Unusual things your mum taught you that you still unconscionably do

[Brian Deakin]

As a child I was taught to lift my vest ( undershirt) up and hold it under my chin when I got dressed and still do it today and this puzzles my wife

[Michael Weber]

I understand her puzzlement :)

[Bruce Wrenn]

My mom taught me to hold pillow under chin when replacing the pillow case. Also was to wash the pots and pans as cooking. When you sit down to eat, there isn't a pile of dirty pots to be washed. Never leave the house with dirty dishes in the sink. Ain't nobody going to do them while you are gone!!

[Kevin Jenness]

unconscionable=shockingly unfair or unjust, excessive or unreasonable, or unscrupulous.

I still hold the pillow under my chin like Mom taught me, but I try not to do it unconscionably.

[Jim Becker]

My mom taught me to hold pillow under chin when replacing the pillow case. Also was to wash the pots and pans as cooking. When you sit down to eat, there isn't a pile of dirty pots to be washed. Never leave the house with dirty dishes in the sink. Ain't nobody going to do them while you are gone!!

I do pillows that way but don't know if it originated with my mother. I've always been a habitual cleaner while cooking and that's how I'm teaching my daughters to do it, too. It's not just about not having the mess to deal with after the meal...it's actually easier to clean certain pans when they are still warm. My carbon steel stuff requires immediate cleaning. It only takes a few moments after I've plated. (we don't do family style here)

My mother taught me to cook, bake, sew, do laundry and all the other tasks necessary to live in a household. Same for my brother.

----

And Brian...I'm with your spouse. I want my tee shirt IN my pants, not over it!

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Put the toilet seat lid down when you’re done.

[Brian Deakin]

Hi Jim
Let me explain I was born in 1957 and I live in the United kingdom The item of clothing I am referring to is called a vest in the Uk. It is worn underneath a shirt with the purpose of keeping you warm ( no central during heating in the 1960.s)
I was taught to hold my vest under my chin when putting on on my pants ( 1960.s form of boxer shorts )

Further when going to the toilet as a child because your vest was usually too long. I would hold it under my chin so I did not pee on it

Contrasting Uk and USA words

UK word trousers,..... USA word pants


UK (1960.s ) image pants

https://asset1.cxnmarksandspencer.com/is/image/mands/3-Pack-Cotton-Briefs-3/SD_03_T14_6661C_Z0_X_EC_1?$PDP_INT_IMAGEGRID_1_LG$

UK image 1960.S vest


https://asset1.cxnmarksandspencer.com/is/image/mands/3-Pack-Pure-Cotton-Sleeveless-Vests-1/SD_03_T14_4760V_Z0_X_EC_0?$PDP_INT_IMAGEGRID_1_LG$






https://asset1.cxnmarksandspencer.com/is/image/mands/3-Pack-Pure-Cotton-Sleeveless-Vests-1/SD_03_T14_4760V_Z0_X_EC_0?$PDP_INT_IMAGEGRID_1_LG$

[roger wiegand]

Put the toilet seat lid down when you’re done.

I tried to teach my daughter to leave it up when she was done. Didn't go so well.

[Brian Deakin]

To improve my sons aim when he was very young I put a table tennis ball in the toilet

[Jim Becker]

Put the toilet seat lid down when you’re done.

Haa...I'm the one in the house that required them to be down. I hate open toilets. It was a challenge for Professor Dr. SWMBO and our two daughters, but for the most part...they learned. :) :D This didn't come from my mother...it's all me. LOL


Hi Jim
Let me explain I was born in 1957 and I live in the United kingdom The item of clothing I am referring to is called a vest in the Uk.

I was also born in 1957, but obviously on a different side of a very large body of water. :) We have the vests here, too. Some folks call them that but there are a number of names used. Some folks even refer to them as a "beater" but we don't' need to go there. ;) I never prefered that style, but have known a number of folks who wore them. I had them when I was a kid for sure. There's good logic in the process you describe, however, especially for a child.

