English Words & Phrases From Yesteryear

#1

I was just curious… Would anybody be willing to share some old timey phrases they heard growing up that are no longer commonly used? …A few that popped in my mind while writing this were…

Dagburnett - My granddad would always say that when something did not go right.

How are you sagatiatin’? (meaning, how are you doing was a common phrase of my great-grandmother).

Home again, home again, jiggity jig… Was a frequent expression my grandmother said when we got back to the house.

"Until I see the whites of your eyes" … Was another of my grandmother’s phrases meaning until she see’s me in person

Wake up Jacob …It was originally part of a song I think

For all the tea in China … My grandmother would usually say she wouldn’t do this or that for all the tea in China.

I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck … Was just another of mawmaw’s (my other grandmother’s) terms of endearment.

What inspired me to make this post was my grandfather, who passed away in 2018… After his passing, my grandmother gave all her kids and grand kids an auto-biography of his life that he had written back in the 90’s… It has been too painful for me to read before now and I had completely put it out of my mind… But recently I heard a phrase that he used to say… and a lot of things have been reminding me of him lately… Sometimes I close my eyes and it’s almost as if I can hear his voice. I made it through page 1 last night and had to stop… Just knowing how much he loved us and remembering how “wordy and detailed” he was brought tears to my eyes. But I’m looking forward to tackling it this weekend and hopefully remembering some more of his granddad-isms…

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#2

A fog in the hollow and a good day will follow…a weather observation and forecast.

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#3

Prit’near (sometimes pertinear)

It means ‘pretty near’, ‘pretty much’ or ‘about.’

It took me prit’near all day to paint that tire white and halfway burry it 'longside the driveway with them others.

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#4

“Son of a gun” - I used that expression once when I was working with a new comer from China and I failed miserably in trying to explain why anybody would say that.

According to Wikipedia “the phrase potentially has its origin in a Royal Navy direction that pregnant women aboard smaller naval vessels give birth in the space between the broadside guns, in order to keep the gangways and crew decks clear. One admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.”

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#5

I remember prit’near very well, although I’d have never guessed that’s how it’s spelled. That was used more by my great grandmother.

#6

That makes me think of Larry Tate, my favorite character on Bewitched :rofl: I did daily idioms with my English class last year and somehow forgot all about that one.