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SubTitle: Do AS I Say...
Posted by: rs on 12/05/1997@22:49hrs:
Dunno 'bout you, but I've often found my self trying to "reason" with my three sons using words that sound as though my father is actually the one speaking. As Mark Twain said, it's remarkable how smart my father got as I grew older. Leo was a crane operator. Thrown out of St. Peters for being a pain in the butt, just like one of my sons, it seems (not like me, nossiree), but I heard an older, better educated cousin of mine remark that Leo was one of the smartest guys he'd ever met. We're talking native intelligence, not book learning. A lot of StatNislanders were long on intelligence, short on school. Wisdom tended to be expressed in cliches. But if you had the wit to apply the right maxim at the right time, you were all right.
Some of Leo's words to live by were:
Stay out of crowds. (I'm religious about this; it's the o n l y think I'm religious about).
Don't take any wooden nickels.
Don't believe what you hear, and only half of what you read.
Give your ears a chance. (When I was talking when I should have been listening).
See what her mother looks like. (Because that's what she's going to look like someday).
His eyes were bigger than his belly. (When the portion you loaded your plate with exceeded what you could eat).
Hello, how's mother? (Spoken sotto voce when stopped at a traffic light and an attractive young lady crossed in front of the car; usually uttered when Mom was in the right front passenger seat; always good for a laugh, even from Mom.
Turn out the lights! (One time came home with Mom and sisters and the house pitch dark at night. "The lights are out," says Mom. "Dad must be home," I reply; good for the laugh.
Do your homework! Be a professional! Don't do this for a living! (Spoken after marching home to Faw' Cawnahs! from South Ferry one stormy winter night on foot when the buses stopped running because of the drifts, and he was frozen to the bone.
You get the idea; what were the words of wisdom handed down to you that you find yourself thinking or repeating whenever the occasion demands, usually when younger kids are around.
Let's hear it!