The other day it occurred to me that I may be slowly turning into my parents.
As a teenager, I swore this would never happen, but as I grow into adulthood I feel this may be inevitable.
For example, I noticed recently that I am starting to use many of the sayings that my parents always said. This has been in the making for many years now, but with each year, I feel like I am losing the battle a little more. I can only imagine when we have kids some day, how many more things I will be saying.
One day way back in 2000, when Eric I are were in our first year of dating, I remember saying to him, ‘Catch ya later, I’m off like a herd of turtles.’
And then he looked at me, puzzled.
‘Like a herd of turtles?’
‘Ummm…yea. It’s just a saying..meaning, ‘I’m off, but not quickly’, I made slow, awkward turtle movements, followed by more puzzled looks. ‘I can’t believe you’ve never heard of that saying before!’, I laughed at him like he was the weird one, but secretly, I knew I was.
‘Nope, never heard of it…’ His eyes darted for the nearest exit.
Here we are 11 years later and I’m pretty sure it was my quirky, strange sayings that convinced him he couldn’t live without me. I know I said it was these cookies, but it was probably a bit of both. Eric loves to tease me about my dorky sayings (and this is coming from a Computer Science major who got 90’s in his courses!), but luckily, I have my share of teasing material too. Even though he doesn’t play World of Warcraft anymore, I will never let him live it down.
As the years go by, I find myself saying more and more things that my parents always said. I even chuckle to myself as I say them, as if I totally forget how I used to roll my eyes at my parents when they said them.
My dad’s sayings:
1. If you keep throwing dirt you’re gonna lose ground.
[I can’t say this and not laugh.]
2. I turned around and there he was…gone!
[My dad met someone in Newfoundland who said this, and he loved it so much he said it all the time.]
3. If a jobs worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
[My dad said this about EVERYTHING.]
4. Nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded.
[No words.]
5. I used to walk for 2 hours in 6 feet of snow to get to school.
[Lies, lies!]
6. If you eat your veggies, it will put hair on your toes.
[Ummm…and he wondered why I fed them to our dog?]
My Mom’s sayings
1. There’s no peace for the wicked.
[Does my mom think I’m wicked? Does she think she’s wicked?]
2. Some day, your face is going to freeze that way!
[Traumatizing to any child, especially when you live in a cold climate.]
3. A little birdy told me.
[My mom often said this when she busted me for misbehaving and I demanded to know how she found out.]
4. I’m going to give you until the count of three. ONE, ONE and a QUARTER, ONE and a HALF, ONE and THREE QUARTERS, TWO, TWO and a QUARTER, TWO and a HALF, TWO and THREE QUARTERS, TWO and FOUR FIFTHS….ANGELA……
[bahaha. Classic. Oddly, I find myself saying this to Sketchie.]
5. Because I said so.
[Quite possibly the most infuriating thing a parent can say to a child.]
6. Money doesn’t grow on trees.
[Ok, I guess she totally wins this one.]
7. Don’t make me come in there
[My parents usually said this when my sister and I were fighting.]
8. Life isn’t fair.
[Usually said to me when I was grounded.]
9. Don’t go out with wet hair, you’ll catch pneumonia.
[I think I said this to Eric the other day. It was not a proud moment.]
10. When you’re the Mother, then you can be the boss.
[Sorta true, I guess…hahaha.]
11. I will turn this car right around.
[The frequently said threat when my sister and I fought in the backseat of the car, but I don’t think they ever did once turn around…]
12. If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?
[When you are a teenager, the common answer to this is YES (purely out of spite). This does not make the parent any happier.]
13. Hi HUNGRY, I’m Mom. OR Hi BORED, I’m Mom.
[The reply when I would complain that I was hungry/bored. Quite possibly the second most infuriating saying.]
The other day on Twitter, I asked you what sayings your parents always said and if there were any that you now say yourself. The responses that I received were hilarious, so I thought the topic would make a fun Daily Glow post. :)
What things did your parents say to you? Do you find yourself using any of them?
Don’t love something that can’t love you back. (Meaning material things) I still think of this when I am shopping. :-)
Hi Angela, I love your blog and think this post is super sweet, but I have a bit of an off-topic question. I have been wanting to make your Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares for months (seriously, I look at it almost every day, drooling) but I don’t have chia seeds (and the nearest Trader Joe’s is a 35 min subway ride!) – can I substitute a REAL egg for the chia egg?? Please let me know, I would be able to make so many more of your recipes if this is the case!
Thank you!
hey Lisa!
I’m not sure….My advice would be to check out any of the comments on that post. Sometimes people will leave modifications to the recipe. :) I would guess an egg would work, but I am not positive.
Most infuriating ever… especially when you’re eight:
Me (whining) “I’m bored…”
My mom “Only boring people get bored”.
NOT the response I was looking for!
Ooh we learned quickly never to say “I’m bored” around my grandparents. They always had little jobs that needed to be done and you were immediately assigned one if boredom ever occurred! lol
When i used to say im bored my mom always answered, and Im friday, lets get together on a saturday and eat sundays. I acctually forgot about that until I read this today and Im so happy to remember It thank you so much Angela!!
Additionally I found “you’ll understand when your older” the most infuriating thing my parents said but “because i said so” is a close second.
Great post.
Sabrina.
