Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

My father-in-law is 85 and has lived in Liverpool all of his life, he has a lot of sayings that are very specific to Liverpool, some even to particular areas (saying someone is a bit 'over the road' referring to the mental health wards of Sefton General Hospital which was on the other side of Smithdown Road from where he lived) but one that has me puzzled is saying that something (eg a particularly tough bit of meat) is 'tough as Kitty's leg' the only famous Liverpool Kitty I know of was Kitty Wilkinson but I don't see a connection... anyone know the answer or have any other examples of Liverpool sayings?

Amanda

There's a story in our family with a Scouse saying. One of our American relatives went AWOL while in the US army in England during WW2. He turned up at the doorstep of one of his Liverpool relatives and they... "chased him." LOL ie they told him to go away.

My Nan was the source of all sorts of sayings I don't know if they are unique to Liverpool. She used to say to the kids,"You'll go in a home with your ears tied back!" One that always made me laugh when my Dad mimicked her was "The rags of your a**e will play Rule Britannia!" ie no chance it's never going to happen.

Blue

Lots of sayings here:-

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showth ... ny-sayings


Blue

Blue70 wrote: I don't know if they are unique to Liverpool.

They certainly sound as if they are

Blue70 wrote:Lots of sayings here:-

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showth ... ny-sayings


Blue

Thanks for the link Blue, some familiar ones on there

When my 16-month old daughter walks around with her finger planted firmly in her nose her Granddad always tells her 'It'll be a pig's trotter in the morning'

You don't have to go far for sayings to change, Liverpool Nan says Tilly Mint but Wirral Nan says Tilly Floss

Amanda

alcavtay wrote: finger planted firmly in her nose

usually provoked "Do you want some salt with that?" in our house.

Another one for go away "sling yer 'ook".

Heli.

How about ..".you luk like youv'e been dragged through a hedge backwards" (Your hair is a mess))...my mum had loads of them ...and I find myself using these gems of wisdom to my own grown up kids even now...Oh I am my mothers daughter

Ann

alcavtay wrote:My father-in-law is 85 and has lived in Liverpool all of his life, he has a lot of sayings that are very specific to Liverpool, some even to particular areas (saying someone is a bit 'over the road' referring to the mental health wards of Sefton General Hospital which was on the other side of Smithdown Road from where he lived) but one that has me puzzled is saying that something (eg a particularly tough bit of meat) is 'tough as Kitty's leg' the only famous Liverpool Kitty I know of was Kitty Wilkinson but I don't see a connection... anyone know the answer or have any other examples of Liverpool sayings?

Amanda

'Tough as Kitty's leg' was one of my Dad's sayings. I always thought it referred to a cat's leg which I believe are not at all meaty!

Some of my mum's were...
1) To scare the hell out of me if I was naughty.. 'Icky the Fire Bobby will come for you'. Was that the Devil?
2) Rubbing my eyes when tired... 'The sandman's been. Time for bed'.
3) 'I can see where the tide's been', if I hadn't washed my neck properly!

Another of Dad's was 'He's away for slates' if someone wasn't around for a while. Stemmed from the practice of a taking a couple of horses and a cart to a slate quarry in Wales to collect a load of slates. Took quite a while back then.

If you can't fight, wear a big 'at.

"He's gone for a Burton"

"He/She will take your eye and come back for the eyelash".

And not really a saying, but who on here has a "back kitchen"?

alcavtay wrote:And not really a saying, but who on here has a "back kitchen"?

We always had a back kitchen; in Pine Street and New Ferry.

My grandma in Old Swan always referred to her kitchen as 'the back kitchen'. When I was a child my mother used the same term for our kitchen which wasn't even at the back of the house.

We also had an 'out house' which was in fact a brick built extention to the house.

The term 'cock loft' was also used in the family - never the loft.

Gosh you have got me thinking about other terms that families used and took for granted.

Leigh

Leigh, we had a 'cockloft' in our house that was built in 1936 when we moved across the water! Never the attic or the loft.

Ditto in Kirkdale, cockloft, back kitchen and outhouse. Also remember the back jiggers.

A jigger.......otherwise known as an entry "couldn't catch a pig in a jigger", someone who was bandy legged!

Tilly Mint was used in our house too, as well as Tom Tit Tot.............

Lobby ............... enclosed porch.

Lavy in the back yard (outside toilet with a wooden seat that stretched from wall to wall and scrubbed white with bleach) Chilly in the winter.

Ann

I only ever heard my mum and auntie use this,

"She's a boiling piece" referring to a large lady, anyone else remember that phrase?

I remember that Bert!