backset noun A relapse during convalescence (especially in phrase take a backset).
1863 Warrick CW Letters (May 26) I will be as stowt as ever in a few days if I take no back set. 1864 Lister CW Letters (Feb 27) I want you to take good cear of your self When you haf to go apon your crutches and if it takes eny back set send and get Mrs Bolews gall to stay with you. 1889 Murfree Broomsedge Cove 366 I wur a-trin’ to git over that backset. 1939 Hall Coll (Indian Creek NC ) He tuck the whopping cough along about Christmas time and was out of school for a month, and then he tuck a back set and was out of school again. 1969 Madden and Jones Walker Sisters 29 Despite this expert care, the convalescing sister said, “I like to took a backset when I got to knockin’ about,” that is, when she got on her feet again. 1978 Bird Traps 74 The doctor told him to stay in, but he went to work anyway. He took a backset, and never got over it. 1985 Irwin Alex Stewart 33 It was cold and they was snow on the ground and I took a back-set and went as blind as if I’d never had an eye in my head. 1996 GSMNPCOHP-1:4 They’d get up too early and try to take care of somebody and take a backset.
—Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English
Granny has warned us as long as I can remember about taking a backset. Since I’ve been sick she told me “Now you better rest up for a few days or you’ll take a backset and it’ll be worse on you.”
When I was girl anytime I was sick Granny made me chocolate milk and cinnamon toast to make me feel better. Funny how things like that become ingrained into your being. Till this day if I’m sick I find myself wanting a cold glass of chocolate milk and some sweet sugary cinnamon toast straight from the oven.
Thank you for all of your kind wishes. I’m feeling better and hopefully I won’t take a backset 🙂
Last night’s video: We’ll Protect Matt Like a Queen in a Hive & an Amazing Garden.
Tipper
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So glad to hear you’re feeling better. My family’s remedy for just about anything that didn’t kill us was Saltine crackers with honey and ginger ale. Any time we got a little puny, out’d come the Saltines and honey. BTW… Granny was right about backsetting. Seems like the boys were harder to convince
I just finished reading My Appalachia, A Reminiscence by Rebecca Caudill. On page 6 she writes, “we tacked carpet strings by the mile, it seemed to me, and then admired the multicolored balls when they were rolled up and ready to be woven into a new carpet.” Do you know what she means by tacking carpet strings?
Praise GOD! It is so wonderful to hear that you are doing some better/on the mend. I’ll keep you and the good folks of Wilson Hollow in my prayers.
I’m so glad you’re on the mend! My grandad would say take a back set. My dad would say take a set back. Funny how he changed the order…anyway I hope you don’t take one. ❤️
Glad you are better, too! Although we would have a hard time if you were gone very long we are just happy to hear you are better. For my family, mother fixed “milk toast”. It was just sweetened milk with a little vanilla flavor added, then warmed and poured into a bowl over toasted light bread, eaten with a spoon. Somehow it made us feel better.
For sicknesses we always had soup and saltines if we weren’t too bad off…if we couldn’t keep much down it was chicken broth and 7up or sprite. This might sound a little gross but I found that for stomach bugs drinking orange juice is the way to go…it tastes about the same on the way up as it does on the way down lol. Hope u stay on the mend!
So glad to hear you’re doing better! Backsets are hard on a body for sure… Granny has words of wisdom.
My paternal grandmother always gave us 7up and jelly toast if she was around. Momma gave me crackers and milk and to this day it’s one of my favorite things. A treat in that day would have been graham crackers and milk. I had some the other night because it had been years since I’d done the graham crackers and milk. Boy it sure was good…. although the graham crackers aren’t as tasty as they use to be….still don’t beat the ol saltines and milk for me though.
So glad to hear you’re better. Many prayers for all y’all!
Tipper, I am glad your garden is doing so good. I see on the weather radar where northern Georgia and the western area of NC seems to get a shower of rain every day. The gardens and corn fields that would number into hundreds of acres have burnt up around here because of the heat and lack of rain. This is the 32nd or 33rd consecutive day 90 degrees or more of the actual temperature days and I have had about 1/10 of an inch this month. Starting Saturday, it is predicted to be 4 or 5 days of 100 degrees and less than 10% chance of rain each day. There has been thunderstorms around that couldn’t seem to miss us but will go around us. A lady I talked with yesterday that has a produce market and grows her own produce to sell said it is just like being the hole in a doughnut. It has been this way for the last 5 years or more summers.
