Strange Phrases, Words, Cliches in Family History

As I was doing some of my "serious" writing in the last day or so, whether it was a Biblical exposition or summary of a Supreme Court case I can't recall, my mind was taken back quite unexpectedly to my childhood, and I "heard" my parents speaking to me. My father has been gone since 1981 and my mother, though still alive and quite healthy, hasn't used the phrases I will describe below for many years. But what next happened to me made me stop my "work" and laugh. I began to run through in my mind some of the weird, strange or funny statements that my parents/family used to use while I was growing up. My purpose here is not to trace the "origin" of the phrases; it is to share them and try to encourage you to tell me which ones your family used. [Write me at drbilllong@gmail.com.]

Starting with Dad

My father was born in 1925 and lived his first 18 years, until WWII called, on a farm in upstate NY. Though he left the farm in later years and became a New York and San Francisco executive, the farm in some ways never left him. A silent testimony to the farm's "hold" on him were his massive hands--hands that had milked thousands of cows and worked with difficult equipment on the harscrabble and unforgiving Lewis County soil. The cliches or expressions my dad used were mostly the result of things he inherited; I don't think he originated any.

One of his favorite lines was apparently shared by many of his generation: "S/he has more XXX than Carter's has liver pills." The XXX was usually a word like "problems" or "money" or something like that. Actually in the days before there was an FDA or before the FDA was seriously involved in regulating drugs in America, patent medicines and elixirs were shamelessly promoted. Here is a page advertising "Carter's Little Liver Pills," which are said to be effective for "Headaches, Biliousness (which, the OED informs us, can either mean diseases arising from too great a secretion of bile or a choleric, wrathful, peevish or ill-tempered person), Torpid Liver, Constipation & Indigestion."

Then he had another traditional one: "Slow as molasses in January." Perhaps I remember this one well because it was often directed at me.... Or, "Until the cows come home." Something wasn't going to take place "until the cows come home." Though I kept checking my back yard, I never saw one such cow.

The strangest one I ever heard him say was this one--I will try to spell it as I heard it, and then comment on it. When upset, he never swore. The closest he got to swearing was "Holy Antine Caesar!" At least, that is how it sounded to me. He would yell that at my mother, at us kids, at a particularly angering situation. I thought about that one for a while--there is no Internet equivalent. I am thinking that this must have been a sort of "Roman" mini-swear word that probably developed in a Victorian culture that didn't want to hear the "Lord's name taken in vain." Another example might be "Great Caesar's ghost!" But what does "Holy Antine Caesar!" mean? I think he probably got the middle word wrong--it might have been "Antonine" Caesar. There were two Antonine Caesar's in the Roman Empire: Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (mid-late 2nd century CE). These rulers were supposed to be among the best/most just Roman emperors. Hm. Maybe that is how the phrase developed--instead of invoking the help of God (or cursing God's name), one is now, in some sense, invoking a Roman Emperor. Ever hear of something like this?

Moving to Mom

In contrast to my dad, my mother tended to make up memorable phrases on the spot. She had a habit of twisting words or the meaning of words at times (for example, I was a shot-putter in high school. I would "put the shot." This phrase, apparently, was too difficult for her, and she would always ask me whether I was going to "shoot the shoot"..), and this skill sometimes resulted in funny things. Often she, as well as my dad, were disgusted at me. Whereas my dad didn't mind spanking, my mother would just look at me and say, "What ails you?" Only, her "s's" tended to run together, and she would say, "What sails you?" To which I, a smart ass, would respond, "A ship." And then, I would get in a shipload of trouble.

The funniest one I recall was a clause she invented as our family was driving across the country late in August 1967, when we moved from CT to CA. The Interstate highway system was not fully finished at the time, and we had to take some back roads off I-80 in Western Nebraska, as I recall. We were engulfed by clouds of dust. My mother, concerned for my older brother Rick, who had respiratory problems that summer, repeatedly urged my father to slow down. Then she said, "Slow down, Pete, or we'll all be hacking like bears." I remember we all looked at her. My father almost pulled the car over to the side of the road. "Hacking like bears"!? 'What does that mean, and how do you know that bears even hack?' We rode her unmercifully for the rest of the trip, but we were never able to forget that phrase.

A Few Phrases of Others...and Other Phrases

My maternal grandfather loved to play cards. We kids loved to be with our grandfather. So, he taught us all kinds of card games. He taught us to play "hearts." When it was our turn to lead, he would say, "Lead on Macduff, and don't make it too tough." He would say this sentence frequently. It is easy to see where this comes from: Shakespeare's Macbeth;

"Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'," Macbeth Act V, Scene 8.

My grandmother used to sing us nursery rhymes while we were bedded down before taking a nap. After she finished, she would see if we were "snug as a bug in a rug," kiss us good-night and let us sleep. That phrase, I just learned today, came from a fairly unknown play, the Stratford Jubilee, of 1769. I am sure my grandmother never read it--she just picked it up from someone in her past.

Finally, I had a special friend in my earlier days, Donnie Snowden. I loved his family; they used to invite me to spend the weekend with them at times, mostly to go to sporting events in NYC and environs. But Mrs. Snowden had her phrases. When disgusted, she would say, "For the love of Pete..!" Since my father's nickname was "Pete," at first I thought she was referring to him--even though they scarecely knew each other. Then, when she would be upset with something, she would say, "Well, Good Night!" When I heard her say that one time when I was staying with Donnie, when we were supposed to be in bed, I cheerfully responded, "Good night to you, Mrs. Snowden."

What are your memories?

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