Busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest
Feet on the floor make tracks About getting up in the morning.
Or was it “feet on the floor, make tracks”? (Was it a simple declarative statement about what feet on the floor make. Or was it two commands “[Get your] feet on the floor [and] make tracks”?
…to see the Statue of Liberty do a flip flop It starts with “I wouldn’t go around the corner” or “I wouldn’t cross the street” to observe something that, in his estimation, was completely worthless or nonsensical.
Arthur Anton Sr
Air above you, and runway behind you, don’t matter (Source, John Jr.??????)
A house, a state, and a job all go together If you change one, you should change all three. (From John Boeder, at Addressograph Multigraph, 1972-1976.)
If you want to change your altitude, you have to change your attitude About airplanes. And life.
John Edward Jr
Clem Kadiddlehoffer
Rug rats, ankle biters, curtain climbers Terms of endearment for our dearly beloved children
Wolf it down About voraciously devouring something.
John Edward Sr
Anything is forgivable except letting your Jeep run out of oil
Get out of the road As opposed to “get out of the way”
It’s cold enough to “freeze the balls off a brass monkey”
Threads on screws are just for taking them out It’s OK to use a hammer to drive them in.
‘Motherisms’ (Sayings of Irene May Poole Povelones)
Don’t let the bedbugs bite
Blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other
It’s all bollixed up
Bump on a log
Busy as a one-armed paper hanger
Can’t get a word in edgewise
Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
More (things) than Carter has little liver pills
Your hat isn’t on straight, it’s Catywompus
That’s the cat’s meow (the way it ought to be)
Chomping at the bit
Get those clod hoppers off the chair
Cook something to a “Fare-thee-well”
Cook the “Beegeebers” out of something
Cool as a cucumber
Cows come home
Cut off your nose to spite your face
Deader than a door nail
He doesn’t know his rear-end from a hole in the ground
Dolly Varden Her name for her daughter Roberta, after a character in a Charles Dickens novel. (Dolly Varden is also the name of a fish…..)
All dressed up and nowhere to go
Just a drop in the bucket
Your ears are so dirty you could grow potatoes in them
Or…
You’d better wash behind your ears or there will be enough dirt there to plant potatoes
Worked one’s fanny off
It’s broken becuse someone fiddled with it.
Feather tick (As compared to a featherbed.)
Fit to be tied
Flabbergasted
When you get mad, don’t fly off the handle
Full as a tick
Get a move on
Gird your loins
Happy as a clam
For Heavens sake …
Also for Pete’s sake …
Hid behind the door when they passed out brains.
High tail it (to doctor)
Higher than a kite Another saying is “Go fly a kite.”
Holy mackerel
Holy Toledo!!
Honker down because a storm is brewing
Hot foot it (to doctor)
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
Independent as a hog on ice
It makes my fanny tired Nobody knows what a tired rear end is, but we think we get the drift! Another use: “If you don’t do this, I’m going to tan your fanny.”
It’s so dull it wouldn’t cut warm butter About a dull knife
Keep your mitts off As in “keep your mitts off those cookies”
That’s a lazy man’s load When you carry too much and are apt to drop something.
Lickity split
Lit up like a scab coal mine
Don’t lolygag around
Don’t momick it up (mess it up) On the order of “Bollixed”.
Monkey’s uncle
A night owl
A person who burns the “midnight oil”.
Persnickety About one kid or the other, that they were “too persnickety.”
Pretty is as pretty does
Quiet as a mouse Also “Quiet as a church mouse”
Ratteling on as in rambling
Rough as a cob We’re not talking about a “cob salad” here. Think “corn on the cob,” after you’ve eaten it. After it’s dried out!!
You’ve got something schronschrized(sp??) Crooked or sideways. Frequently about clothes (sweaters) that were put on “schronschrized”. Or is it spelled “shronshrized”?
Shake a leg
To hurry up
Slam full As in something she had packed “slam” full.
Slow as molasses in January
If it had been a snake, it would have bit you!
Snug as a bug in a rug
Solid as a rock
Go get spruced up (ie, to go to church)
Stick in the mud
Stiff as a board
Straight as an arrow
Straight is the line of duty; Curved is the line of beauty
Stop that silliness and straighten up and fly right
Strong as an ox
Tan one’s hide To get a very bad spanking.
3 sheets to the wind You’re inebriated
Throw the cow over the fence some hay
Ever been to Timbucktoo?
Something will continue ’till kingdom come
Toboggan Not a sled, or a hat with a tail on it. Her use of it was for a knitted hat, like a ski cap. She would say “get your toboggan on.”
Tougher than leather
Turn it to the left Command to turn it off (like a Television or Radio) or to turn it down. She may have gotten it from her father or mother (Arthur or Anna).