Since I first started the Blind Pig, I’ve asked Chatter and Chitter to pose for all sorts of photos. They’ve done everything from standing on tables to pretending to count potatoes.
I was thinking of the old saying yesterday-the one about giving someone down the road. As we came home late in the evening I asked the girls if they’d get out and let me take their picture walking down the road. They both started whining about me asking them to walk in the middle of the road.
Now we live on a pretty deserted side road-it isn’t like its a thoroughfare. Once they started complaining I said I’d go up the other fork of our road where almost no one lives (its a deserted development that never made it before the bust).
Oh the horror. They saw a dump truck and a dozer parked in a field. Chitter swore she saw them that very day go by her school. I guess that meant bad news cause Chatter immediately locked all our car doors and told me she was not getting out and her sister wasn’t either! I turned the car around and fussed that we were less than a mile from the house and they didn’t have nothing to be afraid of.
Once we got back on our fork of the road they finally complied and I snapped a few pictures with both of them screaming about how I was endangering their very lives all for a photo.
Kinda funny-I was looking for a photo to go with my old saying-and we actually ended up acting it out. My girls give me down the road for asking them to do something they deemed dangerous and I give my girls down the road for being whiners. Thankfully, our quarreling was forgotten as soon as we pulled into the garage.
In a nutshell giving somebody down the road is the same as telling them off or blessing them out. Is the saying ‘give him/her down the road’ common in your area?
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
Being from south Alabama, I always heard it and used “Run him down the country”, but was the same meaning:)
Heard “give ‘em down the country!” Often. Used it, too. But not “down the road.” Might be, the difference is in my mom’s family being from eastern KY. Gettin’ blessed out wasn’t quite as bad.
Well I don’t know if it’s common in my area, but it is very common where I came from. And I still use it to this day.
Mary Lou-thank you for the comment! I have heard the saying you mentioned before-I’ve even used it in the same way your Mother did-with my girls : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
That sound odd, but I have heard this statement all my life Give them down the road.Tipper have you heard the Indian statement ‘Little pitchers has big Ears”? My mother used to use this Grandmother was reared with the Indians and when someone was visiting and gossiping about someone or what went down. I was always listening to adults and snooping around. When Mother spyed me, she would quote this and I knew I would not hear anymore from this conversation.I sankoded out.
I don’t think I have heard that much in WV but where I grew up in Appalachia-PA we said it all the time.
Quinn-thank you for the great comments! Around here you hear notch used instead of peg : )
Hope you have a great week!
Tipper
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Heard it everyday of my life it seems.. You sure know how to do a post.. Natural talent..
Tipper, ‘You are a caution’! (translation – you are something else). I am amazed at the expressions that you come up with.
It is a blessing and a treat to read the sayuns from our childhoods that you think of to showcase here..Thank you for keeping ‘yesterday’ in the here and now…
Never heard of this sayun. We’re from South MS, live in LA, and this one didn’t make it that far South…
What I have heard forever is “Give ’em What For!” and Give ’em the Dickens!” and “He’s gonna get his Comeuppance one day!”
Please tell Chitter and Chatter that there’s one person out here who understands what spooked them about the dump truck,etc. Back when I was in grammar school, I was terrified of the Garbage truck…yep..Still don’t like to see one coming. Sometimes there’s no logical reason why something gives us a creepy feeling…Girls. you were Troopers to humor your Mom by being her photo subjects. Ya’ll are terrific!
Oh yea, giving someone down the road is an expression I’ve heard all my life, and Julia Child says that “Cheese” goes good with “Whine” 😉
Oh, and I love Miss Cindy’s definitions 🙂
I’ve heard that so much, I’ve never even thought about it! It’s great, but I don’t know that I’ve used it- not in a very long time, anyway. I love ‘comeuppance’, but one I really like is “That’ll cut his rain down to a drizzle!”
Whoops, I meant to write “doing a poor job”…guess I’d better read before I post!
What a fine expression! I’ve heard “he’ll be down the road” for someone who is doing a poor (and therefore looking to get fired) but giving someone down the road is a new one. Wonder if it’ll take root here in the north?
Now the “comeuppance” that a couple of folks mentioned is something I’ve said my whole life, as in “I guess she got her comeuppance!” meaning someone got taken down a peg.
(Say, do you all have that same peg?)
Tipper,
I am sure I have used the saying “give them down the road several times” If I am really upset about something I have been known to say, I am gonna really give them down the road. I might even add, that road out there runs north and south so hit it.
Oh in defense of chitter and chatter maybe the truck and dozer reminded them of a horror movie they saw at sometime and they thought the truck was to haul the bodies and the dozer was to bury them. Have a great day 🙂
Duh… giving them DOWN THE ROAD… Sometimes my brain and my fingers are not in sync. lol
You got me with that one, Tipper. I’ve never heard that phrase. I’ve heard of sending down the road… get out of my house, or giving them what for… I got that given to me more than once but I’ve never heard sending someone down the road.
Thanks for the lesson.
I have heard it all my life and been given down the road a few times. I always felt liked a whupped pup afterwards!
I in all my years have never heard that saying but I sure am glad those girls finally did do as there momma asked.