Oh yes I got the you’ll understand when you’re older too ;)
Angela, first I wanna say you are a god send to me. I have started training for my first marathon and have really struggled with what to eat. Your recipes are amazing and help me let go of my food guilt. I have recently decided that I’m so excited to be growing up to be like my mom. I appreciate her more at 34 than I ever did at 20. I sound like her often. The thing we always thought was funny about my mom is that she doesn’t cuss properly. When she’s angry she uses swear words in an off context like “damn on the floor.” We find this utterly charming and as children would just laugh when she was trying to be mad and cuss at us.
I’m happy to hear this Mimi :)
that is cute about your mom too!
Great list of expressions. Many of them are very familiar to me.
The first time our parents said “I’ll turn this car around” we called their bluff by continuing our antics. Turns out it wasn’t a bluff at all. Instead of going skiing, we ended up at home :( Any time they said it after that, we were models of saintly behaviour … for a while ;)
The “eat your veggies” expression your dad used to say reminds me of one my dad said “eat your veggies, it will put hair on your chest”. What?! I don’t want hair on my chest … I think it helped my 2 brothers eat their veggies though.
As a New Zealander I grew up with lots of sayings that would involve loads of translating but one that my grandmother used to frequently use that as I grow older seems to feel real was “the older you get, the faster time goes.” As a child there was no logic to that, and there still isn’t, but it feels true.
here’s one kiwi saying for you guys:
when we would ask where Mum/Dad was, the other would say – he/she is up the boo-eye shooting pukekos with a long handled shovel. A pukeko is a kind of native bird, i have never worked out what a boo-eye is. It all basically means i don’t know where the person is, but they must be doing something important.
Love this post!
My Dad says: “Take a long walk on a short bridge”…;) among NUMEROUS others that he repeats over and over because he’s sure he’s so clever.
My Dad would say to me as a teen (especially if he didn’t care for the company I was keeping): “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”
He was pretty much always right.
He’d also say “aren’t you bright-eyed and bushy tailed!” Which meant I cleaned up good that day.
On mornings when I came to the breakfast table tired, my dad would say, “Well, you look like you’ve been shot at and missed…shit at and hit.” He said it endearingly and with a smile and it always made me smile and changed my mood. The other thing he would say on those tired mornings was, “you look like the last rose of summer.” : )
When something stood out or when any of us kids dressed in a manner that made us look a little tacky, or, really good, he’d say, “you loom up like a horse terd in a crock of milk.”
Or if it would be raining really hard, we’d be waiting for him to say, “its raining so hard it sounds like a cow peeing on a flat rock.”
He’s kind of funny!
My mom’s two classic threats were “I brought you into this world and I can take you out” and “I’ll ream you another butt-*ole”….That last one…OUCH!
My grandpas have some great ones:
“Colder than a well-digger’s butt”
“We waited on you like one dog wait’s on another”
“Finer than frog hair, split nine ways”
“Put a quarter in it and let the buffalo pull it”
My dad had this saying he always said when tucking us into bed at night: “Love you like a bug.” One day I asked him, “but don’t bugs get squashed?” He had no answer, and still says it to me and my two sisters whenever we stay at their house:)
Mom’s number one saying? “Just sayin’.” Or “because I said so.”
My parents both have classic sayings, but the best is:
Hungry Kid deciding what to eat: “I feel like a sandwich”
My mom: “That’s funny, you don’t LOOK like a sandwich!!”
And yes, the first time I used it on my husband, I knew my fate was sealed. I am turning in to Mom.
My dad’s big one is kind of the opposite of yours – he always said he was “off like a dirty shirt”. My mom was fond of replying “you should go climb the stairs a few times” to any complaint I had (I’m cold, I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m bored). She still uses that one!
My mom tries to be cool by using 90s slang incorrectly. Instead of take a “chill pill” she just says “take a chill”.
She also says:
“You’re full of bologna” and “Dang nabbit”
My dad has some odd and clever sayings:
“I stand corrected as I sit”
“I’m all over it like stink on a monkey”
“You lie like a rug”
when I wake up late – “It’s alive!”
when you don’t want to eat the crust on bread – “It’ll put hair on your chest” or “It’ll make your hair curly”
when we were little and didn’t want to eat – “How are you gonna grow big and strong?”
and, disturbingly enough, to my brothers: “Get your hands out of your pants, what are you trying to pull?”
sorry, I love this post!
Two more from my dad:
if you say “hey” instead of “hi” – “‘Hay’ is for horses!”
and
“Small things amuse small minds”
My mom always said “colder than a witches tit” I always wondered how she knew what a witches tit felt like!
lol!
Hahaha my mom said so many of the same things your mom did. Moms are funny. I am not yet a mom so I can only imagine, but I too am already saying things she used to say. how funny that we tried sooooo hard not to be like them …
Happy Friday!
My dad always had lots of weird sayings he picked up from pop culture, like “we don’t need no stinking badges,” “don’t eat the yellow snow,” and “close but no cigar.” The one I find myself saying now is when someone says excuse me, he would always say “there’s no excuse for you!” A few weeks ago I was on the phone with him and he randomly told me not to go outside with wet hair. I thought it was hilarious because I can’t remember him ever saying that to me as a kid, but now that I’m in my twenties and living on my own, he starts telling me.
Hahaha! I think that as much as we dread it and think it won’t happen, we do turn into our parents. Loved this post!
Great post Angela!
Mom:
“It’s about six and one half dozen of the other” Meaning: it’s about the same
“It’s all cattywampus” Meaning: it’s crooked/not right
“I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail” Meaning: right away
“Life isn’t fair” was also a fan favorite in my house! or “get over it!” ahhahahaah!
xoxo
s