It’s no wonder it took me so long to warm up to cats. When I was young, cats were the source of a great deal of the sarcasm that came my way.
“Cats are like that,” I hear you say. But it isn’t cats who were sarcastic with me; it was adults, using cats as their vehicles.
If I was told, “Children should be seen and not heard,” so often that I fell silent, some adult was sure to say, “What’s wrong with you? Cat got your tongue?” Now, having browsed the internet, you may imagine the grim and ghastly explanations for the origin of this phrase I’ve come across, but I prefer the one on The Phrase Finder: Nobody knows. It has the dual qualities of being intriguing and irritating, like Louie Louie but shorter.
If I was instructed to do something and I had the audacity to ask, “What for?” (Being a child of the Midwest, I naturally pronounced it, “Whut fur?”), I was told, “Cat fur, to make a pair of kitten britches. Want a pair?” The Maven’s Word of the Day says that the phrase dates back to the 19th Century. It is probably why so many people in the 1800s ran off and became pirates.
Look, people. THESE are kitten britches:
Are we clear?
What were some stock phrases used to you when you were a child? “For God’s sake, stop it!” doesn’t count.
A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Think of a phrase used to children and have it irritate your main character as a child.
MA
Jane
April 20, 2013 at 9:31amHow about phrases that are irritating when used to you as an adult??
Anyway, you know all my childhood phrases aren’t fit to print in a superior blog such as yours.
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 9:46amI remember several of them:
Slicker than snot on a doorknob.
Her makeup makes her eyes look like two burnt holes in a blanket.
He done peed in church.
Great ones, all! 😀
Jane
April 21, 2013 at 11:08amO_KAY!
You DID go there!
Marian Allen
April 21, 2013 at 1:46pmI did, indeed. 🙂
Jane
April 22, 2013 at 8:09amThe Peyton Family sayings archived for all time. Friendly aliens will now veer away from our benighted planet. Good save! 😉
Marian Allen
April 22, 2013 at 8:48amLOL!
Cairn Rodrigues
April 20, 2013 at 10:28am“You’ll understand when you get older” I understood perfectly at the time. I understood that you didn’t want to talk about it. Geez mom, I’m not an idiot!
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 10:47amOh, good one!
Mary Montague Sikes
April 20, 2013 at 10:35amThese sayings do have some gruesome origins. Think about, “If you don’t get it done, heads are going to roll.” Pleaasse!
Thanks for your visits to my Paintings a Day and insightful comments.
Mary Montague Sikes
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 1:29pmOo, yeah, “heads will roll” — shudder. “Pull in your lip before a bird perches on it.” Ick!
Andrea Gilbey
April 20, 2013 at 11:54amMy Mum’s reply to “what for” was, and still is, “fives, to make sixes with. ” No, I’ve no idea, either.
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 1:26pmAh. “For”, five, six. Did it drive you … how do you say it in your country? … SPARE??
Amanda borenstadt
April 20, 2013 at 12:58pmMy mom constantly said, “Amanda, Amanda, organize your life” because I was always misplacing things and had a messy room. I’m still that way.
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 1:26pmSo you need a time machine so you can go back and tell HER, “Save your breath to cool your soup.” ha!
Andrea Gilbey
April 20, 2013 at 1:35pm@Marian Allen – As a small child, I knew that “fives” was a game, as in five stones, I suppose, but “sixes” were groups of Brownies, so, yes, it drove me crackers!
Tony Acree
April 20, 2013 at 5:28pmHmmm. “If you keep making that face, it will freeze that way.” So, I kept making the same silly face trying to make it happen. “If you eat your spinach, you’ll grow up tall and strong.” When I pointed out to my mother she ate spinach but was still short, she made me eat two helpings instead of one. “If you don’t quit playing with (insert inanimate object here)you’ll poke your eye out.” When I pointed out other kids were playing with the same things and they could all see just fine, I got sent to my room. Where I played with all the things I was told would make me blind. For the record, I can still see just fine.
Marian Allen
April 20, 2013 at 5:36pm“I don’t want to hear one more peep out of you!” What kid on Earth could resist, just once, saying, “Peep”?