Category Archives: Folk speech

Finer than a frog hair split four ways

Age: 19

Text: Finer than a frog hair split four ways

Context: My informant said she heard this saying in rural Texas. She had asked a stranger how they were doing to which they responded “Honey, I’m finer than a frog hair split four ways.” She remembers the person being very upbeat and happy, and they seemed to be having a great day. My informant is from Austin, TX, and claims that she has never heard this saying other than this one time. 

Analysis: I am from Texas myself and have noticed that many Southerners, especially people from the rural south, use many sayings that add emphasis to their speech and attempt to capture the extent to which they mean what they are saying through exaggeration. Not only was this person fine, but they were finer than a frog hair split four ways. My initial reaction to hearing this saying was wondering “Do frogs even have hair?” A quick Google search has confirmed that frogs do not have hair. The comparison of how fine someone is to something so physically fine that it doesn’t even exist is a humorous, nonsensical way of suggesting that the person must be doing extremely fine. This saying exaggerates this even further by splitting the nonexistent thing into four different parts.

It’s raining to beat the band

Age: 19

Text: It’s raining to beat the band

Context: My informant, who is from the Midwest, explained that whenever it is raining very hard outside, her family always says “It’s raining to beat the band.” She also said that “to beat the band” can be used to describe anything that is being done to an extreme extent. 

Analysis: When a band is performing, it often grasps the attention of everyone around since bands are loud and both visually and audibly entertaining. If something “is beating the band,” it is being done so greatly that it is visually and/or audibly overpowering the band. This hyperbolic expression compares an occurrence to a band to capture the extent to which something is being done. If the rain is beating the band, for example, it must be raining so hard that it is loud and/or visually shocking.

Having a yarn

Age: 19

Text: Have a yarn

Context: My informant explained that whenever she calls her grandmother or has the opportunity to sit and talk with her, her grandmother refers to it as “having a yarn.” My informant said that her grandmother is from Australia, and she has also heard other Australians refer to talking as having a yarn. She also clarified that a yarn is specifically a casual, informal conversation that might be had between close friends or family, similar to a chat. 

Analysis: Historically, individuals with jobs that involve completing tedious and stationary tasks such as weaving or spinning yarn have chatted throughout the day to make a potentially boring task more exciting. The saying “having a yarn” refers to the use of casual chatter and is modernly used by many Australians to refer to laid-back conversation with the sole purpose of keeping each other company and staying entertained to help pass the time. This saying highlights the contrast between formal conversation with a central purpose of communication and informal conversation that is used to build community, be social, and strengthen connections. 

Sleep with Jesus and the Angels

Nationality: Mexican-American
Occupation: Student, Business
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Language: English

Informant: “My mom would say ‘sleep with Jesus and the angels’ ever since I was a kid. It definitely has roots in Christianity; my mom is pretty religious. I think it made her feel better having put us to bed saying that. But also to get us to think about god and have it on our minds when we go to bed. She used to always say the first thing you should do in the morning and the last thing at night is pray. The Jesus and the angels part, I guess, has to do with the guardian angels watching over us. Knowing that we’re protected and taken care of.”

Context: The informant’s mother would say this to him when tucking him into bed. Both the informant and his mother are Christians, and his mom is fairly devout. He interprets it as his mom’s way of blessing him before bed and getting him to become closer to God. He also believes that a piece of this was rooted in his mom’s own worry. She wanted to ensure their safety and entrusted it to God.

Analysis: This seems to be a religious saying that the informant’s mother would use to bless their child before bed. However, this saying also serves the purpose of teaching children that they can trust God to watch over them and put their faith in him for protection. It lovingly solidifies the family’s belief system.

Make it a Great Day

Nationality: American
Occupation: Student, Construction Science
Residence: College Station, Texas
Language: English

Informant: “Every single day at school, our principal would do morning announcements before school started. We’d pray, say the pledge, and sometimes students would be on it, anywho, he would always end with ‘Make it a great day…’ then he would pause ‘or not, the choice is yours.’ He would always say that. We would always laugh about it and make fun of it, but it’s true: it really is your choice. Whether something goes good or bad, it’s how you choose to respond to it that determines the outcome. So, even though we would laugh at it, I can appreciate it now. Another one was “take the hit”. Man, if you think you’re gonna fail a test, don’t try and cheat and make up for the lack of effort; just take the hit. Basically, he’s saying it’s not worth it to try to get out of responsibilities. It’s also not good to get let off when you don’t put in the effort, and I think that point applies to college and work. I can’t go BS some numbers in my construction job. That could cost someone their life. I gotta do it right. So, taking the hit would be showing up late for me. But I would never do something half-minded and do a bad job.

Context:

The informant went to a Christian school where the principal would use this catchphrase at the end of the morning announcements. He and his friends often mocked the phrase and thought it was silly, but later in his life, he now sees the value in it and what the principal was trying to impart. The phrase “take the hit” was also repeated a lot at that school, especially when a teacher or the principal thought you were being suspicious and were likely to do something wrong, like cheat on an assignment, copy a friend’s homework, etc. They would often tell you this and then not do anything to stop you or punish you for whatever they thought you were going to do. Basically, giving you a chance to make the right choice.

Analysis:

I also went to this school, and I think it is pretty clear what the principal was trying to get us to consider. He wants us to be responsible people and understand that taking the easy way out eventually comes back to bite you. Additionally, he wants us to understand that it is completely within our power to control how we react to adversity. Something bad can happen to you, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad day. Of course, we would take this to the extreme with jokes like: Student 1: oh man, my dog died. Student 2: The choice is yours. However, as the informant points out, most of us understood that the message was good and have since sought to apply it to our lives, even if we mocked it back then.