[Closed] Wonderfully old-fashioned phrases

By Eck. It's gorgeous

I so dislike the phrase 'going forward' as is often used in corporate bull these days, so use the term 'henceforth'

I used to be threatened with 'Woh be tied you!'.

Woe betide you, shirley?

"Damn, blast and botheration" is one I use from time to time.

Mentioned already ...

TTFN or just TT

Others

Use your loaf
Tickle your fancy
One brick short of a full load
One sandwich short of a picnic
Camp as a row of pink tents

'Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs!'

Face like a smacked arse.

Shut yer cake hole

Put wood int ole, were yer born in a field?

Like sh*t off a shiny shovel

If I was standing in front of the TV, my gran would say "tha'd mek a better door than a winder."

I'm quite partial to "odds bodkins."

also - gone for a burton

Thats actually an old advertising slogan that slipped into common parlance. Whenever I've heard it used though its been to describe something thats gone wrong / fallen over / toppled. But in the context of the original advert, for Burton Ales, they were billboards depicting famous scenes - a key character missing because he'd gone to the pub instead at the the slogan below - 'He's gone for a Burton". I think it came to have the meaning it has now because it RAF pilots used the slogan as a euphemism during WW2 for pilots who didn't come back

Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs

and jump off

If something is a bit wonky/misaligned or shoogly in Dumfriesshire it could be said to be: "liein' like a coupit yeow!"

My favourite is:
"ya wee rascal"

Kids are being taught Scots in school and my 6yr old comes out with a fair few "belters"...

My old mum and various elder folk of the Worcestershire village I grew up in would comfortably swap out 'are' for 'be' - where be you? They'd also use 'gut'eck' as an exclamation, which I guess is a contraction of 'well, I'll go to hell'.

'I'll gu t' Anne' - my Gran used to say! Also from Worcestershire. She was so genteel that 'Eck' was seemingly replaced by 'Anne'. Why Anne, I always wondered?

My granddad, when asked what was for pudding: "Bread and pull it".

@macc never knew that

Not massively old fasioned but i like 'Jiminy Cricket' for an exclmation.

As i have a horrible potty mouth I'm trying to train myself to use it to avoid ofence. I think I shall adopt balderdash too 🙂

Face like a clumsy beekeeper.

Move it a baw hair when something needs moved a tiny bit, building trade or engineering talk

Despite living here 3 years now, i still need a translator when my wife and her family slip into broad Norfolk with sayings such as:

bishy-barny-bee for a ladybird

"Hold yew hard" for hang on a minute
"stop putting yer parts on" for having a strop or misbehaving
"settle you down" or "slow you down"

Or "Hello Bor, how're yer gorn on"

The accident gets thicker the more sloe gin is consumed to a point sometimes where i really can't understand them, on top of that my father in law has his own sayings, such as saying something is a bit "ten-one" when it's not right.

'course you can Malcolm'

I find myself saying this rather randomly, must've picked it up from dad or somewhere....

When flummoxed my dad used to say
" I don't know if my arsehole is punched,bored or reamed."

My dad said similar about someone who was a bit dim, confused, or three sheets to the wind - 'He doesn't know whether he needs a shite or a haircut'. 😆

Nicorette's work colleague described something as a "swizzle".

I think it's incumbent on us all to ensure these old words and phrases pass onto the next generation. Hence why I still use words on this forum such as 'Crikey' , 'Yikes' , Good Heavens, Jolly good etc. All slightly ironically obviously!

Lumme. Ironing, Shirley?

Gee whizz.

Just thought of another that I use - Thuppenny bitting round corners to describe a riding style. No one under 50 will understand it I guess

I'm only 44 and I get that TJ

"were you made in St Helens" was a common one if I stood in front of the TV

I still say "Owdo" or "Eyup" to greet people as I pass them while cycling

Aussie mate used often say Strewth Sheila (not sure if this is old enough but it sure made me smile every time he uttered it)

I often use Good golly gumboots not sure that qualifies.

An Norwegian Captain used to watch some of the crew walk on deck getting to their chores and would often say they walk like dying ducks in a thunderstorm..

Regarding TJ, also 50p feet, in regards to anyone crap at football...

Local to here - 'Mind' meaning to remember.

Automated train announcement "The next stop is Stewarton. Please mind the gap when alighting"
Humours Wag 1 "Mind the gap?"
Humours Wag 2 "Aye I mind that gap"
Humours Wag 1 "Aye, it wiz a good gap that wan"

Yer arse in Parsley.