PS: Made a typo. Daddy always made sure we got a malted milk after Dr. visits or if we were feeling puny. Later my friend. J
Miss Tipper sure glad your better. My dad would always make are we got a malted milk if we were sickly or after going to the doctor. Momma didn’t drive ever. She tried but just couldn’t get it right. Of course my dad didn’t make it easy for her either. Too critical. Poor momma. Love y’all, everyone have a great day and God bless.
For my family it was hot tea and toast for breakfast and chicken noodle soup, crackers and ginger ale for later.
I found that this was going to my spam. I have it back, but now I have it on both emails. I’m so glad you’re feeling better.
I’m so glad you’re feeling better. Don’t be to quick though you don’t want a backset, and we’ll be here when you’re all better.
“Perfect”. I second that! “We’ll be here whenEVER you’re better, Tipper!
My mama always gave us dry toast and a hot cup of sweetened tea. I always feel better if I eat chicken noodle soup. I have always made chicken soup for my kids when they were sick, along with dry toast and hot tea. I am so glad you’re feeling better Tipper. We all missed you.
mama made me potato dumplings
Tipper,
So glad you’re feeling better and taking precautions in order to avoid a backset. As much of an inconvenience as it is to find ourselves under the weather, sometimes it makes me think it might be a sign for me to slow down. The notion of continuing to take it easy until you’re fully well again is so wise (and necessary), but unfortunately anything other than pedal-to-the-metal is frowned upon in our hurry-up culture today. I think we’d all do well to remember advice like Granny’s.
In food news… I received your cookbook for Mother’s Day and have absolutely cherished it! I have it sitting in a cookbook stand on my counter and that picture of the blackberry pie has been calling to me, so I thought I’d make one before the berries went out of season. Growing up, my Mawmaw was a master (like most Appalachian cooks) at cobbling together what was available to make a work of culinary art, and her blackberry dumplins are a taste I think I’ll carry in my memory for the rest of my life. Your pie seemed like the next best thing, so I was excited to try it. Unfortunately, our dry weather in the piedmont has made a quick end to our blackberries, so I decided to make Tipper’s Blueberry Pie since my local berry farm had plenty in stock. I’ve never made a blueberry pie before and what a pleasant surprise it was!! Oh my!!! How delicious it was!! Thank you for sharing. My husband was wondering if I could sub out the blueberries for strawberries just for variation, keeping everything the same. I think I’ll try that soon.
sometimes when we were sick we got milk toast—daddy however always wanted poached eggs when he was sick which was very seldom….we were warned about a backset and though it never happened as a child (due to moms watchful eye) it has happened to my stubborn self as an adult—-now I am so old I am not interested in pushing myself hard enough to get a backset lol
So happy you are feeling better Tipper! I don’t recall hearing that expression before: taking a backseat – but do understand it well as I too, find it is hard to not be ‘doing’ when one starts to feel better. Saltines, chicken broth, homemade eggnog made from fresh from the nest eggs, or a bowl of boiled onions with plenty of butter & pepper was the main go to when I was growing. What you were given depended on what sickness you had! May you continue to feel better and may no one else get it.
Having that special something, whether food, or being help, or being great read or sung to, or being wrapped in a special blanket – those reminders that we are loved no matter how sick (or, sometimes, how “bad”) we are (or have been) do wonders for our heart & soul & help us focus on resting so we can heal. Do allow yourself plenty of time to rest & take it easy as you resume your normal chores & activities. Your readers, including me, wouldn’t hear of you backsetting just to satisfy our longing to read more of your love for Appalacha, family, & music.
If one of us was puny at my grandma’s house, for comfort food we would get a glass of milk and a buttered biscuit with brown sugar on it. The biscuit would come from the warmer on her wood stove, the milk from the ice box on the back porch.
