Jessie: In Northern New England where the snowbanks are in retreat!
This month’s theme came to me in a dream. I swam back to consciousness with the phrase “mad as a March hare” floating through my brain. Bingo, I thought, madness is a perfect theme, especially for writers! Although truth be told, we will play with the word mad as well as madness as the month moves along! So first off, Wickeds, do you have an idiomatic expression, like mad as a March hare, that you use or that piques your curiosity?
Edith/Maddie: That’s a great phrase, Jessie, and a perfect theme. I’m fond of “Waste not, want not,” which can also apply to writers – never throw away a short story draft or a cut scene that didn’t fit in that book but might in another. I’ve had so much finding quirky expressions for Buck Bird, my South Lick, Indiana police chief. “That went faster than green grass through a goose, is a favorite, as is “frog-strangler” for a heavy rain.
Barb: Most people know “Mad as a hatter,” refers to the health effects of the mercury that was used by hat makers in the 19th century when making felted hats. This post got me curious about “mad as a wet hen.” Why is the hen wet and does water make hens particularly mad? It turns out that when hens on nests get broody and depressed, farmers pour water on them to snap them out of it. Good to know! I would be mad if someone poured water on me when I was a looking little down.
Liz: I’ve always wondered about the phrase “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” This always seemed odd to me – why on earth would you have cake if you couldn’t eat it? Then I realized the literal meaning is, once you eat the cake it’s gone. I don’t know, the whole thing is just strange to me!
Sherry: When my daughter was in fifth grade, she learned that the phrase raining cats and dogs came from old England. Because cats and dogs would live up on the roof of the houses, and when it rained they’d slide off.
Julie: This is a fun trail of phrases. Mine makes no sense. My grandfather used to say “he’d kick at a football game” which the family translated to he’d see the down side to or complain about any situation. Dessert cart comes out full of goodies. Person, “no fudge?” That person would kick at a football game. I am certain that this is a malapropism that has been passed down generations.
Jessie: I love all of these! Mine, like Julie’s, is a family saying. Northern New Englanders are a flinty sort of folks, generally speaking, and traditionally don’t care much for excuses or whining. If any displays of weakness showed themselves in my family, my father would proclaim “He’d complain if they hanged him with a brand new rope”. Stern stuff, indeed!
Readers: Share your favorite quirky expression!
The Wickeds 
I’m finer than frog’s hair split three ways – was a saying I heard a lot growing up. Probably because Dad had nicknamed Mom Frog way before I came along. As an adult, I kind of adopted the saying – Always forgive your enemies because nothing annoys them so much. I found it to be so true because turning loose of angry may help prevents ulcers and who doesn’t want to annoy those we just really don’t like. Then there’s always – His heart is a thumpin’ gizzard, which means he’s cold-hearted and cruel. And this one – I’m so poor I couldn’t jump over a nickel to save a dime. Having a Dad with a great sense of humor meant I never knew what would be said and some how or other they seemed to stick.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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I love finer than a frog’s hair!
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You Can’t Shovel Last Winter’s Snow: pretty obvious, but when someone starts complaining about something that happened already and can’t be changed, then this fits.
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I love this and I had never heard it before!
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Barb, I didn’t know the origin of “madder than a wet hen.” I’d be mad, too.
My grandfather had lots of these. He’d see a man with a not-so-good-looking woman and say, “He must have met her on a rainy day in Pittsburgh.” I never knew what that meant until I moved to Pittsburgh and saw pictures of downtown on a rainy day back when the steel mills where at the high point.
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Wow! That is memorable! Thanks for sharing it!
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I can’t think of a one, but I’m loving all of these!
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Me too!
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I can’t think of any -polite- ones but I love the ones posted above! aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
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Polite can be tough when it comes to such things!
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For the record, I’m complain if they hung me, not matter whether it was a new rope or an old rope. 🙂
And Sherry, thanks for explaining about the raining cats and dogs. That’s always seemed an odd expression to me, but I took the time to investigate where it came from.
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The new rope never stopped us from complaining either, Mark!
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Two Peas in a Pod, See you later Alligator, Knock on wood mostly funny sayings.
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Knock on wood is one we say in my home too!
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Southernisms are the best. In the South, they use “Bless her pea pickin’ little heart” or “She’s as fat as a tick and wrapped up in self-regard, bless her heart.” Another one that I heard on TV was “Oh girl, you are as dumb as a sack of hair.” GRITS aren’t just foods here but stand for Girls Raised in the South and ROMEO is Retired Old Men Eating Out. Then there is Mea Culpa, Dressed to the Nines, and Putting on the Dog. And the Civil War was the War of Northern Aggression or The Late Unpleasantness. One that I came across recently was “Scareder than a sinner in a cyclone.” I love these sayings and write them down. Take it with a grain of salt. Revenge is a dish best served cold. I could go on, but Let bygones be bygones.
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These are all gems! Thanks for sharing them!
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My mom used a lot of interesting expressions. One was “don’t have a cat with a crocheted tail.” It was her version of “don’t have a hissy fit” or “don’t have a cow, man.”
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I love the idea of that cat!
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“That dog don’t hunt.” No idea where it comes from, but it means “that idea isn’t going anywhere” more or less. Loved the story behind “raining cats and dogs.”
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Yesterday on GMA, Robin Roberts was in Nashville at Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood’s new bar, Friends in Low Places and she has a restaurant on the top floor (there are 4 floors–two for the bar, Tricia’s kitchen TV studio, and restaurant) and she serves Collard Green Won Tons with a special sauce. Robin ate one and since she is from Mississippi, she said as we say in the South, “Slap your Mama.”
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