by Kevin Burton
I seem to remember on The Beverly Hillbillies, one or more of the Clampetts describing someone as “muley” to mean they were exceptionally stubborn.
Now I see that Merriam-Webster, the dictionary supplying us with idioms from farm country, defines muley as “hornless.”
Stay tuned for our second helping of farm-cooked idioms, and see what the dictionary has to say about the disposition of mules, about blabbermouths and more:
Talk the Hind Leg off a Donkey
Definition – to talk for a long time
As is the case with many of our farming idioms, the animal referenced is interchangeable with any one of a number of others. There is nothing special about a donkey’s leg, that it may be talked off; any number of other animals have legs that may be similarly removed.
There is a common saying that some people will “talk a dog’s hind leg off.”
Definition – extremely stubborn
We will remove ourselves from the position of linguist impartiality for just a few moments here, in order that we might assert that the mule gets a bad rap in most variants of this idiom. For the humble mule is not only stubborn, but is also accused of being willful, malicious, and obstinate.
Definition – in a luxurious style
We have been using living high to refer to a life engaged in riotous excess since the beginning of the 17th century, but it was not until the early 20th that we attached on the hog to this.
And lest you think that the top is the only portion of the hog on which you might live, fear not, for you may also live (and eat) low on this gracious animal.
Invitations to the dance bore these words: Are you blue from hard knocks? Is your mind in a fog? Are you beat to the socks? Eating low on the hog?
— The New York Amsterdam News (New York, NY), 17 Dec. 1938
Definition – used to say that one thinks that something will never happen
The earliest iterations of when pigs fly were slightly longer than the version used today, as they specified that the pigs would be flying with their tails forward. This version is rarely found after the 17th century, and nowadays we make do with the shorter version of when pigs fly.
Definition – to earn the money that is needed to live
While many similar idioms have numerous slight variations, bacon appears to be the overwhelming favorite type of foodstuff to bring home as a linguistic indicator of one’s ability to provide. There is no evidence whatsoever, for instance, for the fixed use of bring home the rump roast.
Definition – in a very innocent way: without knowing that something bad will happen
In case you were wondering, we do not always lead lambs to the slaughter, when we reference these gentle creatures in our idioms. Sometimes we lead them to the slaughterhouse, and sometimes to the butcher. Lambs have it rough, and it would be nice, just for the sake of variety, if someone decided to lead a lamb to a picnic or something.
Definition – to have many sexual relationships particularly when one is young
Sowing one’s wild oats may sound more recent than some of the idioms on this list, but it is actually one of the oldest, dating in use back to the middle of the 16th century.
Count One’s Chickens (Before They Hatch)
Definition – usually used in negative statements to mean that someone should not depend on something hoped for until he or she knows for certain that it will happen
Recent studies have indicated that chickens do, in fact, have some ability to count (or at least to distinguish between groups of numbers). In other words, you might as well count your chickens before they hatch, since once they hatch they are going to be counting you.
This colorful expression appears to have originated, like so many others of its ilk, in the American South in the mid-19th century.
Like a Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
Definition – excited and confused
Chickens have been having their heads cut off for thousands of years, and it’s true that they can run for a few seconds after the fact, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that we connected the dots and started applying this description to similarly erratic-looking human behavior.”
Incidentally, the chicken from a zillion jokes categorically denies crossing the road or even having been to any road (hash tag: what other side?).
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