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

[Wilson Gray]

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 <Bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> 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) <i>News</i>, "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_candy_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_hes_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_the_partys_over/)
> ...
> _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/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_not_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_to_eat_meat_he_wouldnt_have_invented_steak_
> sauce/)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
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