A Country Way of Saying

There are times when you have to reach waaaaayyy back and grab some of that Black, Gulf State speech for a just right word.

This is a post that I have been meaning to put up for a very long time. It involves Zora Neale Hurston, the Gulf State South, and words. Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, Guggenheim Fellow, and folklorist. She collected hundreds of tales from the Gulf State South that remained in the basement of an institute for over 70 years. Nobody knows why this work was held off for seven decades, but I think I have a clue.

Downloaded from Amazon.com

First of all, the Gulf State South is not the King Cotton South. It simply does not fit the narrative that we are accustomed to: oppressed, cotton picking Black folk in the hot sun with white overseers cracking the whip for massa. And I am not disparaging those of the Cotton Belt here at all. The Gulf State South is different. The people of the Gulf State encompass the pine belt, sugar cane country, pepper farming, the hurricane zone, pecan tree slavery, and bean farming. We are also talking about the swamps of Louisiana and Florida. There are turpentine camps and Black lumberjacks. The preacher is not revered or placed above the average, skilled worker, but is often seen as someone who avoids hard work. Lord, it is powerful hot in the summer, so Satan is real and he does not like happiness. Sometimes, Satan and the preachers are in league with one another, especially when wives are pretty and husbands must work long hours in order to provide for their families. The language is in continuity with the Caribbean and so is the food. The language and the food link the Gulf States with the Caribbean and the Gulf States and the Caribbean are linked with West Africa — even though we sometimes do not know it.

Gulf South States downloaded from the Southern Railroad Commission

When I was 17, I moved out of the Gulf South and into the Black evangelical Bible Belt. It was a culture that I could not and do not understand. For me, this culture is more European than what I am accustomed to and more European than what I suspect those who live it would like to admit to. I can see how Zora Neale Hurston would be misunderstood. Sometimes, I live a nightmare where people do not understand me and I certainly do not understand them. Though these people attend church frenetically, they do not understand how real Satan is and because they have never seen a hurricane, they have certainly never seen the Lord up close. They have never known and will never know the terrifying power of the Lord. They are foolish enough to believe that human beings can actually control something.

I would like to share with you some of the sayings that we had that have helped me over the years. Sometimes, things have happened and I have had to reach waaaaay back to help me understand my own life. I am not posting these to be quaint. I am not posting things to be condescending. I am posting things because Gulf South people had a way of viewing things. They had a certain value system: and it wasn’t materialistic. It has brought me much comfort over the years. And since man’s justice system was driven by money and inequality, all you had to lean on was the good Lord. And what the Lord fixed couldn’t be undone. There’s a comfort in knowing that.

1. ) “…more than the law lies.” This is a sentence ender. This person is dishonest and not to be trusted. Politicians are always twisting the law to fit their own needs and this person will do just about anything.
2. ) “ Make a great ‘miration.” Do not make a big deal out of something that does not deserve it. Do not overcomplicate a situation.
3. ) “Illyformed.” This person has half-thought-out ideas about everything in life and you shouldn’t listen to anything he/she says. It is a rural derivative of ill-informed.
4. ) “Suck-egg dog.” This person has done you wrong behind your back and cannot face you eye-to-eye, much like dog that has been disobedient and is afraid to face his/her master.
5. ) “Crazy as a bessy-bug.” This little bug would go to end of the road, look up the road, turn around, and go back. It would do this over and over again. What is the formal definition of insanity? To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. So, a bessy-bug did the same thing over and over again all day long, going to the road and looking, never seeing anything different, but continuing the process. A person who behaves like a bessy bug is crazy.
6. ) “Think they slick as okra…” This person is slimy in his dealings. But everybody knows the nature of okra anyway, so who is this person fooling? That is why you say, “they think…”
7. ) “You think you slick, but you can stand another greasing.” From the previous post, everybody knows the nature of okra. Sometimes, people in rural areas will let you feel like you have won, only to show you later that you haven’t done a thing. They knew all along what you were doing and they show you, one way or the other, that they knew the game you were playing in the first place.
8. )“Robbing Peter to pay Paul.” This is what people say when they really are not making enough money to pay all of their bills, so they move money around or cut corners in order to eat and make it from check to check.
9. ) “They like dogs on the haystack: they can’t eat the hay and won’t let the cows have it.” These people are selfish and greedy. They do not want what they have, and cannot use it in any way. However, they’d rather see it rot than let someone else who needs it have it.
10. ) “They ain’t got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.” These people have nasty attitudes, but they don’t have anything material-wise.
11. ) “The higher the monkey climbs the tree the more he shows his ass.” Some people are fine with more money. Some people cannot be trusted with authority. The more authority they are given, the worse their attitude becomes.
12. ) “They just jaw-jacking/bumping they gums.” People are just talking and are not willing to work.

I could write on this for hours, but I am sure you are tired of reading. In my lonely hours, I think back to the sermons, both in church and at home, that I have heard in the Gulf South. They have gotten me through some very tough times. We can be condescending to rural people if we want, but there is wisdom in those sayings and proverbs. It has taken me the better of 30 years to figure some of them out. Scratch that. It has taken me 30 years and some painful experiences to figure some of them out. But I do cherish the people who instilled them in me.

These are some of my personal musings from some of my very early teachers. Sometimes, I share them with my students and they laugh.