I’ve heard Mama say that but she’s the only one. She seemed to retain the old language usage more than most. Wish I had written them down. Thanks for helping keep these wonderful sayings alive!
“Give him down the road” has been common in my area for as long as I can remember. I was especially pleased to see Howland use the word comeuppance—a wonderfully colorful expression that I’ve heard and used often. A great day to ya’ll.
Tipper,
That’s a common term to me. I’ve
heard it all my life. I raised
two daughters and I know all the
excuses youngin’s can come up
with and some can be doosies…Ken
In my family,it was sometimes used behind the person’s back, and not to his face. “If he brings my ax back one more time, and hit be dull, I’m going to give him down the road”. As kids, we knew if we didn’t do certain things, “when Mama got home, she’d give us down the road”
Yup! I learnt it in East Kentucky and brung it to West Georgia where it doesn’t seem to be heard so much. I will, on occasion create a new old-timey saying; mine, which I use in place of “Give him down the road” is “I give him a dose of comeuppance.”
Quite descriptive, I think but it ain’t likely to catch on, either.
I’ve heard this all my life used in the context of “I heard Jim Bob givin’ Clell down the road the other day”. My family still uses the phrase. Judith
ahhhh teenagers!
I’ve heard and used “Give em down the road” pert near all my life. I think it may have originated with “Show em the road” which meant telling someone to git right now. This is used most often with door to door salesmen who refuse to take NO for an answer. Has anyone else ever had one of those?
I HAVE HEARD THAT SAYING BUT
IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME AGO
I HAVEN’T HEARD IT AROUND HERE.
JOHNIE IN ARK,
I have heard this saying all of my life! By the way, it was mighty nice of Chatter and Chitter to act out the saying like that! 😀
that’s a new one to me — I was often given “what for” though. Thanks for starting my day with a smile, a memory, or a thoughtful issue. Hugs!
Heard it and said it all my life. 😉 .
Hadn’t heard this one before, but I always seem to learn something new here!
Tipper,
Not only did you get the scolding of your life…you where sent on (down the road, so to speak) to finish what you where supposed to do or move on to something else…
I think today that would be called
“Get outta my face, ‘fore somethin’ bad happens” LOL
Great Post, and girls just you wait till you’re my age, lookin’ at old photos…you will say “Remember when Mom, had us walk down that old road?”
Thanks Tipper,
Right atter I give him down the road, he lit out on shank’s mare.
Heard that one all my life. Giving them down the road originally being an invitation for them to leave by traveling down the nearest road. Later the meaning expanded into blessing them out but wait, what does blessing them out mean? Bless them if they will leave out the nearest way?
Not sure about blessing them out….wonder where they both come from?
Yep, still you it myself here in Knoxville. I may give someone down the road, or say, “Boy, he was just giving him down the road.”
Oh I had to laugh! They really showed their backwardness by being afraid to get out because they saw a bulldozer & a dump truck – were they afraid they may actually see people too? ;o)
I haven’t heard this one in a long time.
“Giving someone ‘Down the Road'” was a common saying when I was growing up. As my friend Eva Nell said, we heard it a lot when we were growing up. But that’s another expression that has fallen from usage–at least out of the mountains. I think people still use it there. I know this about it: One doesn’t want to be the recipient of being given down the road. I think it must mean that he/she has done something so bad that others don’t want to associate with that person! Good account of “acting it out” with you and the girls! Glad the animosity didn’t last long!
Can’t say I have ever heard my friends using the phrase. It’s interesting that the girls were thinking of danger when it probably had never occured to them before the sighting of the land movers. Who knows – maybe a new family in the area – not too close – might add to the enjoyment of the mountain. They might just need a bit of learnin’.
I have heard that saying all my life and still use it like you described. Wonder how that saying ever got started? Maybe someone ran a person off and continued to argue, bless and cuss at them as they went down the road?
Some times I think our children just look for an excuse to give us “down the road”. Here in the South Western part of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky we have always used that saying.
I’ve heard of that one before. A lot of folks around here use giving them the “what for”.
I never heard of giving someone down the road. I have however heard of telling them what fer. And I learned a new little jewel this morning (thanks Tipper) because I am going to be on a mission to “bless someone out”. I just love how that sounds.
Tipper–I’ve heard in all my life and been on the receiving end of being sent down the road my fair of times and then some.
Jim Casada
Can’t say as I’ve heard that one used before. That was a nice little story and the photo of them “down the road” made it clear.
That was a new on to me Tipper.
Ephebiphobia?
Usually the best thing to when somebody gives you down the road is to take it and cut a trail! Now have you ever used that phrase?
I heard it a lot as a kid in East Tennessee, but not so much here. Now that you mention it, I would be curious regarding where the saying comes from. When the first person used the expression, what thought was he trying to get across?
That is so funny. Typical kids. My grandsons don’t say too much, mostly roll their eyes, which says it all. Never have used the term down the road in that way.
Clint-see if your Mom remembers it : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Tipper: I recken so! Giving somebody DOWN THE ROAD was a threat anytime they didn’t ‘walk the line’ in the cove!
Eva Nell
Never, ever heard that one before. Maybe I’ll add it to my list.