Old country sayings

[MeanDean]

The "well" one I heard was: "Deep subject, for a shallow mind."

 

[MeanDean]

When I was much younger, I must have gone through a period of saying “hey” quite a lot. I remember my dad saying “Straw’s cheaper, grass is free, cows eat it, why don’t we?” I’d think for a second and automatically say “hey” again. He’s repeat what he just said and then I’d get mad because my reaction was to say “hey” yet again. Yep, he’d repeat himself, too.

The variation of this one I'm familiar with is, "Straw's cheaper, grass is free. Live on a farm and you get all three."

 

[Fococlone]

My Dad, when sizing up whether a chore on the farm was complete, he'd say "Welp, good enough for city work..."

 

[el tornado]

"there's more than one way to skin a cat"

 

[MeanDean]

My contributions, mostly from Texas ranch country:
*When someone said "well..." without completing the thought, the response was always "that's a deep subject".
*We worked from cain't see to cain't see" (dawn to dusk)
*Naw, he's just skinning cats" (referring to someone farting noisily)
*Now we're cooking with gas! (as opposed to on a wood stove, meaning "we're making progress")
*that and a nickle will buy you a cup of coffee (referring to something that is worthless)
*it's (he's) got a hitch in its git-along (referring to something or someone broken or malfunctioning - I saw one similar to this upthread, but I like the git-along part )
*catty-wampus (crooked, off center: after that big wind, the henhouse is sitting catty-wampus on its frame)

From my mother's Louisiana side:
*anything else is just a lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap, means "a little something extra")
*gimme some sugar (give me a kiss - usually to visiting relatives, especially to grandchildren; southerners are VERY affectionate)

Crazy thing is, I actually still use all but the 3rd & 5th ones.
Geesh...I'm old!

"Now we're cooking with gas" was an old radio advertising campaign to encourage people to buy gas stoves instead of electric. So basically, a catch phrase. Run for the Border or Where's the Beef but 40-50 years sooner.

 

[MeanDean]

"there's more than one way to skin a cat"

I used to bastardize this in my own 'funny' way by instead saying, "There's more than one way to milk a duck." I obviously heard that somewhere else. Either from somebody else or somewhere in the media.

 

[CycloneBax]

You could hang meat in here. Meaning it's cold.

I said that today without thinking and had a couple of millennials look at me in confusion. Then I thought of this thread.

 

[CycloneBax]

When I was much younger, I must have gone through a period of saying “hey” quite a lot. I remember my dad saying “Straw’s cheaper, grass is free, cows eat it, why don’t we?” I’d think for a second and automatically say “hey” again. He’s repeat what he just said and then I’d get mad because my reaction was to say “hey” yet again. Yep, he’d repeat himself, too.

When someone would say "hey", we would respond Straw's cheaper, grass is free, "insert name" smokes it, why don't we?

The name we would use would be the most likely pot smoker we knew.

 

[BCClone]

Need some people with strong backs and weak minds.

Said when you needed to do some crappy hard manual labor. Smart people would be too busy magically to help you.

 

[NWICY]

My Dad, when sizing up whether a chore on the farm was complete, he'd say "Welp, good enough for city work..."

Painting buildings mowing the yard our phrase was "looks good from the road"

 

[NWICY]

"Now we're cooking with gas" was an old radio advertising campaign to encourage people to buy gas stoves instead of electric. So basically, a catch phrase. Run for the Border or Where's the Beef but 40-50 years sooner.

I've used that 1st phrase for a long time. Thanks for explaining where it came from.

 

[qwerty]

No hill for a climber

for when someone starts whining about how difficult something is

 

[jdcyclone19]

Ope.

 

[IsUaClone2]

"Now we're cooking with gas" was an old radio advertising campaign to encourage people to buy gas stoves instead of electric. So basically, a catch phrase. Run for the Border or Where's the Beef but 40-50 years sooner.

That phrase means "improvement" for me but my grandmother didn't see it that way. She kept a daily diary for years and recorded that when she moved from a homestead in South Dakota to a rented house in Omaha upon her marriage, she had trouble getting even heat for pie baking with her new gas stove compared to the wood stove she was used to using. I still can't relate.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

A day late and a dollar short.
Meaning no matter what, that person can't win.

 

[Rabbuk]

Need some people with strong backs and weak minds.

Said when you needed to do some crappy hard manual labor. Smart people would be too busy magically to help you.

My grandma did the strong back weak mind thing and she was a rather opinionated person.

 

[t-noah]

Tighter than a gnat's ass around a barrel.

He’s so tight, he squeaks!

This is a dry rain.

Nuttier than a fruitcake.

Tighter than a bull's hind-end. (tight, as in cheap)

Tighter than bark on a tree. Wound tighter than a tick on a hog's tail.
Shut tighter than a frogs 'behind' (@ss).

 

[cycloner29]

Tighter than bark on a tree. Wound tighter than a tick on a hog's tail.
Shut tighter than a frogs 'behind' (@ss).

SOB is dug in like an Alabama tick......and he ain't got time to bleed.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

That phrase means "improvement" for me but my grandmother didn't see it that way. She kept a daily diary for years and recorded that when she moved from a homestead in South Dakota to a rented house in Omaha upon her marriage, she had trouble getting even heat for pie baking with her new gas stove compared to the wood stove she was used to using. I still can't relate.

Not MY grandmother...she always wanted more modern amenities.
The original ranch house had no electricity & no indoor plumbing. They used the wood stove for heating (along with lots of down blankets) & also for cooking. There was a windmill powered well and stock tank about 100 yards from the house; that water was used for the horses, the prize bull, the one dairy cow, the chickens, the vegetable garden, the border collies (who were very efficient at herding children also), and for laundry & bathing. Drinking/cooking water came from a natural spring about 25 yards from the house. There was a privy out there too, a good ways away from the well and spring.
I was seven when Grandma finally talked Grandpa into building a more modern house in 1962. It had electricity, gas, and running water (and INDOOR PLUMBING!!!). He groused for years about how much he had to contribute to the cost for the lines to come in but Grandma was much happier.

 

[Rabbuk]

Not MY grandmother...she always wanted more modern amenities.
The original ranch house had no electricity & no indoor plumbing. They used the wood stove for heating (along with lots of down blankets) & also for cooking. There was a windmill powered well and stock tank about 100 yards from the house; that water was used for the horses, the prize bull, the one dairy cow, the chickens, the vegetable garden, the border collies (who were very efficient at herding children also), and for laundry & bathing. Drinking/cooking water came from a natural spring about 25 yards from the house. There was a privy out there too, a good ways away from the well and spring.
I was seven when Grandma finally talked Grandpa into building a more modern house in 1962. It had electricity, gas, and running water (and INDOOR PLUMBING!!!). He groused for years about how much he had to contribute to the cost for the lines to come in but Grandma was much happier.

My mom went to UNI with a girl who she was roommates with in the 80s who had indoor plumbing for the first time in her dorm. Roommate grew up somewhere deep off the grid in iowa and was one of like a dozen siblings