Mom’s Sayings

Did your mother have phrases that she pulled out whenever the time was right? Doreen Frick’s mother did – and some of her mom’s sayings just might sound familiar to you, too.

Here are some of my mom’s sayings I’ve been gathering along the way:

• “That’s neither here nor there…”
• “Easier said than done.”
• “He’s guilty as sin.”
• “Doreen, you know better…” (that was a killer!)
• “Don’t kid yourself Reen-bean…” (her nickname for me, and this insight was followed by whatever she thought was needing to be straightened out)
• “More power to you…”
• “I can see right through you.”
• “If I told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times…” (YIKES!)
• “If you don’t take care of yourself nobody else will.”
• “I know my limitations.”
• “I slept as snug as a bug in a rug.”
• “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
• “You’re a good egg.”
• “I have to pace myself.”
• “I’m in my element.”
• “Let me get my bearings…”
• “She called him every name in the book…” ( I say this a lot!)
• “I don’t know him from Adam’s housecat.”
• “We got off on the wrong foot.”
• “I’ll play it by ear…”
• “Better late than never, but better never late.”
• “He’s lying through his teeth.”
• “There’s a method to my madness.” (I also say this a lot!)
• “Like it or lump it.”
• “I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
• “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” (How cute is that one?)
• “She meant well.” (I love this, too)

And then there were ones from the Bible and from a significant person in her life.

• “A workman is worth his hire…” (from the Bible) along with “God loveth a cheerful giver” and “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”
• “Take what you can get and look for more.” (My mom’s beloved aunt used to say this. My mom, Mary, grew up hearing it and repeated it to us.)
• Another one from her beloved aunt, heard by my mom when she was a child and she asked her aunt why her aunt never had any children: “They never made me laugh and they’ll never make me cry.”

And more of Mom’s sayings!

• “Do as I say, not as I do.”
• “I made up my mind to love whoever my children marry.”
• “I wouldn’t hurt her for the world.”
• “You’re as good as gold.”
• “You’re worth your weight in gold.”
• “You’re as slow as molasses in January.” (She said this to my sister Diane on many an occasion.)
• “If there’s enough blue in the sky to make a sailor a pair of pants, it will be a nice day” (Mom would say this as we traveled to the seashore and the sky was threatening and the day dreary.)
• “I’ll be there with bells on.” (I adore this!)
• “My heart goes out to her” or “I feel for her.”
• “I have to pinch myself.”
• “I’ll be there in a hop, skip and a jump.”
• “I could never forgive myself.”
• “Doreen, give credit where credit is due.”
• “Doreen, go treat yourself.” (Followed by a 20-dollar bill gently placed in my wringing hands, since I worried a lot about money)
• “He’d be rolling over in his grave.” (My mom said this a lot.)
• “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
• “No if’s, and’s, or but’s.” (Said when we’d argue with her.)
• “For the life of me…” (Followed by whatever Mom couldn’t understand.)
• “I’d rather pay the grocer than the doctor.”
• “Don’t worry your pretty little head.” (I adore this one!)
• “I’ll be there in a hop, skip, and a jump.”

I say quite a few of these now, and they always make me smile. I’ve also been keeping a list to send my grandkiddies.

Doreen Mary Frick is the author of Hodgepodge Logic (1999). She has written previous posts for Boomer, including “Baking Bread and Showing Love” and “My Grandmother’s Dream.”

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