Back(s) of our necks

[Bill Le May]

My mother uses a curious phrase: "... if we *never* see the back(s) of our
necks." It's always spoken in the context of having finally accomplished a
small success after long effort.

For example, we play euchre and she is down 9-0.  Once her side wins a hand,
she says "Well at least we scored a point, if we *never* see the back of our
necks."

I can't make any sense of it, nor find any instance online. When I ask her
about it, she shrugs and replies, "It's just something you say."  There are
a lot of sayings associated with the card game of euchre, but I've never
heard anyone else use this phrase.

Maybe it's supposed to be "if we never see the back of THEIR necks", which
could analogize to running far behind everyone else in a footrace. I don't
know...

She was born in 1919 and grew up in Dubuque, Iowa.  Her mother grew up in
Elizabeth, Illinois, and her father in Nebraska.

I'm curious whether anyone else has heard this.

Bill Le May

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