'Stood like Clem'

[rubydazzler 11]

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".

YAY! hillsbro, at last someone else that's heard it! I still say it to myself on washing day. Although it was actually said as a reprimand as I remember. Like, why is there damp washing lying around all over the house, get it shifted!

[Plain Talker 11]

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.

 

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

 

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?

 

It was "Casey's court", definitely.

 

I shocked a friend some years ago by using that phrase, (my pal came from Birmingham, and wasn't familiar with "Sheffieldisms")

 

I didn't know her maiden-name was "Casey"! Until I explained that it was a Sheffieldism, that my family frequently used, she was quite affronted.

 

Picture the scene. Myself and sister fighting/ playing/ generally getting up to kids' mischief... making a lot of racket, as is the wont of kids..

 

Mother storms into attic/ bedroom "Mek less row will yer! It's like Casey's bleedin' coo-ert in 'ere!"

 

Never heard of Yun-Bun he must be local to Woodseats:- if we'd made a mess, my mother would say "It looks like a ruddy bomb's hit it!" (occasionally my Gran would say "wreck of the Hesperus")

[flyer 10]

Clem was a bare knuckle fighter who never backed up an inch, of course i don't know what the heck i,m talking about,but when u get to my age you can all sort of liberty's:D:D:D

[lazarus 68]

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!

It comes from the slaughtering of Animals, the night or day before any animal was due to be slaughtered they were put in a CLEMMING HOUSE so any food they had cosumed could pass through their stomachs thus also emptying their bladder & bowels thus making the slaughter and butchery a bit more cleaner. So if you are Clemmed or feel like Clem you are hungry & your stomachs empty, thin people were also associated to this reference too. All this is perfectly true.

[scoobz 10]

It comes from the slaughtering of Animals, the night or day before any animal was due to be slaughtered they were put in a CLEMMING HOUSE so any food they had cosumed could pass through their stomachs thus also emptying their bladder & bowels thus making the slaughter and butchery a bit more cleaner. So if you are Clemmed or feel like Clem you are hungry & your stomachs empty, thin people were also associated to this reference too. All this is perfectly true.

 

A good story, but I'm not convinced. I've never heard it used regarding somebody who was starving. In my experience it's always been used to emphasise the fact that someone was standing about uselessly. We would never say that you 'felt like Clem', it was always 'stood like Clem', or 'hanging about like Clem'. And you always felt that Clem was a person. Maybe it was Clement Attlee.

[Kidorry 189]

It comes from the slaughtering of Animals, the night or day before any animal was due to be slaughtered they were put in a CLEMMING HOUSE so any food they had cosumed could pass through their stomachs thus also emptying their bladder & bowels thus making the slaughter and butchery a bit more cleaner. So if you are Clemmed or feel like Clem you are hungry & your stomachs empty, thin people were also associated to this reference too. All this is perfectly true.

I always understood it to be Clammed if you were hungry.

[loobylou2008 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!

 

WELL !!!!!!! i said this to my fella the other day cos i was fed up of waiting for him . he looked at me as if i was talking a foreign language, Mind you he is from west yorkshire!!

[retep 68]

A good story, but I'm not convinced. I've never heard it used regarding somebody who was starving. In my experience it's always been used to emphasise the fact that someone was standing about uselessly. We would never say that you 'felt like Clem', it was always 'stood like Clem', or 'hanging about like Clem'. And you always felt that Clem was a person. Maybe it was Clement Attlee.

 

Or St Clement "Old Clem" patron saint of blacksmiths, who would have been stood still with an anchor tied to his feet and chucked into the sea.

[tasha_78 10]

My Mum used to say "stood there like souse", where does that come from?

[scoobz 10]

Or St Clement "Old Clem" patron saint of blacksmiths, who would have been stood still with an anchor tied to his feet and chucked into the sea.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I'm certain that that's the answer, although I bet any money that my Dad never knew that that's where it come from. Reason being is that he himself was a blacksmith for over 40 years! How about that for a coincedence. So no Barnsley link then, probably his little wind-up telling us it was.

Cheers to everybody for theuir posts on this, even the 'wrong' suggestions were interesting!

[Mrs H Solo 10]

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.

 

No they use that one round where I live on the Notts/Derby border, also they use one "running around like wonno"? - strange folk.

[hillsbro 32]

My Mum used to say "stood there like souse", where does that come from?

Souse is a liquid, such as vinegar or brine, used for pickling. Traditionally, a tub of brine stood in the middle of the floor where herrings were being processed. After being gutted, the herrings were dropped into the tub of brine, which "stood there like souse".