Asklemmy

43963 readers

1700 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

183

What family sayings did you think was universal? (infosec.pub)

submitted 4 months ago by dotslashme@infosec.pub to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

104 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As I was growing up, my family had a couple of sayings I took for granted were universal, at least within my language. As I became an adult I have learned that these are not universal at all:

the ketchup effect. It is an expression meaning that when things arrive, they all arrive at the same time. Think of an old school glass ketchup bottle. When you hit the bottom of it, first there is nothing, then there is nothing and then the entire content is on your food.
faster than Jesus slid down the mount of olives. Basically a saying that implies that the mount of olives is slippery due to olive oil and Jesus slipped.
What you lack in memory, your legs suffer. An expression meaning that when you are forgetful, you usually need to run back and thus your legs suffer.

Please share your own weird family sayings.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

You better finish your dinner, don't you know there are starving children in Africa?

[–] theilleist@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Turns out that one was actually universal.

[–] MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I guess so!

[–] dotslashme@infosec.pub 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Were you born in the 1970s? Both me and my wife heard that exact same sentence from our mothers.

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

that persisted well into the 90s at least

[–] MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yup. We also might come from the "step on a crack, break your mother's back" generation?

[–] dotslashme@infosec.pub 1 points 4 months ago

We have a similar saying in my family, but it translates into break one generation at a time, meaning you allow the kids to be lazy while the parents work themselves to death. It is usually used as a dig when someone younger is lazy.