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The dialect is obscure and living conditions primitive with a feel more like the 1870's than the 1970's..so backward..so uncivilized..the men so brutal and lawless, and for Sadie Blue, life seems grave. Is It Called Presidents Day Or Washingtons Birthday? Copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. 4.5 stars! It completely nailed the "mountain living" that I remembered my grandmother talking about. And I mean took me there! As was the case with Dr Mattox, the remark is routinely attributed to first being said by Benjamin Hawkins. All the ones I know from growin up : r/ShitSouthernersSay Given that many small farm streams were crossed without bridges, which worked find most of the time, a swollen stream would cause problems. You gonna do nothing?". Because this is a progressive verb (youll make progress with it for sure), remember You were fixin to patch the hole in the wall. Never say you fixed to do it! "You've heard that old saying, 'I'll be there if the creek don't rise?' Well, they've all risen, and a lot of people are staying home because of. During the early days of the War of 1812, one party of Creek marched north and joined the Indians fighting in Ohio and Michigan, participating in the River Raisin Massacre. (Yes, it is terrible grammar, but that is how it is said. Do You Know These Sizzlin Southern Sayings. God willing and the creek don't rise - World Wide Words The creek don't rise - Wikipedia World Wide Words is copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. Donate via PayPal. 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 swear-word equivalent would be something along the lines of No sh*t!I declare may have come from an English oath (the sworn proclamation kind) declaring that no foreign parties have power to subvert the Crown. 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. It was bad as all get out. Where did this contraction, popular in both African American English and Southern American English, come from? From another source Some historians attribute Benjamin Hawkins as having been the first person to ever say these words and he did so in a letter to the President of the United States. Can't Never Could. (LogOut/ So the saying came about like we'll be there.God willing and the Creek (indians) don't rise..to stop us. What Grandma says when you pull in the driveway, pop out of the car, and come running. However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. Your email address will not be published. Gumption is spirit, courage, spunk, boldness, and initiative. Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. It's almost always accompanied by a good-natured, perhaps slightly exasperated, shake of the head. To understand Hawkins, I read a little further into his history. The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. The Lafayette gazette(Louisiana), 3 Nov. 1894. I grew up with that saying and Ive said it more times than I can count. (the good) Lord willing and the creek don't rise rural If all goes as it should; if everything goes well. You gonna let him break your spirit, too? Theres nothing more Southern than a lively Hey, yall! And dont you dare think of spelling it yallSouthern Living has decreed this contraction of you all is spelled one way, and one way only. 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. Did you know the saying God willing and the Creek dont rise was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? 'Cause everything's fine, God, I wish it were . It happens often during a Southern summer, when the heat rises and the temperatures shoot past 100. If you use this phrase, you could be declaring any number of things: surprise, dissent, happiness. The researchers went on to cite two different publications in the 1800s in which the authors did not capitalize the word creek, leading one to believe they did not mean the people proper. "Druthers" roughly translates to "I would rather," meaning, "If had things my way" The phrase is celebrated in song in the hilarious, Southern-inspired Broadway musical Li'l Abner, in which the title character sings "If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my druthers than anything else I know." 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. 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. This string of double negatives is actually meant as encouragement! There is no typical Southern accent. In fact, virtually all the examples that Ive found in books and newspaper archives down to the present day are in lower-case. The grit and darkness don't just belong to Sadie, though. I was just hoping for something more concrete about the real origin. And that is the highest praise from me. "If the creek don't rise" is a slang phrase predominantly used in the Southeastern United States and can translate to "if all goes well." It's a more conditional action statement than the famous phrase "come hell or high water." It is a quintessential Southern phrase, said by friends and family on porches and in rocking chairs all across the South. This string of double negatives is actually meant as encouragement! That means whatever you're talking about is worth less than very little. At the time Hawkins was Congressman, he joined other well known Southeastern American leaders in negotiating a major treaty with the Creek and Cherokee at the South Carolina city of Hopewell. (the good) Lord willing and the creek don't rise - TheFreeDictionary.com Though youre likely to hear Southernisms such as. Marty Stuart places the words "If the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll see you in the mornin'." Paperback, 305 pages. Used in a sentence - If the creek don't rise and God's willing, you should be able to see this video. Another publication, Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Jurisdiction, Volumes 88-89, coins the phrase: if the Lord is willing and the creek dont fire, we will so do. Two years after the signing of the treaty, Benjamin Hawkins died at the site known as Old Agency. And even if it did, the initial capital letter would mean nothing, as at the time it was still common practice to capitalise all nouns. 