vote with one’s feet

– you don’t like something, so leave

My informant said that she first heard the term while reading a political blog about the current White House administration. The term was used as a pun, both as a critique of America’s dependence on fossil fuels. The writer scorned automobiles and advocated using bikes or public transport as an improved mode of transportation. The writer also wanted  mock of the current political situation by saying that he was going to move to Canada. The writer would be criticizing the American government by moving to another country, thus voting with one’s feet.

Another instance of voting with one’s feet would be people that take action against social injustice.  Protesting can be seen as voting with one’s feet and trying to make a difference by action rather than simply writing letters, because unfortunately it sometimes takes greater measures to get the attention of the media and political officials.  People like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. were not really encouraged  to voice their opinion, so instead they chose to take action.

I asked the informant whether she would ever use the saying in colloquial speech. She said that the saying was effective in this particular instance, but since usage of the term is not widespread by any definition, she remarked that using this phrase would attract too much attention to herself.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

It’s better to have a small actual advantage than the chance of a greater one.

When my informant first heard this saying from her freshman year high school English teacher, she never heard of it before.  In fact, she believed that no one in her class understood what she had said, yet she said it quit often.  Finally one day, she asked her teacher what exactly she meant by her saying, and from that day on, it has been heard and understood more often.

She distinctly remembers asking advice to her teacher that she got a job offering to work at Baskin Robbins, but was still waiting to hear from Marie Calendars, but really wanted to work at Marie Calendars but Baskin Robbins needed to know that day whether or not.  Her teacher then told her the saying, and she then understood.  You can risk not having a job for the job that you really want, but then you risk staying with a job that you might hate, yet have financial stability.

Other variations of this saying include “A living dog is better than a dead lion” in Ecclesiastes IX.  The bird adaptation refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).

The Past is History, the Future is a Mystery, this Moment is a Gift- that’s why it’s called The Present.

My informant’s mother told her this when she told her about when the informant’s boyfriend cheated on her with another female. She became very distraught and went to her mother for advice. She told her daughter that he was not the one for her, but there was someone out there that will treat her far better than he ever did. I might not know who that person is right at this moment but in the near future they will be together. She told her that this moment is a gift so she needs to start looking for potential persons who fit my needs and who I am compatible with.

This saying is very interesting because it is known that United States culture places a lot more emphasis on the current and future, yet other cultures place much more importance on remembering the past and honoring past relatives such as in the Asian cultures.

The saying as a sing-song affect that begins as a rhyme, yet is obviously changes to state a matter-of-fact.  It has a AAB rhyme to it, where the first two clauses rhyme, yet the last sentence is blunt and states the most important idea, that to live everyday as much as possible with a positive attitude that will eventually lead to a prosperous future.

yoke around someone’s neck

meaning: a burden for someone

My informant said that he first heard this saying while visiting his grandparents in a suburb by Chicago. He first heard this saying when his grandmother was complaining about the neighbourhood squirrels eating all of the feed in their bird feeder. She remarked, “those squirrels are a yoke around my neck”, referring to how much stress they put her under, although this could berhaps be an eggaderation. I asked the informant whether he thought that usage of this phrase was widespread around the different areas of the United States. He said that he believes that the saying is primarily used in the rural areas of the midwest, or perhaps the south.

This fits the nature of the saying since the yoke was historically used as a harness for livestock. The yoke would be placed around an animal’s neck, usually a mule or a donkey, so that the animal could pull a tilling device back and forth across a field to turn the soil. Since the saying is specifically referring to a device that is used for agriculture, it is only natural that the saying only be common in areas that this item is seen, or was seen previously in a rural area.

The Writing is on the Wall

Danger is Imminent

This saying is used throughout literature and songs, and sometimes can be misunderstood.  My informant, my brother, first heard this saying when he was in high school in a song that he liked very much.  He thought that this saying was referring to the writing in a bathroom wall, stating some kind of sexual reference.  He connected two songs together, “Jenny, I Got Your Number” and Bad Religion’s song “Tomorrow”.  It wasn’t until his senior year that he took a biblical studies course, that he learned the idiom “writing is on the wall” was a reference directly from The Bible.

It is found in the Bible, Daniel 5:5/6.  “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”

This is interesting because in the book of Daniel, nothing has yet happened yet the man’s hands wrote on the wall without the act of something bad has happened, yet it was bound to happen.

My informant uses this phrase or idiom often when he knows something is obviously going to go bad.  When he and his friends go out for a night of drinking, he knows that bad things will often happen when one specific buddy will drink too much and begins partaking in unfortunate events.  Once something inevitably happens, he can simply respond, “come on guys, the writing was on the wall.”