Asklemmy

Mom says that my great grandmother had a notorious potty mouth. Whenever she'd get up off the chair she'd yell "oh, this heavy ass of mine!" ("Ay, este culo tan pesado!")

From my grandma (who got it from her father):

"Of course the story is true, it just didn't happen"

Essentially, the story is more important than the actual event.

My grandfather was always "fair to middlin'"

"Save every five minutes and never buy Packard Bell."

When they didn't get a hug first, we'd get "What am I, chopped liver."

My mother’s requests for us to calm down escalated over the years: “Cool your jets” “Don’t get your underwear in a wad” “Don’t get caught in your zipper”

"Tables are for glasses, not asses."
~ My grandpa, whenever someone sat on a table.

The same one I'm still using today: "Kill all Nazis."

Whenever we got a minor injury like on our knee, he would tell us "I can hurt the other one so you can't tell which hurts more"

When we would go fishing, he always ended up sitting on a "barking spider"

The one I borrowed from him to great effect is "beer has water in it" whenever he was told to drink water

"... So I said, 'I do too know how to dig a hole!' I say '[racial slur], dig me hole!', Hahahaha!!!"

I learned more than I wanted to as a kid...

In like Flynn.

What does that even mean?

"Because God loves Ireland!" after any question they might no tknow the answer for

From my grandma, Est la Fromage, such is cheese, sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes it’s bitter, sometimes it stinks like Limburger.

The good old days weren't always so good

Not good luck, good management. Luck is not a strategy.

Talking about making plans and thinking ahead.

Whenever I stood in the way of the TV my Granny would say "you would be better for a door then a window"

Whenever my Grandfather, a WWII combat veteran, saw something he didn't approve of: "The things you see when they don't let you carry a gun any more...".

My other Grandfather didn't really have any funny phrases, but my Nana when she didn't approve of something would just use the "Well, that's a how modern people do things I suppose". It was really the only complaint she'd make, the only time I ever saw her lose her temper with someone was the day I got into a traffic accident and she had to be physically restrained from going after the driver for hurting her grandchild hahaha (I was the passenger).

My grandmother would describe the phenomenon of raining while the sun is shining as The Devil beating his wife.

"Putang ina." ("Son of a whore")

They said this charming Filipino phrase whenever I did something stupid. So, often enough to count as a catchphrase.

Everytime my Nana would send an email or leave a voicemail, she would sign off "Ciao for now!"

"Pull my finger."

Mz granddad used to say "Life is hard and unfair." whenever we complained about stupid shit.

Don't pass up the opportunity to have sex or take a shit: you'll always regret it.

My grandma, having to call for help but doesn’t know who of the many kids are around: hey, hey human who was named

Translation takes away from it.

I was raised by my grandparents.

My grandfather was the cook most of the time, and he was always trying new recipies he found online: in years, I don't think I ever saw him cook the same meal twice.

Everytime he'd taste something new, he'd enthusiastically comment "it's different than usual!" (Rough translation from French "ça fait changment!")

To this day, I have no idea how good or how bad he thought any of those dishes were.

"Things are the way they are."

Seriously.

A whistling woman or a whistling hen, will drive the devil from his den.

(My wife's grandfather, not mine.)

It probably doesn't translate very well. But my grandfather always said something like "If you don't behave I'll put your head between your two ears" and us kids would always giggle and say that it was already the case. I often use that phrase now.