"Creeks don't rise" (1901, 1908)

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, a black Saint Louis DJ, George "The G" Logan,  used "Be the Good
Lord willing and the creeks don't rise" as one of his many
catch-phrases, ca.1950 >. There was some discussion, at the time,
amongst listeners as to whether "creeks" was actually "Creeks" and not
"creeks." Naturally, The G was too smart to clear this up  Most of us
associated the phrase with '40's horse operas, hence "Creeks" was
considered a valid alternative. The 1901 cite from Australia appears
to solve the problem in favor of "creeks." Whew! I can finally get
some sleep! Now, if I can find any of my partners from those days and
they still give a damn ...

-Wilson

On 2/21/07, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Creeks don't rise" (1901, 1908)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is some sort of figurative usage from 1908:
>
> ----------
>
> _Portsmouth [OH] Times_, 28 Nov. 1908: p. 4:
>
> <<It sprinkled a bit Monday, just in mocking reminder of what might have
> been had we been wise enough to return to the good old Democratic days of
> "Divine Providence permitting and the creeks don't rise.">>
>
> ----------
>
> Here is an example of the original literal sense, I think:
>
> ----------
>
> Rolf Boldrewood, "Five Men's Lives for One Horse", in _In Bad Company and
> Other Stories_ (Macmillan [London], 1901), p. 214:
>
> [set in Australia]
>
> <<'I don't care if it rains till Christmas,' remarked a dissipated-looking
> youth, who had successfully finished a game of euchre with a dirty pack of
> cards and an equally unclean companion. 'It's no odds to us, so long's the
> creeks don't rise and block us goin' to the big smoke to blue our cheques.
> I don't hold with too much fine weather at shearin' time.'>>
>
> ----------
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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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'l Clemens

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