A few weeks ago Chitter told me to cut the big light on as I came into the living room. Once I’d turned it on and sat down she said “Do you think everyone calls it the big light?”
I told her I don’t know, but surely some people do.
When I was growing up Pap and Granny always called the main overhead light in a room the big light. Granny still does. In turn I call it that too and apparently have taught my children to call it the big light.
Other things that come to mind when thinking about the big light.
I pay our light bill instead of our electric bill.
I cut the light on and I cut it off.
Sometimes The Deer Hunter makes light of the girls. In other words he teases them about messing up this or that or not being good at something. Of course he doesn’t mean any of it and they both know it. They make light of him about things too.
Every once in a while something scares the living day-lights out of me.
When the girls were little and going like the energizer bunny I’d wish they’d light somewhere and be quiet for a while.
If I’m down at Granny’s and it’s about to rain I hurry and light a rag for home.
Harvey Miller once wrote about a cow that liked to have the light on:
“U. R. Pate of Pigeon Roost, our retired mail carrier, reported that his milk cow for the last several weeks has been switching on the electric light in her barn stall every night. The reason she turns the light on, he just can’t figure, unless she is just afraid of the dark.”
Hope you’ll let Chitter and me know if you have a big light too.
Last night’s video: The Last Hooray of Christmas in Appalachia – Yummy Orange Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread.
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Oh…and we say, “He got his lights knocked out” when someone gets in a fight.
Up here in the Northern Appalachias we call them telephone poles. We pay the electric bill. WE turn off the “big light” in the middle of the ceiling and turn on the “little light” on the end table next to the couch. We also keep the lights off in the summer to keep the heat down and the bugs out.
We also call it the big light; each of our main rooms have them & I hate ’em. Always seem way too bright. When I was growing up thats mostly all we had, because each of our rooms in this ancient old house only had 1-2 outlets (electricity came much later than the house). We added in LOTS of outlets, when renovating, and I prefer to use the side lamps, or floor lamps.
We also pay the light bill. I’ve said many of the others, but one thing you never hear anyone up my way say, is Cut the Light On/Off. Its always Turn the Light On/Off. I was always on my kids to turn the lights off in rooms they no longer inhabited! They are good about it (just a force of habit now) and am always amazed at how frivolous others are about leaving tons of lights on. Their friends are terrible about it. I hate an expensive light bill!!!!
As for cows….Our cows (in my childhood) & my adopted inlaws’ cows love the radio. We always left a radio running in the barn. It keeps them from being startled during the quiet night, kinda lulls them to sleep. Its also why the cowboys sang to the herds during the night. I am always nervous about lights left on in a barn (like when I am brooding chicks). My, above mentioned, in laws had a sow that chewed a heat lamp lightbulb & electrocuted herself. She left 9 piglets motherless, which in turn gave my adopted MIL a full time job. Not many piglets made it. It is very difficult to nurse them & keep them warm properly. I am nervous about fires.
We use light in all the same ways except light a rag. I think my saying turn on the big light is in the rooms where we use lamps mainly. I also say my daughter is the light of my life. And sometimes I can shine a light on a subject I know something about. Better to keep a conversation light if you might cause a disagreement. You made me think about how much I use the word light and I don’t take that lightly. ☺️
Right now i need to light out for the barn
I was born, raised and mainly educated in west central Illinois. My Dad’s family came from Missouri between Taylor and Palmyra. So many of the expressions I use came from Dad side of the family. I have lived in the southern Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas for 40 years. Seems I have a lot of Appalachia in me! We call it the top light, I have had the day-lights scared out of me more than once, I have been known light in my favorite chair, and I, too, pay the light bill.
We just call it the ceiling light! I use many of the “light” terms that you use though. I had a great Aunt who could always tell us to “live on the light side, stay away from the dark”. Good advice!
We call it the big light. New England. I think it’s just us, though.
Great topic Tipper. Lots in common here. We say cut the light on/off. We pay the light bill. I’ve said and heard it said many times “Get outta my light, I can’t see”. My elders said many times ” Light a shuck for home” when they were ready to leave. We’ve heard it said by a parent or grandparent they were gonna light us up if we kept misbehaving. I heard that just the other day. Another common expression.. “She lit into him like a buzz saw.” I’ve also said to my kids and grand kids, “light somewhere”.. meaning sit down and be still. Speaking of someone that’s had too much to drink the common expression is “Boy he was lit up like a Christmas tree.. or drunker than Cooter Brown.” I don’t know who Cooter Brown is or was, but he’s known all over these woods. Same subject of someone being drunk, some are prone to say.. “He’s 3 sheets in the wind.”
Cooter Brown supposedly was a guy who didn’t want to go to war in the 1860s – so he started staying pickled so they wouldn’t take him. Unfortunately by the end of the war he was so addicted he couldn’t quit.
We’ve always had a big light in our house 🙂
Tipper I have used just about every one of the terms you mentioned about lights. My Aunt Lucy used to say “pull the light on”. She had a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling by an electric cord. There was a string attached to the socket the light bulb was screwed into. If you needed light you would “pull the light on”. Aunt Lucy had the first remote control I ever saw. She would tie the string to the head of her bed and during the night if she wanted light she would pull on the cord to turn the light on. Your blog makes me think of things I have not thought about or said in many years. Thanks. Dennis Morgan
When I was just a little kid it was light the light. We used kerosene lamps for light until around 1957 or 58. Then we got electricity and were sitting in high cotton. We had single bare bulbs hanging from wires. They were turned on by screwing the bulbs in. Or out just enough to break the circuit. Us kids couldn’t reach them without climbing on a chair and that was forbidden. We had to take a lantern when we went to the outhouse. That lantern to the outhouse ritual persisted until 1963 when our new house, complete with modern amenities, was finished.
We had old florescent lights in our kitchen & dining room (old farmhouse) that were in a ring shape. To get the kitchen one to turn on, one had to rub the tube around, back & forth. Otherwise, it would just buzz & flicker and not turn on. Must be the static of rubbing it made the florescent work???? I am no scientist. It sounds so dumb now, but thats what we had to do. We were kind of living behind the times in my house, due to a lack of funds. This was way into the late 80s & 90s. I had not thought about that in years until you mentioned the screwing in of light bulbs. My kids would look at me funny if I told them about this, I am sure.
It’s big light for me too. Seems like I’m always telling our boys to cut that big light out in the kitchen. We also have some little lights too. When I was growing up we had window lights or as dad would say winder lights. Stop throwing that ball in the house or you’re gonna bust out the winder lights then I’m gonna bust your behind.
Well of course…what else would you call it? LOL I know the proper think is to call it the overhead light but we’ve always called it the big light too.
I heard a story from an old man I worked around on my first job. Someone he knew had worked the night shift in the cotton mill. After work he picked up his girlfriend and they went to get married. They went to a boarding house for their honeymoon. He was very tired and lay on the bed and went sound to sleep. Several hours later he was awakened by a strange sound. His wife, who didn’t have electricity at home, was standing on a chair trying to blow the light bulb out.
Very interesting! I always had a big light growing up, but later it became an overhead light. Just like everything else, our vocabulary is changing over time. I instantly thought of how when I was a little girl, most people had the big light which was a bulb with a string hanging down. I recall learning to make several high jumps to reach the string. It is just hard to believe how much life has changed. Most called electricity “juice” when I was little, and I love when I hear that word slip from somebody’s mouth. I know I am in good company! Many years called the Living Room the Front Room, and suppose it was because it always was in the front, and was the first room you entered. Now many have mud rooms, foyers, and even come through the kitchen. I can always depend on the Blind Pig to have an interesting subject. I want to go back later after I bake my hoagie rolls and read the comments.