"Like a dog with two d**ks" was a good one my Dad came out with, describing my brother on the birth of his first-born.

I got a blank look after commenting about something being "pickled in aspic" yesterday.

'course you can Malcolm'

I find myself saying this rather randomly, must've picked it up from dad or somewhere....

That's off a TV advert. Tunes, I think? The eponymous lad is moaning about not being able to do something or go somewhere because he had a cold, his mother tells him "course you can, Malcolm" in an Eastenders housewife squawk.

Similar vintage to "a decond clad etudn do noddingab plead." I think.

"were you made in St Helens" was a common one if I stood in front of the TV

Also : "you're a better door than window"

'Cop a mouse', or 'don't sell me a dog' were ones my grandpa taught me... love them!

This may be mid-twentieth century North American, but to 'pull a boner' meaning to make a mistake, is absolutely hilarious.

Often deployed in the Hardy Boys' books.

[url= https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=32md4_Y4Hd8C&pg=PT46&lpg=PT46&dq=chet+pulled+a+boner&source=bl&ots=-zWy5-tRrt&sig=DUMoI6ss3ngHPbkWWjHgsrp9kMg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiaj8TbxOnPAhWjOsAKHdUfD0MQ6AEIODAF#v=onepage&q=chet%20pulled%20a%20boner&f=false ]See here[/url], about 2/3s down the page.

Yer arse in Parsley.

One of my mum's favoutites:
Aye (s)he's one for the watchin

My dad had a few interesting ones, I assume from the Wigan area;
"What have we got for tea?"
"Love and wind dumplings."
"What's in here?"
"Medals for meddlers."
Old phrases I like are;
Hells Bells and buckets of blood!
Gaw Blimey, which apparently is God Blind me!

Old phrases I like are;
Hells Bells and buckets of blood!
Gaw Blimey, which apparently is God Blind me!

God's teeth and trousers is along similar veins

Stop yer blartin'
Blood and sand!
Hell's teeth

Possibly just my family but when as a kid I asked - what am I getting for my brithday or some similar question the answer would be
" wigwams for Woozles"

Haud yer wheesht

Gadzooks!

I'll have your guts for garters

I'll knock you into the middle of next week

You are so fat witted with the drinking of old sac.

For the duration

like a fart in a cullinder
like a fairy on a gobalard
oompah oompah stick it up ya jumper
a bunch of fives

In like a burglar
In like Flynn
Wouldn't trust him further than I could kick a piano
Shut your cakehole
Queer as a clockwork orange
Like shit off a hot shovel

Like spring heeled Jack

That's off a TV advert. Tunes, I think?

Vicks Sinex

My mum would say.
"I've been stood here like cheese at fo'ence."
It took me years to realise that it was cheese at four pence and that it may be expensive and so it may not move. 🙂

When referring to spindly individuals my Father would comment

He couldnt knock the skin off a rice pudding !

I love using the word 'vexed' to describe someone who's spitting feathers, ie steaming mad at something gone wrong.
Spitting feathers is another one, as it happens.
😀

Got in to work yesterday on the motorbike, particularly heavy storm, and felt [i]bedraggled[/i]. No better word for it 🙂

Spiffing. As in...
"How do you do?"
"Spiffing."
"Jolly good, jolly good."
Of course, you need two nincompoops to have this conversation!

And old lady I was speaking to yesterday described herself as glaikit. Wonderful expression I hadn't heard for years

Heard this from a promo clip of the new Raymond Briggs animation, Ethel and Ernest:

"You daft aper". 😀

Anyone know what an aper is?

daft apeth I think. means daft fool/person

'When God were a boy"
"Cut yer tail off"
"She's no better than she should be"
Seeing distant rain clouds anywhere - "ee our David - it's black over Bill's Mother's"

Wha short-a-nowt whav got

In Northamptonian slang "hapence" or "apence" (dropped H") was a half a penny (pre-decimalisation old money) when
12 old pence = 1 shilling
A silver 3 pence coin was a "joey" and a sixpence was a "tanner"

Ah I remember "the good old days - when bacon was a shilling a loaf and beer was tuppence a hundredweight"

Me - Dad what did you get for Christmas when you were little? Dad - horse sh#t sandwich... same for me birthday but with sugar sprinkled on top. He grew up in Yorkshire and move to Devon at 18. Not sure where it comes from.