'Stood like Clem'

[scoobz 10]

A bit random this, but I wondered if anybody knows where the saying 'Stood like Clem' comes from. My Dad used to use the phrase and I use it, but lots of people look at me gone out these days when I say it, so it would be nice if I could tell them where it comes from.

My Dad always used to say that Clem was a statue in Locke Park in Barnsley, but I can't find reference to this anywhere.

All I do know is that it is a great way of telling someone to get a move on!

[Kidorry 189]

The statue in locke park would be of Joseph Locke the engineer which it is named after.

[Kidorry 189]

A bit random this, but I wondered if anybody knows where the saying 'Stood like Clem' comes from. My Dad used to use the phrase and I use it, but lots of people look at me gone out these days when I say it, so it would be nice if I could tell them where it comes from.

My Dad always used to say that Clem was a statue in Locke Park in Barnsley, but I can't find reference to this anywhere.

All I do know is that it is a great way of telling someone to get a move on!

Could it be a reference to the prime minister Clement Attlee just after the war.

[scoobz 10]

Could it be a reference to the prime minister Clement Attlee just after the war.

 

Could be, I'd already wondered about that when I googled 'stood like Clem' and there was come reference to Clement Attlee came up. Somehow though I think there's a Barnsley connection cos my Dad was from Barnsley. Any Barnsley folk out there?

[Joanl 12]

I was often told to "gerron wiyit then, don't stand theer like Clem" and we lived in Attercliffe. I really don't think it was specific to Barnsley cos I heard it from lots of people then.

[DUFFEMS 55]

My family were all Sheffielders back through the generations and "stood/standing like Clem" was always in our family vocabulary so I doubt if it's a Barnsley expression, I always assumed that it was linked to Clement Attlee.

Incidentally, in your original post you said another local phrase: "lots of people look at me gone out", I'm sure that is definitely a Sheffield one.

[Urien 10]

My mother's family were 100% Sheffield. They used the phrase "like Clem" too so it wouldn't be anything to do with Barnsley.

 

Another phrase my mother would use when something looked a mess was that, "it looks like k-c's (spelling?) coat.

[painterman 10]

Are you sure she did not say Casey's court, the Sheffield accent can confuse, Ha Ha . Try the link below

 

 

 

 

http://goinguphill.blogspot.com/2004/12/phrases-in-their-twilight-years.html

[rubydazzler 11]

Another phrase my mother would use when something looked a mess was that, "it looks like k-c's (spelling?) coat.

painterman's right, it would have been "Casey's Court"

 

One thing which I'm sure was specific to Heeley or even just my family was "It looks like Yun Bun's in here", when there was a lot of washing hanging about on the rack etc. The Yun's ran a Chinese Laundry on Heeley Bottom in the old days apparently.

 

Anyone else ever heard it?

[hillsbro 28]

One thing which I'm sure was specific to Heeley or even just my family was "It looks like Yun Bun's in here", when there was a lot of washing hanging about on the rack etc. The Yun's ran a Chinese Laundry on Heeley Bottom in the old days apparently. Anyone else ever heard it?

 

Yes - my Heeley cousins used to say "it looks like Yun Bun's been here". The laundry was at 47 Chesterfield Road. I think the Yuns also owned the Goldfish Bowl chippy, just off the Moor. Yun Bun lived to a ripe old age and is buried at Crookes Cemetery.

 

I don't remember "stood like Clem" but my mum always said "stood there like souse".

[scoobz 10]

painterman's right, it would have been "Casey's Court"

 

One thing which I'm sure was specific to Heeley or even just my family was "It looks like Yun Bun's in here", when there was a lot of washing hanging about on the rack etc. The Yun's ran a Chinese Laundry on Heeley Bottom in the old days apparently.

 

Anyone else ever heard it?

 

Oi you, hijacking my thread . Very interesting though, even if it is off-topic. going back to the Barnsley link for 'Clem', the reason I think there's a connection with Barnsley is down to my Dad answering "He's a statue in Locke Park" every time we asked him who Clem was. It could well be that it was just something he said to shut us up!

[rubydazzler 11]

Oi you, hijacking my thread . Very interesting though, even if it is off-topic. going back to the Barnsley link for 'Clem', the reason I think there's a connection with Barnsley is down to my Dad answering "He's a statue in Locke Park" every time we asked him who Clem was. It could well be that it was just something he said to shut us up!

Sorry! mmm, standing around like Clem was an old saying, deffo. And standing/looking like souse was another one, and, like a spare part. I also love 'looking gone out'. We should start trying to bring back the old sayings, they were a lot more fun than the recent ones, innit?