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

[Dennis R. Preston]

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/)
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
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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
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org