A Word Edgewise |
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A Word Edgewise |
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Last Updated 06/30/05
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A Word Edgewise
IS ANYTHING A LED-PIPE CINCH ANY MORE?
By Mary Joe Clendenin
When the Oliver Womack family, my mother’s folk, moved from Mississippi to Texas, my mother was eleven years old, if I remember the story correctly. She told of that move by train, space on a boxcar was rented to carry the family milk cows, horses, and dogs. The family rode in the passenger car to Jones County, Texas. All of that to say that mother was always proud of her Mississippi accent which Texas failed to completely erase in 77 years.
We used to tease mother for her lack of “r’s” in her speech. She said ca’ for car, and wa’ for war, well maybe not completely, but very little pronunciation of r’s. When we teased her, she was not in the least disturbed. “Well, I talk my way, and you talk your way.”
I think she brought two of her favorite sayings, via her own mother, from Dixie: “Beauty is as beauty does.” She often said that when we gave a hint of vainness. And “Curiosity killed the cat,” when we relented to the urge to “meddle” in things not supposed to be disturbed.
Seems that all people have some favorite saying. Jimmy Townsend, in IT’S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT DIXIE, lists some other axioms, some of which I’ve never heard. Prepare yourself. I intend to tell you a few others, several of which I don’t believe, such as: “Brains are what you look for in a girl when you’ve looked at everything else.” Well, maybe so, but shouldn’t be.
“No matter what happens, there is always someone who knew it would.”
“A conservative is someone who thinks nothing should be done for the first time.”
“Happiness is fine, but it takes grief to make a man.”
“When the other person gets that way, he’s ugly. When you do, it’s nerves.”
“Chewing gum
proves that you can have motion without progress.
“It ain’t no use putting up your umbrella until it rains.”
There is a difference between keeping your chin up and sticking your neck out.”
“You can’t plow a field by turning it over in your mind.”
“Hate and envy are weapons that man uses to cover up his own shortcomings.”
Well, Mr. Townsend had many more examples.
What people say and why they say it that way, is interesting to me. After we lived in New Mexico for twenty years where I noticed differences in ways of talking from Texas ways, return to Texas made Texas talk sound different.
In New Mexico “or” and “our” sound just alike. So did the names “Mike” and “Mack.” Of course, more Spanish words appeared automatically in speech.
In thinking about this article—though it may appear thoughtless—I found some interesting sources of words and sayings we use in normal conversation.
For instance, we probably all say “O.K.” every day. Where did that expression come from? Well, one source says that when Martin Van Buren, born in Kinderhook, New York, ran for a second term as president against William Henry Harrison, his supporters lauded him as Old Kinderhook. In New York City they formed a booster club and launched a campaign to raise money and win votes. In 1840 the newspaper published a headline “The Democratic O.K. Club are ordered to meet Tuesday evening.”
The president’s abbreviated nickname became so popular it hung on even after he lost the campaign for a second term.
Now, I’m going to “let the cat out of the bag.” That saying used to have a literal meaning back in the early days, more than a hundred years ago, when British tenants farmed land belonging to gentry. They were supposed to give part of all produce for rent, but some sold suckling pigs considered a delicacy and easily carried, without reporting the transactions. Black market animals were bought by butchers at bargain prices.
Some shrew farmer substituted a cat for the pig in the underhand transactions. It became such a common practice that some butchers began opening the sacks before buying. They refused to buy when they “let the cat out of the bag.”
Well, my yarn is spun, so I may as well go knit for a bit. Hope you at least found a little amusement in this wandering bit. My mom would probably be uncomplimentary. Once, in the last years she lived with us, one day when I was getting ready to go teach, she was watching me very closely. I said, “You look at me as if I had lost my marbles.”
She said, “I do think you’ve dropped a few.”
You may agree with her.