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Grandma might whisper this one over her hymnal if she sees you cutting up in church on Sunday morning. Someone once said that when you visit the South, you need a translator. However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. Ireckon is the way many Southerners get to surmising about something or other. The resulting warfare and predictable civilian losses in the South reportedly gave rise (using the Southern frontier penchant for willin as opposed to the educated willing) to the phrase which was then likely mistakenly attributed to Hawkins due to his Native American connections. If the Creek rose, Hawkins would have to be present to quell the rebellion. writes one commentator.. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. (LogOut/ While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington. This one may be self-explanatory, but we can imagine it originating back in the days of stagecoaches, when horse-and-buggy pairs filled the streets. January 2021: Hat tip to Maria whonotes that the collection of Benjamin Hawkinss letters has now been digitized and can be read at this link. It was bad as all get out. Take a look here Michael: http://www.genealogynation.com/creek/. Fans of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek will love this intimate insight into a fiercely proud, tenacious community and relish the voices of the forgotten folks of Baines Creek. All rights reserved. The expression make groceries is a translation of the French faire son march (to do ones market shopping). No matter where you go in Kentucky, the people often have some colorful expressions. Though youre likely to hear Southernisms such as. No Bigger Than a Minnow in a Fishing Pond, A Rooster One Day and A Feather Duster the Next, If You Know These Sayings, You Definitely Grew Up in the South, Only Real Southerners Know the Meaning of "Putting On the Dog", Things Only Southern Moms Say To Their Daughters, Things Only Southerners Say When It Snows. In the South, a hill of beans is its own measuring stick. False folk etymology. She's seventeen, pregnant and two weeks into her marriage to Roy Tupkin, after enduring brutal beatings, Sadie knows she has made a mistake. "Creek" originated as a reference to creeks flooding and preventing travel, but is sometimes re-interpreted as a reference to the Creek tribe. Affixes dictionary. You'll also find a longer version of my official bio: It's bold, powerful, dark and hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Cookies and privacy (the good) Lord willing and the creek don't rise rural If all goes as it should; if everything goes well. However, the first President to move to Washington was John Adams on 1 November 1800. Catawampus(or, cattywampus) may have been popularized by Brits who delighted in parodying Southern vernacular. It happens often during a Southern summer, when the heat rises and the temperatures shoot past 100. Be it Gods will, or, we go to war, my plans will go according to one of those two choices. Speaking ofI declare, this now old-fashioned phrase acts as flustered response to an insult or an unbelievable story about someone who sadly made it into the rumor mill. If the creek dont rise was a whimsical way of saying that the speaker would carry out some task provided that no figurative obstacle were put in his path. The English language is forever changing. The approximately 20,000 Creek Indians that still exist reside in Oklahoma. It took a further decade for it to become popular as a supposedly hayseed utterance, sometimes as and the crick dont rise to reflect a regional form. With a colorful cast of characters and a flair for the Southern Gothic, If the Creek Don't Rise is a debut novel bursting with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit. Faire can mean both do and make. This phrase entered the Southern vernacular via Louisiana and is in regular use in the New Orleans area. If you think you can't, you won't be able to accomplish something, but if you think you can, you'll succeed. The most interesting often hail from our older generations, such as the WWII era and those raised by them. Or, depending on where you live, it could be Sewanee, the small college town in Tennessee. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. When you arrive on the banks of the fishing pond on Saturday mornings, you're hoping for a good catchenough big catfish and bream to fry up for the family on Saturday night. Well, I found it. Historically, Southerners in the Appalachian mountains pronounced eternal as tarnal. That pronunciation suggests a clever word-smoosh between tarnal and damnation, so the savvy Appalachians could euphemistically express their anger without wasting an extra breath. Following that treaty John Siever formed the state of Franklin from land previously claimed by North Carolina but never ceded by the Indian tribes. The written record dates the saying from about the middle of the nineteenth century. It can be summarised as "if all goes well". This is a point of emphasis and exclamation that often ends without any additional telling at all. Its a one-size-fits-all reply that can both express sympathy and insult someone, depending on the delivery. purchase. Farmers know that if you do something 'til the cows come home, it's going to take all day. For instance, I might promise to show up for Christmas at Grandmas if the good Lords willing and the creek dont rise. If the Creek Don't Rise. Whatscatawampus? And yes, they roll their eyes, too. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 1851. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Theres two or three creeks, he said. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. 4.5 stars! Neither provides any documentation: http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm2.showMessage?topicID=191.topic, http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm#LordWillingAndTheCreek. 133 Copy quote. Eli is the backbone of the community; all he wants is a better life for the people of Baines Creek evidenced by the succession of teachers he has procured.and been scared off, and his scheming troublemaking spinster of a sister Prudence who "don't like nobody" doesn't help matters any, but when the giant 6' 2" Kate Shaw arrives, wellthat's another story. A: "Do you reckon we'll have enough from this harvest to make ends meet?" B: "God willing and the creek don't rise." "Like all great southern writers, Leah Weiss's magic turns the local into the universal." Wiley Cash, New York Times bestselling author, on All The Little Hopes. (I would not be surprised to discover that the last contributor on your first link is none other than our own samclem.). Mentioning Benjamin Hawkins is a masterstroke, since he was the General Superintendent for Indian Affairs between 1796 and 1818 and was principal Indian agent to the Creek nation; he became so close to its people that he learned their language, was adopted by them and married a Creek woman. A strikingly sincere portrait of a town and its buried secrets from an outstanding new voice in southern fiction. If you just heard your mama come home and you haven't finished your chores, she will definitely be "madder than a wet hen." "Lord willing and the creek don't rise" is a sort of backwoods phrase that has the same meaning, but is more folksy and less devoted. Any of you word experts have solid information? Turn around, and please dont drive through it. from The New York Times: And, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, come March of next year, I'll be 70 years old. I agree that the Indian origin sounds unlikely. When a fellers fixin to do something, theyre about to do it. If you hear this one, you should probably pause a moment. It's raining cats and dogs. There is no reason to suppose the Indian variant is true. Take a look at some of our favorite Southern sayings that we just couldn't live without. Thats a mouthful, but we lumped these all together because they are allsubstitutes for (God) d*mn it. If youre not using this phrase what are you waiting for? What Grandma says when you pull in the driveway, pop out of the car, and come running. In the Deep South? 24 of 30. Throughout the years, through these floods, weve had several roads that have washed completely out, so you just dont know whats down there.. I first heard of the notion of creek meaning Creek on a camping trip a couple of years ago at Barkcamp State Park in the area of Wheeling, WV. But, in the South, if your boss says that dog wont hunt in a meeting, it probably means your suggestion or idea needs improvement. I'm fixin' to tell you that this phrase is as Southern as sweet tea. Gumption is spirit, courage, spunk, boldness, and initiative. No bigger than a minnow in a fishing pond is as tiny as can be. A very young, newly married pregnant woman, she vows her no good moonshining husband has beaten her for the last time. Georgia-born blogger Jennifer Collins says she always rolled her eyes when her mom said this to her. Her grandmother Gladys tells us of her awful past ridden with the drunkenness and senseless abuse. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. Though youre likely to hear Southernisms such as hold your horses and pretty as a peach nationwide, youll likely only hear the following from a true Southerner. The Cree and the Creek lived over a thousand miles apart, (the Cree are from Canada), so we now have people contributing folk etymologies that are nonsense on their face. This United Statesrelated article is a stub. You gonna let him break your spirit, too? While there, we happened upon a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. From the start there's been a film of dingy on my days.. If the creek rises, travel will be impossible and Ill never get to Grannys. Whether you're talking about volume or value, a hill of beans isn't worth much. 25 Southern Grandparents' Sayings That Deserve a Comeback, Forgotten Etiquette Every Child Should Learn, Kimberly Schlapman and Her Family's Tea Cakes, Lauren Alaina Talks 'American Idol', Southern Manners, and Her Grandmother's Famous Recipe, 30 Quotes That Remind Us Why Southern Manners Are So Important. And yes, they roll their eyes, too. The clipping below from 1892 is a reference to flooding waterways not allowing the postmaster to get to his office. Threats not only from abroad, but internally as well, forced the fledgling nation to negotiate treaties with the tribes on the western frontier. He wrote it in response to a request from the President to return to our Nations Capital and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. This means that if everything continues to plan, things will be okay. The 1800s and 1900s were much simpler times, as people didn't have the luxuries afforded in modern times. The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. By extension, maybe the Southern US expression was the way for an affronted or shocked listener to say none of that crazy untoward talk or behavior shall have power over me.. There's two or three creeks," he said. Your email address will not be published. Its worth looking into because of the way in which it has been elaborated in the version you quote. Hawkins, college-educated and a well-written man would never have