All this talk about origins of expressions came from two sources. As I said yesterday, my sister-in-law suggested it last weekend. Just before I saw her, my husband and I had a heated discussion about a phrase their daddy used.
We got a new television for the upstairs bedroom. The one we were watching was a leftover from my horse showing days. It was in the living quarters of our trailer. It was fine there, but when you put it across the room, it is like watching TV on the back of a cereal box.
So, as we were hooking the set up, Howard notes the picture quality isn't as good as it is downstairs, "But," he says, "It beats a snowball."
What? What in the world are you talking about? He thought everybody had heard that expression and knew what it meant. "My daddy said it. Your daddy said it," he said. "You know....it beats a snowball."
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| This longhorn steer ornament on our Christmas tree looks like he has had nothing to eat but snowballs. |
I'm beginning to think dementia has set in. So I researched it, and this is what I found out.
Evidently, it was found in beef cattle lingo and has agricultural origins. For example, a farmer might put out bad hay that the cows weren't excited about eating. The farmer would say, "Well it beats a snowball."
I have more from my family and my in-laws, but what about yours? Give me some input.
Some of you are telling me they are having trouble leaving comments. I will try to repost when I can.
ReplyDeleteThis from Terry Pegram:
Oh, brother......I'll think on it.... word origins, especially southern are really amusing to me. My maternal grandmother would sometimes use this expression, "Don't send a small boy to plow." What do you make of that one? I still use it. I said it to my husband the other night and he said he had never heard it, but he knew for a fact it was true because when he was a little boy he would watch his daddy plow his mules. The rows Pap plowed were as straight as an arrow. Joe, at about the age of eight asked his daddy if he could try it. Of course his row meandered all over the field and Pap said he reckoned that would be enough of that for a couple of years. So, literally, that saying is true...my grandmother didn't mean it literally, of course. She meant when there is a job to be done you had better be darn sure you get the right person for the job....or it could even refer to how much castor oil one was to take..."Don't send small boy to plow". See what you can find out about that.....my grandmother was born in 1895 in Lewisburg, Mississippi.