I heard so many sayings when I was a kid...many have been stated already. The three that were most often said to me personally, though would be:
1. Don't put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.
2. You're like a bull in a china cupboard.
3. Give ya a toothpick you'd tear the house down.
Uhh...i was a rambunctious child.

I was told I was like a bull in a china shop. I was suspicious never having seen an entire shop devoted to china, but apparently they exist. However, a bull in a china cupboard, now that would be tight... and impressive. Havoc would indeed be wreaked.

Shit fire and save matches!

You could tear up an anvil in a sandpile!

Spare the rod... Spoil the child!

I'll beat you so hard and fast it'll look like you're helping me!

LOL!

My father used to say to us kids "I'll beat you within an inch of your life and I don't care if my measurements are off cause I can make ten more just like you." Which wasn't true because my mother had like 8 miscarriages. It was a big deal when she actually brought a baby home from the hospital so it's not like he really had any to spare. But I sure wasn't going to be the one to tell him that.

and his other favorite "i brought you into this world and I can take you out of it."

:bucktooth: I just found out that the saying I always thought was "Pearls on swine" is actually "Pearls before swine." lol

It could work that way too though, like maybe another version of lipstick on a pig.

My gram used that phrase "lipstick on a pig". I use it to this day. Frequently about a house I clean. I could be there a week straight and it'd still be a hot mess...

two I grew up hearing......."it's colder than a gold digger's azz in the Klondikes".................."it is cold enough to freeze brass balls off a monkey"........neither of which I have ever seen......:blink:

My mother says "colder than a witch's tit" but I don't under stand the reference...

I haven't read through the whole thread, so excuse me if this is a repeat.

My Dad never wore a watch, so when asked what time it was, he would day..."it's a hair past a freckle", while looking intently at his bare arm.

I heard from my grandparents sometimes " half past a monkey's ass" when I asked what time it was!

Jukebox:listening:

growing up outside the U.S., we would push a "grocery wagon" and not a "cart" at the grocery store! Not sure if that is due to a difference in regional "talk", or an old-fashioned expression.

It's colder than a well digger's ass is one I heard often when I was younger.

And here's one for a whooping ....Go get me a switch so I can whoop your ass with it.

Here's one my mother used to say a lot:

If you think (fill in the blank), you've got another think coming.

Also
If you walk around with a hammer everything starts to look like a nail.

The bees knees!

I love that saying...

I also used whippersnapper in a sentence yesterday...lol

When I was born, my parents were both in grad school, so a lot of the childcare responsibilities landed on my maternal grandmother. She was a brilliant and nutty character who had me singing things like "There's a place in France where they don't wear any pants" when I was 3, much to the consternation of my mother who was much more proper. I'm sure that's a large part of the reason she taught me such things. She had some quirky expressions that still make me laugh today when I think about them.

If she was particularly irked about something, she would say, "Well that just fries my ice!" It always conjured up weird a visual of ice cubes skittering around in a cast-iron skillet.

Rather than simply remind me to go to the bathroom before we left the house, she would say "Go shed a tear for Garfield." Something assassination related, presumably.

If she thought someone was just being lazy and lolling about, she was known to ask, "What are you doing? Posing for animal crackers?"

Nifty .....................

"Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels"