Reid Idioms

Funny what each one of us Reid Children remembers. The idioms that come to my mind are It Takes Two To Fight. Oh how I hated to hear our Mother say that when she was sending both of us to our rooms. It was hardest to hear when I knew it was not my fault (which it almost never ever was (lol). Funny how I hated it back then but how frequently it comes out of my mouth now when my near perfect children (lol) are fighting. Considering that all of us Reid Children are close I guess it was a good method of correcting and helping each of us own our behavior. We may repeat some of the same crazy stories or idioms (which by the way I dislike that word) but its ok because I know each one of us will have a different slant on the same story. Which reminds me of another Hate, never say Hate its such a strong word. Or When Cherry and Johnny were tired of me saying words will never hurt me and then slamming a dictionary on top of my head to prove me wrong. Or when Dad would borrow something and say it always has to be returned in better condition then it was borrowed. Or when Mom was to get something from someone the dish always had to be returned full, never empty. Saving my favorite for last Treat Your Siblings Kindly because your friends will leave but your sisters and brothers will always be there for you. That is such a blessing in my life today. I am ever grateful for those teachings because Cherry, Natalie, Johnny, Mikey and Joey I will always have your back and I know you have always been there for me. I love being Reid no matter how crazy it always is! -Tiffany
"German, Irish, Danish, Dutch, and a fifth of Scotch."
"I'd rather owe you than beat you out of it."
"You can tell a Reid, but you can't tell 'em much."
"WHERE IS MY COMB?" Does that count? : )
As Johnny already wrote of course there was "Just before the at.." and "Nice to meet you hungry; thirsty." I'm sure there are many others that don't come to mind at the moment. I think all of these added to each of our personalities, and made us the quick witted family that we are. -Joey

Oh those silly parents!

When asked to participate in this endeavor, I was a little apprehensive. I truly believe I heard more advice albeit some better than others from our parents. Cherry knows she was the perfect chromosome for being raised Reid. With that said Tiffany being XX & Natalie also XX, Obviously those great words of wisdom fell on XX ears!
For example Dad drove me crazy, with this particular gem. "Dad, where's mom at" he would reply "before the at" I don't remember which teacher it was that taught me about prepositions. I do remember grinning the day I understood Dad was so clever! From secret preposition knowledge into other things that make kids say I don't get it, dad had to have said this to each and everyone of us, numerous times. We say "I'm  hungry"( hehehe )dad responds "nice to meet you hungry" Oh, I'm not even going to go into my favorite quote that I promise I will never tell my own kids when it comes to the birds & the bees! This was before the rating system was in place , you guessed it dad gave the XX talk and I got it!
Momma mia, sometimes momma bird was the mann! She could fire off words that would make you beg for a dictionary! She wasn't Mike Tyson like, rhyming a new sylabic language. She would flow eloquence that would resonate within until the time that you would try and use it to impress, but end up spitting words that resembled a vocabulary of Mike Tyson!
I'll end with the a biblical saying that mom taught to all her XY'S "You reap what you sow" Growing up Reid was a blast, we had fun stuck in a laundry room, searching for combs, waking up before the sun to read those animated "Book of Mormon" stories. Whatever the scenario we had the characters to make it L.OL. fun!
 -Johnny

I thought Cherry covered most of the sayings that we heard growing up. I thought of a few more. Life is not fair. If we complained about anything and said that’s NOT fair, this seemed to be the standard reply. Life is not fair. Grandma used to say Sew on Sunday rip it out with your nose on Monday. It was her way of telling us to keep the Sabbath day holy.
When I think of silly sayings I remember how if we said that we were hungry or thirsty Dad would say "nice to meet you thirsty."
Something about sayings that makes me laugh about our family is how we all sang that song Hot Blooded by Foreigner incorrectly we used to sing Hot blooded chicken of the sea instead of hot blooded check in and see. (If it weren't for Matt calling Tiffany on it I am sure that is how I would be singing that song today). Who knew that there is no such thing as Chester drawers?
-Natalie
It is fun that we can still sit around as adults and laugh at our childhood.  My children love to listen to all of the stories of our childhoods.  It is also fun to recall all the little things that make us truly and uniquely Reid. We can choose our friends and our mates but our siblings are a gift chosen for us.  Mom knew that she wanted a family where brothers and sisters talked, loved and shared.  We don't always see eye to eye and you can tell from all the writing in this book, we perceive things very differently but we do talk, shout, love and share.  It must be because you have talked, yelled, shared and loved each of us unconditionally. -Tiffany 

Reid idioms’ and other phrases we heard A LOT whilst growing up.

Two idioms come to mind quickly. One from Dad “if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing correctly” I hated hearing that cause it usually meant that I hadn’t sweep the floor when it was my turn to do the dishes or any other time I was trying to breeze through a job quickly. I have since learned to love that phrase. It is true if you’re going to put effort into something why not it do correctly not ½ hearted. I know Dad’s life reflects that idiom and I appreciate that example.
The second comes from Mom. “It builds character.” Seemed like that was the answer she gave to me whenever I wanted to complain about something. I have to admit that I thought “I must have the most character of anyone on the planet.” I was silly enough to hope I could just have some ease instead of so much character building. Now in hindsight I am grateful for all those “character building” experiences. Mom was right. Sadly I am also aware that I do not have more character than anyone on the planet and all those things I thought were so ruff growing up were really nothing. Now Mom on the other hand might just have the most character on the planet.
Some of my other favorites are: “It hurts to be beautiful “ that was frequently said to us while we were crying about having our hair brushed. “Pretty is as pretty does” which was usually said when we were displaying ugly behavior. “It nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.” “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say nothing at all” I think that was barrowed from Disney (Thumper’s Mom). “It must have been the gremlins” that was said when no one would take responsibility for something being amiss in the house. If you think about that one, it’s kind of creepy. I mean who wants to have gremlins in their house? Another was “Waste not want not.” “There are starving children in other counties.” That was usually followed up with - so eat your dinner.
As far as growing Reid you can’t really go into idioms without thinking of Grandma , she has her own “A job begun is ½ way done” Which is really true some times the hardest part of a job is just getting started. When a word for an object escaped her then she would say the “whatsyamycallit” or the “thingamagiger.” It was actually a long time before I realized those were not even words. And of course the classic “Looks like your eyes were bigger than your stomach.”
-cherry
   This is your family your not going to get another one. Get your Elbows off the table Micheal Reid get your Elbows off the table the table this is not a horses table but a decent dining table get your elbows of the table Michael Reid. Sloppy Joes became everyone elses name so Joey wouldn't cry Sloppy Natalie's, Sloppy Tiffany's, Sloppy Cherry's, Sloppy Johnny's and my least favorite Sloppy Mike's. You make a better door than a window. Shut the door you weren't raised in a barn. -Mike