Comedy: August 12, 2020 Issue [#10320] |
This week: Say What?! - Childhood Memories Edited by: Lornda~Thoughts with Bikerider More Newsletters By This Editor
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"Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?... He’s a mile away and you’ve got his shoes!" ~Billy Connolly
"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” ~Steve Martin
"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” ~Steven Wright
Childhood idioms bring back some fun memories. |
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A favorite glass of mine hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces. In shock, I stared at the mess, and what came out of my mouth surprised me. No, not every swear word known to mankind, but the words, “Oh, for land’s sake”. After a second or two, I started to laugh.
I heard this idiom while growing up, and it’s been years since it’s ever been uttered again. My grandmother said this phrase many times and seemed to be her go to answer for everything she heard. The funny part is, I have no idea why I even said it.
While I swept the floor, I knew I had to find out what this phrase meant. After searching for the answer, I’m now educated on the term and a couple of other idioms which brought back fun memories from my childhood.
"Oh, for land’s sake.":
Meaning: It’s an old fashion term and a mild expression of surprise, alarm, dismay, annoyance, or exasperation.
History: The word land’s is a replacement for using Lord or God.
Memory: I remember her giggle every time she said it, and I now understand why my grandmother used this idiom — she was probably surprised at what my family was telling her. What made me laugh was that references allude to this type of swearing as a softened form of it so wouldn't sound rude. So, the bottom line is, my grandmother swore a lot in a day. Just sayin’.
"Close, but no cigar!":
Meaning: Almost, but not quite successful.
History: In the early 20th century, a cigar was given as a prize at carnivals. If you didn’t win, the guy running the game would yell this at the top of his lungs!
Memory: When I was a kid, I yelled this idiom whenever I won a game while playing with my siblings. They got mad so many times because I won almost every time. Good times!
“I call dibs!”
Meaning: A slang word used to claim the right to do or choose something first before others.
History: From England in the 1800’s, where boys played a game with knuckle bones of a sheep, similar to the game Jacks. If they couldn’t find the bones, they would use dibstones, which is like a pebble, and shortened to ‘dibs’. It’s not clear how the term started, but it’s speculated that depending on how the stones fell, a player would have an advantage.
Memory: My mother would buy these terrible maple cookies shaped like a maple leaf, and she would also bake about three dozen with a ton of raisins. We never touched those and almost gagged at the smell of them. It made me realize that my parents knew what they were doing. At least, they’d have some cookies around for themselves, but our favorite ones were chocolate chip. I would always call dibs on the last one. It wasn’t always easy to fight the other three off from calling it, so I would tell them I touched it, or worse, spit on it.
So to summarize, I yelled a phrase that made my siblings mad. I always got the last cookie, and the most surprising thing I learned was my grandmother pretended not to swear seventeen times
It's okay grandma. Apparently, I swear up to 34 times a day because I say Good grief, Jeepers, and Jiminy Cricket. |
a day. I never realized how many idioms there were from my childhood and these are just a few. What fun memories!
Fun Idiom Fact: Every language has idiomatic expressions. In English, there are an estimated 25,000 of these weird phrases. Since I can’t conclude with all the idioms for swearing
Over 90 of them. |
, I thought about cookies. I found out there are nine idioms for it, so I’ll wrap things up by using a few of them for your entertainment.
My parents were smart cookies . They knew to buy what they liked, because if we ate them, we would toss our cookies . At least I was one tough cookie . My siblings didn’t have a chance to grab the last chocolate chip cookie. Too bad for them because that's the way the cookie crumbles
Things happen. Don't get upset. |
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Here's a funny video on idioms and what would happen if we took them literally. Enjoy!
If Idioms Were Taken Literally
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What are some fun memories from your childhood? It's raining cats and dogs - what idioms do you say many times? Make me laugh, and there's a Queen of Comedy Merit Badge in your future.
Comments from my last newsletter, "Genre Mashups" :
billwilcox: Perfect.
Thanks!
eyestar~* : What a fabulous newsletter. I really enjoyed reading. I had never heard of Meatpie Westerns. That was a cool way to end the newsletter! Your search for mixed genre came up with some entertaining titles too. I like how you site a single work can win awards in different genres.
Good research! Thanks for your enthusiastic style.
Thanks for the comments! I had fun writing it, and learn a few things along the way. The Meatpie Westerns made me laugh out loud. It's so true that you learn something new every day.
runoffscribe : The more I think about this topic, the more I begin to think any genre tag represents only the predominate mode in which the piece is written. Romance-comedy, for instance, is not even a mashup any more, but a genre all its own. Suspense is essential even to a comedy, so long as you want to hold your readers' interest. Comic relief resets the pace of a horror movie. Every biographer tries to include at least a hint of the epic.
Yes, so true. While I was researching this topic, it was interesting to read that publishers like the genres narrowed down to just a few. Also, book stores prefer only one genre so they know where to put it on the shelf. Thanks for the comments!
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry : I have a lot of Genre Mashups.
Yes, you do! When I did a specific genre search your story came up. I was happy to highlight it for you!
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