According to a survey carried out by The Baby Website, today's mothers use the same old expressions their parents used over and over again. This is true. I have recently caught myself saying:
- If you don't stop that immediately I'll knock your two heads together.
- In the name of the wee man!
- Were you born in a field?
- Do you think those clothes wash and iron themselves?
- I'll give you your head in your hands to play with.
- Oh, oh. here comes trouble.
We are decidedly not the people our parents warned us against.
[I'm surprised by how aggressive some of these expressions sound when written down. I do say loving things to them too on occasion]
6 comments:
My grandma used "In the name of the wee man!" all the time.
The born in a field one is one of my most frequent. Seriously, why can't they close a door?
Oh, and I just looked at the top 20 properly. Because I said so, You'll have someone's eye out and It'll end in tears- probably my top 3.
These make me smile. Nothing really changes. Last time I was with my nephews trying to get them to sleep, they were giddy & hyper, I kept saying Wheesht to them - they don't live in Scotland and were just laughing hysterically, saying 'what's wheesht?!'
One that doesn't get 'round here (west coast of Canada)anymore, but that I used to say occasionally, echoing my parents, is "Who's she? The cat's mother?" -- so I'm tickled to see it on your list. I was beginning to think it was our own little peculiarity, and we already have enough of those!
Ms Mac: Another one I'm fond of is : If your brother told you to go and jump in a lake, would you do that?" And the always useful, "Two wrongs don't make a right".
Nmj: Yes, my colleagues laugh when I say wheesht. Good job I don't say "Hud yer wheesht"!
Materfamilias: I received a survey by e-mail a few years ago on that very expression. I think it came from a research establishment trying to find out the exact context in which it is used, where it came from and how it spread across the world.
I do say "Hud yer wheesht!" The boys take the mickey out of me every time.
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