A local use for DARE

[Wilson Gray]

For _red-eyed_, DARE has only

1. "Crazy, furious. 2. See quot: "... red-eyed ... " (red-handed)"


I've known this phrase as long as I've known Ang-lish, but with none
of the above meanings. In East-Texas - specifically, Marshall, TX -
BE, it's a euphemism for "God-damned" or such like:

"Your head is as hard a *rock*! Can't anybody tell you a _red-eyed_ THING!"


Needless to say, the numberless circumstances under which I heard this
phrase were never pleasant. That's probably why I haven't recalled it
till now.
--
-Wilson
–––
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.
-----
-Mark Twain

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