Without googling...

[BarbecueMom]

I will trade you. I'll handle the obscure film star references. You can explain to my mother what NPR is, because I got a blank stare of confusion yesterday. She claims she's never heard of it. Oooookay.

Edited September 18, 2016 by BarbecueMom

[8circles]

Not a clue.

[Rebel Yell]

Okay, so here's the allusion when my mom say this: the individual is being overly emotional, lachrymose. (And just for full confessions, I did not know the word "lachrymose" until I googled Helen Twelvetrees.) Apparently, the actress was in several movies where her character was like this (lachrymose) and so for my mom and possibly others many decades ago, it became a characterization of the actress herself.

My mom has said this often; I recall hearing this allusion throughout my childhood and it seems to me my grandmother and aunt also used this term whenever they thought one of us girls were being over-the-top over some disappointment. I wondered if it was regional because the actress died in Pennsylvania, and maybe was also born there. But maybe this just proliferates as an allusion in my mother's family.

In any case, I think it's time she stopped saying this. Nobody has a clue what it means.

I've lived in SW PA my entire life, never heard of her.

 

I do know the words lachrymose from the song Lachrymosa by Evanescence.

[Alice]

I would have had no idea and I'm also in the mid-Atlantic. Grew up in VA. 

 

My parents were here this weekend and we were playing a game I had made up for school involving idioms. Basically charades but with idioms. When it was my Mom's turn she acted out one that turned out to be "Itching like a flea on a hound-dog". Which first of all is not an idiom even if it was a common saying. And secondly is not really a common saying. But she was quite insistent that it was an idiom that people say all the time. I let it go but was doing a lot of inner eye rolling. 

[KrissiK]

No! I haven't the slightest idea,

[Tree Frog]

That's true, but don't you just cringe sometimes when parents say something that you know looks dopey?

 

I could ask my one sister to mention it. She's more direct than I am. She brooks no nonsense.

 

Someone in my family says "worthwild" instead of "worthwhile" and confuses "gauge" with "gouge". Makes me nuts!

[Seasider]

Well I didn't know it before, but seeing that I have a dramatic tween and the term is essentially describing unnecessary melodrama, I just may have to join your mom's club and resurrect its use.

[Shred Betty]

That's true, but don't you just cringe sometimes when parents say something that you know looks dopey?

 

I could ask my one sister to mention it. She's more direct than I am. She brooks no nonsense.

Haha this reminds me of my mom's peculiar family only allusion. She frequently brings up in casual conversation the horrible upbringing she had as a child. She would most times mention her Grandmother saying their lives were just like Charles Dickens's novel "Bleak House".

 

"My Grandmother always used to say it was so... "Bleak House." You know?" {blank stares}. Whaaaaa?

It was annoying me.

 

So I asked her if she has ever read the book herself. NOPE.

Does she have any idea what was meant by the allusion? No, but She imagines it's horrible, cruel, depressing, etc.

 

I was naively curious what This family allusion meant, or what my great grandmother thought their lives were like --- so decided to read it.

 

Over a year or more I finally accomplished reading it, it was an epic achievement lol. Gigantic paperback.

 

I loved it. It portrayed every type of scene, character, opinion, class, etc. possible. There were many themes. The most memorable "moral" that comes to mind is that hard work and kindness is rewarded, and counting on money wrapped up in an estate settlement lawsuit chains ppl rather than liberates them. LOL no clear picture of a blighted childhood here... you should have seen her face when I explained how happy and honest the main character was and how many different lifestyles and personalities Dickens had woven into there, including very positive ones...

 

I didn't hear the reference to Bleak House again, and I'll be a Dickens fan all the rest of my days! :) hehee!

[MerryAtHope]

I think sometimes people just chuckle a bit, figure they misheard her and, when no response seems necessary, they just move on.