We have front rooms, too! I live in my great grandmother’s house. the front rooms were added on in 1898 and were not used much (so therefore, I don’t know why they are there!). It is an old dairy farm & the kitchen is in the back, with a door to the barnyard area. No one came in the front room door. My great uncle came once to visit & I answered the front door & he said he could not come in that way. That door, in his mind, was for funerals & company. I retorted that I thought he counted as ‘company’ so he was ‘allowed’ to come on through. The neighboring house side/back door looks across a field upon our back kitchen door. The neighbors (family) liked to keep tabs on who was coming and going out my great grandmother’s door. My great grandmother countered by planting a mock orange bush in line of the door (its still there) and they could no longer spy on her. Ha Ha Ha. Funny thing is current neighbors (still family) like to do the same to us & have complained about that bush blocking their view.
Oh yes, the overhead light has always been the big light, lol.
I was watching a video of Justin Wilson’s (the Cajun cook) the other day. He said he was “going to beat the living daylights out of those egg whites”.
Turn the little light on and that big-un off. That’s so funny about the Cow. My sister had a bird that would pitch a fit when he got ready to go to sleep at night until someone covered cage and turned the light by it.
Oh yes, I am definitely part of the big light group. I cut the light on and off and it’s always been the light bill and if someone needs to get moving, I will say, “I’m going to light a blaze under them.” Have a great day everyone!!
We always call it the “overhead light”. Mom baked the most wonderful “light bread”. Her biscuits were “light as a feather”. Birds would “light on that branch”. I remember grandma McPeek’s friend Mrs. Gatrell still had a “gas light on her wall. If dad knew what I did he’d “light into me good!”. “Don’t hide your light under a bushel”. Dad called Mom “the light of his life”. “My neighbor had a light blue 57 chevy”. She had a certain “light in her eyes”. Grandma said she “felt light headed” just before she “went out like a light”. That “light coat” will not keep you warm this winter. I got there early due to the “light traffic”. My dad was always such “a light sleeper”. She made us a “light lunch”. My nurse has a “light touch”.
I never realized just how frequently we use the word light in our daily life.
We cut the lights on and off.
We have light bills, light poles and light wires. This came about when people first got electricity the only electric device they had was a light bulb.
Hahaha love all this and the replies!!! We don’t have a big light, not sure what we even say to describe it other than “can you please turn that light” and we have overhead lights and several lamps in most rooms. But my husband says “St Elmo’s cocktail sauce will light you up for sure!”
Good day Mrs. Tipper,
I haven’t heard ” light a rag for home”. I wonder if it originated by using a lantern or torch. Dip a rag in fuel and wrap around a stick, like Tom Sawyer taking Becky in the cave. p.s. I plan to tackle making the orange cinnamon rolls this weekend! They look delicious on your video! Blessings to you and yours 🙂
We have a big light. I’ve always used that, not sure where I originally heard it, maybe my MawMaw. I just heard my husband use it the other day when he was checking the scope on his black powder rifle. It sorta took me by surprise because he doesn’t typically use the same language I do. He’s cajun so, as you might imagine, it’s a bit colorful at times and sounds like jumbled sounds that come right off the swamp waters themselves. We have a light bill, trash bill, and comp’ny bill (internet). I use coopuns, have winders, wrench things out, went to skoo, I lolligagged, got the fire slapped outta me, got the tar beat outta me, and snatched up by momma. Never had no reason to cry but momma give me one anyways, got switched perty reg’lar, ate a ton of Li’l Chicken (rabbit), Nanny said I was country as a biscuit, went by Sissy and my eldest sibling was Bubba. Wore hand me downs until I knew what they were. Goodness me, I could go on with words I don’t much hear anymore, except for when you’re speaking in your videos or posting on your Blind Pig and the Acorn. Thank you for making me remember my elders. I miss them all so much. Each one was so special and gave a hug, a squeeze and a piece of something to hang on to as I walk and recall their wisdom in my head and can hear their voices so clear and feel their touch so real.
I also say that someone is “standing in my light” if they’re blocking the light from a window or overhead light.
I just wish more people would see the “Light”.
Oh yes…here in the Deep South it’s the big light! I guess I never even thought about it being called anything else. “Light a rag” is the only one I haven’t heard used.
I’m not sure what this says about our us but we say “kill the big light”….
Tipper, we always cut the overhead light on or off. Mama would pay the light bill, but Daddy called it the juice bill. He would make sure the juice was cut off if he was working on something electrical that could “light him up”. If it was time to go, he would “light a shuck”. I enjoyed all the different uses of light that you mentioned. all were wonderfully familiar.
At Christmas, my 77 yr.old sister was rippin’ around her house attending to last minute details before everybody got there and I finally told her to “lite somewhere and let me do something.”
My grandparents called it the big light and so do I because of it. But every time I say it I’m always reminded of them because it’s not something everyone else says. My grandmother was born and raised in Alabama and my grandfather in western Pennsylvania. I’m not sure whom got it from whom, but regardless, it’s always made me smile 🙂
It’s the big light for us, too! Curious, we say something smells “loud” if it’s strong, does anyone else?? My brother in love teases the fire (we say far) out of us for it.
Yes, the rooms in our house all have big lights. Except for the kitchen and bathrooms the big lights aren’t used too much. Lamps usually provide all the light needed. I’ve never known just what the living day lights are, but I’ve had them scared out of me several times.
We didn’t have lights, power, or electricity, but we had juice. When I was growing up we had one ceiling light per room. That single bulb hardware had a short pull string to turn it on and off. The bulb in the bedrooms had a long string extended and tied to the headboard of the beds in case we had to get up during the night. I’m sure mom got table lamps for the living room at some point, but I don’t recall ever having bedroom lamps.
I grew up in a house like that, too, Shirl. The house first had gas lights before electricity was installed. some of the gas lamps that swung out from the wall were still installed. The electric wiring was the ‘old knob and tube’ type which ran 2 wires into a ceramic tube which connected on a ceramic ‘knob’ connector. It had a fuse box instead of a breaker panel. We always cut the light on and off and still do sometimes, although turn off the lights has about replaced it. I set up some automated lights that work with the Amazon Echo device. When I first told Alexa to cut off the lights, nothing happened. I had to start saying ‘turn’ on/off the lights. We probably say power bill most often but I sure grew up calling the light bill or the CP&L bill (pre-Duke power takeover). We used big light growing up but now it’s mostly the ceiling or overhead light that we cut on or off. I’ve sometimes been called ‘light in the head’ but never ‘light in the loafers.’ 🙂
I always cut the lights on or off. I also “mash” buttons not press. I mostly say “top light” sometimes big light.
When my children were young and I thought my husband was being too hard on them I would say, “why don’t you lighten up a little.”
I also pay the light bill.
I will always say these things!!
Yes I’ve heard it called big light but grew up saying “Turn the ceiling light on” which usually had the biggest (brightest) bulb.
Yes, cut on and cut off instead of turn on and off.
And, until recently, it was always the light bill bur I’ve started saying power bill.
A good read is The Year The Lights Came On by Terry Kay.
Mama always said she had to pay the light bill. I say the electric bill.
I say “big light”. I was born in Baltimore and my family use a lot of terms your family does. My great grandmother on my mother’s side was from Key West, so I don’t know if she taught my grandmother these terms or if they are terms from Baltimore. But, yep, “big light” is the overhead light. Other lights are the lamps.
Thank you Tipper for all the great videos and this blog. I have learned some great recipes from you. And I admire how loving and kind your family is. Take care and have a Happy Healthy New Year. God bless
Just about everything mentioned by various folk is familiar to me growing up in midwest/Michigan, except light a rag or shuck.
One smart cow to turn on the light. Think rats might have moved in?
Our light bill includes the water pump plus the water heater, a/c & heat all necessary here in central FL which hasn’t been very sunny so far this winter. When we first moved up from Miami, I dug my heels in but that first summer found me in the shower numerous times every hour to cool off, hardly got anything done. Don’t have ocean breezes here.
Always hated ‘big lights’ even though they light up rooms. Prefer task lighting. But my adult daughter tends to turn on three every morning & two task lights to help herself wake up in the mornings yet rushes out for her jobs & they are still burning when I come out. When she leaves, it’s well lit up, so she’s burning daylight for sure.
Don’t forget the light bread. My brother had it on sandwiches for his lunch. Mom kept it on top of the refrigerator and us two younger sisters knew to leave it alone.
In our home the light over the kitchen sink stays on all night every night. We do cut it off if we leave home during the day but never at night. That light is a comfort to me somehow ♡
We call it the overhead light, but I knew exactly what you meant!
I got big lights too! I have them in nearly every room I guess. Lol I wish myself that I could light someplace and hide there awhile. I had to light outa here just yesterday to run a few errands. I liked “lit a rag” before the rain although my term is usually “shagged on out quicklike.” But lit a rag has gained in popularity over the last few minutes. I gotta use it, Tipper. BTW EDEN BROS has FREE SHIPPING TODAY ONLY!!!! Save yourself about 10$ or so if you feel like lighting into it… God bless y’all and keep ya in THE LIGHT!!!
we have since i was a child called the overhead light the big light!
We just called it the juice bill
Everyone should have a “Big Light-” either for real or just euphomistically.
Yes!! The big light. I can hear my Daddys voice,lol. Only turned on when company was there at night or when a giant beetle or something came in from the chimney! Tipper I haven’t heard “the big light ” in over 40 years : )
I was surprised at how many of these terms I actually say..LOL..my husband still makes a fuss if I turn the big light on. He’ll say, why do you have that light on and my response is, so I can see..LOl
wow, I have always paid the light bill as did my parents who had very few things other than lights on that bill because most of their appliances ran on gas or oil. we did have iceboxes instead of refrigerators I still call mine an icebox much of the time. and I still pay the light bill. we did however have an overhead light
I’ve always called it the big light too. Recently we did some kitchen remodeling and replaced the light fixture. The new light is so much brighter than the older one that I’ve started calling it the stadium light because it reminds me of a football stadium with all the bright lights. Now I say, “Cut the stadium light on!”
I have always called it “the overhead light”. I have used the word “cut” to mean “turn off”. And my Dad always says “light a fire under it” or “andele” (pronounced “on da lay” – it means hurry up in Spanish) whenever he wants us to move faster. I have heard the bill called “gas and electric bill”, “light bill”, “utility bill”, and “city bill”. I have used all of them interchangeably myself. After the mortgage, I always think of it as the “big bill”. Where I live here in North Carolina and when I lived in Iowa – the water, sewer, trash, gas and electric and any other city charge like that is on one bill. In El Cajon where I grew up (San Diego County), each bill is separate – sewer is a different company/bill than water, etc. I prefer having it all on one bill – it makes it appear you are paying less when it is one lump sum than when you have umpteen bills to pay separately.
Donna. : )
Donna Sue, I sometimes say cut the light on or off. Until recently out in the country where I have lived all of my life you only had a power bill and for most a fuel oil bill during the winter months, no sewage, trash or water bills. It was septic tanks and a gully on your property for the trash after the trash was burned in a 55gal barrel. I now have a small water bill after “city water” was ran by my home because of the huge county landfill being open in my area. We were connected for free. After getting city water, I couldn’t wait for the power to go off so I could see what it feels like to flush the toilet when the power was off. If you have never used a well for your water you won’t understand this!
Hi Randy! No I have never used well water! I bet it tastes so much better than tap water in the city! I can’t drink the tap water without having a filter for it. Ugh! In Iowa I burned trash in a drum, and my leaves and yard debris in the garden in the fall. My house in El Cajon (CA) was mostly gas, which I loved. But here in North Carolina, my house is mostly electric. I have not figured out why my upstairs here has a gas heat pump (and a/c), and the downstairs has a separate a/c and heater unit that is electric. My house was built in 1960. It’s crazy and fascinating how things can be so different for the utilities all over the country! Oh, and in the basement at my house in Iowa (built in 1890), was a coal room with everything still intact from when that’s what heated the house.
Donna. : )
Our Granny would holler at us kids if we left the light on when we went outside. She would say if you boys don’t want less food on your plate you best turn them lights out cause money don’t grow on trees. She also said light bill. She said “I’m gonna light a fire under you boys if you don’t stop that”. 🙂
never heard big light, but then i’ve never used one, either; i hate overhead lighting! it’s there on the fan, but i just don’t turn it on (never heard cut). i pay the light or power bill interchangeably with the electric bill, but it’s the power that goes off.
No big light here. Just the one! You must be better off than me if you have more than one light in a room.
I don’t pay the light bill or the electric bill. I pay the power bill. The power comes to my house through power lines hanging from power poles. Not light poles. No light lines or light wires.
I do have to light out for the house to beat the rain sometimes.
Mr. Pate must be doin pretty well if his cows have lighted stalls.
I had someone offer to beat my lights out one time. I told him that wasn’t necessary, just to loosen the bulbs and they would go off, but to be careful ’cause they git awful hot. He just shook his head and left and left them lights on.
When I was about 7 or 8 we got electricity through our area. I grew up with “power poles”. My wife grew up in the city and had “telephone poles”. Now those poles support electric lines, phone lines, internet lines, cable tv lines and who knows what else. I now call them “utility poles”.
We use a lamp and seldom use the ceiling light in the living room.
Yes we have a big light in the kitchen and in the living room. At my in-laws they used to say “shut the light”
After writing my other comment, I wonder how many that get their water from a well use a light in their well house to help keep the pipes from freezing during real cold weather. It seems to me the new led bulbs do not put out as much heat as the incandescent bulbs and cause problems with doing this.
Don’t recall every hearing ‘big light’. It was called “overhead light” as I was growing up. Now I just call it “the light”. Also growing up it was
“the light bill”, a holdover, I think, from electrics earliest days when it was just for light and then a single bulb per room. But nowadays electric bill us far more accurate since the many electric items would make a long list. I think I grew up hearing and saying ” cut on/off” but now say “turn on/off” even though the actual motion is not a turn. Have also heard and likely used “flip on/off”. But if a full hand switch it is “throw on/off”. Breakers are flipped or thrown.
We use a well for our water and we use a light in the pump house to keep it from freezing over in the winter. We use a halogen lamp bulb, like they use down on the construction sites. It’s made like a tripod, has a rectangle head with reflective foil behind the bulb and a wire cage over the bulb so if it tips over, the bulb doesn’t get broken and cause a fire. On real cold nights, we use an oil filled radiator just to be sure.
In years gone by the big light would be the one that cost the most to operate so it would be reserved for company. Back then money was scarce that’s why the big light would be reserved for special occasions.
My Grandmother was always doing little things to keep the power bill as low as possible.
We have always had a “big light”light in my family and my wife’s family. We also turn the light on or turn it off, we either have a light bill or power bill, the lights or power will go off during times of bad weather and I have heard the word “light” used in the other ways you mentioned. Maybe the cow was afraid of boogers during the night.
Oh my word yes we have a big light in our house too! My late Granny and my late Momma did too. I hadn’t thought about what I called it until I read this post. It’s always been the big light… And it’s never, ever turned on or off… You cut it on or you cut it off…lol
I pay my light bill, too.
Goodness, have you brought up some old sayings…front room, big light, back porch, icebox. There are a lot of ’em. Gotta get rid of some orange and zesting is in the future. I loved how you shared your treat with your family and how they commented of their enjoyment. Don’tcha just love it when they like something you made from the heart? God Bless
“light a rag” is a term I hadn’t heard in over 50 years. and yes “paying our light bill” is due here in the next few days. “Light” is used in many ways.
And , on that note…
I’ve seen a huge increase in my light bill. Im curious if anyone else has noticed it.
I also forgot to mention that my granny use to say, turn out the light, it makes heat. I never thought a Lightbulb would make heat, but it does (especially back then down in Louisiana ). I thought she was being like granny was and being frugal. No, they do make heat.
Don’t you remember that Easy Bake Oven that little girls used to wish for? It used a light bulb to bake your little cake. The requires a lot of heat!
Tipper,
“Don’t forget to leave the light on!”
I can still hear that commercial, kinda like a Paul Harvey thing (does anyone know who Paul Harvey is anymore?).
have you ever heard the phrase “light a shuck” ? Same as light a rag.
Joe-I’ve heard that too 🙂