My husband and I were chatting the other night and he said a quote he grew up with that reminded me of what my mother would have said. Any time we said we wanted something she would come back with one of two quotes (remember, I grew up 40 miles south of Boston).
- If wishes were horses all beggars would ride.
- Put your wants in the Boston Globe.
And my mother never swore, the closest she came was:
- Jesus, Joseph, and Mary
- Jesus H. Christ
Now I realize that to some folks, those are definitely considered cussing, but it’s so much milder than the ones you hear today. I can still her her voice as she “cussed” with frustration/anger (which was rare).
She was raised in foster homes from the age of three. Married at age 20, I was born three years later. She was an R.N. and worked her entire life until her early death at age 62.
Do you remember quotes your parents might have said that you don’t hear today?
My A-Z this year are random thoughts, ideas, and whatever pops into my mind for the letter of the day. As in previous years, I will keep it short and sweet.
Till next time…
I think curses can be any word but your mother sounds very polite about it.
I don’t recall quotes but us children are often referred to as monkeys, not sure that’s a term of endearment or not but children are referred by that term a lot no matter their age.
Have a lovely day.
She was definitely polite about it but the only thing I think my father ever said was Damn. Ah, growing up in the 40s-50s in small town New England.
I enjoyed learning about your mom.
I remember my dad saying close enough for horseshoes.
It’s probably said today, I’m not sure, but she used to say a lot, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
And that’s a good one!
This is beautiful 😀
My mother’s most exteme saying when frustrated was “Hells bells and buckets of blood!” and after going to Australia where they say Bloody so much it almost loses its meaning, she said “Hells bells and buckets of bloody blood!” lol
Now that is funny!!!
My aunt never swore and would come up with Fish and Faggots when she was really mad.
At the other end of the scale, my eldest nephew (now 58) loved magic as a child and his magic saying was “Abracadabra, fish and chips!”
Too funny!! Thanks so much for dropping in.
I can hear my grandma’s voice saying, “Oh, for Pete’s sake!”
LOL!
I don’t remember my parents cursing much at all. If they did, it was probably in German and I wouldn’t have understood it anyway. I do recall an argument they had once about who would go to hell and who was going to go to heaven, which actually sparked one of my A to Z entries last year for the letter H – Heck in a Handbasket – https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=3990
Great story!!
Very similar story for my mom. I never heard my mom or dad use expletives. However, my grandfather (Dad’s side) from Newfoundland, in his fairly heavy accent would clip “Oh, for the love of the Hebrew children!” or “Jumped up Jimmy-goat!” mostly followed by sputtering gibberish! Neither my grandmother, nor my grandfather ever swore or talked crudely. “For Pete’s sake” was common, as Kristi says, but I think I picked that up somewhere besides home. I was so sheltered from bad language that I remember reading aloud f* that was painted as graffiti once when I was with a very shocked friend…I had no idea. Just read it because I’d never seen or heard it before! Then I learned not to say it again.
It was such a different era…
This was a fun post and love the pictures… old black and whites are so fun. And I really wish RN’s took pride in what they wore today like your mom…. now the always seem to look so frumpy. Anyways, quotes… my grandmother use to yell “Hark your noise!” when she wanted to hear what was happening on the scanner. She’d also yell “Don’t plague the dog!” I guess she didn’t want us bugging the dog. I’ve been trying to tame my northeastern tongue (we grew up with a lot of swearing) so my quote when I get mad is “Son of a Batman!”….been using it for years…it works. One time when I was a little girl playing I did something that made me mad, so I yelled, “Jesus!” and my mother said, “What did you just say?” and I said, “loves me, Mommy”. He still does.
Love the “Don’t plague the dog!” quote…but I love even more your comeback to fix your “cuss”. LOL!
I love those pictures!!! My mom was an RN too – still alive at 74 but retired 14 years ago and has enjoyed every day since, haha. She always said “If it had been a snake, it’d have bit ya!” to my brother because he never looked for anything, just asked where stuff was even if it was right in front of his face.
– Allison
https://lightningflashwriting.blogspot.com/
I know I’ve said that a lot, not sure if my mother said it or not. Another one that I forgot but heard on TV the other night, “Mind your Ps & Qs”. She said that quite a bit.