made a grammatical error, so the capitalization of Creek is the only way the phrase could make sense. Often said as "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," this expression means, with a little bit of luck and no unexpected problems, things should work out. If so, you know that being madder than a wet hen is very mad indeed. And I have used this page's title often-feeling quite sure I knew exactly what it meant. Its especially difficult for people that live south of River Road and some of them that live in Woodland Hills. "The Good Lord willing and the 'creek' don't rise" is just one of them. The Creek so-called civil war of 1812 involving the Red Stick faction, and their combat North and South, appears to have been an impetus for that forts creation. I doubt it will ever be possible to prove the source of some of these old sayings,but they sure are alot of funThis post set me a thinkin bout some things we grew up saying that we took from our eldersfor example when one is astonished you say Oh my Stars! Or when you havent seen someone in awhile you say I aint seen Hide nor Hair of em since..and there was plenty of times I was toldquit rootin around an causin such a ruckass!usually refering to me being in Granmas gardenand one can never forget the simpleSkeedaddle! Now the devil may knowWhere those sayings come from. When you're in the South, "over yonder" is a distant directionany direction. The catchphrase itself was associated with Hank Williams. It's a more conditional statement of intent than come hell or high water. A different style for the story telling in this as we hear from many of the people in this town and Sadie Blues own story is woven through the fabric of theirs. If you use this phrase, you could be declaring any number of things: surprise, dissent, happiness. World Wide Words is copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. Learn how your comment data is processed. Older than Methuselah. All of my life there have been local mountain sayings that I've heard and of course repeated, complete with a North Carolina southern drawl as literal fact. Page created 25 Feb. 2012, Problems viewing this page? Most of the ones on paved roads had bridges or culverts by that time, but not all of them and everyone still clearly knew what that saying meant even if the threat wasnt very real anymore. I've been in a slump of just ok books and was craving one that was special. Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. The earliest example known is this mock rustic speech: Feller-citizens Im not customed to public speakin before sich highfalutin audiences. Doh! And really, wouldn't we all druther have our druthers? Not one shred of evidence is a clear invitation to fault the writer. It completely nailed the "mountain living" that I remembered my grandmother talking about. Change). As I was in a museum, I felt confident in repeating the knowledge to others as fact. QFrom Bob Scala: An item that has been floating around the internet claims that the expression God willing and the creek dont rise referred to the Creek Indians, not a body of water. We like to read this as one of the greatest Southern encouragements, but, like most of these phrases, you can use it however you'd like. And this is one appearance in a newspaper: We are an American people, born under the flag of independence and if the Lord is willing and the creeks dont rise, the American people who made this country will come pretty near controlling it. But did he really say the words quoted or was a phrase morphed to include him as the author? When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs'. Two years after the signing of the treaty, Benjamin Hawkins died at the site known as Old Agency. At the same time there is some evidence that the creation of Fort Deposit (Fort Deposite) in Georgia was a cause of concern in that munitions and arms were stockpiled. You'll most often hear it coming out of Mama's mouth when the kids are running amok. During the course of his 21 years in these positions he would oversee the longest period of peace with theCreek, only to watch his lifetime of work destroyed by a faction of this Indian Nation known as the Red Sticks during the War of 1812. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. Like trying to meet a friend for lunch but having the car breakdown on the way. All rights reserved.This page URL: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-god1.htmLast modified: 25 February 2012. A sister who is afraid of losing her brother and Sadie's grandmother and aunt, all tell their stories adding to Sadie's own. Have you ever seen a wet hen? "If God so wills, and as long as intense rain does not wash away bridges or parts of dirt roads, or cover roads too deeply for safely following them." There, we listened to amazing stories told by Dr. John Mattox. In the 1900s, the word evolved, taking on a Southern spin as well as new meanings such as "courage" and "get-up-and-go.". Which means if nothing crazy happens or anything out my control such as a natural disaster. The General replied to Stonewall Jackson that he would send troops "the Good Lord is willing and the Creeks don't rise (in rebellion). "Well I s'wanee" evokes the Southern Suwannee River. Come visit me at LeahWeiss.com where you can subscribe to my CREEKRISE author news. I see some folks walk easy and carry peace on their shoulders, but I been chained to a iron life." Leah Weiss, If the Creek Don't Rise 3 likes Like Statements of the form "God/Lord willing and (some other condition being met)" are ancient extensions of simple acceptance of God's will in phrases like God willing and Lord willing.