This morning, Sheila sent a text into The Early Breakfast - she had seen twelve magpies. TWELVE!
"Just arrived in Kiltegan and I see 12 magpie on the grass. What does that mean?" - Sheila.
Well, as the poem goes:
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss
...erm...
Eleven for a new motto...and....
Twelve you will WIN THE LOTTO!
Ok, we may have made up the last bit but it’s good to bring some cheer to a Wednesday!
- “That magpie poem has brought back memories for me too. Hadn’t heard it in years. For some reason, it reminded me of other things my mam used to say to me. The wooden spoon and the threat of getting square eyes from the TV!” – J in Laois
Parents were awful liars weren’t they? I believed for years that eating a hot bun out of the oven would give me a pain in my tummy – until last year. That was a total lie, designed to (understandably) get rid of me from under my mam’s feet.
The problem is, when you tell children lies and don’t tell them it’s a lie, they go on to be laughed at as adults. And it wasn’t just me! Have a look at how parents are often big dirty liars!
- “Paula my favourite is when I hear the wife say “I’m counting to 3. ONE...TWOOOO...never gets to 3. What do they think will happen?!”
- “If you picked a dandelion you’d wee the bed.”
- “Hi Paula dandelions are diuretic, they do make you pee, the French name is 'pis en lit'. But you have to ingest them! So that's true!” - Best wishes, Anne Fogarty
- “Speaking of being lied to! When I was younger there was a factory just outside the town I lived, and when I asked what was made in the factory my dad said buttons. I asked chocolate buttons? He goes no, rubber buttons! So that was grand, years went by me thinking it was rubber buttons until I was well into adulthood!”
- “I was always told that if I sat on the footpath when it started getting chilly, I’d get a cold in my kidneys; if I went to bed with wet hair I could die” – these could be true?!
- “Wet hair going to bed? Well I have been doing it for years...I put a towel on my pillow to soak up the damp and I have one on my head ...eh I am still here!” - Phil in Drimnagh
- “Paula if you sit on a concrete step, you get piles. If you switch from a warm seat to a cold seat, you get piles!” – Piles Correspondent Jim McCrory via Snapchat”
- 'The one most often used by my dad ... ‘If you turn your eyes in and someone smacks you on the back they'll stay that way' Never stopped us, though.” - Dave, Clondalkin.
- “Wait until your father gets home!!”
- “My dad always told me if you lay on your back at night you have bad dreams I've never been able to lie on my back since!” – Barry
- “Hey Paula, Helena in Cork here. That "lie" about nightmares if you sleep on your back is actually true. As told to me by doctor, it's something about blood flow to back of head (?)...or have I just been lied to also? I'm 34!”
- “My wife convinced our young boys that their willies would fall off if they learned her secret to making scrambled eggs. They would head for the hills when she started cooking!” - Phil
- “Sweetpea my mam used to say when we were sulking if you don't take that face off ya the wind will change and you will look like that forever. The gas thing is I’m 40 now, and she still says it...oh god I hope it won't happen!” - Jayo
- If you pick your nose too much your head will cave in” - Fin, Skerries
- “We were told as children to behave when out as our mother could see through the walls and would be watching us.”
- “We were always threatened with boarding school. It worked! The fear was real!” - Chris in the truck Chris, didn’t you ever read Enid Blyton? Boarding school was a brilliant threat! Okay, good – SEND ME SO!
- “My brother told me I was swapped as a baby in the hospital and we don't know my real parents” - Joe in Athy
- “We were always asked to show our mother our tongue if she thought we were lying. She'd say "there's a black mark on your tongue you’re lying”
- “My brother told me so many lies but one of them was when I asked what a huge chimney down the Marina in Cork was for he said it was where they kept the flies for the summer. I believed it for years”
- “Hi Paula. My little girl has real difficulty letting me go back out to the farm if I need to go at bedtime. She accepts it when we tell her that Granddad Con needs help. So when I'm busy, I do the bedtime stories and then her Mam comes in to tell us Granddad rang. Poor thing must think Grandad is helpless!” - Conor
The lollipop lady in Dunboyne told my kids she lives in a cave underneath the pedestrian crossing @sweetpmac 😂 #LittleLies
— Sinead Spain (@sineadspain) June 14, 2017
