I remember my Mother's famous threat when I screwed up as a kid, "Wait until your father comes home!" It really scared me into behaving but I don't really know why as my father rarely did come home and he never hit me. Of course when he was sober and gave me his infamous 20 minute lectures, I'd prefer a spanking!
Our how about when your mother got so frustrated with you, she would say, "I hope one day you have children, and they are just like you!". Boy, you knew you had pushed her too far when that one was muttered.
Another one from my mother when I was really messing up was, "I'm going to call the cop and he will take you to reform school!" That one always terrified me. Funny, going a bit off topic here but my mother was only 5' tall. When I got to the point where I was taller then her I really ticked her off one time and she said, "Oh, now that you are so big, you think you are smarter than me?" Being a jerk, I had to answer "Of course!" While this little talk was going on she manipulated me close to the front door. Then, "OK, wise guy, can you stoop over a little bit?" I did and she slammed my head against the door knob! BIG OUCH! One more lesson learned!
I think I would really like your mother. My mother was only 4'11" tall. It didn't take long for us all to be bigger than her, but that never made a difference in the fear...I mean respect, she commanded.
You know the really scary thing about all these cliches. When we were kids, they were so irritating and really got on my nerves. But, once I became a mother they started to make sense. I remember the first time one of them came out of my mouth - it was instinct, I swear, because I never would have willingly said it out loud and subjected my poor kid to it!!
When someone would talk about a cheating spouse, my Grandmother would say, "What's good for the goose, is good for the gander!" As a kid, I never dared ask my Grandma what the heck she meant by it!
After googling that cliche, I get it. I have wondered what it meant but only for that moment. It only means that what's good for the (female) is good for the (male) as well. Goose - female; gander - male In the context of how your Grandmother was using it, it sounds like the wife was already cheating on the husband - or- the husband could cheat as well.
Yeah that's how I interpreted it when I got older. Fact is, my Grandma also believed that, "Two wrongs don't make a right!," so....
When we rented the upstairs apartment in our big house, I was about ten, there was a woman who would scream at her child. "Skeeter, I'm going to cut off your ears and fry them for your fathers supper." I wonder, to this day, if poor Skeeter ended up in a padded room. His mother should have been in one.
These cliches mad us so mad when our parents said them to us, what about the first time you heard one come out of your mouth, did you look around for your mother? I have seen a greeting card that says something like Oh My God, I am Turning Into My Mother, Help!
YES! I have done that! When my daughter was small, I got frustrated with her because I had told her repeatedly to do something. To my horror, I heard myself say, " I've told you time and time again..." Those words came of my mom's mouth every time I was disobedient when I was little. Yep we do become our parents!
That is funny because so many times I would utter in desperation, "When I grow up, I won't be so mean to my kids!"
I remember one about "putting it where the sun don't shine". That meant someone wanted to kick you in the butt, nice version.