[John K Jordan]

As a child I was taught to lift my vest ( undershirt) up and hold it under my chin when I got dressed and still do it today and this puzzles my wife

Our mother taught us all that it didn't take any extra effort to be nice to someone. And while it sometimes does take effort to help someone, it's good for the soul.

And learning to play musical instruments was an essential part of life.

JKJ

[Brian Deakin]

Probably the most important promise my mother asked me to make before she died was to always talk to my sister and never break that promise regardless of what happens in our lives or relationship

[Edwin Santos]

Hi Jim
Let me explain I was born in 1957 and I live in the United kingdom The item of clothing I am referring to is called a vest in the Uk. It is worn underneath a shirt with the purpose of keeping you warm ( no central during heating in the 1960.s)


Hello Brian,
To add some fuel to this fire, when I was growing up in India, we referred to the garment you're describing as a singlet. I always thought it was a holdover from British colonial days, but perhaps not.

Edwin

[Kent Matthew]

My mother was a stickler about her purse. If she wanted something that was in her purse you brought her entire purse. Never, never did you ever reach inside for the item she asked about. I still do that with my wife to this day.

[Gary Ragatz]

Always hold the door open for someone - doesn't matter if it's a he or a she, older or younger, friend or stranger - hold the door open. And smile.

If the other person holds the door open first, always walk through - don't argue about it - and say "thank you." And smile.

[julian abram]

I can remember on grocery store trips mom saying about a million times, "Do NOT mash the bread". The loaf of Wonder bread was carried independent of the grocery sacks, because it was special. Today, every grocery trip I still think, do not mash the bread.

[Robert Engel]

"A place for everything, and everything in its place"

I guess I forgot that one.......

[Bill Dufour]

To improve my sons aim when he was very young I put a table tennis ball in the toilet

A single Cherrio is a smaller target and can be flushed away after each use. No need to fish it out and reuse it.
Bill D

[Erik Loza]

Whenever entering a retail business, I put my hands in my pockets. Mom always told us when we were kids, "You break anything, you're paying for it". Still do it to this day.

Erik

[Jim Becker]

A single Cherrio is a smaller target and can be flushed away after each use. No need to fish it out and reuse it.
Bill D
Yea, an accidentally flushing a tennis ball might make for a difficult plumbing situation. LOL

[Bill Carey]

Whenever entering a retail business, I put my hands in my pockets. Mom always told us when we were kids, "You break anything, you're paying for it". Still do it to this day.

Erik


yes, I can see from your avatar that the lesson stuck with you. :D

[Erik Loza]

yes, I can see from your avatar that the lesson stuck with you. :D

Bill: HAHAHAHA! I never actually noticed that.

Erik

[Roger Feeley]

My mom raised three boys and got tired of telling us not to touch stuff in stores. Rather than, “don’t touch this or don’t touch that”, she simply made us put our hands in our pockets. To this day, I can’t enter a store without putting my hands in my pockets. This saved my butt once. I was at an estate auction to look at a harpsichord and browsed around a bit with, of course my hands in my pockets. I looked at a stained glass table lamp and thought it was nice. It turned out to be an original a Tiffany Dragonfly lamp that sold for $110,000 to a phone bidder. I was sure glad I didn’t pick it up.

btw, the harpsichord had a warped sounding board. I don’t know how you would fix that. I just stuck around for the lamp hoping I could snag it for $80.

[Kev Williams]

The biggie: Don't Lie. Not that THAT is all that unusual, but what may be unusual, is that I don't :)
Thanks Mom!

[Peter Kelly]

Hello Brian,
To add some fuel to this fire, when I was growing up in India, we referred to the garment you're describing as a singlet. I always thought it was a holdover from British colonial days, but perhaps not.

Edwin”Singlet” is also the correct term for that garment in UK and Australia.

I’d say my mother taught me how to be a good listener.

