Texas phrases (If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...merry Christmas)
Dennis R. Preston
preston at MSU.EDU
Thu Nov 30 12:03:49 UTC 2006
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 <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>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 <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
>
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>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
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755
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