People Say Strange Things.

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A saying down here is logically wierd. People say things like "If your grandmother (Or mother of father etc) was alive right now she would turn in her grave".

Now logically someone who has been buried for a long time coming alive... Well that person would turn in their grave if they could because I would imagine that after lying in the same position for so long they would be rather stiff, so of course they would turn in their grave if they were alive if that makes sense?

Where do people get these funny sayings from and why are they so serious when they say them? What do they mean anyway? Why say it if they don't know why they are saying it? It does not make sense! And they think I can be the wierd one! HAHAHAHAHA!

And I hope they were not alive when you buried them as they would not be at all happy! Or is that what the saying means? Who knows!

Logic is irrelevant here, they are just trying to insult you by suggesting that your grandma would be very disappointed and shocked by what you've done. Humans love putting others down to feel better about themselves, so they put a lot of effort and creativity into their insults... :3

Its not usually used to put down the person being addressed by the speaker. That expression is used to comment upon ...society...the times we live in....or like that. A great person in your country's past is often invoked.

In the US when I was a grade school kid in the Sixties you would hear folks say things like "If Abe Lincoln were alive today he would puke, or be horrified..." or like that. And you would also hear "If Abe Lincoln saw that he would turn in his grave".

Then occasionally SOME folks would conflate the two expressions and accidently make themselves into a laughingstock by saying "if Abe Lincoln were alive today he would turn in grave" ( which is illogical for the reasons the OP says).

But after so many decades the conflated version may have become normalized, despite how ret*d it is, in some corners of the English speaking world. Though I dont hear either expression around here much anymore.