[Doug Dawson]

As a child I was taught to lift my vest ( undershirt) up and hold it under my chin when I got dressed and still do it today and this puzzles my wife

Disrespect for authority is the foundation of innovation.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I use the term "tin foil."

[Roger Feeley]

The biggie: Don't Lie. Not that THAT is all that unusual, but what may be unusual, is that I don't :)
Thanks Mom!
Kev, you hit on a sore point with me.

When I was a high school shop teacher many years ago, something that really peeved me was that there was no punishment for lying. Johnny does something and is sent to the asst principal. Johnny, knowing that there is no consequence for trying to lie his way out, tries to do so and tell some story that is quickly debunked by the asst principal. Johnny is punished for doing whatever he did. My point here is that, to a kid in school, lying is ALWAYS worth a shot. Maybe you tell a good enough lie and get away with it. There is no down-side to giving the lie a try.

My view then and now is that whatever you did, say skipping class, would be a misdemeanor. But lying about it should elevate it to a felony. In my opinion, the consequence for lying should be so painful that it's not worth it.

I've sort of kept my finger on this issue for many years and I haven't seen any change. You talk to principals and they will regale you with war stories about the crazy lies kids tried to sell for offenses big and small. It's a point of honor to lie your way out of something.

Flash forward to a Supreme Court case some years ago that involved a strip search for an ibuprofen tablet. The story went like this: A kid is sent to the principal and tries to deflect by telling the principal that another kid has an ibuprofen tablet in her backpack. There is a zero-tolerance policy regarding drugs and the ibuprofen tablet puts the gears in motion. The unsuspecting kid is hauled in and interrogated and eventually stripsearched. The SCOTUS case was about whether the asst principal had the right to do the strip search. I saw something very wrong with the whole thing. The first kid had a long rap sheet with the school. The kid that was searched had never had a discipline problem. It was clear to me what the first kid was doing and I would not have ruled that the administration and probable cause for the search. SCOTUS found for the administration on the narrow question of the constitutionality of the search.

Flash forward to last summer when my next door neighbor was running for the local school board. I asked her about the policy on lying and she had no answer but put the query to our administration. There is no policy on lying in our local school district. So I think it's still an issue which I will take up with the district as our grandson nears kindergarten.

[Joe Wood]

I remember my mother telling me how she had to keep me on a leash when I was a little boy in the early 50s,

that might be the root cause of some of my mental problems ..

and why I love dogs so much!

[Mel Fulks]

Several mentions of terlet etiquette here.
This will sound strange ,but standing to pee was not always the norm indoors. The old potty seats had small target holes.
There were urinals ,but usually in places like dining rooms. Some were pots kept in the sideboard. YES ,the side board.
And some were finely made "stand up" pieces that stayed in a corner in plain sight. I think the universality we know
today was from the conditioning of modern public toilets.

[Mel Fulks]

I remember my mother telling me how she had to keep me on a leash when I was a little boy in the early 50s,

that might be the root cause of some of my mental problems ..

and why I love dogs so much! Joe, a little knowledge can sometimes do more than psychiatrists. Your mom
was only commenting on REAL child leashes that were available then. They were sold with the halters. My Mom would
threaten to buy one when we saw them, I never believed her....but would behave a little more ,just to be cautious.

[Rod Sheridan]

It's funny what our parents teach us.

I was about 5 years old and out shopping with my parents.

My father held the door open for my mother, and I attempted to waltz in, in front of her.

My fathers hand hit the right side of my head, causing the left side to rebound off the door, and he said "Don't ever walk in front of your mother again"

You know, more than 50 years later I don't think I have ever walked in front of a women, I wouldn't recommend his instruction method although it seems to have been effective :D

[Frederick Skelly]

My mother was a stickler about her purse. If she wanted something that was in her purse you brought her entire purse. Never, never did you ever reach inside for the item she asked about. I still do that with my wife to this day.

My mom is exactly like that! Never ever ever reach into that purse.

