October 5, 2017
The other morning Granny asked The Deer Hunter if he heard someone shooting way up in the middle of the night. He didn’t hear it nor did Paul or I so I’m thinking Granny heard something she thought was a gunshot. Or then again, maybe we all slept through it leaving Granny to wonder about the shot.
Anyway, my mind latched onto the way Granny described the time she heard the gunshot: way up in the middle of the night.
I’ve said those very same words to describe the exact time one of the girls called out to me because they were sick at night or to describe the time of night that I heard an unusual noise.
Not to long ago my unusual noise was a towering pine tree out on the ridge that finally succumbed to the beetle damage and fell during the night. I kept thinking someone was doing something with a piece of tin I guess it was the tree settling and sliding down the steep side of the ridge. By morning I had forgotten about the noise until The Deer Hunter asked me “Did you hear that tree fall way up in the middle of the night?” See he says it too.
What exact time is way up in the middle of the night?
Even though I describe the time of night that way, it’s still hard for me to say exactly when it is. For sure past midnight but before dawn is the best description I guess.
The phrase is so very typical of our lovely Appalachian language. Instead of saying during the night we feel the need to offer the information in a very descriptive detailed manner so that the listener knows exactly what we mean.
—October 5, 2017
Seven years later we still say way up in the middle of the night to describe that period of time.
Normally I sleep through the night without waking, but if I’ve got something on my mind I find myself worrying and fretting about it way up in the night.
As I’ve continued to pray for the storm victims I’ve thought about how their troubles have to seem insurmountable. Way up in the middle of the night I’m sure many of them are worrying about how they’ll ever get their life and livelihood back. Please continue to pray for them and for all those giving aid.
Last night’s video: A First for Our Trip to Town.
Tipper
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When I awake from sleep, if it’s 12:00 to 2:00 am, I call it the middle of the night; if it’s 2:00 am to 4:00 am, I call it the wee hours; and I pray when I wake up, another chance to commune with our Lord.
As a kid I would hear people say “way over in the night”, meaning after midnight but before sunup.
I haven’t heard that expression before, but I think about “the wee hours” on a regular basis, as I am very often woken up several times each night between 1 and 4.
I love it when you shine a light on a phrase that is so common to me that I haven’t even thought of it as being a regional thing.
Dusty saw snow back on Sugar, Beech and Grandfather this morning. I can’t see that from my house but I used to. People around me have let their trees grow up so that now trees are all I can see. One of the main reasons I moved here almost 32 years ago was that view of those mountains. The view is still there just as it was then but now I can’t see it.
I like that saying. Haven’t commented recently, nothing worth mentioning I guess. Terrible about Helene and Milton’s storms and the damage it caused. Continual thoughts and prayers goes out to all the people affected. My SIL is in Gainesville,GA have not heard from her. Was Raleigh affected? Have friends there as well.
Lifting all of them in prayer. Way up in the middle of the night is an appropriate phrase for those lost wee hours of the night.
I don’t understand “wee” hours of the night. That would leave you to believe they were significantly smaller than those of the daylight but the exact opposite is the case. Those long lonely hours are as days when you are laying there unable to sleep. Or when you work the 11pm to 7am shift for 25 years.
A lack of understanding is commonplace within this little pea brain of mine!
I wonder if ‘wee’ isn’t a reference to the hour. For example, the number ‘one’ is a small or wee number.
I often wake up ‘way up in the middle of the night’ and my first thought is of the victims especially those who may still be without shelter or perhaps their only shelter is a lean to or a tent so they dont have dry ground to sleep on or something to keep out the cold wind….I thank God for my privilege of blessings to have a roof and a non muddy floor and a bed thus you can find me praying way up in the middle of the night for the victims. The tornado that hit my apartment last year (I still have a big window that hasnt been replaced so heat and humidity come in to my bedroom making it miserable) was a picnic compared to the hurricane devastation. Thank you for continually reminding people to pray–we need not let up on our prayers for them….it is kind of like when there is a death in the family and people rally around you for a few days or maybe a week then they fade away but your hurt and pain and loneliness only increases because the shock is wearing off and now youre facing reality—these hurricane victims have been in shock and they have been helping one another because it is innate in them to do so, but once the shock of the disaster has passed they will still need our prayers and our support (monetarily or physical items or our labor assistance) so again bless you and thank you and the girls for your not letting up on reminding everyone to pray pray pray for all the victims and the ones who are putting in countless hours working to restore and repair…..
1,2 and 3 are smaller than 4, 5, 6 etc. thus the wee hours of the night.
Some old houses creak and groan. When it happened way up in the night when I was little, it scared me. Now, it would be hard to wake me from deep sleep. The falling ice in the icemaker once made me think we had a burglar, but now it is just another night sound that has become part of life. As for “way up in the night,” I think it is used much like “way up in the holler, John’s fox hounds have struck a trail.” The hounds are some distance away but not clear up at the top of the ridge.
I certainly have heard and used that sentence of way up in the middle of the night but that was many years ago:)
Once I heard my dad say “in the wee hours of the night” I’m not surprised by that as he was Welch-Irish. I too enjoyed the shopping trip video. Prayers for the folks with damage and for Granny too. I’m so happy to see Paul putting out more videos and as always love the duets with Granny! Love to all!
