BYGONE WORDS

Today I did a test on an 85 year old gentleman. He was a very interesting man...a good Indiana farmer...married for 65 years with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I asked if his kids lived near him and he said...yes...even his granddaugher lives about '60 rod up the fence row'.

Rod...now there's a word you just don't hear anymore. For those of us who need a little educatin'...(I looked it up)...a rod is a unit of length equal to 16.5 feet. Bars of metal, one rod long, were used as standards of length in surveying land in the past.

I remember my dad...and those of his generation...using rod...and other words or phases...during my growing up years...and since his passing...and those of his generation...I just don't hear them anymore.

This man today, and his use of the word 'rod', made me think of a few other phrases that I remember my dad using...that I've not heard again since he's been gone.

They included:
"built like a brick shithouse", someone not having "two nickels they could rub together", something costing "two bits", "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", "cattywampus", "clumsy as a bull in a china shop", "dressed up in his Sunday go-to-meeting clothes", "as honest as the day is long","worthless as tits on a boar hog".

I'm guessing you readers will remember some of your own too...that you grew up listening to...and you just don't hear them much these days.

I sometimes miss those days.


Dan