zozee

I had a cranky maternal grandmother. She hated anything but direct answers. Nothing passive, nothing non-committal. For example, if she asked "Would you like a drink of water?" and heard in response, "I don't care, "she'd say, "Well, if you don't care, I don't care." And she'd walk off. Or if we said, "Granny, I'm cold," she say,
"So? What do you want me to do about it?" and we'd say, "May I have a blanket, please?" She'd say, "Next time, just ask for a blanket first." We learned very quickly to say what we mean the first time, and to be decisive. And that she was a force to be reckoned with, not a soft grandma to be snuggled by.

My paternal grandmother was the wife of a Southern Baptist preacher, and she loved to sing, and was quite a funny lady. She had several sayings. I hope I can quote her without being edited for "religious statements." She'd say, "I love the old hymns. So much of the Bible is based on them!"

An old farmer we spent a lot of time with had a whole bunch of sayings. If someone passed gas: "Somethin' you et, no doubt. Either that or your boots are too tight. " And when you asked how he was doing: "Still able to sit up and take nutrition" or "I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in."

Anniedeb

My grandma used to say "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." One of her favorites was "Make sure your brain is engaged before putting your mouth in gear!" If we said something without thinking it through, she'd say "Well....there you go...stripping your gears again!"

Bobbinalong

'If you fall and break your legs, don't come running to me!'

'If you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about!'

They were tough times.

junegerbracht

When I thought I was right and wouldn’t listen to another point of view my mother would say, “two heads are better than one even if one’s a cabbage.”

sandy l

Close the door, you weren't born in a barn

luvstoquilt

i lived with my grandparents and there were no other children around. So they were also my playmates. Pop was an avid reader and he would read to me but it was basically what he was reading...Emerson, Shakespeare, etc. Mom let me help in the kitchen, sew, have tea parties, shop...girl stuff. If I didn’t get what I wanted, I would pout and she would say”I could ride that lip to town!”

JustRetired

When talking about bad things that might happen, like frost on the garden too soon, my German aunt would say,"Don't paint the devil on the wall!"

JustRetired

As a child I would walk on a country dirt road to visit relatives, getting there was ok, because it was daylight; however I would often stay later than I had intended and would have to walk home alone in the dark with no flashlight. They used to tell me not to worry, if someone snatched me at night once they saw what I looked like in the daylight they would bring me back! I remember this being said by many different ones to my cousins as well, so it must have been something common.

JustRetired

"It will be better by the time you're married!" Said to any little one with a small hurt like a skinned knee, stubbed toe etc.

JustRetired

When we were going to town, we would ask my grandfather if we could bring him back anything, the reply was almost always, "a nickle's worth of 5 dollar bills"