For Pete’s Sake
The collection of phrases I swore I’d never say… and now can’t stop
I’ve written a couple pieces about decoding teen slang (you can find the OG piece here because I can’t be the only one who needs a translator)… and yes, I absolutely use it at home. Not always correctly, rarely on purpose, but with the confidence of someone who just learned one phrase and plans to ride it into the ground. My 15 year old says it gives secondhand embarrassment, which obviously means I double down.
And to keep me humble, there’s a very specific point in midlife where you realize you’ve become the final surviving carrier of phrases nobody under 30 has ever heard outside of a beauty parlor (do these places even still exist??) or on a rerun playing in the background at a dentist office.
“For the love of Peter, Paul and Mary,” is among my own personal top ten. And before anyone comes the fuck after me, no, I’m not being sacrilegious. Calm down for a sec, and take a breath! It’s just a light and breezy Ang special.
When I say it, the youngest looks at me like I’ve just quoted Abraham Lincoln from memory. Then five minutes later I hit him with “for Pete’s sake,” which by the way still absolutely slaps as a phrase. Timeless. Versatile. Works for traffic, bad customer service, people chewing too loud, and discovering someone put an empty Diet Coke can back in the fridge.
Also… why is Peter carrying this entire idiom franchise on his back?
And once you notice these phrases coming out of your mouth, you realize how many are just permanently baked into your operating system.
Like: “the state of your bed is the state of your head.” THIS ONE especially. My grandma Gemma used to say it, usually while aggressively pulling sheets tight enough to bounce a quarter off them. And now, every time my room (or for that matter, any room in the house) gets even a little chaotic, I hear her voice in full surround sound. Meanwhile, I’m stepping over a chair covered in yoga pants and sweatshirts… which, at this point, is basically my entire personality.
Then there’s “always the designer, never the dressmaker,” which she used to mutter over hours and hours-old coffee and a cigarette while quietly judging someone’s life choices… or the weight of her own endless, thankless jobs.
And can we discuss the wording choices I just can’t personally release?
ATM machine. PIN number. VIN number.
I know. The extra word serves no purpose. That said, we are ride or dies anyway.
Same with “beanie hat.” Apparently just saying “beanie” feels unfinished to me.
Gen X women especially carry around this incredible collection of inherited phrases from mothers, grandmothers, school secretaries, lunch ladies, mall cashiers, and women who survived life powered entirely by Aqua Net and stress.
Which is why phrases like these still hit immediately:
“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
“You’ve got another thing coming.”
“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
“Were you born in a barn?”
“You’ll live.”
And perhaps the most psychologically destabilizing sentence ever spoken by a mother: “We’ll see.”
Not yes. Not no. Just enough uncertainty to ruin your entire weekend.
The wild part is how fast one phrase can transport you.
I swear every time I say “for Pete’s sake” I am instantly back in my own iconic grandma’s house: floral wallpaper, a clock ticking loud enough to raise your blood pressure, the smell of burnt toast, and a ceramic chicken soup tureen sitting right in the middle of the kitchen table. (PS… why did every house have decorative geese dressed for the seasons? And why do I kind of miss them?).
Even the harsher sayings still live in my brain rent-free:
“Act your age.”
“Who died and made you queen?”
“Don’t make me come in there.”
Today’s teens would call these “emotionally unsafe,” ask “why does she low-key threaten everyone?” and immediately make a TikTok about it.
And yes, I have become the woman saying things like:
“I just sat down.”
“I can’t hear (or funny enough see) with all this yelling.”
“Don’t touch the thermostat.”
And my current daily favorite: “I walked into this room for a reason.” At this point my brain has the loading symbol spinning in the corner at all times.
But I weirdly love these old phrases because they bring people back. The women who raised us were funny, exhausted, overstimulated, wildly capable, and carrying entire households while telling everyone else to “quit crying before I give you something to cry about,” which… wow. Aggressive. Yet somehow culturally universal.
Their sayings were blunt. Efficient. Slightly alarming. Oddly comforting.
And maybe that’s why I don’t want them disappearing. I want “for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary” to survive. I want my own “grandma specials” to thrive. I want women our age to continue to yell “were you born in a barn?” at fully grown adult children who still can’t close a cabinet door.
That’s leaving a legacy.
Now, tell me the old people phrase living in your vocabulary right now because I know some of you are out here casually saying things like “cool your jets” without a shred of irony!
#RealGirlsGuidetoMidlife, #RealGirlsLingo, #MidlifePhrases, #GrannyLingo,
We’ve earned every wrinkle. Might as well make more laugh lines together.
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