Lick and a Promise

[Ebug]

In as much as Ebug is somewhat older than many of the members the dat below is familiar to him as they were expressions used when he was growing up. See how many you recognize.














A Lick and A Promise

SOME OF YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS... (FOR THE REST OF YOU, IT WILL BE A LEARNING SITUATION.)



'I'll just give this a lick and a promise,' my mother said as she quickly mopped up a spill on the floor without moving any of the furniture.

'What is that supposed to mean,' I asked as in my young mind I envisioned someone licking the floor with his or her tongue.

'It means that I'm in a hurry and I'm busy canning tomatoes so I am going to just give it a lick with the mop and promise to come back and do the job right later.'

'A lick and a promise' was just one of the many old phrases that our mothers, grandmothers, and others used that they probably heard from the generations before them. With the passing of time, many old phrases become obsolete or even disappear. This is unfortunate because some of them are very appropriate and humorous. Here is a list of some of those memorable old phrases:



1. A Bone to Pick (someone who wants to discuss a disagreement)

2. An Axe to Grind (Someone who has a hidden motive. This phrase is said to have originated from Benjamin Franklin who told a story about a devious man who asked how a grinding wheel worked. He ended up walking away with his axe sharpened free of charge)

3. One bad apple spoils the whole barrel (one corrupt person can cause all the others to go bad if you don't remove the bad one)

4. At sea (lost or not understanding something)

5. Bad Egg (Someone who was not a good person)

6. Barking at a knot (meaning that your efforts were as useless as a dog barking at a knot.)

7. Barking up the wrong tree (talking about something that was completely the wrong issue

with the wrong person)

8. Bee in your bonnet (To have an idea that won't let loose)

9. Been through the mill (had a rough time of it)

10. Between hay and grass (Not a child or an adult)

11. Blinky (Between sweet and sour as in milk)

12. Calaboose (a jail)

13. Catawampus (Something that sits crooked such as a piece of furniture sitting at an angle)

14. Dicker (To barter or trade)

15. Feather in Your Cap (to accomplish a goal... This came from years ago in wartime when warriors might receive a feather they would put in their cap for defeating an enemy)

16. Hold your horses (Be patient!)

17. Hoosegow (a jail)

18. I reckon (I suppose)

19. Jawing/Jawboning (Talking or arguing)

20 Kit and caboodle (The whole thing)

21. Madder than a wet hen (really angry)

22. Needs taken down a notch or two (like notches in a belt usually a young person who thinks too highly of himself and needs a lesson)

23. No Spring Chicken (Not young anymore)

24. Persnickety (overly particular or snobbish)

25. Pert-near (short for pretty near)

26. Pretty is a s pretty does (your actions are more important than your looks)

27. Red up (clean the house)

28. Scalawag (a rascal or unprincipled person)

29. Scarce as hen's teeth (something difficult to obtain)

30. Skedaddle (Get out of here quickly)

31. Sparking (courting)

32. Straight From the Horse's Mouth (privileged information from the one concerned)

33. Stringing around, gallivanting around, or piddling (Not doing anything of value)

34. Sunday go to meetin' dress (The best dress you had)

35. We wash up real fine (is another goodie)

36. Tie the Knot (to get married)

37. Too many irons in the fire (to be involved in too many things)

38. Tuckered out (tired and all worn out)

39. Under the weather (not feeling well this term came from going below deck on ships

due to sea sickness thus you go below or under the weather)

40. Wearing your 'best bib and tucker' (Being all dressed up)

41. You ain't the only duck in the pond (It's not all about you)



Well, if you hold your horses, I reckon I'll get this whole kit and caboodle done

and sent off to you. Please don't be too persnickety and get a bee in your bonnet because I've been pretty tuckered out and at sea lately because I'm no spring chicken. I haven't been just stringin' around and I know I'm not the only duck in the pond, but I do have too many irons in the fire.

I might just be barking at a knot, but I have tried to give this article more than just a lick and a promise

[woodzman]

There's a lot to be said for those older sayings. I've heard a bunch of them, but I learned some new ones too, thanks. I'm running late, so I'd better light a shuck.

Bob.

[backlash]

I must be old.
I knew most and have used them.
My favorite is
Don't get your knickers in a twist.
Also said as don't get your panties in a wad. ;D
AC

[CanNerd]

I'm way too old. I know them all and have used them.

[Anon001]

I ain't old but knew them all. lol

Another one my grandmother used to say when she was tired... she would sit to take a break and say, "Whew! I'm fagged." When I became a teenager, I realized that it had a much newer meaning and not a complimentary one at that. lol

[madmac]

Yeap. pretty old sayings for sure. Knew most of them but not all. How about lock, stock and barrel. Which means the whole kit and caboddle.

[Kyhome]

Thanks for sharing, haven't heared some of these in years. Thinking you has hit the nail on the head with these. Rick

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

My grand-dad always told me I was "cruisin' for a bruisin' " when I was pushing my luck. :-X

[mom2]

I've heard them and still use some of them. Here are some more

Handy as a pocket on a shirt
Dumb as a well rope
So far back in the sticks we pipe in daylight

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

"He's a snake in the grass." - not to be trusted.

"You be ready by 6 bells or else." - if you're not ready at 6 in the morning, I'm going fishing without you.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

My dad's favorite insult was "dumber than a milkgoat" meaning really not smart.

[12vman]

"We all heard ducks fart in the water before".. Like, yea, yea, yea.. ::)

"Happier than a gopher in soft dirt".. How happy is that? ;D

[OzarkMtnDaredevil]

"We all heard ducks fart in the water before".. Like, yea, yea, yea.. * ::)

"Happier than a gopher in soft dirt".. How happy is that? * ;D






That's like "snug as a bug in a rug".