Well I’m in the middle of the state, so technically not in Appalachia. But that phrase or some mild variation would be common around here as well and Ive said it often I’m often fascinated by how similar the language is between us here in the Piedmont and those of you who grew up in Appalachia. Interesting to think how that might have happened.
We also say “way back up in under the bed”. Remember that?
As I was emptying out my britches pockets I dropped a piece of change. It made the distinctive sound of silver, real silver, not zinc clad copper. I had to retrieve it. With my tiny flashlight I carefully scanned the floor, but to no avail. Down to my knees then prone on the floor I went. There it was, way back up in under the bed! There in the dust, among the spiders, their webs and the crumbs of many of their meals it lay.
Should I leave it until the next good cleaning? That could be never! Can I reach it with my hand without dislocating my shoulder? Maybe, I’ve gotta try. Nope! But, I touched it. Ain’t gonna work. Maybe a sweeping motion, side to side? That worked! Now it’s on the other side, ripe for the taking.
Victory is sweet? Here I lie, flat on the floor, without a plan to rejoin the vertical realm, having left behind only a fan in the grime and having retrieved the wisps and fragments of another world that lies way back up in under the bed. Oh, and a shiny 1946!
Pure poetry!
I don’t remember hearing the saying “up in the middle of the night”. Here in Berks County we say “back in the day”, meaning long ago. “Back in the day we had party lines on our phone”. If we’re talking about really long ago it would be “way back in the day”. I like hearing the sayings from around the country, so interesting.
Prayers continuing for the hurricane victims. I like the updates from Brass Town.
I have to check if our Tractor Supply has donation boxes in the store.
Now it’s, “Back in the day, we had land lines.”
I remember party lines. Ours was 2 quick rings. And our phone number in Raleigh was just 4 digits when I was a kid.
I wonder if those extra descriptors you mention are not a reflection of being knowledgeable about nature and also historically living without clocks so that dividing time was not by hours? I am reminded of something often found in westerns of cowboys on the range telling time by the stars, a necessary skill when getting up at 4am or thereabouts. I have no idea why but to me different times of the night have a different “feel” (close as I can get). When I wake up I can usually guess the time pretty close if I wait a bit before looking. Noises “way up in the middle of the night ” have a different significance than noises early on because of being unusual, most especially if human-caused.
My mother had an internal alarm clock. Each of us 9 kids would tell her if we had to get up for something like carrying the morning newspapers. If we had to be up at 5:00, she’d call us at 5 to. I always wondered how she did it, but as I got older I had the same skill. I never set an alarm clock and I was never late because I overslept.
I never remember the saying way up in the middle of the night, but here in Berks County we say “back in the day” describing in the past. “Back in the day we had party lines on our phone”. If we are really describing long ago it was “way back in the day”.
I so like hearing the different sayings from around country. So interesting.
Prayers are continuing for the hurricane victims. I do like your updates from Brass Town. I have to check our Tractor Supply to see if they have donation boxes in the store.
I am more likely to say “way up in the morning” but “way up in the middle of the night” is a close second.
“In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it’s too hard to cross” -Billy Joel
I have never heard this phrase exactly like this but I like it. Like Randy, I have only said “in the middle of the night” but not with the “way up”. That picture of the girls, looks like they must have been up or awake way up in the middle the night sometime and watching something on the tv maybe. You are blessed to be able to sleep through the night without waking up. Many a night I have concerns weighing on me and keeping me up or waking me up, “way up in the middle of the night”. Today though, I will be able to tell people that last night I heard a strange noise outside our bedroom window way up in the middle of the night. I thought it must be a fire truck but when I looked out the window there was the biggest transfer tractor trailer I think I’ve ever seen, in our little subdivision cul-de-sac, and I’d like to know what in the world they were doing here and how they got that thing down here cause ain’t no way they turned around in that little circle. They must have backed their way all the way down here. It made me say outloud, what in the world??!! My husband said what is it? He got up to look. He seemed frustrated I woke him for that and quickly went back to sleep. They sat there a few minutes, then slowly headed on their way out. I don’t know how they were going to get out of the neighborhood either, that thing was huge! So strange; not only in the neighborhood but way up in the middle of the night like that too. Thank you for the new phrase to use Tipper, especially this morning it’s very timely. I cannot stop thinking about everyone whose life has been torn upside down and inside out in all the different ways by hurricane Helene. May God make His presence, peace & strength feel especially close to everyone bringing healing, wise discernment and restoration in every way needed! Psalm 34:18.
As a former truck driver, I can guess the driver was following the GPS. They are wonderful devices but unfortunately they are sometimes wrong, very wrong.
I used to hear that expression quite a lot when I was a little’un, but rarely anymore (and never up here in Michigan). I know there used to be lots of folk from Appalachia who came here back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s to find work. My mother-in-law was one of them. Most all of those folk have passed, so most of the beautiful language of home has gone by the by.
