Uncommon Tongue
December 23rd, 2008
I was thinking about idioms or household sayings. We had heaps of these when I was little. I suspect many had been passed down and picked up and some were new.
Right now I can only think of these but it feels like there were dozens:
How’s your father – seedy.
Does Picaso drive a very fast truck? – the answer is obvious.
You’d have two chances and one of them just left Bourke Street on a tram – to have no chance.
What was popular in your household?
Previously on this date..
- Laura Palmer - 2007
- And You Think You Know Someone - 2006
- Run Bourne Run - 2006
- Jumping The Gun - 2005
- All Time Low - 2005
- Farken Broken - 2004
- Real Guitars Only Smaller - 2004
- In Defence Of Christmas - 2004
- Regarding Sneeches - 2003
- Flummery - 2003
- Self Image - 2003
- In the Company of Musical Types - 2002
- Two Days - 2002
- I am thinking that I - 2001
- Yesterday afternoon I decided that - 2001
We had two notable ones in my household relating to Dad:
“Don’t break any water mains” – akin to “have a good day” as he was leaving for work in the morning. Breaking a water main, or blowing up a tree and having it land on a car, constituted a very bad (and quite expensive) day.
“Stavrished” – a term to describe the particular tiredness associated with working outdoors all day in a paddock at the rear end of nowhere in the extremes of weather.
For those who don’t know, my dad was a civil engineering contractor. He built roads, drains, carparks, school sports grounds and so on. The sewerage pits at the Cranbourne Treatment Works and the dressage areas at the Werribee Equestrian Centre are two of his more notable jobs.
I think you lived in a verbally creative household. I’ve never heard the last two – but they’re wonderful. Blowed if I can remember any from our household, although I’m sure there were many too.
I like starvrished!
We have idioms –
“Oh, alright, just a slither” my brother having another slice of dessert – partly pretending he didn’t want any more and also the result of a boozy afternoon, poor hearing and a heated exchange over the word “sliver”
“Read any good books lately?” – also James – funny how the least talkative coined so many phrases. Used to make a very obvious conversational subject change when a discussion has become uncomfortable.
“you’re all so bloody smart” – my father, in response to my brother and I being smart arses
“you don’t know how lucky you are” – my father again, when we were being cheeky about some “in my day” kind of comment
“oh bugger whoever did xxx” – my mother. Self explanatory. Not meant in a literal sense. My mother said I shouldn’t say it after hearing me mutter it one day, and i said I would stop if she did.
“all part of life’s rich tapestry” – frequently trotted out at the end of interminable ancedotes at boozy lunches by my father
I might need my thinking cap on for this task.
in our house, the answer to “where is mum?” (or dad, or patrick, or anyone) was “she went mad and the police shot her!”
Another one I just remember is “you’ll get your water cut off.”
And “it happens in the best of families”.