You know what I am talking about don't you? The things parents say that don't make sense? I said I would never do that to my children.....oops! Here are some Parentisms:
Pretty is as pretty does - Who is Pretty and what is she doing and why do I care?
Do you want me to stop the car and pull over and get out? - Well, yeah. And can I get out too?
If everybody jumped off a cliff would you? - I'm not talking about a cliff. I'm just asking if I can go to the movie with everybody else tonight. Besides, it depends on how high the cliff was and how deep the water is. There is water, right?
Little pitchers have big ears - Whaaat? Pitchers don't have ears, they have handles!
I told you so - So?
Because I said so - I know, I was here, I heard you. So why can't I go, again?
Don't put all your eggs in one basket - ???????
Don't count your eggs before they hatch - Again with the eggs???? We don't have chickens!
Don't put the cart before the horse - ?????? Does that mean you are going to buy me a horse?
Don't cry over spilled milk - ummmm, o.k........ can we get back to me and my problem now?
Don't burn your bridges behind you - Whaaaaat?
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it - What is it with you and bridges today????
A watched pot never boils - (insert sound of crickets chirping)
So what did your parents used to say?
I use to ask if we could go out to eat and my mom use to say "With what? Your good looks?" It always made me smile but then frustrated. Now I laugh at it. She was sarcastically funny.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma use to say she was going to "Squeeze the pudding out of me" love that one. It always made me smile. But then think... What pudding do I have in me? anyway... really silly.
really cute post, Nan!
what about... close the door this isn't a barn
ReplyDeleteOr .... If you cut your legs off with that saw, don't you come running to me for sympathy!
ReplyDelete"Can I scrape along the ground on my belly then?"
Mine always said..."That's the pot calling the kettle black" I never understood that one and not sure i do now. Someone wanna explain?
ReplyDeleteOr your mother wasn't a glass maker. No kidding, she is a seamstress. Hello? Silly parents.
They're both made of cast iron...
Delete"little pitchers have big ears" is the only one I have never heard. As I read them, I thought about how when you grow up with them, you get it, but when you don't it doesn't make any sense at all.
ReplyDeleteAndrea
My mom used to always say "Not on my watch" which meant, no I will not let you or your friends do anything remotely loud or dirty! Clean freak!!
ReplyDeleteOr when I would ask for her to buy me something she would always say " Why don't you go out back and pick some money off of the money tree back there." I hated this one but actually use it sometimes with my kids!! Funny how we become our parents (ok, maybe scary)
Oh yes! So funny! I say, "Because I'm the Boss!" And the response Alex gives is "No, Daddy's the boss!" oh boy! haha! Actually, he is the boss at work! I guess he's right....LOL!
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ReplyDelete"If all of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?" Or (similiar to Sande's mom), "If you fall out of that tree and kill yourself, don't come crying to me!" Ummm...huh??? One that really confused me, though, was when she'd comment, "You're just cutting off your nose to spite your face." Once, I replied, "I'm not allowed to have knives, so I can't cut off my nose!" I think I got spanked for talking back! LOL
ReplyDeleteOne my dad would say - that used to get on my nerves soooo much when I became a teen - I'd ask him, "What time is it?" He'd reply, "It's time all dogs are dead, aren't you glad you're a pup?" Whaaaaat????
Ahhhh...good times! Hahaha!
What about, "I'm going to slap the taste out of your mouth" ... now that would be an incredibly hard slap! Oh and the very gentle and kind, "If you don't stop cryin' I'll really give you something to cry about!"
ReplyDeleteMy parents didn't abuse me -- ha, just threats! Though my Mom did swat at me with a fly swatter. :o( How rude!
Oh, do those ever bring back memories!!! My Grandma always said "Pretty is as pretty does" to me, and it has stuck with me all these years!
ReplyDeleteMy two personal favorites when I was being spanked were: This will hurt me more than it hurts you (yeah right) and I'm only doing this because I love you (could you maybe not love me so much!!!)
ReplyDeleteGreat post Nan!!!!
If I accidentally bit my tongue, Dad would say, "There's plenty more food, don't eat your tongue!" It made me so mad, yet now I say it to my kids - in fact my kids now tell it back to me. *grunt*
ReplyDeleteAnd if we got hurt and cried, my dad would say "I once knew a man who had his HEAD chopped off and he didn't even wimper!"
