My sister would use, “ You’re a sight for sore eyes” when she was mad at you. Like you made her eyes sore.

Pie on the commode? I wanted to eat dessert at the table with everyone else.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

I was disappointed that when a friend's dad was "blowing up" an inner tube, it didn't involve explosions.

My mother told me thunder was God moving his furniture around. I was a believer

Whenever someone told me they were "keeping an eye on me" it would always freak me out. I kept looking for them to actually take his/her eye out and put it on me...

When my kids were really young, 3 - 5, they often stayed with their grandpa. Come time for them to acting up he would caution them by saying “i’m gonna burn you up.” They thought he was going to light a match and burn them.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
As a little kid 4 or 5 years old (in the early 1960s), the “colored people” my grandparents referred to were a mystery to me. I figured they must be a variety like you’d see in a box of crayons. It seemed odd that I never saw any of them when they were being discussed.

I do not remember this, but when told that some colored people were coming over, I asked what color they were.

Something in dad’s voice told me I didn’T want to “make him have to tear me a new one.” Not long after, I had a more precise understanding of those code words.

Well, for one thing, you don't actually go blind.

For another eyeballs don't actually assume a square shape.

None of the crayons in the box are sharp. Not even the new ones.

Hammers aren't dumb. They're not smart, either, regardless of whether they're in a box.

The likelihood of a worm falling victim to a bird isn't really related to the time period, but to the availability of the worm.

The atmosphere is not actually a limit, but when people refer to it that way, it doesn't really mean you get everything you want.

Names can hurt. Rocks and wood can hurt, too. Not just break bones.

Courting has little to do with occupying a tree, and babies frequently come prior to love, or marriage.

How sailors feel about night skies has little to do with weather. Morning not so much, either.

Cooking has more to do with temperature than the fuel source; even gas.

Despite promises to coat a rear porch area in shades of red, nobody ever brought out a single can of paint. Seems every time the subject came up, a beating happened, instead.

Parachutes aren't gold. In fact, one made of gold might actually be dangerous.

My ship would never come in. We were landlocked. Made no sense.

"He has eyes in the back of his head."

When I was a little kid, my mother would tell me to act like a human being. I thought she said act like a human bean. I argued that there was no such thing as a human bean. She thought I was crazy.

My grandfather would always talk about a heavy rain being a "frog strangler"...I would walk through the ditches out in front of the house after a heavy rain, looking for dead frogs, until I finally asked about it and he explained it to me.

On a side note...my mother would threaten to "tan my hide" when I got in trouble. I never misunderstood that one!

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:


How sailors feel about night skies has little to do with weather. Morning not so much, either.

Beg to differ.

Red sky at night, sailors delight.
When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending its light through a high concentration of dust particles. This usually indicates high pressure and stable air coming in from the west. Basically good weather will follow.

Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.
A red sunrise can mean that a high pressure system (good weather) has already passed, thus indicating that a storm system (low pressure) may be moving to the east. A morning sky that is a deep, fiery red can indicate that there is high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain could be on its way.

When I was little my Dad used to say "I need to take you and have your ears dropped"...aka...get a haircut.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

Well, for one thing, you don't actually go blind.

Yeah, but you might need glasses.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
Beg to differ.

Thanks for the education Sailor1911!

I had always (mis?)remembered it as:

Red sky at night, sailors delight.
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.

and I assumed the former meant smooth sailing and the latter indicated potential for a rough ride, but never knew the reasoning. Thanks!

It is family specific.

They would say of someone who was intoxicated "Mars sure is bright tonight."

The backstory.

My godfather, Art Williams, came over to our house in Cheyenne and got mildly drunk.

As he was leaving about 9:00pm he stopped on the stoop, hooked his fingers in his belt, rocked back on his boots' worn bulldog heels, and pronounced "Mars sure is bright tonight." and left.

About 6:00 am he was back on the stoop looking the same direction at a tall broadcast antenna. Shaking his head he realized what he'd seen was a red marker light. He pronounced "I was right, I was right. Mars ain't never visible in that part of the sky."

This all happened before I was born I never understood it until in my late teens I heard the whole story.

When i was a kid I’d hear some adult complaining: “Well dang, I just washed my car and now it’s beginning to rain.”

I thought that they were bitter at having paid for a car wash when they could’ve had a free wash from the rain if they’d just waited.

I didn't know why people who used to be in in the army helped sick animals