Old family sayings & old Catholic sayings remembered-A forgotten language

I have been so lucky in life in many simple ways.

Simple ways that might go unnoticed, so as always, I am going to blog about them.


In this life I was surrounded by incredible aunts & uncles, great aunts & uncles, great-great aunts & uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents, incredibly wise older people in my community and born and raised in our family built Irish Catholic church.

Lucky me, right?

Within my upbringing there was a language that I don't hear anymore since so many of these people have passed away.

I say the words/expressions, but sometimes when I use them, some people have never heard of them.

It's a lost language and that makes me sad not to hear anymore.

So, I am going to tell you some of the words and expressions that were apart of my life, and who said them, because I don't hear them near often enough. I know I have forgotten many so maybe this will be a two part blog at some point.

Here goes a short list of little sayings that my Ma, which is my dads mom, would always say.

"Well Blessed Be"

*Translation-Well, good.

"Sloofoot"

 *This is a nickname that she called all of us. What does it mean? Does anyone know? Anyways, we always answered.

"You are full of tomfoolery."

Tomfoolery means orneriness. I know this, for a fact, because when she wouldn't tell me what it meant and she made me look it up in the big ol' dusty dictionary and I have to say I was a bit offended at the age of eleven when I realized the definition applied to me. (Giggle-Giggle)

"Oh, Glory be"

Again, I think this means quick praise or possibly an absurd disbelief about something. I have heard this in various ways, and I myself, have said it in various ways.

Now, both of my maternal Grandma's said this next bunch of sayings often. One grandma, of course being my Ma and my other grandma, which is my moms mom, still says these things today and she is Grandma B.

"Mercy sakes alive"

I think that means something in the realm of being surprised, flustered, or shocked. I can hear them both saying it to me quite a bit so........

"Oh, Jesus, Mary & Joseph"

I think maybe this means calling for quick prayer when things aren't going your way??? Perhaps??? Again, I know how to us it, but apparently not how to define it correctly.

"Oh, for heavens sake"

Everyone in the generation of people have used this phrase time and time again. I use it often myself.

Hmmmmm.........trying to think of the correct definition.

Maybe I'll give an example sentence.

A little child says-"Mom, I ripped a big hole in the knee of my jeans.

The mother would say, "For Heavens sake."

But with that as an example sentence an opposite form of this saying comes to mind too.

Example-"The baby was born healthy. Mom and baby are doing just fine.

Then my Ma & Grandma B could insert, "For Heavens sake."

Do you kind of understand, now?

My Grandma B, when someone is being ornery always uses this word that she's known all of her life, but I cannot find it anywhere online, so Grandma and I are not sure of where it comes from.

The word is-

T-rod-Dee

Example sentence, "oh, what a little T-rod-Dee

Does anyone else use this word beside us?

Grandma B would ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS sing this Doris Day song to me.

It's called-

"I love you a bushel and a peck"

You must listen to it. Click the link below Doris Day's pic~

http://youtu.be/XNjv1WDGxt8

Now, my Grandpa B is married to my Grandma B, obviously, and he has his own little song that he likes to sing.

Grandpa B has been singing this song forever, well, forever to me in all of my thirty seven years on planet earth.

It's called-

"The daring young man on the flying trapeze"

-from the 1934 movie-

"It happened one night"

Click on the link, below, and listen for yourself.

http://youtu.be/UI_BF1q6uBY

I just love it, but I love how grandpa sings it even more!

Now, my Grandma B's parents were Grandma & Grandpa C.

They were my great grandparents. They were very funny peeps and always had something to say.

Grandpa C would say this.

"A shade off plum"

Usually he would use this saying when grandma's bunko friends would come over and they would annoy him, because they talked so much. He would say, "Welp, the widows are on their way over and they're a shade off plum"

He was a shy man with a very dry sense of humor and I loved him so very much.

Grandpa would also tease all of us grandkids about picking our switches and getting lumps of coal.

Example sentences-

Grandpa would say to me, "Little girl, what do you want for your birthday?"

Me-of course, I'd run through my enormous list first.

Grandpa, "Well, you forgot to mention a lump of coal and a bundle of switches."

I know that sounds crazy, but let me just state he was the sweetest man I have ever known and this was his one and only way of teasing us and he would get to laughing, and of course me and my diva-ness even as a child, always got a little irritated with these statements and kind of expected to receive coal and twigs. It never happened, but it kept us on our toes. Gosh, I miss him.

My great Aunt Bernadine (Bun), who I have blogged about so many times and reminds me of Aunt Clara from "Bewitched" would always say-

"Such is life"

No matter what the circumstance was good, bad, or indifferent if there were nothing left to be said she would always say, "Such is life."

My Great Grandma C would always say,

"Well, that's bunk."

In other words it means that's total crap-LOL!

Grandma's C's phrasing sounds much more lady like I think. I say this phrase and I say it often.

Okay, so there are just a few of the ol' sayings.

I would love to know if any of these were used in your homes and families.

I am also interested in phrases/sayings that you grew up with that no one else uses anymore.

I'll just leave you with this old Irish toast that my Ma said daily while she toasted herself or others with her daily glass of wine or whiskey-

(I hope I am quoting it correctly)

"Here's to the woman that lives over the hill.
She wont, but her sister will."

Ma just loved that toast.

It makes me smile just typing it out.

Toodle-loo

Nikki Pugh

P.S. Please, share your sayings with me~

By the way blogger is playing around with my spacing, in my writing again, today. Don't you just love a good ol' computer technology gliche-me neither!