Hillbilly Prince
Silver Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2018
- Messages
- 4,998
- Reaction score
- 12,716
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- SW Missouri
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett All Terrain Pro
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
- #1
Thread Owner
I was thinking I would one day do a blog, and one of the posts would concern things my parents, as well as others of past generations used to say. Some of the things were colloquial in the sense of being informal as well as specific to a region or even a family.
Because there are so many states and nations represented here I hope people will add their recollections to this thread as well as explain what the saying meant. Some of the phrases I grew up with actually puzzle me, and some are quite clear.
To start, my mom used to say of people, "They are poor as church mice." I doubt there is any more definite picture of poverty. Mice living in a country church would have little besides unleavened crackers and grape juice to eat. Plus the building would be empty and unheated most days.
My dad used to say "It's a great life if you don't weaken." Which I sometimes found vaguely irritating. My dad was unnecessarily optimistic sometimes. And I am not truly sure what that means.
My dad used to also say I was dilatory. He never went to school a day in his life and sometimes he did not use words correctly or invented words. For years I was certain dilatory was not a word and then one day I looked it up, and learned it meant procrastinating or being a laggard. But I believe my father thought he was calling me a jackass given the context of those situations. I don't want to give a bad impression of him- like most kids I was not always an angel.
I have more to add in time, and hope others add their own
Because there are so many states and nations represented here I hope people will add their recollections to this thread as well as explain what the saying meant. Some of the phrases I grew up with actually puzzle me, and some are quite clear.
To start, my mom used to say of people, "They are poor as church mice." I doubt there is any more definite picture of poverty. Mice living in a country church would have little besides unleavened crackers and grape juice to eat. Plus the building would be empty and unheated most days.
My dad used to say "It's a great life if you don't weaken." Which I sometimes found vaguely irritating. My dad was unnecessarily optimistic sometimes. And I am not truly sure what that means.
My dad used to also say I was dilatory. He never went to school a day in his life and sometimes he did not use words correctly or invented words. For years I was certain dilatory was not a word and then one day I looked it up, and learned it meant procrastinating or being a laggard. But I believe my father thought he was calling me a jackass given the context of those situations. I don't want to give a bad impression of him- like most kids I was not always an angel.
I have more to add in time, and hope others add their own
