As a rather green and sheltered teenager I received much ‘advice’ about life from the older members of my East End family; parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. To brighten up your Wednesday, here’s a sprinkling of the ones I remember from those heady days when I thought I knew everything:
- Keep your hand on your ha’penny.
- I ain’t knitting any matinee coats, so don’t bring any ‘trouble’ home.
- Never get married.
- Nobody needs to eat more than three biscuits.
- All you can believe in the newspapers is the date on the front page.
- He’ll only be after one thing…
- Universities are only for lawyers, doctors and teachers.
- Have your hair thinned out.
- You’ll never earn any money if you want to be a writer.
- Live within your means.
- Everything in moderation.
- You get used to anything in time.
- Buck up and get on with it.
- Get a job in a bank.
- Don’t lend or borrow money.
- Don’t sit on cold surfaces.
- Never sit on public toilet seats.
- Don’t listen to rock music; they’re all on drugs.
No wonder my head was spinning! What advice were you told as a teenager? Did you ever act on it?
John Maberry said:
Lots of funny stuff illustrating changing times. 🙂
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks!
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mariaholm said:
I enjoyed that list Stevie! The one about the newspaper is very relevant today. I didn’t get advice so I got lost. There was so much that was not mentioned in my youth. Like not existing
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watchingthedaisies said:
My poor Dad must have been a bag of nerves bringing up myself and three other sisters after my mum died. Yet, he never gave us advice as such. God bless him.
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Osyth said:
My granny used to add to the advice about cold surfaces that ‘you’ll get piles’ and vis a vis skimpy tops that didn’t join the bottoms (hipster loons and tiny Ts were my thing) …. think of the kidneys in the butchers …. covered in lard! Love this
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Stevie Turner said:
LOL!
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robjodiefilogomo said:
These are hilarious Stevie!! Tell me, what is a ha’penny?
The one I’ve heard about moderations is “Everything in moderation including moderation”
Thanks for the laugh!!
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
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Stevie Turner said:
It’s short for a halfpenny, which was a UK small coin before decimalisation. However, ‘keeping your hand on your ha’penny’ has an altogether different meaning, if you catch my drift!
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robjodiefilogomo said:
Ahhhhhh!!
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franklparker said:
On the subject of careers, when I said I’d like to join the local paper as a trainee reporter: “Only the best get to Fleet Street, and nobody else makes any money. Get a proper trade then you’ll have something to fall back on if you try writing and fail.”
And, yes, I took it.
At a time when there were only 2 TV channels broadcasting around 8 hours a day, no weekend supplements in the newspapers and far fewer magazines, it seemed like sound advice.
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Bernadette said:
You don’t need to go to college. You are going to get married anyway.
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Stevie Turner said:
I was told that ‘people like me’ didn’t go to university!
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rochellewisoff said:
I was given that piece of ‘advice’ by a high school guidance counselor. “You’re not college material. Go to trade school or get married.”
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Stevie Turner said:
Wonderful isn’t it? How times have changed thank goodness!
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rochellewisoff said:
Yes. I did try to find that counselor and say, Hey. I’m a published author now. What do you think of that? And how many other young lives did you damage way back then? Alas, I haven’t been able to locate him.
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Stevie Turner said:
It would be a ‘him’, wouldn’t it? Perhaps he was sacked for giving misogynistic information.
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rochellewisoff said:
Works for me. 😉
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thejuicenut said:
Being warned not to: dye my hair/wear nail polish/false nails/ hooped earrings/have my ears pierced because it was ‘common’!
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Stevie Turner said:
Did you take any notice?
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thejuicenut said:
I used a wash-in wash-out subtle hair rinse, I hid my large hooped earrings in my bag until I got round the corner, I only used clear nail polish and I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was 27 (with money my parents gave me for my birthday!!) But then I started wearing navy blue, black and burgundy nail polish too and it was all down hill from there 😂 Oh, and I never got rheumatism!
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Stevie Turner said:
Every time I went out with my friends as a teenager, my dad would look at me and say “You can take all that s**t off your face before you go out.” I’d take it off, go to my friend’s house, and put it all back on again!
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thejuicenut said:
Haha My dad used to call my false eyelashes ‘carpet sweepers’ but he only made me take off my eye make-up once because it was too much and he offered to buy the hooped earrings off me. He wasn’t a tyrant, just looking out for me as a young teenage girl. The only thing we really fell out over was the earrings.
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thejuicenut said:
Oh and re very mini mini skirts: you’ll get rheumatism before you’re twenty!
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thejuicenut said:
Keep your legs crossed!!!
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Clive said:
Maybe it was just me, but the one I heard a lot was ‘take your hands out of your pockets and stand up straight’ 😊
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Stevie Turner said:
Ha ha, yes I remember that one too.
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