Phrase-ology

THAT was a fun post earlier today.  Y'all have had me thinking about it all afternoon.  At first, I was very surprised that so many of you had not heard of "take what you get and don't throw a fit," until Melanie graciously reminded me that "get" and "fit" don't rhyme in all parts of the country. 

Sorry, I forget.  (Make that forgit.) 

I bet you northerners also use a writing pen ("pehn") too, don't you?  It's pronounced PIN, folks.  Or, more accurately, a PEE-uhn.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  Reading your responses and hearing that many of you find yourself sounding like your own parents makes me wonder: how many of you use the phrase "Because I said so!" with your kids?

Admit it.  You swore you'd never say it.  I swore I'd never say it.  I want to know, in all honesty, if anyone has been able to keep that oath.  Vote below.

Why?

Because I said so.

Comments

[peach]

I'll have to blog about my confusion with "pen", "pan" and "pin" when I first moved to Arkansas and the plumber came to visit my roommate's house to fix the garbage disposal.

I totally use and understand "Take what you get and don't throw a fit", but I have now spent almost half my life below the Mason Dixon line, too.

My real name didn't have two syllables until I moved to the South, but now it does and I'm fine with it. : )

[dana]

I think "get" and "fit" rhyme, but only because I'm a southern belle in disguise. :)

I tried to take the poll, but it's not working for me.

I haven't said the phrase yet, but I'm sure it'll come out of my mouth sometime!

[Kellie]

Raised in AZ I had never heard the "take what you git" phrase until I moved to NC. Now i say it ALL THE TIME, in my best Carolinian drawl!

[kelli]

Ok. I admit it. However, the first time, it came out it was "Because I'm your mother, and I say so".

And I turned to John, and said "Lord. I've become everything I swore I'd never be".

It was the end of an era.

[Sally]

I use a writing pen ("pehn") because I am a northerner. But I just love the southern pronunciation of words!!

And yes, I do say "because I said so" to my kids just like my Mom used to say to me. In fact, I even have a book called "Because I Said So."

[c.s.]

I SWORE I would NEVER be like my mother EVER and so did hubby (his mother as well as mine) and then we became parents...and now it is because we said so!

[Frigga]

Sorry, no kida yet. But when I was a kid if there's 1 phrase that let me know my parents either didn't even bother to listen to me, or don't have a real reason for what they say it was "Because I said so." So, eventually all I heard was "I don't really care."

Just my point of view of that phrase. :-)
Oh, and I'm here today via Amanda's TT13 post

[Megan (FriedOkra)]

Ah yes. Pee-yun. Like chee-yups and keee-yuds.

Y'all keeyuds stop eatin' up all 'em cheeyups or I'm gonna shut y'all up in the peee-yug pee-yun whar y'all buhlowng.

I say, "Because I said so" at LEAST three times daily. Thick headed, this kee-yud is. ;)

[Carrie]

My 4yo DD's teachers this year include Jim, Jan, and Jen and we all have TX accents. I'm doomed to confusion.

[Rambling Shan]

No kids here, but I have said "because I said so" to my students...

[Smockity Frocks]

WHAT?!?!? Pin and pen don't rhyme?

[Heather]

I do9n't get it--but then I am an English teacher's daughter born and bred in Western PA--which means we drink pop (soda is pop with icecream), a sub is called a hoagie, steak salsd has shaved steak and french fries on it, my mom baths instead of bathes, we warsh our clothes, poeple still use pokes instead of bags, and our dog says ruff, which rhymes with roof and sounds like oouf (the sound you make when someone hits you in the stomach, and we eat pierogies, keilbasa, fried chicken, and rigatoni at weddings

[Dani]

Equally incriminating, I have also used the words "Because your DAD said so!" I'm also a stepmom, and this is effective at reminding the kids that he is the disciplinarian, even when I get the honor of delivering the punishment.

[chilihead]

Not only do I say that, I say many other things as well. Like in response to, "Why does he/she get to ... ?" We like to say, "Because we like him/her better." Saving up for therapy right now.

