Chatter and Chitter
A few weeks back a dear lady named Brenda sent me a newspaper clipping she found in a book. The text contained a lot of old sayings and she thought I would enjoy it. Brenda was right.
I especially liked the following part about children.
“The younguns were told lots of things just for fun. If they were greedy, they would be turned into a red headed peckerwood and fly up the chimney. If they played with toad frogs, they would have warts. If they killed a toad frog, it would make the cow give bloody milk. If they sucked their thumb, it would make them pot-bellied. If they ate creasy sallet, it would make their hair curly and their eyes blue. If their back itched, it meant they would get a whipping. If they had a blister on the tongue, that meant they had told a lie. Grown-ups weren’t joking when they told them if they “showed out” when they went to church, they would get whipped until their hides wouldn’t hold shucks.”
As soon as I read the lines about teasing children my mind went back to some of the things my elders teased me and Paul with when we were little. Things like if you play in the fire you’ll pee in the bed that night or if you swallow watermelon seeds you’ll grow a watermelon in your belly.
Sometime teasing is used to warn children—like the one about the fire. Kids that play in a fire might get burned.
I told the girls to always be on their best behavior because I had eyes everywhere. I meant that if they misbehaved someone would see them and tell me. Years later Chitter told me she thought I had special eyes that could see them where ever they went. I laughed and said how could you have believed that? She said because you always knew exactly what we had done 🙂
Tipper
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Oh, I remember the one that if you play with fire you’ll pee the bed! Goodness, I hadn’t thought of that for years. As a child we went camping once in a while, so we’d always have a campfire going. We kids would always get a stick & poke it in the coals to make it light up, or just gently stir things around. Seems like each camping trip one of the adults would say that about peeing the bed. Lol. Thank you for reminding me of that memory, Tipper.
love this! when my daughter was small, I walked by the dining room and saw what she was working on… i went on to working in the kitchen with my back to her. she wanted me to look at what she was doing and i just said I SEE IT. she said NO MOMMA, I NEED YOU TO LOOK AT ME WITH THE EYES IN THE FRONT OF YOUR HEAD!
Wendi-that is so cute 🙂
Mixed feelings about this one. Teasing was not always kind or well intentioned, and sometimes I felt that no one would stand up for me.
Aww!!! Such a sweet picture of your girls!!!!! I’ve heard most of the saying contained in today’s piece before—some many times!!! I just love sayings!!!
So funny & so memorable!!!
My mom told us the same thing about having eyes everywhere! (Including on the back of her head ! ) Although I didn’t necessarily believe that , she always seemed to know what I’d been up to !!! Thanks for the funny memories!!! Love to you all !!!
PS: Such a cute picture of your girls !!!
If you tell a lie, your eyes change colors.
Yep, my Mom had eyes in the back of her head and every where else, too! We heard about not swallowing watermelon seeds for the same reason, or swallowing gum b/c it would make your stomach stick together. We also heard if you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’ll freeze that way! Fun times! Jane
I always told my kids I knew what they were doing because I had eyes in the back of my head. lol. The one teasing I hear at Christmas time is parents telling kids that they should behave because Santa is watching. Sometimes it goes to extreme with Santa watching everything they do for a month or two.
That photo cracks me up. I think it shows their personalities so well. It’s just double cute!
I was told if you play in the fire, you’ll pee in the bed. We played in it anyway.
Adorable picture! Their personality’s comes out in this picture! They both still have these expressions today!❤️
Love the picture.
I remember being told that my ears were dirty enough to grow potatoes. As an adult, I knew a man who had been in the Middle East during Desert Storm. A couple of years later, after having trouble hearing, a doctor removed an actual plant from his ear canal. Whatever it was, it only grew in the Middle East so he had carried the seed home in his ear and it took root.
As an amateur herpetologist and cultural geographer I find the word “toadfrog” intriguing. My guess is that term originated in areas where the Scots Irish settled. Northern Ireland does not have any native toads. Even in Ireland there is only one species of toad. It is limited to isolated habitats in County Kerry and County Wexford in the most southern limits of Erie. For folks unfamiliar with toads they would naturally be seen simply as another type of frog.
