And the Cold Goes On!

 Another cold day today. I don't believe it got out of the single numbers above zero all day. Perhaps briefly if the thermometer was in direct sunlight in a spot sheltered from the sun, but there was a north wind that, out in the open, brought temperatures well below zero. When I measured the snow this morning at 9 a.m. (less than half an inch), it was 0.1F and the wind chill was registering 8-10 below zero. I didn't linger shoveling off the deck, believe me! The sunshine perked everyone up, all the same. Tonight will be another cold one, it's already -0.7F and by morning will be around -20F. I lucked out today - the mailman didn't stop at my mailbox, so I didn't have to trek down in the cold. I was actually halfway looking forward to it, just to have a reason to get out in the sunshine; but the sensible half of me was happy to stay safely inside where it is warm.

Jamie (my son who lives just up the road from me and calls every morning before he goes to work), asked me today if I know where the expression, "had the radish" comes from. I had no clue, but it's a favorite saying for lots of people I know when a piece of machinery breaks down or anything is deemed useless. It's one thing to grasp the meaning of these old colloquialisms, but knowing their origin is something else. 

So I Googled it. One source said it originated from the film, "Gone With the Wind," but I know the phrase was in Vermonters' vocabulary long before that movie came out; there were a few other suggestions, but the one that I think is probably the most likely, especially since Canada is our neighbor and lots of French people live in Vermont, is that it came from the French phrase, "je n'ais plus un radis," which means "my resources are exhausted." That sounds reasonable.

I have always been fascinated by slang expressions and colloquialisms. Another favorite my father often used was "all fired" - or sometimes, "hell-fired" - usually that someone was in an "all-fired hurry." In which case, that person might go "cross-lots." That doesn't seem to be unusual to me, but apparently, these sayings are not universal. It makes perfect sense to cut through (cross) fields or pastures (lots) to shorten a distance between two points. Sort of like going "kitty-corner," which sounds simple enough to most Vermonters, but according to on-line sources, it is derived from the French word for "four," "quatre." Originally it was used to describe the dots on a dice. Those dots, I just learned now, are called pips, and are arranged so that opposing sides always equal 7. Imagine that! You probably knew that already.

I found some expressions just plain funny: an "Arkansas toothpick" was what a long knife was called in the 1800s (or California or Missouri toothpick, etc) depending on the who is using the expression. at another source, I found the statement that "tongue in cheek" is probably appropriate because if you try to speak with your tongue pressed against your cheeks, you're going to sound pretty ridiculous - and that's essentially what something said "tongue in cheek" means - something not to be believed. Which leads me to something that's as "rare as hen's teeth." That makes it very rare, since hens do not have teeth.

Then I come to the polite(ish) forms of cursing that many old-time Vermonters, and probably a few that are still around, use, like jesum crow, or land sakes, which was an acceptable way of saying, "Jesus Christ," or "Lord's sake" (which was considered  profanity in the 1800s). Likewise, the expression, "I swan," was a more acceptable way of declaring, "I swear."    

I went to high school with a young fellow who had very colorful speech. His favorite expression of excitement was, "Hot dam!"  Girls were "Prettier than a Holstein heifer," or if he was ashamed about something, he would say he felt "lower than a snake in a wagon rut."  Right out of the "old west".

And on it goes. What to do on a cold winter's afternoon - one that's  colder than a bear's toenails. (I bet that one had you fooled for a minute!) Stay warm as toast!