[Mama]

It took me a while to figure out why you were clairifing get and fit to rhyme, then it hit me....those 2 words aren't poseta rhyme. Oops! I meant suppose to rhyme. HaHA
The one my Mom always said was "Get still" I never thought of it until my friend was sleeping over and she asked what "Get still" meant. I looked at her funny (didn't all Moms say it) and said, "Be quiet, NOW!!!!"
I don't say that one to my kids, but Grandma says it all the time and they know what it means!

[Smockity Frocks]

Okay, since Chilihead came out with it, I'll admit that when our kids ask, "Why does he/she get to..." We say, "Because he/she is our favorite!" Some kid always blows our cover, though, and says, "Mommyyyyy! You said I was your favorite!"

[diana/sunshine]

i voted that i have said that dreaded phrase but i don't think i've said it more than once or twice because i experienced a very bitter taste once the words left my mouth.

[Charity]

I had to laugh when I read this! I didn't realize it was supposed to rhyme!

I can't think of what I usually say, but it is similar in sentiment.

Sometimes I say, "Half a loaf is better than none," just to be a pain. We read that in "What Your [whatever] Grader Should Know" last year.

[Amanda Fowle]

LOL! Of course it rhymes! Haven't had to say the "because I said so", but we're just entering the Twos here.

[Jill]

i am from northern nj - drawers are draws...

and i have said "because i am the mommy.."

guilty as charged!

[Melanie]

I fessed up with the first post. I never said I wouldn't say it. It is the truth, though. She is supposed to do what her parents say "just because." It might not be PC or touchy feely, but them's the breaks.

And if you think this sounds harsh, folks, just relax. I am only telling her to clean her room, not anything dangerous like, oh clean the garage.

:>)

[crystal]

I don't LIKE to say it, but right now my 4yo is in the "But whyyyy" phase. Even to things that make totally no sense to ask why to, its just a stall tactic. Sometimes its the only way to make it stop.

[crystal]

We live in Seattle, but my in laws are all from Oklahoma. My MIL kept talking about this housing area called "chiminee hill", so I thought it was an Indian word. When we got there I saw the sign. CHIMNEY Hill Like as in the chim-ney that lets smoke out of your fireplace!

and its um-BREL-la, NOT UM-brella

[Karen @ Simply A Musing Blog]

they don't rhyme? really?

[Liz]

When I moved here, there was a lady in my church with the last name of Bell. Only, for about 6 months, I thought it was Bale - as in bale of hay. Finally I saw it in print and didn't know who she was because everyone always called her "Sis BALE"

It must have been funny listening to me with my yankee accent saying Sis BALE like everyone else. :)

[mandy]

oh i'm feelin' your pain!!!!
i'm a georgia transplant in Massachusetts....
believe me: the north & south speak two TOTALLY different languages!
:)

[LeeAnn]

Amen, amen! I was absolutely *never* going to say "Because I said so!" and I hung with it for at least 8 (maybe 9) years. There just comes a point that I got tired of explaining everything at least 30 million times for the same thing! :-)

[Nancy]

Our phrase is "you get what you get and you don't mind a bit!" My children are grown but I still think "because i said so" is a valid answer. :)

[Char]

I learned the fit saying from my daughters preschool teacher last year. Her's was slightly different in order to make it rhyme "You get what you get, and don't take a fit." And about the "Because I said so" phrase, I've switched it to "Because I asked you to." It shows my daughter how to respect someone that asks something of her, and I don't sound like my mother!

[Barbara H.]

Though I'm a born and bred Southerner, people tell me I don't have an accent. I used to get irked when a co-worker in a fabric store always referred to an "ink pen" -- I kept thinking it was redundant, she didn't need to say "ink" -- then I realized she said it that way because she said "pin" rather then "pen" and needed to distinguish between it and the other kinds of pins we had around.