Been praying for you and I do hope you take it easy for a while. When I’m sick I dream of my Mother’s Vegetable soup. She always canned a bunch for winter. I can’t make it as delicious as hers but I still yearn for it.
I have only ever heard “taking the backseat” to mean one thing/person being less of a priority than another. This is interesting!
Good morning Tipper, I am glad you are feeling better. I like how you said “those things become ingrained into your being”, I think you are so right. Cold chocolate milk and hot cinnamon toast sounds really good and a treat from your sweet mother that surely must have made you feel special when you were not feeling well. For me it was Canada Dry ginger ale with ice and a can of chicken noodle soup with saltine crackers. There was one time I remember when I was so sick I had to be in bed all day, my mother actually gave me a little bell to ring for her if I needed/wanted anything since she would be busy in the kitchen or downstairs in the basement and me at the other end of the house in my room. My Mama was a dear sweet hard working wife and mama. Today, I have learned how to make chicken noodle soup homemade using homemade broth for when anyone is sick. Yesterday was my double nickles birthday. Mama always made sure we had cake to celebrate anyone’s birthday, yesterday my sweet daughter made a delicious lemon cake for us to enjoy.
Rebecca-a belated Happy Birthday to you!
We got poached eggs when we were under the weather. They were warm & soft & made us feel better. Sometimes we got cream of wheat when we didn’t have eggs.
I missed your post yesterday & was concerned that you had taken a backset. Welcome back!!
When I was growing up, taking a backset was a scary phrase. It often meant the patient was going to be “bad off” the second time around. I don’t recall ever having special food when we were sick, but I will never forget the medicine Dad was so adamant about feeding us. Castor oil, cod liver oil, syrup of black draught, and others were guaranteed to cleanse one’s body of any ailment that had us believing we were on our deathbed. We would be ready to try anything to stay alive. We would open wide when dad would tell us a big dose of this will ‘work’ the sickness out of you.
Get well soon, Tipper!
In this family, it’s ginger tea and toast. Hope you’re on the mend.
Glad you’re feeling better! Hopefully you got caught up on your rest/sleep so you want have a backseat. Your mama is right as usual!
We usually got caster oil first thing, I hope you are feeling much better, take care of yourself.
Tipper, I missed you yesterday. I hope you are on your way to recovery and won’t have a backset. I never heard of the word backset, we used set back. When I was growing up, my mother always gave us milk of magnesia (“mom”) or Pepto Bismol. They thought maybe you were constipated and needed a laxative. The thing was when I was sick I couldn’t even drink water let alone “mom”. I usually fasted one day and then the next day I was fine. My husband said his mother did the same thing only he got melted butter or Pepto Bismol. I found out later that ice-cold ginger ale helped me. You mentioned cinnamon toast and chocolate milk. I usually had that before I went to high school in the mornings. I made instant cocoa and made the toast in the oven with plenty of butter and cinnamon sugar. I watched your video last night and your garden is beautiful. The green beans you picked were perfect. Looks like you’re going to have an abundant harvest of the other vegetables. Happy canning.
So happy you’re feeling better! Listen to Granny and don’t try to do too much too soon. We don’t want you taking a backset. ❤️❤️
So glad you are better. A few good things came out of it though. For one, you see how we missed you and were concerned, not as if you didn’t already know though. (That’s sorta a drawback of being dependable; trying to live up to the reputation when you don’t feel well enough to do it.) For another, we re-discovered how much we look forward to reading your early morning posts to start the day.
So glad you are doing better…and no backseat!
I’m thankful that you’re feeling better. Listen to your body and go ahead and eat some cinnamon toast and chocolate milk. It couldn’t hurt.
I was always given what my mom called “soda” crackers and ginger ale and even now, at my ripe old age that is what I go for.
Tipper we just prayed for you to heal. Most of all with all those vegetables comin’ in ….we pray you will take the time to heal and call out the troupes to be in your kitchen! If necessary we”ll send the “guard” to get you to listen to Granny. I tell my family, “Do it on the front end of the healing and you won’t have to do it on the backend!” Also, “You are the only one who can do the work of healing.”….and of course call on God’s Hand.