Good morning everyone. I grew up hearing the one about playing with fire and bed wetting. It didn’t stop my brother. I think the frog and warts one is pretty well known. About Tipper knowing what the girls had done? My mother was not what you would say “In Tune” with her kids. But she would get strange feelings when my sister got into something. My sister was a teenager then. I have never got feelings about what my kids have done. Sometimes I would look at the phone and it would ring. The only thing I still believe is you eat some seeds, like watermelon, it will grow in your belly. Love these morning stories with my morning coffee. Hope everyone is well. Anna from Arkansas.
I’ve certainly heard the ones about playing in the fire and swallowing watermelon seeds. Never stopped me from eating watermelon or playing in fires. There were certainly times I was ready to swear that my mom had eyes everywhere. Of course most of the time it was just family and friends who were looking out for me and thought my mama should know when I was acting the fool. There is still a fair amount of stuff that I got away with though. Or maybe mama and daddy were just picking their battles.
I didn’t hear about watermelon seeds growing in bellies…but I did hear that for orange seeds. As far as knowing what they did or do? I had two of my youngest in the back seat of the car and they were getting a little rowdy and I said, I know what you are doing because I have eyes in the back of my head. It almost made the youngest throw up….we laugh about it yet today. Prayers for Granny and God Bless your growing family.
Seeing the missing teeth on the beautiful girls makes me wonder if they were warned to go to sleep or the tooth fairy wouldn’t come.
If you told a lie, everyone would know because your tongue would turn black.
So true. Sometimes warnings had to come in ways that young children could understand. When ours were old enough to be someplace without us I flat out told them that people talk and we would hear every little thing they did. That made them think twice.
My paternal grandparents used to live along the railroad tracks. Papaw and my Granny used to babysit for us. They were raising 2 of my cousins. Papaw used to tell us kids if we didn’t behave that there was a “Sack Man’ that would come down the tracks and get us. To this day when I come to a railroad track I look both ways to see if I can see this elusive Sack Man!! And for train’s of course;)
Good morning everyone. My saying was I’ve got eyes in the back of my head and Jesus is watching you!! My two turned out pretty good..son is a pastor and daughter is involved in ladies ministry. Can’t ask for anything better than that!
Everyone have great day.
Ok, I have to know what “creasy sallet” is. I have never heard of that. The only one of those sayings that I’ve heard is the one about playing with frogs and getting warts.
Creasy greens are a peppery tasting kind of wild cress that grows in the Southern Appalachians. It is packed with nutrients. It can be eaten raw or cooked. To me it has a taste similar to mustard greens.
Mamas know-they just do. If you tell a dream before breakfast it will come true. If you pee in the pool, the water will turn bright red all around you…
the same all over the South
You can’t hide anything from mom. They know all and see all.
I remember my daddy teasing me about the tongue blisters and telling fibs. I also remember something having ticklish knees and him saying that meant I’d been giving sugar (kisses) away
I have heard every one of them and have had them applied to me.
A warning to not do something or the “ bugger man” would get you was one I recall
My mother would give us each a mint from her ever available pack of wintergreen or peppermint life savers just before we entered church. She would not allow us to chew gum in church. She said “If everyone chewed gum in church the preacher would scan the congregation
and see what looked like a herd of cattle chewing cud.”
She also had eyes everywhere! If we were given “the look”, ( that was akin to looking at the necessity of death), we knew we were in for it when we got home!
My Mom told me if I eat the crust on my toast I would have curly hair. Had 3 sisters with straight hair and mine was very curly. I still believe my Mom!❤️
I enjoyed those old sayings and heard a couple from the article and the ones you mentioned. I too had my daughter convinced as a child that I had eyes in the back of my head so I always knew what she was up too. Wonderful and humorous post. Thank you!
I remember a lot of these same things, especially playing with frogs causing warts, swallowing watermelon seed and the big one for me about showing out or showing off. Showing out would cause me to have a fire in the seat of my britches. One grandmother would tell me about bloody bones and rawhide getting me and my other grandmother telling me her bad eye would get me. She could not see very well out of one eye, looking back I wonder if she had a cataract and at that time nothing was done about cataracts. Something else I also remember was that adults in my life as a child wouldn’t stand for someone teasing children out of meanness. Tipper, I thought my Mother had eyes in the back of her head, seems like she would always know if I was up to something that was no good. My parents along with many other parents in my generation would warn us children in a teasing way but if we didn’t listen these same parents believed sparing the rod spoiled a child. I thank God everyday for my parents.