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.
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Man the ones I grew up with were far far far more racist than the ones yall had.
“watch the ficus” - telling somebody to be more careful after they do something clumsy like tripping or nearly dropping something. I used it in front of some friends once and got confused looks. Apparently grandma used to have a potted ficus tree and used to tell me to watch it when I was playing close to it, so it stuck as a saying in the family.
haha awesome. So concise, it does sound like a wise saying
A Dutch one I got from my Oma: “It’s as if the angels upon my tongue have pissed”. It means “yum”.
Alsof er een engeltje over je tong pist.
The last one’s very similar to a german saying: “Was man nicht im Kopf hat, muss man in den Beinen haben.”
That literally translates to “What you don’t have in your head, you have to have in your legs.”
So that’s 3 people in this thread that brought this up. What does it mean? Is it intelligence versus athletics or something else?
Means work smarter, not harder.
I think this one means, either you use your intelligence or use your physical strength to do things. Guess it applies to work and tasks in general.
If you leave stuff in the other room, you walk more to go get it.
If you don’t think to bring something with you, you have to go back and get it (for example)
“Work smarter, not harder”
Yeah my family (mostly my grandma) used that one too but in Dutch. Wat je kop vergeet moeten de benen ontgelden.
We have your last example in Croatia, usually told as: “they who don’t have it in the head, have it in the legs”
Same in Germany
I’ve heard this in Greece as well.
In France too, “quand on n’a pas de tête on a des jambes”.
“Dead meat is hung, live meat is hanged.” Turns out most people’s grandma’s aren’t radical leftist english teachers.
My mom often used two:
“Useless as tits on a bull” (often referencing her husband, my dad)
And also, “shit fire and save matches”, which I never understood to actually have a meaning, it was more like just an exclamation of surprise.
the former is a common, universal phrase.
“like tits on a bull” as a slightly shorter version.
shit fire and save matches
If a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump it’s ass when it jumped.
I’ve heard these used when someone says something nonsensical, just as a completely worthless reply.
Worst case Ontario!
to be fair if you could shit fire that you would save a lot of matches.
My dad used the shit fire expression. I also don’t know of an actual meaning.
DEGUSTIBUSNONESTDISPUTANDUM
not sure I spelled it right, means “regarding personal tastes, there is no dispute”
Also another good one, “moderation in everything, including moderation.”
I think the full phrase is De gustibus non disputandum in contradictorium (declinations might be off somewhere)
I always say “moderation in everything, including moderation” often as well
We quoted Oscar Wilde around our house quite a bit. Glad someone else out there was too!
Funny my grandad had a little rhyme related to your ketchup effect:
“If you do not shake the bottle, none’ll come and then a lot’ll”
Clearly ketchup bottles have been a bigger influence on culture than we realised
Shaking the ketchup bottle is a great pro tip. No idea why it works but it does.
Vigorous shaking mixes the thicker areas (where the sauce has settled) and the thinner (more watery) areas so they now have the same viscosity (pouring characteristics). Most importantly, this lets the mass of sauce slide cleanly down the bottle, helping the air bubble to also slide up in one unit at the same time, preventing the “air-lock” blockage at the opening. Important Note: Before vigorously shaking any container, ensure that the cap is truly secured! Now you are in control!
I think what you said is true but that also ketchup as a material is shear thinning—meaning as you shake or tap the bottle, this creates stress or “shear” on the liquid which causes the viscosity to decrease. It also takes a little bit of time for the liquid to re-thicken, so it will actually pour pretty well a few seconds after shaking it.
Bravo!
To correct someone from saying “so” too much:
“Sew buttons on ice cream”
“Hey” too much:
“Hay is for horses”
“Well” too much:
“Well, well, well - that’s three holes in the ground”
Micromanage much?!?!
“Hay is for horses” is universal. I do agree that these are all dumb though.
My dad used to say “Hay is for horses, I eat oats.”
I like the some in conversation says “but hey…”
I quickly interject “Butt hay is for butt horses”
Dad humor.
“Sew buttons on your underwear” is how I’ve heard it.
Yeah how the hell would one sew buttons on ice cream?? That’s just confusing.
Perhaps the futility is the point.
“si” (italian yes) too much:
If you say si too much, you become a sisi.
“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,
Slickern owlshit
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”
I used to hear ‘better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick’
Whatever the fuck that means
My family’s was “beats a sharp stick in the eye.”
I always just hear “better than a poke in the eye”, not the whole stick thing.
We had better than a poke in the eye with a wet banana.
I’m from the US and “better than a kick in the teeth” and “better than a poke in the eye” are both common around my area. Never heard the tree ones though.
I’ve (also Canadian) heard it as “better than a kick in the pants”
Or “better than a boot to the head”, wayyyy before those kids started singing about it … in the hall. The kids in the hall.
“Life’s tough. It’s even tougher when you’re stupid.”
-my grandfather quoting a line from a John Wayne movie I think.
“If you’re gonna be stupid, you’ve gotta be tough,” is one I’ve heard.
Lol well this reminds me of what my Hodor sized buddy’s foreman used to say about him, “Thank God he can lift a ton cuz he can’t fucking spell it.” 🤣
That’s fucking great
There is even a song for it!
Is there really?! Do you know the artist? I think I messed the quote up a bit cuz I didn’t get anything from googling it and even when I read it out loud it doesn’t sound quite right.
You better finish your dinner, don’t you know there are starving children in Africa?
Were you born in the 1970s? Both me and my wife heard that exact same sentence from our mothers.
that persisted well into the 90s at least
Yup. We also might come from the “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” generation?
