old sayings

[Annui]

@joboy ~ I remember hearing "how's yer belly off for spots" in Yorkshire too.  Travellers from the south probably spread it - and the plague too no doubt.     

[missmolly]

When someone was loosely related - there cat ran up our ginnel
Someone bowlegged - couldn't stop a pig in a ginnel

Mo

[SwissGill]

Some of my Dad's:

She must be able to sing well - she's got legs like a canary

He's got duck's disease
(reserved for short men in that the bottom hit the pavement when they crossed the road)

Spring heel Jack

She's got lovely blue eyes!! (and he'd place his hands before his chest)

It looks like two rabbits fighting in a sack (her bottom)

[a-l]

Thankyou all , I am thoroughly enjoying this thread lol. Hope you are too.                 sue

[iluleah]

                Anyone speeding "must be a traveller for nutmegs."                                                       "selling shim shams for wedlars"                "having a face like a blind cobblers thumb"                                                           "having a face like a diseased paunch"      When scratching their bottom it was"home made rice pudding tomorrow"                                      Would love to hear more , time to revive these descriptive sayings!             

No never heard any of them and I was born/brought up in Leicester

However while researching Rutland ancestry I found the answers to many I had heard, such as
" not worth a brass fathing"

Sir Harrington of Exton  was made guardian of King James' daughter, Elizabeth, to bring up, protect ( which he did from the attempted kidnap of her by the Guy Fawkes 'crew') and even lost his life on the return journey from Bohemia, after escorting her to her arranged marriage, where she later became the Winter Queen/ Queen of Bohemia. The high cost of entertaining/protecting/educating her ruined him. He was driven to minting his own money, made of brass, but this was valueless, leading to the saying "not worth a brass farthing".

[iluleah]

"Painting the Town Red"

With the Quorn hunt down the road after a hunt the red coated huntsman along with the Marquis of Waterford after getting drunk in the alehouses they ran riot in the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray. "That event is well documented, and is certainly in the style of the Marquis, who was a notorious hooligan. To his friends he was Henry de la Poer Beresford; to the public he was known as 'the Mad Marquis'." In some stories it is said they also 'painted' the alehouse signs with red paint so they knew where they had been.... the ultimate 'pub crawl'... talking about 'pub crawl' I would suppose that one came about from them drinking too much and literatly having to crawl

[a-l]

Thankyou for that iluleah have often wondered about the origins of that one.

[SwissGill]

Two currants on a baking board - flat chested!

When I'm talking to the cheese, I don't want the maggot to join in

Alien Lady - if someone was scratching their bottom, Dad would say "he's got dirt in his eye".

I'm enjoying this too.

[Jool]

Lisalucie, those black country sayings made me giggle, I remember them all.  My black country grandad used to refer to to the dog as "the wammal".

Just remembered another.....  "She looks like blancmange in a sprout bag" when referring to a larger lady wearing too tight clothes showing her bulges.