Feeling as good as a pig laying in a pile of fresh mud!

Heidi ho to one and all on this Wednesday, June 23, 2010. Only a few of you will recognize the greeting as being from the Cab Calloway hit of 1931, Minnie the Moocher. (Some might remember Cab's performance of this tune from the 1980 Blues Brothers movie.) I suppose I could start off by telling us all to mind our 'P-s and Q-s' but you would then wonder, not what it means, since many of us know what it implies, but rather, how did we come to use it as an admonition to pay careful attention to our appearance and behavior. The answer is not at all clear but that doesn't stop us from using it, or, at least some of us old enough to remember when it was a common saying. Common sayings come and go and often they bear no resemblance to what they originally intended. Take for instance the phrase, 'to give free reign'. It is used today to imply that a person has full authority to do whatever he or she chooses to accomplish their purpose. It was originally associated with giving the horse his own head in a race, hence, to give him free reign. It started off exclusively used in horse racing and as we can see, the rest is history. I was very young but I do remember my grandparents having an outdoor toilet or outhouse as they were called. In my granddad's way of looking at things he had a particular problem with folks who didn't observe proper protocol in the use of this facility. He would say something like, "He was just too lazy to even strike a match." For the uninformed, the match was needed to help deal with the odor and anyone who failed to show this basic courtesy was not well thought of by my grandfather. If you were to go around saying things like this today folks would think it begs the question. Of course 'begs the question' is another saying that has come to mean setting forth the need for a question to be answered as opposed to its original meaning. To beg the question originally was a question loaded with presumption that may or may not be true. It could be something like, "Why are there no trees in Texas?" That begged question implies something that isn't true because there are trees in Texas. However, it no longer means what it did originally and now to beg the question means what it means, and that's how it works. In any case, there really are trees in Texas, so there!

You have probably guessed by now that I enjoy thinking about words, sayings, phrases, and word usage. You probably know by now that even though the folks called it 'Bob wire' back home, it really is barbed wire. I do hear the word 'bidness' used instead of business quite a lot but I like 'bidness' any way, even though the purists would turn up their noses. That reminds me of how many idioms are used that involve the nose. You can have your nose out of joint when things aren't going your way. You can follow your nose as you pursue your instincts. When you are on your best behavior you are said to be keeping your nose clean. Hard workers are said to be keeping their nose to the grindstone. When you are flippant about something you might just say, "It's no skin off my nose." And finally, when you come in really close but you win, you actually win just by a nose. See what I mean? I know these kinds of tidbits are not every one's cup of tea, (notice that one), and they may tend not to float your boat, (another one), but for some of us, they are the cat's meow, (that's three pretty good ones in one sentence). I rest my case and in so doing I not only deny the allegation, but I also deny the alligator.

I do know this. My lingo is dated and many of the colorful phrases I use make absolutely no sense to many if not most of the younger folks. I can do a quote from a great movie or a memorable line from a TV series or commercial and get the blank stare. When I use some of my grandfather's illustrative ways of explaining things, I end up spending more time explaining the illustration than in making the point. It gets tiring but there are times when a situation occurs or I see something and it happens. One of those wonderful sayings from back in my years past, jumps into my mind. Someone told me today that when it rains it pours and I told them that was right because I remember seeing the little girl on the Morton's Salt Box with an umbrella and underneath it, it had that very saying. She replied with a huge sigh, "Huh?" And, that's the story of life in the real world. It can be like just one big old huge --- huh? But, that's okay, it does not deter me even if I do end up having to explain the explanation of the examples I've given, but preserving the sayings I grew up hearing are important, to me, if not to anyone else. Therefore, I send you out today to go forth and prosper but if you want to stay in good with Paw Paw Mac, do not forget to strike a match! May God bless. Amen. ......More later.