I was watching Night #3 of Ken Burns “Country Music” on PBS. If you aren’t watching, you certainly should be. There’s enough information in the program to make both Doug Davis’ and my head spin. However…I came upon a real head-scratcher.
Last night covered, among beloved artists such as Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and others, the life and times of Hank Williams. That was appropriate; after all, Hank’s birthday was yesterday. I celebrated him on the air. Anyway, Hank’s friend Jimmy Key was interviewed. Key was talking about Hank’s last days. He said that Hank showed up at his apartment and “He looked like Death, eating a cracker.” Say WHAT?
I love old Southern descriptive sayings. There are many, from my family, that I still use. Things like:
“Come on in out of the weather!”(an obvious one)
“I must be Ned in the First Reader.” Meaning, that I don’t understand what you are saying, and I must be stupid, or something. This one comes from my Aunt Lucille, who taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Fomby, AR early in her teaching career. No doubt she used the First Reader, and Ned didn’t get things right a lot. That’s all I can figure about that one.
“That car is going up the road, like a broke-tail dog.” A description of my mother’s, who saw the rear-end of a vehicle that sat poorly on the axle.
“Oh, he/she/they are crazier than Adam’s Off Ox!” Who was Adam? The first one? Another one? And what was wrong with the ox, anyway?
“Death, eating a cracker?” What an image. I can kind of see that in my head. Can you? These old sayings are just a few that I can remember right now.
Do you have any old sayings, than have been passed down? And what are they? Please do share with me here. It could be, I will remember with you.