More family quotes (was: Too late, too late, the maiden cried)

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

Sylvia:

> We have the same stupid phrase in our family, with a slight variation:
> "Too late, too late, the maiden cried
> "As she waved her wooden leg goodbye".
> 
> It must originate from somewhere, but I'm damned if I know where.

Wow! That's amazing! Yes, it *must originate somewhere. To be honest I've 
been meaning to contact the "Quote Unquote" (a British radio quiz show) website 
to see if I can trace it.
The best I've done so far is that it is the name of a historical crime novel 
by a novelist called Joan Fleming. I assume she got it from some Victorian 
source. Sounds like some kind of penny dreadful or melodrama, or a parody 
thereof.

I have some others. Perhaps I just come from an odd family.

The strangest must be another quote from somewhere, I'd guess it's from an 
old radio show, but I really don't know. When I was a child, the question, "What 
are you doin'?" was invariably answered by, "Pickin' a cuin [no idea how to 
spell that: rhymes with doin']. Do you want the shell?"

Two from my Lancashire grandmother:

Of any object that had fallen to the ground before use: "It's been on the 
floor; it'll suit".

Of a minor fault or blemish: "A man on a galloping horse won't notice" (I use 
that one quite frequently).

>From my father's (southern) family:

Of someone standing in the way "Your father was no glazier!" (IOW, I can't 
see through you).

And my grandmother's tales of people she had known invariably ended, "And 
s/he died."

And from personal (I think) experience of asking directions somewhere, a 
frequent answer of my father's to "How do I get to...?" was (in country yokel 
accent), "Follow the 'aystacks"

~Eloise


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