>her lick and promise was a quick wash!

That was exactly what it meant when I was a kid.  What else does it mean then?

> Yes in Polish you say half 'to the hour' not past.

I have a feeling it's the same in German too?

Yes I know that one. A quick rinse and the promise of a proper wash later :)

My Mother says a Spit and a promise!

I can remember my mum rubbing grubby faces with a hanky that she had spit on the corner of - while we were out, I hasten to add, we used the bathroom at home lol

remember getting my face washed like this too,

Another saying I remember is being told I had "Cloth ears" if I didn't listen properly.

When I lived in scotland a childs play slide was called a shoot and to "take a turn" was "have a shot"...always made me chuckle to her my kids friends ask for a "shot on their shoot" :-)
Paula xxx

is it not called a chute everywhere?

Jeez, I thought I didn't use many colloquiallisms but turns out from reading this thread I use loads.  In Dundee people call roundabouts that you drive round 'circles'.

ha ha we all probably use more than we thought :-)
Funnily I have just typed "slide" into argos and lots of childrens play sets came up, however if you type Chute the same list appears LOL (although all the descriptions still say "slide")  so Argos is a multi-colloquialism shop :-)
Paula xx

> My late m-i-l bless her was always getting words wrong or coming out with odd sayings

Mine once said it was "Nothing but a prawn in a teacup" :-)

>> 'up at the crack of sparrow's fart' (ie very early)

Ooh now I didn't know the rest of that saying, my parents always used "crack of Sparrows" to mean getting up early. Another favourite was "tight as a ducks ar*e - and that's watertight", although the last bit was usually dropped.

My Nan used to say "red hat, no drawers", which I imagine was to describe a lady of loose morals! And I've heard numerous variations of this.

Going off on a tangent, does anyone remember this "poem" (and I use the word loosely) - my grandad used to say it to me, my OH looks at me like I'm bonkers when I recite it:
"The elephant is a graceful bird, it flits from bough to bough,
It builds it's nest in a rhubarb tree, and whistles like a cow."

I loved it as a kid, still takes me back to being 5 and raiding his cycle bag for peanut brittle!

i remember"hahaha,hee hee hee,elephants nest up a rhubarb tree!

Yes my nan used to say " red hat no knickers!" she was also quite posh but I couldn't believe my ears one day when she said someone was " like a fart in a colander not knowing which hole to get out of!" ( ie they were restless)

Love this thread, bringing back some lovely memories :)

The version I knew was 'all fur coat and no knickers'
As much use as a chocolate fireguard (or teapot)
Like looking for rocking horse manure (something extremely rare)

In Scotland, a plook is a spot.

Talking of 'Nan's sayings' ...
My mum as a young child (6-12 yrs old) was evacuated to stay with her Gran during WW2 - a true Victorian lady, stark and strict, with no electricity in her house and a lot of influence. We have a portrait photo of her and all I can say is I'm glad I never met her!

Sometimes my mum (now 78) comes out with sayings that go back a long long way.... I was about to go into the bathroom the other day, but she was in there already, so she said "Hold on, The Queen is reigning over China."

Never heard that before, and of course it's a pun on "raining" over "china" (i.e. weeing in a china toilet or china Po).

Talked to my archaeologist friend and she had never heard it before, but reminded her of the Boxer rebellion (not Boxer dogs! lol) when Queen Victoria actually was reigning over China, so it could be a very very old saying.  I like it though :)

PS: Apparently mum's old Gran always called sparrows, "sprokes". I have heard they are called sprogs, sprayks or sprugs in Scotland, but this was rural Berkshire.

>Apparently mum's old Gran always called sparrows, "sprokes".

When I was a child, they were called spadgers.

>> When I was a child, they were called spadgers

They still are in our house.

When I was a child, they were called spadgers.

Puddocks here.

We call the loo either the shunkie or the cludge.

Must come from the same family as me yep I have been told from my parents that was more like a lick and promise not a wash ! and just notice the red hat no knickers same again that was my Nan

Large sandwich = doorstep or bad hand as In you got a bad hand there !

Rare things were known as 'rare as hens teeth'.
If hungry we were told how to have 'bread and pullit'....never worked ot quite what that meant?
Lots of other things already on the thread that I have heard too.

Karen :)

hehe I know that thanks to David Tennant, there's a brilliant Dr Who commentary or radio show or something where Catherine Tate is completely flummoxed by the term!

>In Scotland, a plook is a spot.

That's a good one! My granny was Hungarian and occasionally came out with some brilliant sayings, some of which have passed into family speech. We drink 'unleaded' and 'semi skilled' milk rather than skimmed and semi skimmed, and occasionally talk about lambs 'gamboodling' instead of gambling. :-D

>Mine once said it was "Nothing but a prawn in a teacup" :-)