 

When that happens, you should just say, "Oh, she means lachrymose." That'll clear everything up for them.  :lol:  

[Shred Betty]

When that happens, you should just say, "Oh, she means lachrymose." That'll clear everything up for them.  :lol:  [/size]

lol, so they can give you both "that look." Cute!

[Tap]

I have heard the reference before, but don't know who it is. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

That's true, but don't you just cringe sometimes when parents say something that you know looks dopey?

 

I could ask my one sister to mention it. She's more direct than I am. She brooks no nonsense.

I used too. My mom has quite a few little sayings.... but now I often find myself saying them and I hope when she's gone they will help remind my kids and I of how funny she could, unintentionally, be.

[AHASRADA]

No clue. My grandmother used to refer to old actors, etc. often, but never heard that one.

ETA: and I'm 43. That leaves at least 2 if not 3 generations clueless.

Edited September 19, 2016 by AHASRADA

[RootAnn]

Never heard of her, but I will have to ask my mom as she is older than your mom and might know that reference.

 

My mom doesn't like how I say real estate and I can't stand how she warshes (not washes) everything. She's also refers to Warshington DC. (FWIW, I know the itching like a flea on a hound dog saying, but our wording is slightly different.)

[Guest]

Never heard of her, but I will have to ask my mom as she is older than your mom and might know that reference.

 

My mom doesn't like how I say real estate and I can't stand how she warshes (not washes) everything. She's also refers to Warshington DC. (FWIW, I know the itching like a flea on a hound dog saying, but our wording is slightly different.)

Several family members say "warsh." One family member says "horserelish" when she means horseradish.

[Guest]

Haha this reminds me of my mom's peculiar family only allusion. She frequently brings up in casual conversation the horrible upbringing she had as a child. She would most times mention her Grandmother saying their lives were just like Charles Dickens's novel "Bleak House".

 

"My Grandmother always used to say it was so... "Bleak House." You know?" {blank stares}. Whaaaaa?

It was annoying me.

 

So I asked her if she has ever read the book herself. NOPE.

Does she have any idea what was meant by the allusion? No, but She imagines it's horrible, cruel, depressing, etc.

 

I was naively curious what This family allusion meant, or what my great grandmother thought their lives were like --- so decided to read it.

 

Over a year or more I finally accomplished reading it, it was an epic achievement lol. Gigantic paperback.

 

I loved it. It portrayed every type of scene, character, opinion, class, etc. possible. There were many themes. The most memorable "moral" that comes to mind is that hard work and kindness is rewarded, and counting on money wrapped up in an estate settlement lawsuit chains ppl rather than liberates them. LOL no clear picture of a blighted childhood here... you should have seen her face when I explained how happy and honest the main character was and how many different lifestyles and personalities Dickens had woven into there, including very positive ones...

 

I didn't hear the reference to Bleak House again, and I'll be a Dickens fan all the rest of my days! :) hehee!

I LOVE it! This is totally like the Helen Twelvetrees thing!

[PrincessMommy]

I have no idea what that is. 

[Lady Florida.]

I'm surprised I never heard of her. At my age I would have expected to at least have heard my grandparents talk about her - they talked about other celebrities. 

 

There are two sayings my mother and grandmother often used for which you'd need a historical frame of reference.

 

-When someone said we even though others weren't necessarily part of the picture, they'd say, "We, Lindbergh". Apparently Charles Lindbergh used we liberally. When they said that you were basically being called out for not just saying I or me.

 

-"You and MacArthur", when you said you'd be back. This referred to his "I shall return" speech.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[luuknam]

Okay, so here's the allusion when my mom say this: the individual is being overly emotional, lachrymose. (And just for full confessions, I did not know the word "lachrymose" until I googled Helen Twelvetrees.)

 

Never heard of Twelvetrees, but I would've understood her if she'd said lachrymose (though I would probably have misspelled it if asked to write it down).

 

ETA: the wife doesn't know either of those.

Edited September 20, 2016 by luuknam

[8circles]

I learned lachrymose from Amadeus.  :D