PARENT TALK
Lately, I have been thinking about the expressions that my parents brought to Canada from the UK and Ireland and the new ones we kids often heard growing up in Canada. Admittedly, two of us started Grade 1 in Canada, so we were VERY Canadian. But certain expressions stick in my mind, not to mention those said by my father in his strong Irish accent. The word ‘toilet’ sounded like ‘tie-let’; the word ‘duty’ was ‘juty’; and ‘idiot’ was ‘eejit’, with the accent on the first syllable. I remember the word ‘halfwit’ (= a stupid person) being thrown around, but I’m not sure if we, kids, brought it home from school or if it came from our parents.
My mother often said: “Jesus, Mary, Joseph!” in frustration, but other Irish adults said “Janey Mac”, a euphemism for ‘Jesus Christ’—like a swear word. I also remember her saying, “I’d forget my head, if it weren’t sewn on” and sometimes, in anger, saying, “I’ll give you a clip in the ear.” (= a whack on the side of the head), if we were misbehaving.
Do you ever remember hearing, “Children should be seen and not heard.” Well, with so many kids around the house, that was heard a lot, to no effect. “I can’t hear myself think” was a catchy phrase. The lessons we learned at home, often came in the form of proverbs or well-established expressions. If you forgot to close the door, “Were you born in a barn?” If you didn’t get up to do or get something, and asked someone else to do or get it for you, “Are your legs broken?” If you weren’t already ‘spoiled rotten’, “You’ve got notions about yourself” (= you’re thinking you’re the ‘bee’s knees’). Watch out, “Pride comes before a fall.”
Poor families “didn’t have a pot to piss in… nor a window to throw it out.” If you’ve read Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt, you know that having a toilet was a luxury for some poor Irish families. (Actually, my family wasn’t poor.) In which case, there was a pot under the bed, if you needed to go pee in the night, making sure not to wake other siblings sleeping in the same bed.
I’m not sure where “Money doesn’t grow on trees” came from, but it was often said in my house. If you came home with a bruise or a cut, “What did you do to yourself, this time?” And the image of the expression, “He would sooner wipe his arse with a hedgehog” (than do something unpleasant), makes me cringe and laugh at the same time! Peer pressure, which I’m sure we all had to deal with, got a response like “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” “Bang on!” (= exactly right!)
I can remember hearing, “as happy as Larry”, “as right as rain” and “Bob’s your uncle”, which all mean “All’s well.” Don’t ask me where they came from, but that’s a good ending.
Fiona