I say way up in the middle of the night too. Maybe that tree you heard fall rolled up and under a piece of tin on its way down the hill. The girls at work used to tease me when I’d say I’ve been up all day but I just can’t seen to wake up. They would ask me exactly what time does all day start.
I’ve used “in the middle of the night “ many times throughout my life. I reckon I heared it from my people growing up.
I have heard and said way up in the middle of the night as well as zero dark thirty
My parents and extended family, who were from eastern KY used that phrase often. I remember Mom talking about being awakened “way up in the middle of the night” by a fire truck’s sirens. A small building way out in our field, an old pig sty, had caught on fire and someone else in the neighborhood had seen it and called the fire station. Come to find out some boys in the neighborhood had been smoking in it and left a lit cigarette. That’s one of the things I like about this blog, Tipper. You and the other bloggers remind me of words and phrases that I haven’t heard in many years.
I always say I heard something or woke up “in the middle of the night”. I don’t think I say “way up”, but I love it. agree with Randy about cars running around all hours of the night. I also wonder what they are up to. I do say “all hours of the night” a lot too.
Very familiar saying. I have never thought about this saying. As a kid growing up in the Smokies, you’d hear lots of sounds, etc., panthers, coonhounds, and of course your own animals out on the hills, but we still use that phrase today. I love our language. I don’t think we will ever get over the memory of this storm. We just don’t understand everything in this life. God’s word tells us that his ways are not our ways, but we know he loves us and will always be with us. God bless.
I often use in the middle of the night to describe any time between bedtime and the alarm going off. Usually after being awakened by some strange noise.
I’ve never heard that phrase before but I’m going to start using it. So descriptive and full of character. I’m a lighter sleeper so I often hear noises that wake me way up in the middle of the night.
I think I used to say, “sometime during the night…” Now if I’m awakened I look at the clock and calculate how much longer till breakfast. I take my hearing aids out at night so now I hear very little unless its super loud. Even during the day with them in my wife will ask, “What was that noise?” My response is usually, “What noise” I didn’t hear anything.”
Now I ask you, how else would you describe ‘way up in the middle of the night’???…my thoughts exactly….much like, way over yonder, or any other old phrase that we grew up using. I love all of them but have not thought about the one you have described today. Prayers for Granny always and God’s Blessing on the rest of you guys. I also loved your shopping video.
Prayers for sure for all affected so greatly by Helene and those in Florida by the double impacts of Helene and Milton.
We still use that phrase.
Tipper, I was thinking on one we have used all our life and wondered if you had heard it, or anyone else here, and where the phrase comes from? “Stay until the last cat’s hung”.? The meaning, for us anyway, is to stay until something is finished, or completed, not to give up.
Continuing to pray for all those still in the aftermath of the storms. We did hear from our family and friends in Florida and though the second hurricane brought about more damage they are all ok. My heart breaks for all those affected by these storms. It seems more than a body, or mind, can take. Praying for all those helping in the recovery process too.
Thank you for all y’all do!
Debbie-I’ve never heard that one 🙂
I have heard the phrase “stay ’til the last dog’s hung” in a cowboy song by Michael Martin Murphy. The line went something like: I’ve heard it said so it must be true, only the good die young. Tough Ole cusses like me stay on ’til the last dog’s hung.
Good morning! I was born/raised in Little Rock, thankfully my husb/myself live way out in the country/woods, in northern AR – the Ozark mountains. My late grandmother “Nanny” used to say way up in the night. She lived to be 101, wasn’t in poor health til 99.
I’m ready to can my coleslaw later this morning, so excited, I have only to pack my jars and make my brine. We love slaw with a tangy dressing! Thanks for sharing something new.
Tonight’s bean night, pintos with ham hock, collards from garden, cornbread and fried potatoes and I saved out some coleslaw for tonight. Have a blessed day.
I meant to add this to my comment, if I heard a gunshot during the night, my first thought would be someone is spotlighting deer.
I don’ t think I have ever said way up in the middle of the night but often say middle of the night. I once could sleep all night long without waking up, but not anymore. It is like I have an alarm clock set for 2 o’clock. And then I will take cat naps or lay awake for the rest of the night and have all kinds of thoughts running through my head. Many of these thoughts are about the past. I have lived here for 70 years and for many years, you heard nothing after a couple of 2nd shift neighbors came home at midnight, except for some trains going through Honea Path, SC 13 miles away. Now I hear cars running on these rural roads at all hours of the night, makes me wonder what they are up to, I wouldn’t think they all would be coming home from work at the middle of the night hours. We now have many “newbies “ from other parts of the country living around my neck of the woods and many things sure have changed. The last time my friend coon hunted on my property, one of these new from up north neighbors called the law and said his dogs were disturbing them. Nothing was done to the coon hunter, he was not breaking any laws, in fact the patrolman set in his car listening to his dogs run and told him his dogs sure were sounding good. He was not even hunting on the two acres POSTED property of the one that called.
I have heard of “the cat being hung”, but I do not remember where. It isn’t a phrase used regularly here. However, “way up in the middle of the night ” is frequently used by me and others. Of course, we will continue to remember the victims of the storms in prayer too.