Old Sayings

Being an old guy, I will blurt out an old saying now and then. If there are young people around, I will generally get an odd look or two. I can understand it. Even though they might understand the meaning of the saying based on the context, these saying are just not in their normal vocabulary.

1. I’m busier than a one-armed paper hanger. Young people have no reason to know that hanging wallpaper was a home improvement task that many hired professionals to do. The process requires the worker to hold the wallpaper up with one hand and begin pressing it into place the with other hand. One would have to be very fast to get the wallpaper in position and press it into place before it falls down.

2. I got my tongue caught in my eye teeth and I can’t see what I’m saying. This was said when a person mispronounces and word, stumbles over a phrase. People don’t use the term “eye teeth” like they used to, so the whole saying would sound quite odd to younger people.

3. If conceit were consumption, you’d be consumed. The word conceited used to be the most popular term for someone the is full of themselves. This was a shot at a narcissistic person that isn’t used much anymore.

4. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? This is a response to someone that used a lot of profanity. These days profanity has become part of normal language. Very few people respond when they hear someone blurt out a few colorful words. There was a time when people were supposed to control themselves in public. Especially around people that were not their close friends. It was meant to call a person’s attention to their, what was called, potty mouth.

5. He is so boring, his mother had to tie a bone around his neck to get the dog to play with him. This one is pretty obvious. I guess people today would understand it, they probably just find it stupid.

6. I haven’t seen him in a month of Sundays. It may take younger people a little time to figure this one out. I’m sure they will do the math and determine that there is one Sunday a week, so a month’s worth of Sundays would be about 30 weeks. Of course, the saying is not to be taken that literally. It just means a long time.

7. You need to be Johnny-on-the-spot when we need you. I’m sure young people would be able to figure this out when seen in the context of a sentence, but I’m not sure it would be so clear is some just asked them for the meaning of the term Johnny-on-the-spot. I thought is was a clever way to describe being there when needed. It was used quite well in the movie, “Saving Private Ryan.”

8. Are you gaslighting me? This one may actually be known by younger people. The term came from the 1944 movie “Gaslight” where a husband uses manipulation to make his heiress wife think she is going mad. It turns out the word gaslighting is actually in the dictionary.

9. A woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle. This came straight from the early days of the women’s movement and the founding of the National Organization of Women. It was clearly used to refute the idea that women were helpless on their own.

10. He came from the wrong side of the tracks. Young people don’t encounter railroad tracks like they used to. They probably don’t know how they used to cut right through town, and how they became dividers separating the good side of town from that bad side.

Those are some sayings. I’m sure you can think of more.