Tipper, I wondered about not seeing the blog at all yesterday, but since I knew you were feeling puny, I figured you were resting and that was the best thing you could do. I know when I get down now it’s a several day or more event-even the IBD now takes DAYS instead of hours to get over and I’m so tired most of the time, I just want to be lazy. I had a nightmare about moving and was taken on a crazy ride in an empty moving truck by Murrman on dirt roads and up a big muddy hill with him slinging me all over the place in the back of it as I hollered “why are you driving wild in an empty moving truck? This makes no sense.” Then he hollered back illogical statements and I was mad and confused and just knew the truck would be damaged and we would get charged for that. When I woke up I was confused for a minute and a bit upset. I think this moving stuff is getting to me. Lol stay well and try not to have a backset or a setback as I’d say which is not nearly as fun. Oh yeah, I’ve told everybody I know about BUTTCRACK FALLS that’s a swimming hole my friend and her family go to in NORTH CAROLINA. Not just one, but ALL have gotten a good laugh over it and agree only in NC would a name be that descriptive, funny, and honest fun. Everybody loves you, Tipper!!! Even folks who only know OF you get a real charge (and a happy one) out of your interesting and never dull life!!! Glad you’re not feeling puny anymore! Praise the Lord for his kindness and mercy as He treads the high places of this earth and knows all!
Granny is absolutely right!!! Every time I have been sick and start to feel better and get up to start doing what needs to be done, by the next day I am worse than I was the first day I got sick. I had to learn the hard way about resting a few days after I had been sick. Listen to Granny and rest up for a few more days. You will be glad you did and you will feel better than ever.
I’d always fix my kids a piece of cheese toast or jelly toast (where you mix the jelly & butter together before spreading it on the toast) and a glass of sweet tea no ice when they were sick, that was what I lived off during my pregnancies also! We always want an ice cold Coke and some soda crackers for nausea, and chicken broth with noodles for cold or flu…. Whether they really cure us or not these old faithful customs sure are a comfort when you don’t feel good.
Susan, seems like after being sick, I have always wanted a cold (the colder the better) Coke, Pepsi and something salty like soda (sody) crackers. Sometimes l have also wanted cold sweet fruit such as store bought canned peaches that had been put in a refrigerator to get cold.
Randy-
My mama kept a can or jar of stewed tomatoes in the fridge at all times in case of nausea. She always said the cold tomatoes settled her stomach and she could eat them and crackers when she could stomach nothing else.
I took a backset and never got over it…yet… and it’s been years now… from working and pushing through injury, surgeries and recovery. We’re supposed to be tough and expected to take medicine to mask the pain in order to work so we don’t completely heal. Wish someone like your Granny would have been by my side! Hope some young ones heed your advice. Decades ago I had a foreign doctor new to this country write a prescription out for one month off of work after a nerve conduction study. I thought it was a joke. He shook his head and said he would never get used to this countries way of not letting the body heal. He said his part of the world understood the body. I hadn’t heard of the term backset. Just backslide.
I’m sure your doctor was absolutely right that a month of rest would have been wonderfully restorative for you. Yes, we’re conditioned to push through pain and illness—at our own expense. I spent a week in the hospital, seriously ill, and was back to work just a few days later. At least my boss gave me some flexibility about going home when I needed to that first week, but oh, how I wished I could have simply taken a leave of absence to fully heal and recover. However, most of us simply can’t afford to do that.
I’ve been praying for you. Hope you are back to yourself real quick.
good to hear! i got worried when nothing showed up yesterday either 😉
I missed my daily dose of the BP&A yesterday and hope you are better. When we were children, my mother’s “cure all” was one of these-7up, Sprite or Ginger Ale and a dry piece of toast, Today, I do not like 7up or Sprite, once in awhile on a blue moon, I will drink a cold Canada Dry Ginger Ale. I think milk would be the last thing I would want if I had been sick, especially if I had had a fever, I would be afraid of it making me sick on my stomach. I have a friend that will drink buttermilk if he has an upset stomach (backyard trots). Tipper, I believe Granny has done spoiled you rotten!
we got saltines and coca cola syrup.
now for me it’s tacos or Korean.