|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Why would someone be out of their "cotton picking" mind?
When did this saying arise - and why?
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear States: "cotton picking" is a pejorative, in that only
the lowest socical stratum got involved in picking cotton
by hand, which was incredibly tedious, backbreaking (because of constant bending over) and hot.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
got this from WordOrigins:
Cotton-Picking
Believe it or not the adjective cotton-picking comes from Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes cartoons. He may not have been the first to use it, but he gets credit for first recorded use.
But the noun cotton-picker is older. It dates to around 1919 and refers to a contemptable person. Those who worked in the fields, usually blacks, were beneath notice. The racial overtones have mellowed over the years, but it is still a derogatory term.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Tennessee Ernie Ford was on American television form the med-fifies through the mid-sixties and often ended his show by saying to the audience, "Bless your little pea-pickin' hearts."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Yeah, you've got to give peas a chance.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Well, Connie, they were given some prominence in 13th century England, where a famine in 1273 in Northern England reduced the whole population of the area to eat peas and nowt else for nearly three months. The Lord of the Manor, however, had a herb garden which had not failed, so his family and immediate retainers were able to relieve the tedium of such a uni-vegetative diet by adding thyme to the cooking pot.
The peasants heard about this, and, believing that the Lord of the Manor had penty of thyme on his lands, got the priest to utter the prayer in church one Sunday, in front of the Lord of the Manor and his family, "Grant us thyme in our peas, O Lord!"
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
And he gave it to them, of course, since there's no present like the thyme.
Somewhat along the same lines, I heard a long time ago that the Italians are going to make the Leaning Tower of Pisa into a clocktower -- after all, what's the use in having an inclination if you haven't got the time?
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Some company has come out with what amounts to pea pod chips. I think they dry the pods some way, and season them. They might be ground-up peas or pods re-formed into the pod shape; I don't really remember. But I do remember my local grocery store offering free samples. They have a consistency on a par with puffed corn (like baked Cheetos), and they taste...absolutely horrid.  Something else at the store stopped me in my tracks a couple of weeks ago. They now stock something called--I kid you not--"Healthy Hemp Sprouted Bread". Yes, it does have the plant in it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
How positively oxymoronic -- the more you eat the hungrier you get!
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Healthy Hemp Sprouted Breadgoes well with Stoned Soup... 
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I agree with you Jackie, they are just horrible. I can't imagine anybody eating them. The ones I tasted didn't even have the grace to be of the consistency of puffed corn...more like gyproc.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
thisone of them linguistic words, I think... 
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Oops, I guess it's not called the same in English. I think it's ??gypsum board??
It's that board you put up on the two-by-fours when you make walls. It has a chalk-like middle covered in heavy paper. You cover the joints and then paint it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Plaster board, wall board of gypsum.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Very funny, etaoin.  OK, so you know what this tastes like, bel?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Also sheetrock or drywall.
Thanks for the link, Father Steve.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
How positively oxymoronic -- the more you eat the hungrier you get!
That's not oxymoronic, TEd. That's moronic.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Wow - from slaving in the fields to petrophagy in less than 10 steps. Gotta love AWAD!!!
To add to the ideas on cotton picking; I noted a reference somewhere to cotton pickings; the leavings / lowest grade of the cotton crop. I imagine them to be the cotton equivalent of daggy wool.
Another potential source of the term praps?
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Praps. BTW, the answer to Why? is because.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
And he gave it to them, of course, since there's no present like the thyme.
You are correct, TEd - the Lord of the Manor was also a sage. (The fact that he was married to Lady Rosemary has nothing to do with the case.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
Re Leaning Tower clocktower -- after all, what's the use in having an inclination if you haven't got the time?True. But will they have to set the clock ahead? Time could be ticking against the tilt. This would make it a Leaning Tock Clocktower. Moral: When time is ticking against you, lean the other way.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
A clock in such a position will, at the very least, put some sense into N.F.Simpson's One Way Pendulum
(EDIT At least, it could do - depends which way the clock is set into the otwer, ackershally)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
depends which way the clock is set into the towerAgreed. If you want to set the clock on time, you'll have to set it ahead. Time heals all wounds. But, sometimes, you have to give it a hand.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I'll give a hand to anyone who's in the movement.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
I'll give a hand to anyone who's in the movement
As will I, but he can't expect a handout if his hand is in the works.
On a more scientific note:
When time is ticking away from the perpendicular, allow a minute for each degree.
