My Mum's Phrases

[IndieSinger]

Why does she say ''Round the jinny 'orner' for 'corner', why does she say she's 'five foot one and a tealeaf' and why does she call a cupboard a 'cubbyhole'?!

[sft42]

Maybe cause she's as mad as a hole in the ground?

[Quizmonster]

The first two phrases sound as if they might have originated in a particular locality or even just within a particular family. Most families create words/phrases with specific meaning to them alone. My kids called anyone who was being 'horrible' a 'horbie', for example.

Regarding cubbyhole, that seems to have started life in the Wiltshire dialect, where it was used to mean any snug place. 19th century children in general used it to mean a hiding-place. Later, it was shortened to 'cubby', which meant a small, enclosed room in a building or ship...it could even mean a rabbit-hutch. So, it's easy to understand why your mum calls a cupboard a cubbyhole.

[jenstar]

"Cubbyhole" was a very commonly-used term in school when I was growing up in 1970s Hampshire. Cubbyholes would never have doors; the term is interchangeable with "pigeon-hole".

[IndieSinger]

Many many thanks, they're great answers! Interesting, my dialect differs from yours, Jen - cubbyholes were only cubbyholes if they HAD a door! And pigeon holes were much smaller, box-shaped cupbards with no door. She also says she's "spitting feathers" when she's thirsty, but after a bit of research, I found out this isn't as common as I first thought. And some people use it to mean they're very angry (regardless of whether they need a drink!). She was born - and lived for a long time - in Royal Leamington Spa, by the way..!

[TommyC]

No, No, No..!! "Spitting feathers" is VERY common around the Midlands, to mean both "thirsty" and "angry" (though I've heard it used a lot more often for the former than for the latter). What amazes me about the usage of language is that many things seem to persist forever, but modern youngsters (and I'm NOT old..!!) seem to have never heard of them...!! For example, I saw the word "Dumbledore" explained on another page as coming from a Harry Potter novel ( !! ) but in fact it's a very old West Country word for a particular flying insect of summer, and was used by poet and novelist Thomas Hardy.

[Ewood27]

"Jimmy 'orner" sounds like rhyming slang. "Tealeaf" is certainly rhyming slang, meaning a thief. I don't know, of course, it that is what your Mum meant to convey!

[IndieSinger]

Yeah I often wondered that myself... "tealeaf" is thief, so why is she "five foot one and a thief"?! I think personally that it's just something very small and thin... I think it's just a throw-away comment because "five foot one" sounds a bit small... so jokingly adding something tiny... Yes.

[linlam]

My mum's cubbyhole is under the stairs.My aunt in South Wales has the same home made cubbyhole under the stairs, but she calls it the gloryhole.

[linlam]

My mum's cubbyhole is under the stairs.My aunt in South Wales has the same home made cubbyhole under the stairs, but she calls it the gloryhole.

[IndieSinger]

Now a "gloryhole" to me, is something very, very... nay _incredibly_ different. And it wouldn't be associated with aunties!

[Cetti]

My Uncle always called me Jimmy 'Orner from a small child, my Mum called cupboards cubbyholes - and Dumbledore is Hardyesque for Bumbe bees.

My Uncle was deepest rural Dorset and Mum Hampshire, so perhaps these expressions rather than dialect (except for Hardy) are just 'of their time'. I hope they carry on within families as it would be so sad to lose them.