Expressions your mum and dad used to use ...

[Supersuperleeds]

If brains were dynamite, you wouldn't have enough to blow your cap off.

 

[oldwheels]

What becomes of the broken hearted
Paid a Penny and only Farted

The version I know goes

Here I sit broken hearted
Paid a penny and only farted.

 

[Blue Hills]

The version I know goes

Here I sit broken hearted
Paid a penny and only farted.

Same here and not a mum/dad thing, a playground rhyme.

 

[Chris S]

The version I know goes

Here I sit broken hearted
Paid a penny and only farted.

I saw that on a toilet wall

 

[CanucksTraveller]

gran again

"S/he's bad with her/his nerves" sometimes followed by a certain silence.

Later I realised that it was almost certainly an old euphemism for depression, before folks were allowed to be depressed.

Yeah, "Bad with his nerves" seemed to be a generally well meaning catch-all for someone who the observer believed might have some sort of mental health disturbance which could need some degree of greater tolerance or understanding for their plight. Might have been PTSD, depression, autism, all sorts went undiagnosed then. It's quite nice that older people would wish to at least give some leeway to affected people, AND encourage youngsters to do the same, despite not having the mechanism to even begin to understand what was going on.

 

[Blue Hills]

Gran again

Who does she think she is, the queen of Sheba?

Never knew the individuals so couldn't check out the judgement, and had no idea where Sheba was.

Known a small number of princesses myself since but by that time in my life pretty sure the phrase was dead/seriously quaint.

 

[fullfathom5]

another one from the gran

"what's good for the goose is good for the gander".

I understood as a kid what the meaning was, particularly as she would say it with a sort of yoyful assertion, but somehow the words seem to be the wrong way round.

(I think I had the idea that a gander was a female "goose")

Our version was 'what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander'

 

[mistyoptic]

Gran again

Who does she think she is, the queen of Sheba?

Never knew the individuals so couldn't check out the judgement, and had no idea where Sheba was.

Known a small number of princesses myself since but by that time in my life pretty sure the phrase was dead/seriously quaint.

I’ve heard this one, and never really thought about it. I wonder if it relates to “The arrival of the Queen of Sheba” which is often used for the arrival of the bride at a wedding.

That saying could be an implication that “she’s the most important person here”

 

[Ming the Merciless]

gran again

"S/he's bad with her/his nerves" sometimes followed by a certain silence.

Never really understood it, sometimes wondered if it was related to the miraculous Nervo powder/tonic or whatever which I dimly remember an old sign for on Blackpool North Pier - seemed to be able cure anything.

Later I realised that it was almost certainly an old euphemism for depression, before folks were allowed to be depressed.

I do wonder if that’s from those who survived terror of war? A phrase to say they have PTSD.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Gran again

Who does she think she is, the queen of Sheba?

Never knew the individuals so couldn't check out the judgement, and had no idea where Sheba was.

Known a small number of princesses myself since but by that time in my life pretty sure the phrase was dead/seriously quaint.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba

 

[Blue Hills]

I’ve heard this one, and never really thought about it. I wonder if it relates to “The arrival of the Queen of Sheba” which is often used for the arrival of the bride at a wedding.

That saying could be an implication that “she’s the most important person here”

Pretty sure it means the person - female - THINKS that they are the most important/interesting/beautiful thing pretty much anywhere.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

If any of us kids said so and so was getting on our nerves, me mam would say, “you’re not old enough for nerves”

 

[swee'pea99]

"Who's 'she', the cat's mother?"

 

[Dave7]

When I was about 10

The version I know goes

Here I sit broken hearted
Paid a penny and only farted.

When I was about 10 (a long time ago) I went to a public toilet that was freshly painted.
Your rhyme was on the wall along with
"The painters efforts are in vain
The sh*t house poet strikes again".

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Or the childrens take on Yellow Subarine

We all live in a toilet painted green…