This is known as the Law of Chronological Inflection [or "chronoeccentricity", for short]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
I'll give a hand to anyone who's in the movement
On the other hand, this sounds like a case of the right hand in the wrong place, in which case the left hand doesn't know what the minute hand is really doing.
When the minute hand is out of joint, the movement is only a second away from serious trouble.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Which makes it difficult to escape - so one just has to face up to it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
one just has to face up to it
It may have a pretty face, Rhub, but will it give you the time of day?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
"The town clock in the market square
stands waiting for the hour.
While its hands they both turn backward
and on meeting will devour
Both themselves and also any fool
Who dares to tell the time.
Then the sun and moon will shudder
and the signpost cease to sign."
- Homburg, Keith Reid
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
What is that, CK? It gives me the shivers.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
What is that, CK? It gives me the shivers
These folks have nothing but time on their hands, Jackie. And that's just the way they want to keep it!
Keeping time is a waste of time for people who only have time for spending it wisely.
When you spend time wisely, you have absolutely no reason to save it. Or to keep it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
Who are These folks?
They are the original "quality" timers.
When "the signpost ceases to sign", it is more of a sign of our times, than it is of theirs.
The place where they live actually has a name.
It's called "Asychronicity".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Ah--found it. Homburg is a song by Procol Harum. No wonder it sounded faintly familiar. So, grapho, methinks you were probably right. The person in the song spent some time apparently very unwisely.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
Re photo of "slaves picking cotton before the Civil War"
A picture is worth a thousand words, Jackie. It brings us back to where we started:
"Why would someone be out of their "cotton picking" mind?"
Anyone who had to pick cotton for a living, never had a chance to pick anything else.
Anyone who could pick and choose, would be out of their "cotton picking" mind to pick cotton.
Choosers keepers, losers reapers.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Anyone who had to pick cotton for a living, never had a chance to pick anything else. Well, at least one person picked picking cotton when offered this as an alternative to house work. One of the former slaves I listened to on the other site said she'd much rather be outdoors where she could be out in the good air and maybe get a breeze, more than you could in the kitchen.
My God, aren't we thankful that we live in the world we live in today? Just thinking of what some people went through back then, such as maybe wondering whether they'd get enough, or even anything, to eat, makes some of the things I like to fuss about seem--below petty.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
One of the former slaves ... said she'd much rather be outdoors where she could be out in the good air and maybe get a breeze, more than you could in the kitchen.
Sounds like she was trapped between the crockery and a hard place.
You could say she had a choice between breaking her back or baking her bacon.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
re: One of the former slaves I listened to on the other site said she'd much rather be outdoors where she could be out in the good air and maybe get a breeze, more than you could in the kitchen.
field hands were slightly less likely to be raped, which might have been another unspoken part of her perference, too.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
My God, aren't we thankful that we live in the world we live in today? Just thinking of what some people went through back then, such as maybe wondering whether they'd get enough, or even anything, to eat, makes some of the things I like to fuss about seem--below petty.
Still far too many people in this world going hungry to the point of dying of starvation (well, let's face it even one would be too many).
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
too many people in this world going hungry to the point of dying of starvation ... one would be too many
As Jackie says, we should be thankful. We aren't even starved for words.
Mind you, some of us would be thankful if a few people around here made better use of the words they already have.
I don't mean to make light of world famine, Bingley. It's a desperate problem.
But let's not forget we would all benefit from a little famine in this forum.
I am not thinking about faldage so much. That doesn't mean anything. I am thinking about nit-pickers who won't stick to their own knitting.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Still far too many people in this world going hungry The "we" I was referring to are those of us here on this board, specifically to avoid the above ref. Those fortunate enough to be able to own a computer are unlikely to have to go hungry.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
The "we" I was referring to are those of us here on this board, specifically to avoid the above ref.Sorry if I seemed to confuse your very noble sentiment with mine, Jackie. When I said "some of us" would be grateful for a little famine, I was not thinking of any "us" in particular. To be perfectly honest, I was thinking of myself ... whom some of us consider highly.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Me: Still far too many people in this world going hungry.
Jackie: The "we" I was referring to are those of us here on this board, specifically to avoid the above ref. Those fortunate enough to be able to own a computer are unlikely to have to go hungry.
But we live in the same world as those who do go hungry. It's not confined to the past.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
we live in the same world as those who do go hungry
I have no comeback to that, Bingley, except "Thank you" and "Amen".
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,326
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
620
guests, and
8
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
