The Virginians on my mother's side called making a big mistake "cutting a
hog." I imagine this referred to the fact that doing harm to a hog before
the first freeze meant you would probably not be able to preserve and use
all that meat. Farm folks, even those a generation removed in the
coalfields of Pennsylvania, understood the value of home produced protein
for the good of the family.
In fact, both my grandfathers, industrial workers from Virginia (maternal)
and Georgia (paternal) kept kitchen gardens all their lives, providing for
their families not only by earning wages but through their skills as
gardeners. This tradition continues among blacks (and not doubt whites,
too) in Virginia and the South but is a dying skill in the urban North and
West.
The extraordinary richness of southern agricultural potential makes, I
think, the actual history of agriculture in the South a massive puzzle.
Think, for example, of how the South ceased to be food self-sufficient after
1865.
Harold S. Forsythe
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 1:45 PM
Subject: Re: "ex" Ku Klux Klan member
> You are absolutely right. If we think the recipe thread got people
> bothered this subject will really "take the rag off the bush".....which
> could lead us to a great line of discussion: old-timey expressions.
> Does anyone know where the expression: "take the rag off the bush came
> from"?
> I know. First of all, it translates to mean something mildly astonishing
> just happened.
> Where it originated was from laundry days and sometimes people would drape
> their damp napkins over the top of a bush to dry. Very likely it would be
> something like an English boxwood bush since they are fluffy and have no
> thorns which would tear the napkin. Occasionally, a black bird or a
> bluejay would swoop down and snatch the napkin off of the bush and fly
> away with it.
> So, there you go!
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Debra Jackson/Harold Forsythe" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 12:56 PM
> Subject: Re: "ex" Ku Klux Klan member
>
>
>> Oh, my: this is totally inappropriate for this listserve. The LV folks
>> are kind enough to offer us this forum uncensored but that means we have
>> to be responsible. Democrats vs. Republicans is certainly an argument we
>> are free to have but not here.
>
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