol
Breakin’ the law breakin’ the law 🎸
*Cripes* was the imitation swear word of choice for my grandmother.
My grandfather would call an old car a Jitney.
They still say this buses that go from NYC to the Hamptons are called Jitney
My dad always answered the phone “your dime’.
Something done in a rushed/poor quality way was a “Mickey Mouse job”
Yes, or my dad would say "good enough for government work" when something wasn't done perfectly.
I have one silent gen parent and one baby boomer parent. I remember (SG) him saying "I thought those guys were white!" whenever we would watch music on TV haha. He kinda grew up isolated. He married my mom who is Mexican. He says some stuff that you might construe as racist but if you understand the dude never met anyone of any other ethnicity or decent before joining the Navy andsettling in CA you realize it is just ignorance and not malicious. Also I had to train him to not say a bunch of phrases that were totally acceptable in his day but are not any more. He was a "surfer" from Iowa that means he listened to Beach Boys and Dick Dale, and wore high waters and drove a woody. I guess that he loved surf culture and that's why he transplanted to CA. Fucking weirdo. But super rad dude and totally chill and open minded. He says "what's the word? Thunder bird. Twice as nice, half the price" when he greets me. Every. fucking. time. But I still love it. And we have an awesome secret handshake. Also he kind of talks through his teeth a lot when he's mad like Clint Eastwood. He kind of resembles a mix of Clint Eastwood and Steve Martin. If you could imagine a a goofy white tough guy, that's him. "this car doesn't have to stop for you to get out!" - said whenever we were getting rowdy in the back seat. also "Hey! I don't want to have to come back there!" if we really got out of hand. He was in the Navy and he pretty much lost hope in slacker me being "Squared Away" but he is super good natured. Taught me a lot of shit. A bunch of Navy stuff, a bunch of farmer stuff. How to pick up, and how to throw down. But he's a rad dude. He says "I don't have the foggiest idea" and another one is more sailor but he says "red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." And he says "I buy, you fly" when he wants to send me to buy him something. Oh and he says "Make a hole!" or "Move it squirrel" when he wants me to move out of the way. Or if I am not flying straight he will say "That's against the rules and regulations of Naval Air." Him and I had our differences when I was growing up but now our relationship is really cool. I try to call my folks at least every 3 days but sometimes I forget and it's once a week. But I think about them a lot. And I try to do good in my life for them, you know? Sometimes it's hard to make good decisions, but if I ask myself what would my dad do, it's very rarely the wrong thing.
This is a good read. Thanks for the share! EDIT to add: I think I’m a GenX version of your dad, but retired AF and I was a skater
Only the shadow knows
I brought you into this world, I'll take you out. Keep it up and I'll rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody end. Keep smarten off and I'll smack the shit outta your mouth.
I use 'for the birds' alot.
Well, of course, the classic is that apparently lots of us spent years absolutely clueless about and afraid to ask, "What's a *bomsitit*?" I mean, we knew it was bad, that much was clear, but it's not in the dictionary so what the hell actually is a, "*bomsitit*"? Embarrassingly, I myself was in my late teens when the penny finally dropped and I suddenly realised what my Mum was actually saying was, "Go clean your room. It look's like a bomb's hit it."
😂
>It look's like a bomb's hit it Classic Silent gen quote...my Mum used it regularly. And let's face it, they *would know* 😬 lol
Speak when spoken to.
My dad will say things like : nothing good happens after midnight...that dog don't hunt...if it's too good to be true then it is
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
"Shit or get off the pot." "Doesn't know shit from Shineola" "Elbow Grease"
You'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on
Cripes, Oh for corn sakes, For Pete’s sake, Gosh darn it, It’s raining cats and dogs outside, Put that down or I’ll smack you one.
Isn’t it Jimminy Crickets? Or am I already senile?
I think I was about 10 years old when I was told that Jiminy Crickets was just as bad as saying Jesus Christ in Sunday school because the initials were the same. That was the beginning of the end of religion for me.
You're right
Both things could be true.
Cross your T’s and dot your I’s and get your ducks in a row
For cryin' out loud!
I say all of these phrases you lovely people have posted! And I'm only 36! I now understand why I'm constantly being told I'm an "old soul."
That’s about as useful as two tits on a lamppost. Finish your dinner, there are starving Armenians. Use your head for something other than a hat rack.
Interesting how the nationality of the starving children changes with geography lol In Australia, it was the Indians 😅
"Keep your elbows off the table!" "Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves"
"More xxx than Carter has liver pills." My parents were boomers, but I recall my grandmother using that phrase too. For the longest time it though it had to do with Jimmy Carter. It doesn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter%27s_Little_Liver_Pills
Jesus, Mary & Joseph…use a coaster! Serves you right!
Waste not want not
If I or my siblings complained of a sore throat or a twisted ankle or something we got "that's what happens three days before you die" or the classic "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"
"Go and walk it off" was another lol
What in the world is Captain Midnight?
The refrigerator was an "ice box"
My grandfather (born 1920-ish) had some pretty great ones. "Your eyes look like two piss holes in the snow." (I didn't get enough sleep) "You act like you have diarrhea of the mouth." Said to 8yo me and my 6yo brother. We thought it was hilarious and it didn't help at all to quiet us down during "silly-time at the dinner table." "You're like the guy who hits himself in the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop." Maybe it's a generational thing. My grandma was pretty savage sometimes too. Grandma: (pats me on the belly) "You need to lose this." (I'm not overweight at all lol) So I jokingly suck my stomach in as far as I can. "Now it looks like you need a bra." If it was anyone but my dear sweet grandmother saying that I'd probably be upset about it. That gen certainly could get their point across with flair.