[Jenn]

I totally swore I would never say that...but ya know, when they ask "why" 86 times a day, "because I said so" is so much easier :)

Up here in Nova Scotia, "get" and "fit" almost rhyme....if ya say it real fast.

And, oh yes, it's totally "pen" and not "pin" here.

[Jane]

LOL, I did think "Hmm... That doesn't rhyme." In my northern biased (can't hehlp it) That's why I say, "You geht what you geht and you don't get upseht." Next time I'm fixin to don a southern accent and say git and fit. I like to switch things up and keep 'em guessing!

[Jamie]

I never heard the pitch a fit phrase until I moved to GA, but I use it about once a week now.
I was always bugged that people spelled my maiden name (Kinney) as Kenny. Then my fiance told me that I was pronouncing it wrong.
One time I was walking into a breakables store with my mom and kids not to touch anything or I'd break their fingers. My mom pulled my husband aside and confessed that she was worried about me hurting the kids. I laughed, since that phrase was said everytime my sister and I went to the store with her. If we went to 3 stores right next door to each other, it was said 3 times. Some things you say as a mom come back to haunt you, even if it takes until you're a grandma!

[Rhonda]

Ha. I heard it so much growing up as a child in Arizona, that I named my blog in honor of the phrase.

[mombo]

I figure since God says, "Because I said so," to me, I'm just preparing my kids to obey Him.

[faithful chick]

Totally say it! Wanted to slap myself the first time I did, but I got over it. Sometimes that just has to be a good enough reason for your kids to mind. :)

[Nicci]

Oh man...I'm a Georgia peach and my Midwestern husband always cracks up before church when I ask him to get my baah-ble (Bible)
Or buy me a set of steak naahves (knives)
Or when I have a taste for fraahd (fried) chicken
And when he brings the baked chicken I tell him that I don't won't (want) it...

I could go on....LMBO at myself (said maah-sale-f)

[Lori - Queen of Dirty Laundry]

"Because I said so," is the one that I'm resisting the most. I really, really don't wanna go there! I have, however, said, "I'll give you something to cry about," and "You'll poke your eye out."

I really, really love Chili's "because I like her better," and intend to say it just as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

I actually learned "You get what you get..." from my daughter. LOVE IT! And of course it's pronounced GIT.

[Shalee]

Ours is "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." I'm all for it.

I'm a proud user of Because I said so. I figure if I said it, it's good enough.

And Chili, you've just confirmed what I've suspected all along. We are soul sisters to the core. "Because I like him/her more" is often said in our house. And I'm figuring that they can pay for their own therapy.

[Kathy of Tales of the HavinsNest]

When our kids were younger I was known to respond "Because I asked you to" when asked "Why" but I don't think I ever said, "Because I said so."

Our other major comment was in response to "That isn't fair." Ah, but, dear child, "The Fair is in Dallas, we live in Arlington. Live in Arlington isn't fair."

I talk Texan, all my words sound funny to others.

[TracyMichele]

I'm felling Mandy's pain.. born/raised in Maine.. trapped (ahem) living in TN. AHHHH. I don't know what most people are saying half the time. I'm just wondering how you all (and that is two words, folks.. haha) learned to identify syllables in school when chips clearly has 2 syllables in the south (cheeyups) but only one in New England..lol.

Yes, I have used "because I said so" but I have been through the "WHYYYYYY" phase twice now. I agree.. it's gotta be done. However, I do like the "training them to obey God" reasoning. Fantastic!!

[SingForHim @ Real Life]

We all have do to some things "because [someone] said so." (our boss, the teacher, God) So I'm really teaching my kids a valuable lesson.... Right? (wink)

[Heidi]

My mother generally gave me explanations about why stuff needed to happen, I think because she didn't get them as a kid. So one day when I was 10 or 11, I was making her tell me why I had to do something, and it occurred to me that I would have done it without the explanation, but I wasn't going to let her off the hook by telling her that. So yes, I say "because I told you so" some of the time. I usually explain why, but only once.