Happy Monday, 10 superstitions, wives’ tales and family expressions…that’s the prompt for October’s 10 on the 10th blog post. I grew up on a healthy diet of my mom’s Ozark Mountains colloquialisms and could probably, should probably dedicate a post just to those. Never realized until I went to college how much of my own speech reflected hers.
At university, I used these family expressions so much that a college professor asked me about them. And when I explained I had grown up hearing them all my life, he asked to contact my mom to get them from the “horse’s mouth.” He was doing research on idioms and wound up interviewing Mom to get the background on her Missouri expressions.
An Almost Halloween Theme
For October’s theme, I wanted something that tied into Halloween a little without being too heavy on the ghosts and goblins aspect of the holiday. Many folks prefer not to celebrate Halloween because of its origin. According to this article at History.com:
The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a pagan religious festival originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. [source]
Personally, I’ve never met a ghost I didn’t like. But that’s a story for another day. Halloween has always been an excuse for our family to have fun, dress up, eat candy and give candy to others. And rumor has it that Halloween candy is calorie-free. You’re welcome.
10 Superstitions, Wives’ Tales and Family Expressions
Hoping this prompt will give you a moment to think about the superstitions, wives’ tales and family expressions you grew up hearing. If you prefer to limit your post to just one of those themes, that’s absolutely A-Okay!! Maybe you have loved ones you can involve in creating your list. Sadly, since my mom’s sudden cognitive decline this year, she doesn’t use her rich expressions any longer. I miss the days when her sentences were peppered with them. So, use this post as an excuse to interview your parents or grandparents about their colloquial speech.
YOUR TURN
Consider this is your personal invitation to join me for October’s 10 on the 10th going live on…you guessed it, 10.10.2020, Saturday. Cannot wait to read your posts. Hope this will be as fun for you as I am certain it will be for me. Please feel free to use either or both of the graphics in this post if you like. Hoping to jog Mom’s memory by asking her about some of the things she has always said all my life.
Have a fabulous last few days of September, my friends. Thank you for joining me today. I am a little (understatement) reading and responding to comments left on my posts, but I read every one. And eventually reply. Have to get better at doing that. Can I blame Covid?
Hugs and kisses,
My mum has an Irish and Shetland Island background so we learned lots of uncommon expressions. Canadians have lots of different regional expressions and some that are different from our neighbours in the U.S. I’ll try to link on the 10th.
Hope you have linked up today or will link up in the next day or two with some of your expressions.
Hi, Leslie – These are awesome topics. I look forward to reading your ‘October 10 on the10th’. 😀
Thank you, Donna.
I have a few ghost stories I am going to tell this month!
A lot of my family settled in the ozark/middle area of Missouri, I can’t wait for your post on your mother’s expressions.
Oh, yippeee!!! Can’t wait to read your ghost stories. Where did your family settle in Missouri? We have folks all over – Springfield, Bolivar, Joplin, Sarcoxie.
I think this may be a hard one, but maybe I’ll share some of my grandmother’s Yiddish expressions! That might be fun.
Oh, I hope you do share some Yiddish expressions!! Can’t wait!!
I can’t think of anything off the top of my head to share for this one, but maybe something will come to me if I think about it some more. LOL. Altho, I am excited to read all the comments and link ups for this one, sounds interesting!!!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I bet your sweet mom and dad have some cute expressions and sayings. I am anxious to read what everyone shares in their posts, too.
That is so cool that your professor interviewed your mom. Sorry that she is declining.
Thank you!! She has had a really rough year.
Leslie this post is full of things you make me want to read more about! I’d love to hear the expressions your mom uses a lot! And I would love to hear why you say you’ve never met a ghost you didn’t like! I’m so intrigued!
Ha!! Thank you, Laura. Maybe I should write more about all of this.
Hi Leslie – sounds like a fun challenge. I don’t do challenges any more, but here’s a link to some Aussie favourites of mine: https://www.crestingthehill.com.au/2017/01/five-things-friday-5-aussie-expressions.html
Thank you for the link to the Aussie expressions. I will be sure to add it to my post.
Grandma Rosebrough, “She can’t help it if she’s ugly, but she could have stayed at home.”
Hi Leslie,
To this day I catch myself saying something in a way that sounds like it just came out of one of my parent’s mouths a few days ago (they’ve been gone almost 20 years now) but I always smile to recall all that they left me with in how I think, my values and such. My parents were imperfect to be sure, but for the life of me I can’t think of any of their failings at the moment. My sister’s and I were sooo very blessed with parents who devoted themselves to doing right by us.
I don’t have any ghost stories (they’ve pretty much avoided me it seems) but I do have a pretty fun Halloween story. We were young explores and such, when one day an idea occurred and I talked one friend into trying it with me on that one night when the local young’ins were out looking for a scare anyway. Here’s what happened (spoiler: no one died in this story either and neither of us did any jail time). Hope you enjoy a different approach to celebrating Halloween.
https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/the-storm-drain-adventure/