A Lick And A Promise (old phrases)

[kitkatz]

A fly in the ointment means a problem has come up.

[Riki]

my grandfather, if he has a stomach ache, will say that he's got a fart stuck sideways

[galvo]

That is so funny, Riki!

[Stoday]

In the UK "nigger in the woodpile" was a common figure of speech, but has become unacceptable in the last couple of decades. I find it curious that the word "nigger" has gained increasing force as an unacceptable word whilst "fu ck", totally unacceptable in my youth, has now lost so much strength that it is heard frequently in common parlance if not yet in polite society.

Back to the original subject, "keep your pecker up" means "keep cheerful" in the UK. I know the meaning's very different in the US, but what about other English-speaking countries?


Added later — The forum nanny rewrote the f-word as p*ck before I fixed it. The nanny didn't object to "nigger". I'm surprised.

[rsudock]

Aaron's grandmother says to us "The Lord willing and the creek don't rise." meaning everything should go as plan unless something unforseen happens......love my granny!!

xo,
R

[galvo]

That's another great one. Along the lines of 'praise the Lord and pass the ammunition'

[CebuShan]

      I think it's funny that probably 99% of these I have heard.
My Grandfather used to like to say something would "Gag a maggot" meaning it was really bad.
My great-grandfather used to say "You lika lice?" when talking about rice. (My grandmother never could eat rice after that!)
My grandmother used to threaten us kids with "Keep it up & I'll break your arm in 3 places" meaning we were one step shy of her using our middle names! (Then we REALLY knew we were in trouble!)
My grandfather was from the southern US. and used to say he was 21 years old before he learned that Damn Yankee was 2 words!
Looks like my grandfather was not PC & my grandmother would probably get arrested for child abuse! How things have changed!   

[jbeany]

 
My grandmother used to threaten us kids with "Keep it up & I'll break your arm in 3 places" meaning we were one step shy of her using our middle names! (Then we REALLY knew we were in trouble!)

We just got THE LOOK.
but a friend of mine always used "Come here and let me beat ya."

My mom used to yell "Hurry up or you'll be late to your own funeral."

Gram's favs included "The Lord heps dem as heps demselves."  (That's "help" - it just never sounded like it when she was muttering it.)

Gramps was fond of "Useless as tits on a boar."