'Stood like Clem'

[tasha_78]

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

[scoobz]

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]

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]

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".

[scoobz]

Never heard of souse. Someone I know used to say 'stood like fourpence', but I've never heard anybody else say it.

[Bruno]

Were we stood like clems last sunday?

[scoobz]

Were we stood like clems last sunday?

 

No, that's impossible. You cannot have a plural for this term. If there was more than one of you, you would have to be all have been standing like Clem. There can only be one Clem.

[Bruno]

No, that's impossible. You cannot have a plural for this term. If there was more than one of you, you would have to be all have been standing like Clem. There can only be one Clem.

 

Thanks for that info... fellow Clem.

[lazarus]

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.

I have a book in front of me now about Hathersage and the word and the explaination is in it. I dont know how old you are but I can remember old Yorkshire & Lancashire Comedians & ordinary folk saying that they were fair CLEMMED when they were hungry.

[beechnut]

Never heard of souse. Someone I know used to say 'stood like fourpence', but I've never heard anybody else say it.

 

My dad also used to say "stood there like souse" and I tend to agree with hillsboro as to the likely origin of the phrase (which seems confined to Sheffield - though "soused herrings" are more of a seaside delicacy). Souse could also be the brine used for "dipping" pork joints etc. at the pork butcher's - though this seems to have died out nowadays.