Gingerbread Crumbs & Company

When I was growing up there were certain words and phrases that my mother constantly used...so I thought I would share a few.

Every morning as I was leaving for school my mother would say, "Have a fun day, Dear." I always walked out the door grumbling, "what's fun about today, I have to go to school." Now each day as my husband leaves for work I say to him, "Have a fun day, Dear." He always grumbles on his way out the door, "what's fun about it, I have to go to work."

Whenever someone was mean to me my mother would say, "Pretty is as pretty does and she's not very pretty is she?" This one baffled me for the longest time.

And then there was, "Well! A proper lady would never say something like that!" Or, "Well! A proper lady would never behave that way!" The word "Well!" always came before the "proper lady wouldn't do this or that statement." I remember hearing this one quite often.

This was one of my all time favorites:
"Don't forget to heap coals of kindness on their heads, Dear!"
I always imagined someone carrying a huge tray on their head piled with coals and I always thought to myself, "how is that showing kindness?"
As an adult I discovered the answer. It was in the Bible if you can imagine that. I learned that there was a Jewish custom that if your neighbor ran out of coal in the middle of the night and came to your door you were to give them enough coal to keep their house warm until the morning. But if a person were mad at his or her neighbor they usually only gave enough coal for a couple hours warmth. The neighbor would then have to go out into the cold to get more coal. It goes back to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I asked my mother if she knew what it meant and she said it was simply something her mother said to her when she found herself in the same situation.

When going out to a friends house for dinner or a restaurant:
"If it is not offered to you, don't ask for it."
Always say, "Yes, please and No thank you!"
"Never ask for seconds."
"Never, never address an adult by their first name."
"Never speak unless spoken to. Children are to be seen and not heard."
"When you are done at the table politely fold your hands in your lap until you are excused."

I know there are so many more wonderful pieces of wisdom that she left with me but, I just can't think of any right now...except, when something didn't go the way she thought it should we always heard a loud "Yee Gads!" which always produced a little giggle from her girls!

Any funny sayings that you remember from your childhood?