[Mike Henderson]

”Singlet” is also the correct term for that garment in UK and Australia.

I’d say my mother taught me how to be a good listener.

And it's used for a type of running shirt in the US.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

My mother was a stickler about her purse. If she wanted something that was in her purse you brought her entire purse. Never, never did you ever reach inside for the item she asked about. I still do that with my wife to this day.

When my wife tells me to get something from her purse I bring her the purse because I could never find anything in her purse.

Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

Ditto Mike and Kent. There's no way I could ever find anything in that 10 pound piece of luggage.

[Jim Koepke]

My mom is exactly like that! Never ever ever reach into that purse.


When my wife tells me to get something from her purse I bring her the purse because I could never find anything in her purse.

Mike


Ditto Mike and Kent. There's no way I could ever find anything in that 10 pound piece of luggage.

Ditto!

Reaching into a purse kind of frightens me.

jtk

[Lee Schierer]

Ditto!

Reaching into a purse kind of frightens me.

jtk

When I was younger, yeah that long ago, my wife's sister's purse was sitting on the couch in their home. I wanted to sit down so I moved the purse to the floor, wow was it heavy, so I asked her sister what do you have in this thing rocks? She said no she knew everything that was in it. A while later while others were occupied, I went out side and found three flat rocks 2-3" in diameter and about 3/8" thick and slipped them into her purse. She didn't find them until more than a week later.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I can remember on grocery store trips mom saying about a million times, "Do NOT mash the bread". The loaf of Wonder bread was carried independent of the grocery sacks, because it was special. Today, every grocery trip I still think, do not mash the bread.


I wish my wife's parents had taught her that. Can't think of many things that tick me off more than a smashed loaf of bread. Worst is at check out, loaf of bread is put cross wise on bottom of plastic bag. Even if it's the only thing in bag, when you pick bag up, there goes your nice loaf of bread.

[Stan Calow]

turn a pillowcase inside out. Put your hands inside in the corners, and grab the pillow by the corners, pull it into the pillowcase while turning the good side down. Really irritates my wife when she sees me do this. So does rolling a pair of socks into a ball.
She also taught me (along with teachers at the time) that you should always complement a woman on her appearance when you first see her. Not acceptable practice now.

[Wade Lippman]

And it's used for a type of running shirt in the US.

Mike

RE: Singlet... wrestler call their entire uniform a singlet. Rowers wear pretty much the same uniform, but all it a uni.

[Jim Becker]

Commonly known as "tank tops", too... :)

[Jim Koepke]

turn a pillowcase inside out. Put your hands inside in the corners, and grab the pillow by the corners, pull it into the pillowcase while turning the good side down.

That sounds like a trick worth trying. Trying to hold a pillow under my chin has never worked for me. When young my trick was to balance on top my head and direct it to fall into the pillow case. That doesn't work too well on plump feather pillows.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

Talking about pillow cases my wife taught me an old flannel pillowcase is great for cleaning a ceiling fan blade. Carefully place it over the blade, so the blade is inside the case, then rub the dust off top and bottom as you withdraw the case.
Bil lD

[Osvaldo Cristo]

To make bed immediately after rise from bed at morning... I got myself doing that several times even at hotels! :-)

[Jim Becker]

To make bed immediately after rise from bed at morning... I got myself doing that several times even at hotels! :-)

I start making mine before I leave it. :) But that didn't come from mom...it's because I'm weird. Thus saith Professor Dr SWMBO. :) :D

[Peter Kelly]

turn a pillowcase inside out. Put your hands inside in the corners, and grab the pillow by the corners, pull it into the pillowcase while turning the good side down. Really irritates my wife when she sees me do this. So does rolling a pair of socks into a ball.
She also taught me (along with teachers at the time) that you should always complement a woman on her appearance when you first see her. Not acceptable practice now.This worked great until the wife started buying pillowcases that open in the middle and close with buttons. Absolutely maddening.