• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Peculiar (And Lost) 'Wisdom' & Advice From Our Elders

Floyd1 said:
Yes but I wondered if the phrase 'Mother's ruin' had anything to do with the abortion myth as well.
Click to expand...
Well if it worked they wouldn't be mothers now, would they? :chuckle:
 
Floyd1 said:
It would if it had ruined their chances of becoming one though.
Click to expand...
They wouldn't be doing the gin/hot bath self-abortion routine if they wanted to be a mother.
 
Ascalon said:
Duct tape is definetly the thing, and may be the origin of both.
Duct tape is used in the actual assembley of air conditioning ducts on aircraft. The lightweight composite duct sections are slieved and the joints held in place by duct tape. I never worked in that industry, but I believe rail rolling stock use the same technique for weight and space saving.

This is a practice that must at least 100 years old in the aviaiton industry and older in the rail industry.
Click to expand...

While I don't doubt you, I was referring to the name. To be taken with the usual grain of WikiSalt, but with online (paywalled) references:

"Duck tape" is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been in use since 1899 and "duct tape" (described as "perhaps an alteration of earlier duck tape") since 1965.
Click to expand...
EDIT: I guess that kills the amphibious landing craft theory.

Also
The product now commonly called duct tape has largely been displaced in HVAC uses with specialized foil tapes designed for sealing heating and ventilation ducts (sometimes referred to erroneously as "duct tapes").
...
[The product now commonly called duct tape's] use in ducts has been prohibited by the state of California and by building codes in many other places.

Research was conducted in 1998 on standard duct tape at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, which concluded that under challenging but realistic conditions duct tape becomes brittle, fails, and may even fall off completely.
Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape
 
Last edited:
Red and Green should never be seen. (Just because they don't go together I think).
 
Floyd1 said:
Red and Green should never be seen. (Just because they don't go together I think).
Click to expand...
I heard "Blue and green should never be seen" - as a combination in clothing or furnishings. Red and green go FANTASTICALLY well together, just look at holly, and poppies, and some of my azaleas! Mind you, I wear blue and green together as well, so what do I know?
 
catseye said:
My mother was a child during the war and I think the whole ethos of 'make do and mend' and 'save everything' and 'keep to the rules' permeated her whole life from then on. Her saying 'only turn the lights on when the curtains are drawn' had its origin in the blackout but we were made to keep to it throughout my entire growing up. It is very very hard to read in a dark room on a cloudy day when you aren't allowed to turn the lights on because 'it's daylight' and you therefore can't draw the curtains!
Click to expand...

I think having the lights on in daylight would also cause the fire to go out!
 
Tunn11 said:
Never have bouquets of red and white flowers. Supposed to be reminiscent of blood and bandages.
Click to expand...
Yup, I once selected some lovely flowers for a hospital visit in a striking red and white colourway, and was soundly admonished by the florist for trying to send the patient a death warning.
 
bugmum said:
I heard "Blue and green should never be seen" - as a combination in clothing or furnishings. Red and green go FANTASTICALLY well together, just look at holly, and poppies, and some of my azaleas! Mind you, I wear blue and green together as well, so what do I know?
Click to expand...
Never heard that one. I think blue and green do go together though, anyway?
Red and green was for clothing I think.
 
catseye said:
Yes, I mentioned the pre-antibiotic era in that post. But the 'don't go out with wet hair' thing went on well into the antibiotic era - we weren't supposed to leave the swimming pool without thoroughly drying our hair after swimming with school. In the 1970s.
Click to expand...
Back then, 1970s, girls were generally allowed long hair and the boys' was short. My suspicion is that long hair was seen as a dangerously female attribute which required close control.

Can remember, aged about 13, being accused by adults of flaunting myself when walking around with my long hair loose.
Baffled me. :dunno:

All very Victorian. :chuckle:
 
Erinaceus said:
"No better than she ought to be".

There's another one that doesn't make sense!
Click to expand...
That's a convoluted insult which, while it seems to make no sense, is still instantly understandable; the person in question is so lacking in morality she can't be described by a polite person.

As when I called out a local politician on Facebook for his criminal record and was called a strumpet: an insult so outdated and meaningless it wasn't worth defending myself. :chuckle:
 
My mother often used to call me a 'slut' -in the old fashioned use of the word as a slattern, one who doesn't tidy or clean as much as onlookers think she should. Nowadays slut is almost always used perjoratively for a woman whose morals aren't what the onlooker thinks they should be, but back then, at the age of twelve and just not tidying my bedroom, I don't think she meant it that way.
 
Come on- shape yourself. (The standard reply being ''what to - a triangle or a square?'')
 
titch said:
Visiting my grandfather during the winter time I would keep my jacket on, his house was cold, only to be told "take your jacket off and feel the benefit when you go out"
Click to expand...
Ooh yes I used to get told that all the time by my mum. Only problem is, you are then freezing indoors and even more freezing when you get outdoors. I have always found it much better to get as warm as possible before you leave then you stay warm for a while putside before you get warm from walking.
 
titch said:
Visiting my grandfather during the winter time I would keep my jacket on, his house was cold, only to be told "take your jacket off and feel the benefit when you go out"
Click to expand...
One of my older sisters had a big, draughty Victorian house with inadequate electric central heating - those wall-mounted wood-effect blower things instead of radiators - that was hardly ever on anyway as Hubby said it was too expensive.

So the place was always freezing in winter and I'd certainly keep my coat on there. Their poor kids had to grin and bear it.
 
escargot said:
One of my older sisters had a big, draughty Victorian house with inadequate electric central heating - those wall-mounted wood-effect blower things instead of radiators - that was hardly ever on anyway as Hubby said it was too expensive.

So the place was always freezing in winter and I'd certainly keep my coat on there. Their poor kids had to grin and bear it.
Click to expand...
That's exactly like the house I lived in for 25 years. Huge house, no double glazing and oil fired central heating which we couldn't afford to put on. So we'd light the fire and everyone would sit in a two metre radius, because any further than that you wouldn't feel a thing. For twenty years we lived with being able to see our breath every winter indoors and having to wear at least three jumpers indoors.

But, by heck, my kids were rarely ill and they don't feel the cold now!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top