Lebofsky lexicon

[James C Stalker]

Surely there are others.  When I was a lad, just out of college, (1962)
making my way in the world peddling college text books to uninterested profs
(or as we say now, being a manufacturer's rep), the "your barn door is open"
metaphor was my default cue to check my fly. However, I did learn quite
early that not everyone shared my language or metaphors.  I had driven (in
the days before interstates) from Ashville, NC to Knoxville, TN, during a
snowstorm on two lane roads.  I was a bit whipped.  I checked into my hotel
about supper time, gathered my energies, and headed to the restaurant for
supper (or dinner, depending on your dialect).  These were the ancient days
when there were elevator operators.  I got on the elevator.  The young black
woman operating the elevator glanced at me and said, "It's three o'clock."
I being young, linguisically naive, befuddled, and perhaps even dense, said,
"No it's not.  It's 7:00 o'clock (or whatever it was)."  There were, by the
way, several other passengers on the elevator.  She, somewhat disgustedly,
looked at me and said, "Your fly is open."  I zipped my fly and tried to
assume some composure, unsuccessfully I'm sure.  At least, I don't remember
anyone laughing out loud.  I also learned that evening, after dinner in the
bar, from a conversational partner that readin' writng is easier than
writin' readin'.
He has stood me in good stead these many years.

Jim

Peter A. McGraw writes:

> Wow--I had no idea there were any variations to this that didn't involve a
> barn door and a cow.  The usual version in So. California in the late
> 40s-early 50s was simply "your barn door's open," and only from one boy
> (my
> best friend, as it happens) did I hear what was probably the original,
> full
> form of this: "Barn door's open and the cow's comin' out!" sung to the
> tune
> of the universal (as far as I know) "nyaa nyanya nyaa nyaa!  I think it
> was
> a simple matter of imagery rather than having any connection with the
> metaphor of the horse and the tardily secured barn door.
>
> Tangentially, I wonder if anybody else experienced the practical joke that
> made the rounds in Oregon in the late 50s or so:
>
> First boy: "Your hobby's open!"
> Second boy: (Hastily checks fly.)
> First boy: "Ha ha--I didn't say anything about your fly, I said your
> hobby!"
>
> Peter Mc.
>
> --On Monday, May 2, 2005 3:43 PM -0400 Laurence Horn
> <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
>>> The barn[sic] door's open and the horse is running out.
>>>
>>> I don't know why we said "barn" and not "stable," since horses,
>>> horse-drawn wagons, and stables for horses all were still commonplace
>>> in my childhood, but there were no barns.
>>
>> We had no barns but a few stables in NYC (for those NYPD horses), but
>> "closing the barn door after the horses are out/have escaped" (or
>> variations) was a standard metaphor, not specifically for closing
>> one's fly; perhaps this (which I haven't heard, any more than the N
>> o'clock one) is a variation on that theme.  The question of why it's
>> the barn and not the stable door would really apply to the more
>> general and I think more widely extant metaphor for the too
>> little/too late reference.
>
>
>
> *****************************************************************
> Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
> ******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University