Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...merry Christmas)

Fri Dec 1 16:40:25 UTC 2006

Dennis Preston:  As my old daddy used to say, hope in one hand and
shit in the
> other and see which fills up first.

Jonathan Lighter: No disrespect to dInIsIz daddy, but that's a well
known proverb in
> our rural districts.
>

Gershon Legman used a variant of that expression in a book, probably
in the 1960s or earlier, as his response to a threat of a law-suit,
offering it as an adaptation of the phrase "wish into one
hand. . . .":  "Sue into one hand and shit into the other. . . ."

By the way -- a number of year ago, there was discussion here of a
manuscript autobiography that Legman had left.  Does anyone know of a
plan to publish it?  If I recall, Fred Shapiro at the time was in
correspondence with Legman's widow.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From:  <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
Date: Friday, December 1, 2006 9:26 am
Subject: Re: Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and
nuts...merry Christmas)
>  JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------
> --------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and
> nuts...merryChristmas)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> Point taken, dInIs. And yo' daddy sho' had the poten'niss grasp on
the
> vicissitudes of life. I'm going to add that one to my own repertoire.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 11/30/06, Dennis R. Preston
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------
> --------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>
> > Subject: Re: Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and
> nuts...merry> Christmas)
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
> >
> > Wilson,
> >
> > What's annoying about it? I attribute pert nigh everything I say
> > that's of any folk value to my "old daddy," usually prefacing it
> with> "As my old daddy used to say...." My students even made me a
> t-shirt
> > with some the more delightful ones on the back.
> >
> > E.g.,
> >
> > ME: When you gone finish that dang dissertation proposal?
> >
> > STUDENT: Well, I hope....
> >
> > ME: As my old daddy used to say, hope in one hand and shit in the
> > other and see which fills up first.
> >
> > dInIs
> >
> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >-----------------------
> > >Sender: American Dialect Society
> > >Poster: Wilson Gray
> > >Subject: Re: Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and
> nuts...merry> > Christmas)
> > >----------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------
> > >
> > >Re: An East Texas slogan: "has become his own bluebird on the
> ground."> >In black East Texas, the saying is: "has got a bird's
> nest on the
> > >ground." It's one of my mother's most annoying sayings,
> inasmuch as
> > >she never fails to credit it to her father, "As Daddy used to say,
> > >'You've got a bird's nest on the ground.'" FWIW, her father was
> born> >in 1877.
> > >
> > >-Wilson
> > >
> > >On 11/28/06, Bapopik at aol.com wrote:
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >>-----------------------
> > >> Sender: American Dialect Society
> > >> Poster: Bapopik at AOL.COM
> > >> Subject: Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and
> nuts...merry> >> Christmas)
> > >>
> > >>---------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> > >>
> > >> My website (_www.barrypopik.com_ (http://www.barrypopik.com)
> ) had 14,579
> > >> hits yesterday, on 5,667 visits. If this keeps up, I can
> afford a Texas
> > >> Jack-in-the-Box meal every day!...I still have NY ads in my
Texas
> > >>section. So much
> > >> for Google keywords.
> > >> ...
> > >> Maybe someone can help on Texas phrase (only cite):
> > >> ...
> > >> ...
> > >> 22 March 1975, Port Arthur (TX) News, "Don Meredith the actor
> -- the
> > >> only way is up," pg. 16:
> > >> Dandy Don, once described by a member of the press as
> resident humorist,
> > >> country philosopher and sometime Cosell-baiter during four
> seasons on ABC's
> > >> Monday Night Football, has become his own bluebird on the ground
> > >>-- an East Texas
> > >> slogan meaning he doesn't have to climb the tree to pick the
> eggs anymore.
> > >> ...
> > >> ...
> > >> I looked at the Yale Dictionary of Quotations, and "Don
> Meredith" is not
> > >> there. No "turn out the lights, the party's over"? So, I
> checked "Willie
> > >> Nelson," the song's author. No Willie Nelson??
> > >> ...
> > >> No "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a
> merry Christmas"??
> > >> ...
> > >> FYI, some recent Texas phrase posts (any help appreciated):
> > >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/if_ifs_and_buts_were
_candy_an> >> d_nuts_wed_all_have_a_merry_christmas/_
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/if_ifs_and_buts_were_c
andy_and_nuts_wed_all_have_a_merry_christmas/> >> )
> > >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/stick_a_fork_in_him_
hes_done/> >> _
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/stick_a_fork_in_him_he
s_done/)> >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/turn_out_the_lights_
the_party> >> s_over/_
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/turn_out_the_lights_th
e_partys_over/)> >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/give_a_texan_an_enem
a_and_you> >> _can_bury_him_in_a_matchbox/_
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/give_a_texan_an_enema_
and_you_can_bury_him_in_a_matchbox/)> >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/i_wish_it_would_rain
_not_for_> >> me_cuz_ive_seen_it_but_for_my_7_year_old/_
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/i_wish_it_would_rain_n
ot_for_me_cuz_ive_seen_it_but_for_my_7_yea> >> r_old/)
> > >> ...
> > >>
> >
>
>>_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/if_god_didnt_want_us
_to_eat_m> > > eat_he_wouldnt_have_invented_steak_sauce/_
> > >>
> >
> >>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/if_god_didnt_want_us_t
o_eat_meat_he_wouldnt_have_invented_steak_> >> sauce/)
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >--
> > >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint to
> > >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > >-----
> > >-Sam Clemens
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> > --
> > It should be the chief aim of a university professor to exhibit
> > himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an
> ignorant man
> > thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
> > North Whitehead
> >
> > Dennis R. Preston
> > University Distinguished Professor
> > Department of English
> > Morrill Hall 15-C
> > Michigan State University
> > East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
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> > Fax: (517) 353-3755
> >
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> >
>
>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam Clemens
>
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