[Oldman]

12vman, have you ever seen a duck floating upside down in the water. Where else can they fart, LOL.
They just stay calm on the top and paddle like heck under neath. ;D
Here's one I started myself years ago that is spreading around. I was working on something and everything that could go wrong was doing so. It was probably 6 or more people in the little shop and before I thought about it, I slid the chair back and spit out, "I might as well S#!+ fire and fall backwards" Means about the same thing as a dog barking at a knot.
Don't ask where it come from, I was so mad fooling with whatever it was I was working on one day, I just slid back in the chair and that's what came out my mouth.
What it means, is I had done worked my butt off trying to fix whatever and everything was going wrong so at the time, it looked like I may as well do that as try any more.
For a little more humor, Last night a friend came over wanting me to put a new grill together for him. I like the dickens out of him, but he is "dumber than a door nail" sometimes.
I had soaked the carb for a tiller that I had said a few times, what I said above. $#!t fire and fall backwards" I was nearly finished when he came down to the shop. There were two screws that hold the carb and gas tank together and the mufler was all I was short of putting it back together for the 5th/6th time.
We pack up, go out to his house, put the grill together, sighted my scope back in on the rifle after my wife knocked it over which knocked the scope slap off :o >:(, and came home.
Well, this guy, (MYSELF) that is also "dumber than a door nail" some times, forgets I still needed to put the two screws and the muffler back for the job to be finished. I was thinking I finished it off before we left, while listening to my friend.
I choked it, pulled the cord and it fired up with two pulls.
Gasoline leaking from the carb/gas tank connection, all over the top of the gas tank.
A blue flame coming out the exchaust port of the engine about 6" long. There I was in my basement with a half gallon of gas in a tank, maybe an inch below a blue flame and I couldn't get it to turn off. I finally jerked the plug wire from the plug but that "scared my pants into the wash tub" :) Not really but was one of grandma's saying. But it did scare me pretty bad.

To me, "an axe to grind" meant someone done you quite wrong, and you had "an axe to grind", meaning you were going to get it straight, one way or another, whatever it took.

Barking up the wrong tree to me, always meant, is that someone is accusing you of something you had nothing to do with and this is the wrong tree to want to climb.

One bad apple is correct. One kid can leed a bunch into a lot of trouble if you don't straighten him out or send him on his/hers marry way. I preffer spending the time to help a kid learn what's is right and what is wrong.
Don't always work but 1 out of 10 is better than 0 out of 10.
Well, I have a lot of irons in the fire. If I don't get at it, they will all get cold.
Alot to do before the sun turns the light out on me. Won't be long before time to hit the hay. You have to get the sleep. Don't forget the early bird gets the worm.
If I don't get out there and sow some seeds I won't get any fruit. Or veggies.
Need to make sure I "don't sow seeds from briars" too.
And I don't want to "wait till the eggs get rotten before I collect them".
That's enough fun for now.
Oldman

[flatwater]

Ya oldman , I started one a few years back when I slipped on some ice and came up with " that's slicker then cat snot in a puke barrel " the only problem is my grandson was with me and at age 4 he was starting to pick up things and my daughter still hasn't forgiven me for that one

[Oldman]

That's a good one flatwater. That would be some slick stuff.
Mine is "That's slicker than a cats @$$ on a rainy night." ;D
Ever try to catch a cat when it's raining???
Oldman

[onelook]

How about...

**Splitting the sheets. Meaning a couple was breaking up.

**Crazy as a pet coon. meaning-REALLY nuts!

**She/he sounded like a bell clapper in a goose's butt. Meaning-rattled on about something that didn't matter.

**She looks like she swapped legs with a jay-bird and gave her butt to boot. Meaning-she was reeeeaaalllllly skinny.

There are many more, but I have forgotten many of them. Your list brought back memories for sure. I still use many of them every day, too. I really didn't think I was that old...Maybe I'd better consult the calendar again.

[snuffy]

I got a kick out of those so I came up with a few myself:

1) Rode hard and put up wet ... worked hard and not taken care of.

2) Worked like a rented mule ... Not treated with any care and abused

3) Independant as a hog on ice ... hard to control or guide.

4) Milked like a borrowed cow... Used to excess.

5) Her face looks like she wore out three bodies... Ugly

6) Her arms are slung pretty far back... Very well blessed.

That's all I can think of right now.

Snuffy

[Mom5farmboys]

What a fun thread, sure got me thinking about my Grandmothers from both sides of the family.

They always called the couch a Davenport

A bathrobe was a housecoat

If you had diarrhea they always referred to it as the Back Door Trots

Family members that were far removed (i.e. a 3rd cousin once removed, etc) was always just called our shirttail relation.

They referred to someone who wasn't very bright as Dumber than a box of rocks.

Someone who wasn't very well prepared was described as being A Day Late And a Dollar Short.

And finally I was a ltttle suprised the other day to find out my children had no idea what a bakers dozen was. (13 of something)

[keydl]

Then there is 'slicker than snot on a glass doorknob' for an elegant solution to a mechanical problem

The first difinition of 'hack' that I ran into was agin an absolutly elegant solution to a mechanical problem, one that defied further simplification. Used among engineers and adopted into electronics and then software. another stolen word as 'gay'. The highest praise was 'elegant, a hack' and a hacker was an engineer with a string of designs that could not be improved on.

Being 'one brick short of a wagonload' implied either lack of diligence or brainpower.

Having a 'burr under his saddle' was some one with a problem that wanted to fight about it - with anyone near. Came from the cowboy sport of watching rodeo - after putting a burr under someones saddle.