Ever wondered what an old saying meant?

[Kevin Milkins]

Have you ever used or heard a saying and never new quite what it meant.
A saying regarding a spinster that still lives at home with her parents IE "you want to be carefull or you will left on the shelve" On a visit to the MUSIUM OF WELSH LIFE near Cardiff we were being shown around a very old house and when you walked through the door it had no upstairs as we know it .
To the left is were 2 cows lived with a loft above for there fodder the middle part was open to the rafters with no chiminy and to the right was the parents living and sleeping area with a loft above and a ladder were the children slept. A bit like the little house on the praire. The tour guide pointed out that the loft area for the children was called the shelve. So if you had a daughter left at home past chidhood it was often said "be carefull you may get left on the Shelve" It answered a age old question.
Any more out there

[herenow]

i could never understand the saying " to cut off your nose to spite your face" beats me!!

[trix]

years ago when fowlk hed til go til somewhere far awie wi a message, they wid stop in at a fairmhoose on 'e way an ask for sum denner an maybe a kip.

they'd get a guid bit o' meit an a bied for enite. 'e next day if they didna leive, they wid get offered a 'cowld shoulder o' mutten'.

hence, 'e sayin, til gie someone 'e cowld shoulder.

[justine]

or " if you break a leg dont come cryng to me....Where on this earth did that come from.....maybe these sayings are brought to us from mystical worlds.....

[Kevin Milkins]

years ago when fowlk hed til go til somewhere far awie wi a message, they wid stop in at a fairmhoose on 'e way an ask for sum denner an maybe a kip.

they'd get a guid bit o' meit an a bied for enite. 'e next day if they didna leive, they wid get offered a 'cowld shoulder o' mutten'.

hence, 'e sayin, til gie someone 'e cowld shoulder.

thats a great example. I would guess that it was traditional years ago to help each other in time of need.IE a traveller etc ,but if advantage was taken of that good will you may say Best give him the cold shoulder

[justine]

heres a good one....

"We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees" not sure what it means...


My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will never, never surrender to what is right."

[kriklah]

My all time favorite is "brass monkeys" when its cold out, full term "Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey". As my dad was in the navy i (after lots of giggling, innocent little girl that i was) eventually found out was an old nautical term. a Brass Monkey was the stand that canon balls were stacked on to stop them rolling around on deck. When the weather got cold enough, it would contract and shrink, causing the balls to pop off. i had spent years envisioning emasculated metal apes before learning the truth!!!

[Kevin Milkins]

Often on a farm I used to work on a work mate used to say never cast a clout till May is out. I found out many years later that Clout was the old English word for Cloth So to put it in my mothers terms "dont take your vest off till May is out. And when I say May I dont Mean the month off May but Scabby May as in the flower of the hawthorn bush

[router]

years ago when fowlk hed til go til somewhere far awie wi a message, they wid stop in at a fairmhoose on 'e way an ask for sum denner an maybe a kip.

they'd get a guid bit o' meit an a bied for enite. 'e next day if they didna leive, they wid get offered a 'cowld shoulder o' mutten'.

hence, 'e sayin, til gie someone 'e cowld shoulder.

giving someone the cold shoulder is turn your back on them...........are you making this up as you go along?.....or have both you and KM reading from the same book of nonsense?

[trix]

years ago when fowlk hed til go til somewhere far awie wi a message, they wid stop in at a fairmhoose on 'e way an ask for sum denner an maybe a kip.

they'd get a guid bit o' meit an a bied for enite. 'e next day if they didna leive, they wid get offered a 'cowld shoulder o' mutten'.

hence, 'e sayin, til gie someone 'e cowld shoulder.

ye may THINK it is ''utter tedious rubbish'' router but, all 'e same, i da think it warrents gien me bad rep - thanks all 'e same eh??

never hed one o them before....

[router]

ye may THINK it is ''utter tedious rubbish'' router but, all 'e same, i da think it warrents gien me bad rep - thanks all 'e same eh??

never hed one o them before....

you're wellcome,anytime!

[bigjjuk]

Heres one for u, its more of a thing we do rather then a saying, but historic nevertheless.

You hold a glass up and chink them together and say "cheers"

I found out, that back in the days of the smuggler, when they were doing a deal they would clink there glasses together and pour a bit of each others drink into one anothers glass as to ensure one hasnt poisoned the other. Thus ensuring the deal would go through and one doesnt drop dead. So if you do this to this day and still do, maybe there is a bit of smuggler in you.

[unicorn]

ye canna teach yer granny till suck eiggs????? I used to get told that??

[unicorn]

Empty vessels make the most noise

[ciderally]

can someone enlighten me on whare this came from..
Raised to the ground..

[Dusty]

Apparently, the word is spelt Raze (not a critisism) and is an ancient word meaning demolish, ruin, scrape or shave.
So I suppose Raizing to the ground means levelling, another word for demolishing.