As I was growing up, my family had a couple of sayings I took for granted were universal, at least within my language. As I became an adult I have learned that these are not universal at all:
- the ketchup effect. It is an expression meaning that when things arrive, they all arrive at the same time. Think of an old school glass ketchup bottle. When you hit the bottom of it, first there is nothing, then there is nothing and then the entire content is on your food.
- faster than Jesus slid down the mount of olives. Basically a saying that implies that the mount of olives is slippery due to olive oil and Jesus slipped.
- What you lack in memory, your legs suffer. An expression meaning that when you are forgetful, you usually need to run back and thus your legs suffer.
Please share your own weird family sayings.
“Life’s tough. It’s even tougher when you’re stupid.”
-my grandfather quoting a line from a John Wayne movie I think.
DEGUSTIBUSNONESTDISPUTANDUM
not sure I spelled it right, means “regarding personal tastes, there is no dispute”
Also another good one, “moderation in everything, including moderation.”
We quoted Oscar Wilde around our house quite a bit. Glad someone else out there was too!
My Grandmother used to say “It’s better than a kick in the teeth” when deflecting disappointment in an outcome–putting a positive spin on a negative. Being from the UK it seemed universal, but moving to Canada and saying that, people gave me odd looks.
The other one is when somebody is talking nonsense or a bit crazy, they would say “They are out of their tree”. For the Welsh the tree symbolizes stability and mental wellness (druids I guess) and if you were stressed or needed to chill their phrase translates to “I need to go back to my trees”
No one, I think, is in my tree.
I mean, it must be high or low.
I’ve (also Canadian) heard it as “better than a kick in the pants”
“Does a hawks arse pucker in a power dive?” When someone asked a question that had an unequivocal answer of yes. Similar to does a bear shit in the woods,
Fritzlehoffers. As a general term for anything you either don’t know the name of or cant remember. Hand me the fritzlehoffers next to you please.
Slickern owlshit
deleted by creator