40 OLD PHRASES AND SAYINGS - Grammy's Grid If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss | Goodreads If you've ever been caught in a summer storm, you know that you can feel, smell, and see a storm blowin' up across the wide Southern skies. For instance, I might promise to show up for Christmas at Grandmas if the good Lords willing and the creek dont rise. But, in the South, if your boss says that dog wont hunt in a meeting, it probably means your suggestion or idea needs improvement. The nabbit, gonnit, gummit, blasted, and burnit match the rhythm of damn it, but they can easily be modified for use as an adjective or adverb: That dagnab idiot didnt look to the dadgum left and, dadburnit, he crossed over in my dadblasted lane and dadburn near hit me. When used as a stand-alone oath, hold out on the first syllable and accentuate the second: DaaadGUMMit! If the Creek Don't Rise Quotes Showing 1-14 of 14 "Times like these I wonder if I ever been happy. It's raining cats and dogs. Page created 25 Feb. 2012, Problems viewing this page? In alternating first person narratives from a cast of characters that will be hard to forget, Leah Weiss took me to the mountain community called Baines Creek in the Appalachian Mountains in NC. Unarguable Southern criticism. Its not a recent change. Sign up for writing inspiration in your email, , Scarlett OHara says: I do declare, Frank Kennedy, if you dont look dashing with that new set of whiskers!, The distinct English dialect of the American South, which has a close relationship with Black English (African American Vernacular English), is fascinatingand plenty lively. When you're fixin' to do something, it's going to happen, but you also may decide to take your sweet time. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. Curiously, this word might have roots in offbeat British humor from the 1840s. If the Creek Don't Rise Quotes by Leah Weiss - Goodreads purchase. If the Creek rose, Hawkins would have to be present to quell the rebellion. writes one commentator.. origin of phrase - "if the creek don't rise" - Factual Questions But if the supposed letter was ever written, it doesnt now exist in any archive that any researcher has so far found (his letters have been published, if anybody would like to check). Jan 29, 2014 at 19:34 . Farmers know that if you do something 'til the cows come home, it's going to take all day. The first big battles in the Creek War were, indeed, attacks on white settlements, but it was not a matter of an uprising that threatened settlers, rather it was an outbreak of war between two armed groups in which whites and Indians sought each other out. Im told it was a sign-off tag line of the 1930s US radio broadcaster Bradley Kincaid. It mentions Benjamin Hawkins of the late 18th century, who was asked by the US president to go back to Washington. Well, that might just push you over the edge, and as you lean back youre bound to say, Im as full as a tick. Itd be plumb crazy not to express yourself (and your full belly) with this fun, old Southern idiom. The approximately 20,000 Creek Indians that still exist reside in Oklahoma. I'm a sucker for the well turned phrase and I was highlighting sentences here, one after another. Well, whether its Creek or creek, it would still have much of the same effectyou wont be going where you thought you would or could. Im a longtime admirer of your calm demeanor and encyclopedic knowledge. During the early days of the War of 1812, one party of Creek marched north and joined the Indians fighting in Ohio and Michigan, participating in the River Raisin Massacre. Someone reminded me not to be reminded of you. Quick, what do you call a soft drink? The catchphrase itself was associated with Hank Williams. They were both corrected by a good soul who told them that Creek, for the purposes of this phrases origin, meant Creek Indian. If you just heard your mama come home and you haven't finished your chores, she will definitely be "madder than a wet hen." 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. 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. I was reading a post on one of the West Virginia pages that I follow in which a person referenced God willing and the creeks dont rise. in reference to rain and floods. Devil's beating his wife (when it would be sunny and raining). !, Reckon has ancestry tracing all the way back to the 1000s (and maybe older still), and originally means to count, calculate.. Any of you word experts have solid information? 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. 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. Because that is supposedly how the original author first wrote it. "If the Creek Don't Rise" We'll be there unless something out of our control stops us. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. When you're exhausted in an I'm-so-beat-I-can't-go-on kind of way, you're definitely worn slap out. This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 01:18. If the Creek Don't Rise: Tales From the South Kindle Edition If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator), Kate Forbes (Narrator). Or, depending on where you live, it could be Sewanee, the small college town in Tennessee. The underscore of that sentiment would be that he married his common-law wife on his deathbed and she was of the Creek Indians. "If the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.". Let me love you again, give me one more try. It may take the form of real or mock dialect, in variations like " Lor' willin' an' th' crick don' rise.". (Im terrible about reading usernames as I scan threads, and I completely missed who had contributed that comment.). Take a look here Michael: http://www.genealogynation.com/creek/. But despite its gentle execution, this story delivers some of the heaviest of punches and invites the reader to step outside of the book for a spell According to World Wide Words, when asked if it meant Creek Indians, their expert responded with: " Quite certainly not. If the Creek Don't Rise is a collection of hard-used characters, tangled relationships, family angst, and fortitude. "Come Hell or high water" vs "Lord willing and the creek don't rise" I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him. World Wide Words tries to record at least a part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. If someone tells you that you've got gumption, you should thank them, and then walk a little taller, because you've received a lovely Southern compliment. Its typically used to describe a situation thats gone askew, awry, or out of alignment. 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. 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. Cant never could is a reminder that if you dont even try, you wont ever accomplish your goal. If so, you know that being madder than a wet hen is very mad indeed.