My friend Izz over at Isabel’s Needleworks has just given me an idea…..
I mentioned to Izz that it’s been blowing a gale here in the north east of England for the last few days. She told me that her Mother used to tell her to put rocks in her pockets so she wouldn’t blow away in the wind LOL. Well, my Mother used to tell me not to pull a silly face in the wind because it would stay that way after the wind had gone. I was so afraid to pull silly faces in my early chidhood!
So, here is your challenge….
Leave a comment below to tell us all what your Mother or other female elder used to say to you, not necessarily about wind. Let’s all have a good old giggle at their Old Wives’ Tales. Please tell us the country that these sayings were used in so we can see how far around the world the same things were said.
Fun, fun, fun…..who’s going to be first?
Avis x
Sewing Beside the Sea 
katechiconi
/ January 12, 2015My mother raised 4 small children in occupied Holland during WWII, including a year of dreadful famine when the Dutch were eating grass and tulip bulbs to stay alive. From then on, she was fanatical about food, or the lack of it, and never wasting anything. Her pantry was always fully stocked, an impressive sight, and she could cater for half a dozen people dropping in unexpectedly without turning a hair. We were always taught to clean our plates, because “you never know when famine may strike”. Still a family catchphrase, and still a good reason to stick to her principles, even if my brother does use it to justify having seconds, or even thirds of specially nice desserts…
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 12, 2015My brother can eat like that and he never gets any fatter. Maybe someone taught him the famine rule too 🙂 My Mum used to say “Waste not, want not” which was on the same lines I suppose.
claire93
/ January 12, 2015according to my Mum, kids (and adults) who could eat without putting on weight, either had hollow legs or worms lol
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015Ha-ha, yes my brother was accused of having hollow legs too 🙂
katechiconi
/ January 13, 2015My brother has a theory that you fill up with one leg on the main course, and the other leg is for dessert! He always has room for dessert….
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015Brothers are soooo clever 🙂
claire93
/ January 12, 2015My Mum always told me NOT to eat the seeds in grapes, otherwise I’d have grapes growing out my ears lol
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 12, 2015Yes, I was the kid who was always looking in my friends’ ears in case they started sprouting LOL. Thank goodness for seedless grapes 🙂
minerva
/ January 12, 2015I had dead straight hair when I was young and my mum always used to say that I would never get curly hair if I didn’t eat my crusts.
Alison x
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 12, 2015I had curly hair so I obviously ate all of my crusts, especially the burnt toast ones 🙂
minerva
/ January 12, 2015I’ve obviously eaten more crusts as I’ve got older as I now have slightly wavy hair, but only when it grows to a certain length!!
claire93
/ January 12, 2015I ate all my crusts and my hair is dead straight – no justice lol
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015Not sure about that. All my friends used to play with my ringlets which I hated (the ringlets and them playing with them). You had a lucky escape!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015I imagine it is used as a threat to children these days “I told you not to do that or you’ll get curly hair!”. Funny how fashions change 🙂
salpal1
/ January 12, 2015lol mine was carrots. I ate crusts and carrots and still have dead straight hair. But what my mother used to say to use all the time (and it turned out it was true!0 was “It will get better before you get married.” That worked for anything – a bumped knee, hurt feelings, anger over a little brother’s tricks. Now that I am married, I don;t know what she would say if I called with a problem. 🙂
claire93
/ January 12, 2015I think the idea there is that by the time you’re married, you can go and cry on someone else’s shoulder lol
salpal1
/ January 12, 2015lol, that might be it. Or she thought we would never marry and she was safe. My sister was early 40’s, and I was 52 when I finally wed, so she was close!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015Little brother’s tricks…..I don’t know about those but I do remember my big sister playing tricks on my brother. She used to make up disgusting “magic potions” and tell him he’d be able to fly if he drank it…..and of course he did but sadly could never fly 😦
Isabel's Needleworks
/ January 12, 2015Mine was carrots too only my mom and dad would say to eat your carrots so you can see in the dark. Lol. I would eat all the carrots on my plate , go into my bedroom without turning on the lights and always bump into something .To this day carrots are my favs but i can’t see a darn thing in the dark lol. I really dont think that works ;). Hehe and come to think of it I never saw the cats eating carrots ! 🙂 Mmmm? LOL
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015LOL No I haven’t seen cats eating carrots either. I suspect parents just made up something to get us to eat our greens etc. I don’t think I ever used these sayings and just hoped my daughter would grow out of it. She did except for Brussels sprouts. She still has a token sprout on her Christmas dinner every year and then won’t touch them again until the following Christmas.
soknitsome
/ January 13, 2015We were warned not to make silly faces because of the wind (grew up in various places incl NE England). My mother even had an ancient picture book with a girl in it whose face got stuck. It was old when she had it so we had to handle it with care. My German husband was told to eat his plate clean or the sun wouldn’t shine! Admittedly, we were also expected to eat our plates clean but I took offence to my MIL telling my children what to do and deliberately told them not to worry if they couldn’t ‘manage’ everything!
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ January 15, 2015So maybe the wind and pulling faces story was an old fairy tale. I’ll ask my Mum if she knows of a book when I see her next. I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of going against what the MIL says LOL 😉 If you used to live in this area you may also have heard “It’s cold enough to kill horses outside today”. Mum still says that a lot even though she has the heating thermostats up high.
soknitsome
/ January 16, 2015Actually, that’s a new one for me!
Ann
/ February 24, 2015My Mother always said ‘ If you can’t hit ’em, kick ’em!’. She was an orphan and spent her childhood from 6 years old in a Children’s Home in Northern England. I think this saying was her way of coping with bullying when she was young. Luckily I never had to take her advice 🙂
Sewing Beside the Sea
/ March 6, 2015I’ve heard that one too 🙂 My Mum’s mother died when she was only eight years old so my Mum had to look out for herself. She always said “Hit them back” but I was too much of a coward LOL.