Great post, Nan.
LOL I have found myself saying many of those things.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to say things like you mentioned to my own kids; I told you so, because I said so etc.
ReplyDeleteMy folks would say because I'm the boss mainly and If I were you!!!!
If I was pouting, they would tell me I was going to step on that lip. I found that it wasn't true.
ReplyDeleteOr if I was making some kind of face, they would tell me it was going to stay that way, if I kept it up. Some faces I made as a kid would have been cool to keep.
I say the same things to my kids.
haha I have heard so many of those!
ReplyDeleteI always heard the I had to walk 5 miles to school in the freezing snow one..over and over!
ReplyDeleteJust before getting a "whipping" (y'all know what that is, right?) my mom would say, "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." Oh really? I'm the one walking around with stripes on my legs, not you! My mom definitely didn't spare the rod or spoil the child (in my opinion but I'm sure I was) but I had a great life growing up and I'm thankful for being corrected when needed!
ReplyDeleteMy parents used to say lots of those sayings to me and while growing up I always said I would NEVER say those things to my kids....yea whatchya goin' do?! So now I say things like...'money doesn't grow on trees' and 'beacause I said so' and 'I'm the mom, that's why'...WOW!! How it has come full circle.
ReplyDeleteKinda scary!!! Great post!
my grandmother used to tell us if we didnt behave she was goin to beat us till we bled ,then beat us for bleeding?? Although she never actually spanked us.. my dad would tell us one of two things when we wanted something , Want in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills the fastest.. and ..People in hell want ice water but i aint carring no buckets.. I told my 3 yr old the spit in the hand one once in walmart and she looked at me and said .. i guess it will have to be this one and spit in her hand..SO FUNNY...
ReplyDeleteAll of those sayings do come full circle. I used to hate it when my mom said, "because I said so." and now i completely understand and say it all the time. I try to explain it a little more to my kids though. Someone has to make the decisions and that someone is me. And I think this is the best answer to your question for now only because I think it is best and am telling you that right now. End of story! "because I said so" :)
ReplyDeleteHow funny is that! My parents said a lot of the same things, but one thing that always use to throw me for a loop, "Stop your crying or I will give you something to cry about." Trust me...I was already crying about SOMETHING. Wonder what my kids are thinking about some comments I make?
ReplyDeleteMy mom always said you make a better door than a window. Now, I understand the concept but couldn't there be a better way...like maybe "Tarah, could you please move? I can't see through you".
ReplyDeleteWhen we asked my parents what day it was, they would always reply, "It's Tuesday (or whatever the day)all day, unless it rains." We never asked what happened if it rained!
ReplyDeleteAnd when we complained of having to go outside in the rain, the response was, "You're not sugar. You won't melt." Such helpful sayings!
"Don't make me slap you like the red-headed step child!" - who's she? or this..."Don't let the door hit ya in the @ss!"
ReplyDeleteI'm with Beth on the "if you don't stop crying I'll give you something to cry about." That was my Mom's favorite. Classic!
ReplyDeletemy dad's reply to 'wait'. "weight broke the wagon yesterday"
ReplyDeletemy parent's reply to me when i asked who was on the phone. "are you writing a book? what chapter are you on?"
"Where you raised in a barn? Close the door."
ReplyDelete"Don't make me give you something to cry about."
"This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you."
when one parent looked at me everyday after each beating from when I was two till I was 7 saying stop your crying or I will give you something to cry about, I could have asked what you going to do, spank me again? if he did, he would have said the same thing, I could have given back the same comment an just going in a complete circle. It wasnt that Great to grow up with someone who's best Quality is Stupidity and Ignorance. I say Leave the comment stop your crying where it belongs with the generation that used it.
ReplyDeleteSam, oh I totally agree with you about that "stop your crying" comment. And you're right, I don't think you hear that comment much anymore and I'm glad.
ReplyDeleteI don't think child abuse (or spousal abuse for that matter) was talked about much or recognized much in our parent's generation. I know that my mom put up with years of physical abuse from her first husband, until he started beating on the kids. Then she left him and eventually married my dad.
Both are made of cast iron (hence the black). Means ones not any better than the other. Similar to "people in glass houses...".
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