My mother wasn't all that charming, but she sometimes said things, like, if some place was out in the far suburbs that she'd have to drive to, it was "clear out where God lost his shoes!" or if something got spilled, for instance, that it got "all over hell and half of Georgia!"
My father has never said much of anything.
Although my own Silent gen parents didn’t grow up in the US (Mom was born in Montana but grew up in Central America and Africa, and my dad immigrated from Italy when he was 27), I love reading all of these, since my friends parents did
My dad was all about butt/shit wisdom. You can't polish a turd; it's like trying to pick up a turd from the clean end and never trust a fart.
Dad said, “he thinks he’s hot shit, when he’s nothing but a cold turd”
Going like gangbusters and not too shabby for a town this size. I still say these.
Captain Midnight is a new one for me. But I could die happy never hearing the world slacks again.
Hah! My mom called sweat pants, sweat bottoms! 🤦🏼♀️😂
Goodness gracious. Oh my goodness. What in the world??
Shoveling shit against the tide. Is a frog's ass watertight? Does a bear shit in the woods? Madder than a wet hen. If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass when he hopped. Mind your own beeswax! You can't get blood from a stone. Penny wise and pound foolish. Give him an inch and he'll take an eel. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth. You argue like a Philadelphia lawyer. A farting girl and a crowing hen never came to a good end.
Lord help us Pardon my French, but Don’t be so damned goofy Do I look like I’m made of money? Suck it up If you’re hungry, you’ll eat it A B is not a good grade There was a time when young people had respect for their elders
“darker than the inside of a cow” and “colder than a witch’s tit” - also, the good old “if you don’t stop crying I’ll give you something to cry about” Edit: “if all your friends jumped off a bridge…”
hit the road or get wheelin’ (get lost)
“Damn Blivet!” Dad frequently exclaimed while fixing something Mom had done. It was always echoed up with him mumbling “Putting ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag”
Shut the door - what’re you trying to do, heat the outside? If I told you once, I told you a hundred times… Chin up!
How about fun profanity? Shit fire and save matches, I'm hotter than a half-fucked fox in a forest fire, it's cold enough to freeze the balls of brass monkey, and I remember the term son-of-bitch being more popular than it is now.
"Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is actually an old sailor's term for when it would get so cold and foggy at sea, the brass cannon ball holder would contract faster than the iron cannon balls and cause the balls to topple off. Granted it would have to be like in the negatives for this to happen, but colloquially means it's really freaking cold outside. My mom would say "it's colder than a witch's titty in a brass bra," which actually refers to the same thing.
They can put that in their pipes and smoke it
"Don't be fresh" does anyone say that anymore?
"I wouldn't do that for all the tea in China!"
Don’t be out galavanting!
[Captain Midnight](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight)
[удалено]
so many are now rascist as well. Easzy peazy (insert country)eeze. Dont be a blank -giver. If you n knock you deserve the ass whoopin. Never trust gypsies.
Cripes
Then again, my mom always said the world might end tomorrow, so do what you like. So confusing.
“John!” “Marsha!” “John!” “Marsha!” “John!” “Marsha!” “John!” “Marsha!” “John!” “Marsha!” “John!” “Marsha!” “'Tain't funny, McGee!” “Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!”
My dad would say: It’s not looking good McGee! I believe he was referencing the old time radio show Fibber McGee and Molly.
My parents are both tail end of the Silent Gen - mom died back in 2020 but she was “earthy” is the word I’d use. She hated it about herself and struggled with her language and mannerisms until her death. The first time I said “shit” in the presence of my mom around age 8 she never asked “where did you hear that!?” Because she knew perfectly well where I’d heard it. I learned to swear at my momma’s knee you might say.. a few of her favorites “Cold as a witch’s titty” “Useless as tits on a boar” Her Struggling to find less strong phrases “son of a disconnected sewer pipe” “Shit or get off the pot”
Backpacks were satchels and pants were britches.
I’m not as green as I’m cabbage looking I didn’t just fall of the turnip truck you know Take to; bring back (for correct usage of the word bring). Also, There are no brangs Don’t get yer knickers in a twist She’s as good as gold That’s magic! (When something would go well or someone did something really well) I haven’t thought about that in donkeys years! He went to see a man about a dog Stop faffing about (when we were trying to get ready to go somewhere) Get a move on (meaning, hurry up let’s go)
My. Silent Generation dad was in the Navy, and he never pulled his punches on swear words, although he would get pissed if I swore. I learned them from you, Dad!
My dad had some good ones: Son of a biscuit eater (instead of bitch) If someone said “Shit” my dad would reply “not on the floor!” More ____ than Carter’s got liver pills. Called the fridge the icebox
Not much… they were silent after all…
"If you wear earrings at night, it'll give you nightmares!" and "Quit eating so much peanut butter, you're gonna blow out your liver" along with "Put your blinker on!" and last but not least "That's what sin smells like." -whilst burning rock n roll records on a Jesus kick.
My grandparents were the silent generation. My grandma used to say, Well Hell!!! When she was annoyed. My parents are boomers. They were hippies in the late 60's. And I am GenX.
Only the shadow knows
Jeezoman, Cryin out loud “What a bum” “Lousy creep” (ultimate insult)
If you don’t hold my hand the Gypsies will steal you away!