And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8)

My maternal grandmother had a way with words.  In fact, turns of phrase that caught your attention and kept it.  I find that over time, I have picked up any number of  them, and use them in my own speech.  Sometimes, people "get" what I am saying.  Sometimes they get it if they are ... old.  Because I have found that some of the terms date back to my grandmother's youth (she graduated from high school in 1924).  And some of them came from the lingo of where she lived (Pittsburgh). 

At any rate, I think that some of them would be worthy of a chapter in a book, or the topic or title of a sermon.  

Here are some of them, and with the explanation:

"Ready for Freddie" - The story is that Freddie was the name of an undertaker.  Said when one was exhausted or exasperated, or both.  I researched this one and sure enough Al Capp came up with this one. Asking the question "Are you ready for Freddie" again and again for weeks in his "Li'l Abner" comic strip. National attention was focused on who was. Freddie.   It turned out that Freddie was the undertaker. 

(Yes it was a simpler time).

"Papa pin a rose on me" - also said when one was exhausted or exasperated, or both.  Kind of like put a lily on my chest (in other words, you are ready to be dead and buried).  Grandma wasn't morbid at all but she did manage, as I say, some quaint expressions. Apparently there was a song called "Mother Pin a Rose on Me" dating back to 1905.  I guess Papa got into the act somewhere along the way.

"NDL - A shorthand phrase for a happy nostalgic reminiscence.  I think she said they used it in her Latin class in high school.  Novella.  Datum.  Laudare.  Meaning something like Tender or Youthful gift of praise.  Kind of like a fondness for what happened to you in the past.

"XEDs" - Not sure what those initials stand for, but the expression means to call "dibs" on something.  "XEDs on the pie, XEDs on the radio station, (XEDs on the whatever)..."

"Avoirdupois" - (It always sounded to me like: Avrid Appiose).  Yes, it is French for "fat tissue".  You probably knew that one.

"Remember the Fifth" - No not the Fifth Amendment.  The Fifth Commandment.  As in: "Honor your father and your mother..."  A nice shorthand way of saying to a kid, behave.  

"Are you waiting for them to sweep the street clean?" - Usually said about the person in front of her who lingered to long when a stoplight turned from red to green.

"Go slow and see our city; go fast and see our jail" - Which I alway associate with the old workhouse in Blawnox (which isn't there anymore, but I drive past there often).  I guess she said it then.  It was a caution to slow down or else.  I find it said elsewhere as Drive in place of Go, but Grandma always said Go.

"Bumpsy Daisy" - Something you say to a child who has fallen down.  (Nowadays we would say "Shake it off" or alternatively, "You poor thing".   Closely related to whoopsy-daisy (perhaps sisters?).

"The Wreck of the Hesperus" - Who knew it was a poem by Longfellow about a sad, true sinking of a ship?  It usually referred to being somewhat disheveled.  As in: "I look like the wreck of the Hesperus".

"The Last of the Mohicans" - Another allusion to a poem by a Transcendentalist who also appeared on a card in the game "Authors".  James Fenimore Cooper this time.  Having to do with the member of a group or family who is the last one to show up.

"The Back of Beyond" - Yep you probably know that one too.  It many way out in the sticks.

"Mrs Nervous Wreck" - I think the term "nervous wreck" was in common use for someone in an overly anxious state of mind back then.  "Mrs" was added to indicate that a particular neighborhood fit the description well.

"Fish or cut bait" - decide, already.  yes or no, stop or go... like "Sink or swim".

"Jingle Brained" - All shook up - in Aspinwall, Center Avenue is known in our family as the Jingle Brain Road because it is  paved of old brick and the opposite of smooth.

"Bell's Bums" - Young guys who stand around on the corner and loaf.  I am told there was a Drugstore in Wilkinsburg named Bell's from which the expression came.  Looked it up.  There was!  Corner of Swissvale Avenue and Hill Avenue. Imagine that! Their slogan was; "The Biggest Little Drugstore in Town".

"The Bum's Rush" - to be hurried out of something, usually a visit.  

"Hitting on all cylinders" - Doing better than great.

"Copacetic" - Everything is as it should be, A-Ok.  

I hope to add to this from time to time as other expressions come to me.  Usually they do when I blurt them out and then I laugh and remember my grandmother.  The thing is, these were said in a way that they brought a smile.  I hope my own kids end up remembering some of them, because I said them too.  And maybe pass them on.

May you discover anew the blessings that are all around you.  May you live in joy and expectation to look upon God's creation for new blessings that await you.  May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always.  Amen.