Edna-isms, Forty-five

1) Laugh, Clown!  Mom would say this to us when she did something unintentionally that made us laugh--something the equivalent of a slip and fall or of dropping something on the floor.  It meant that we were laughing at her now but we had done similar oopsies ourselves.
2) Destructions.  A joke word for instructions.
3) Cold as Christmas or cold as Klondike.  Just what they sound like.
4) Undressed blues.  This meant someone was in their undies, such as when someone might knock on Mom's bedroom door and Mom would reply : "I'm in my undressed blues."
5) Let's get crackin'!  Meaning: let's get to work or go on errands or whatever.
6) They're not giving it away.  This meant something was expensive.
7) Owling around.  This meant someone was staying up late at night doing something.
8) Pu-firm.  A joke word for perfume.
9) If I were half the girl I think I am. Mom might say:  "If I were half the girl I think I am, I would [do some good thing].  This usually meant she thought of it but wasn't going to do it.
10) By hook or by crook (or by hook or crook).  A common idiom.  It means you're going to do something no matter what.
11) I want to do this like I want warts.  It means what it sounds like it means.
12) Back/Off to the salt mines.  This meant back to work or off to work--usually some job that someone didn't want to do.
13) Like a sore heel or worse than a sore heel.  This was said in regard to a person who was a pest, like a whiny child.
14) No matter what else keeps. "I have to pay my taxes today no matter what else keeps!"  It was a job that absolutely had to be done.
15) Old Sober Sides.  This was a name for a family member who seemed serious or in a bad mood.  "Come here, Old Sober Sides, and eat some dinner."
16) One good deed deserves another.  This could be used just like it sounds or it could be used sarcastically.
17) Smells like a house afire!  Something stinks.
18) A call to arms.  This means a call to take up arms in an attack and Mom would use this when she heard something that she felt stirred us to take some action.  "Well, that was a call to arms!"
19) Good enough for the boys I go with.  This had absolutely nothing to do with dating or boys or anything.  It meant something was good enough for Mom.  It could be food, clothing, hairstyle, etc.
20) A fate worse than death.  A common idiom but Mom often employed it as a joke--for something not really worse than death but not desired.

Edna-isms, Forty-four

I am still keeping a list on my iPad of Edna-isms as they occur to me but I am to the point where there are so many that I struggle to identify repeats of those Edna-isms I have already posted here.  So bear with me.  Also, for the time being (or longer), I am leaving off the pictures. It is hard to tell repeats there, too.

1)  Stew in one's own juice. According to the idiom site, this means to be left alone to your own disappointment or anger.
2)  Go through something with a fine toothed comb.  According to the idiom site, this means to go through something carefully.
3) Don't mishmash/I won't mishmash/No mishmashing.  Mishmash means a hodgepodge.  However, Mom used these phrases to mean "no beating around the bush" or "no lollygagging."
4) Mean as a strychnine tomcat.  This meant someone who was pretty mean.
5) Put a little zizz boom bah into it.  This meant to put a little zip into something.
6) It'll put hair on your chest.  I really thought this would be a common idiom.  Maybe I am not typing it in correctly. My main recollection of the use of this was about food. If I didn't like something, she would reply, "Eat it.  It will put hair on your chest."  It was also said as an "encouragement" to do hard things.  Of course, as a girl, who wants hair on HER chest?!
7) Cabbash.  A joke word approximation for cabbage.
8) Lady Goose or Lady Goosely.  Two nicknames Mom might call C or me.
9) Slumgullion.  It means a watery meat stew but Mom used it for a dish with a variety of ingredients mixed together.
10) Wisenheimer.  A smart alack.  Common idiom.
11) Horse Pistol.  A joke word approximation for hospital.
12) Not fit for man nor beast.  I really thought this would be a common idiom.  It means pretty much what it sounds like.
13) Every last jack dab.  It might be used like this:  "You need to eat every last jack dab of that."
14) There's more than one way to skin a cat.  A common idiom.
15) Who dat sayin', "Who dat?" when I say who dat?  This was some old radio saying that my mother liked to use when, perhaps, she heard someone coming but did not know yet who it was.
16) Enjoying poor health.  This is one of my favorites.  It was said about someone who was sick and seemed to enjoy being pampered and taken care of and perhaps enjoyed it so much that the "enjoyer" didn't want to get up and be back among the healthy.
17) That'll teach you/me how to take a joke!  When something backfired, Mom might use this phrase.
18) If you're 30 [or whatever age], how old does that make me?  This was something my mother would say to us, her children.  This was said as a joke and not because of dementia.
19) Oh to be 70 again!  My mother was the baby of the family.  One day, she was complaining to her older sister (B) about turning 70.  Aunt B relied, "Oh to be 70 again!"  This became one of Mom's phrases she liked to use.
20) Not all they're cracked up to be.  Strangely, the idiom is cracked up to be--as an affirmative: "She was cracked up to be a pretty good player."  I have never heard it used like this.  Mom meant that someone or something was not all it was reputed to be or not all the person considered himself/herself to be.  A common sentence Mom said when using this phrase was: "Children are not all they're cracked up to be."  This meant children are sometimes a pain in the neck.