Every family has a wealth of wisdom to share. Eventually, the sayings that our loved ones use become such an integral part of our everyday lives that it feels like the entire world should know what they’re talking about. Which can lead to a lot of fun.
Reddit user Tysmily asked the internet a very poignant question about what sayings people grew up with only to later find out that they were actually unique to their families. Check out the best, funniest, and most unexpected sayings below, dear Pandas. Remember to show the sayings you love the most your appreciation by giving them an upvote (we’re huge fans of the ‘we can’t afford monsters’ one) and let us know in the comment section if your family has any unique sayings, too!
Tysmily’s thread got over 49.9k upvotes and a whopping 149 awards which just goes to show that their fellow redditors really enjoyed the topic. We reached out to Tysmily to talk about their viral thread and Bored Panda also spoke about sayings and idioms with Mike Rock from the 'Know Your Phrase' website. "Idiomatic phrases can form at any time, including today. However, not all of them will reach popularity levels to where they become a part of everyday conversations," Mike said. Read on for our full interviews with him and with redditor Tysmily!
#82
A million o’clock to express “very late.”
When did he call you? At like a million o’clock!
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8points
#83
My grandpa, the jokester that he is, has one that I’ve never heard anywhere else. If he thinks someone’s lying, he’ll ask them to stick out their tongue. He’ll then say “it’s black, like the ace of spades”, which to him means that you’re lying.
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8points
#84
Whenever my grandfather heard of someone passing away, he’d be incredulous and say “people dying today that never died before”
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8points
#85
Whenever me and my brothers would refuse to eat some sort of food at the dinner table my dad would say "You don't eat, you don't s**t. You don't s**t, ya die!"
Always cracked us up.
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8points
#86
Dad used to call me "snicklefritz" not sure how to spell it. Basically means naughty child in German. We live in the US midwest but family is very German.
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8points
#87
Ungowa. Not sure if that is how it is spelled, but that is how it is said. My dad always said it when he wanted us to get out if the room and go play. Said it was something they say in Aruba.
My mom also says "it isn't gossip if it is true" which I wholeheartedly disagree with.
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8points
#88
I didn't have any family "sayings" growing up. When I married my wife, though, dayum!
"At a hundred yards on a galloping horse, they ain't gonna notice." Obvious mistakes to you aren't obvious to anyone else.
The answer to how're you doing? "Fair in the middle, better'n some, worse'n others."
And instead of saying Um or Uh, or other follow on "fillers", they'd use "Well, what I'm gettin' at is:" or "With that..."
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8points
#89
My Nana always used to say “going for a big job” as her way of saying having a poo. In fairness, my jobs were rather big.
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7points
#91
Whenever my grandfather and I went out shopping or whatever and we'd hit a red light he'd say "One of us isn't living right."
Meaning; only a bad person gets red lights and certainly HE is a good person, so it must be ME!
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7points
#92
I grew up with my family calling farts “bottypops” I didn’t realise it wasn’t a universal saying until a few years back & when I asked my mum she told me it’s “pops from your bottom” like it was the most normal thing in the world
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6points
#93
Others may say these, but I've only heard my parents say them:
"Put a glass-eye in a duck's ass and you could see that" = you're blind as a bat or stupid
"We gotta douche this place" = thoroughly clean
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6points
#94
"Slicker than deer guts on a gear shift" Is probably the most unique one.
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6points
#95
My dads favorite saying when we would ask him a yes or no question would be “Does a frog have a watertight asshole?” To this day I’m still not sure because I’m afraid to google it.
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6points
#96
Probably not unique, but I always remember when someone would fail at at anything ‘graceful’ just say “smooth move, ex-lax”
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6points
#97
When my brother and I would do anything stupid and/or clumsy, we'd snarkily say "swift move, swiftless."
So random and stupid.. It seems like it would have come off of some TV show or movie, but I have no idea which one.
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5points
#98
My grandpa would always say "scratch your ass and get glad" or "a hard head makes a soft ass."
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5points
#99
When my great grandma would fry up some chicken, my great grandpa would always say “chicken ain’t nothin but a bird.”
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5points
#100
"Not Kicking The Arse Off" generally meaning 'about' and 'around'. E.g "It's not kicking the arse off 10 o'clock" My mum made it up many years ago and we've always used it, however the full saying is "Not kicking the arse of a donkeys back" Didn't know it wasn't an actual term until a few years ago.
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4points