On yesterday’s post Ron Stephens ask me to check and see if “keel over” was in the dictionary I referenced. The phrase wasn’t listed, however I did learn something by looking for it.
keeler noun A broad, shallow wooden tub.
1879 Jones Backwoods Carolina 751 The dish-washing was not done on the table, but at the hearth, the women preferring to bend over with their heads to the fire while they washed the dishes in a “keeler.” A keeler is a wooden vessel resembling a foot-tub. 1905 Miles Spirit of Mts 32 Odd-looking utensils, these: boat-like bowls of maple for the kneading of bread, piggins and keelers of cedar, a wooden spurtle for stirring the evening kettle of mush, and a huge “gritter” on which green corn is grated for the making of “roas’n’ear” bread. 1935 Sheppard Cabins in Laurel 262 Uncle Milt is an expert at making wooden keelers, piggins, and buckets, the distinction being that a keeler is a wooden measure of peck size or less without a handle; a piggin has a straight handle on one side only, so that as it balances on the hip, the handle lies in the angle of the elbow; and the bucket has a complete bail. 1944 Wilson Word-List 45 = a wooden tub-like vessel five or six inches deep and eighteen or twenty inches in diameter, used to put milk or other warm liquids into to cool.
—Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (same entry in Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English)
Most of the things mentioned in the dictionary entry are long gone from everyday conversations. I’m sure Alex Stewart made them all at one time or another.
Washing dishes isn’t a chore I mind, but I’m sure glad I don’t have to bend over at the hearth to complete it.
Gene and Papaw helped answer Ron’s question about the phrase keel over.
Gene: If I may jump in, Ron, I think “keel over” must have come from a boat or ship that has capsized, bring the bottom (keel) to the top. A pure guess on my part.
Papaw: I think you’re right! Over in the old country they used to tie off their boats to a float that was then attached to the shallow sea bed. When the tide went out the boats sank down until their keel beam rested and then as the tide went out further the boat would gently “keel over” on its side and become “high and dry”. That was the time when they could work on their boats with their feet on semi dry ground.
Last night’s video: Digging up Iris and Hosta to Plant Flowers & Taking Down My Green Stalks.
Tipper
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Ah, I forgot about those who were in the military bringing back “fotched on” words and expressions! Travelin’ folks bring back words as one of their “souvenirs” and I recko leave a few behind also. And I can just about suspect some hillman or other would enjoy using an exotic word concerning boats ‘high and dry’ on a hillside and in its use remembering where and from whom he heard it. I do recall more than one commenter saying they were going to adopt and use one or more of Tippers words.
i’m very familiar with keel over…its one been used in SW VA and in my family well long as i can remember.. like many of the others above posted it usually meant plumb wore out… or being too weak to stand… as in “I hoed so many rows of corn i’m done about to keel over”…or in my case this past week after surgery for my cancer “Its too much, i’m done ready to keel over from the hurtin” (couldn’t tell you how many times i said that lol)
Becky-I sure hope the surgery went well 🙂
Around here instead of saying “keel over” when someone fainted, we would they “killed over.” Tricia when I was growing up we called our sweet corn “roas’n’ears.” I glad I could could copy your spelling.
The picture of the keeler looks a lot like what my grandmama called a dough bowl. She made her biscuits in one that sure looks like the one in the picture. I have no idea what became of it. Keel over was referred to as about to pass out in our neck of the woods. Always learning something new on BP&A. Thanks for the wonderful video last night. I always enjoy seeing your beautiful flowers. Katie’s poppies are gorgeous!
Anyone ever hear someone say “on an even keel” speaking of someone’s mood or frame of mind?
I just learned what a piggin’ is; never heard that term before. The photo of the keeler looks like what I call a dough bowl, which may be a more modern term.
Now I have always heard and used “keel over”. Watch some Doc Martin shows and you’ll often see the boats in the harbor “keeled over” when the tide is out, as described in your post.
Thanks and God!
I have heard the word used in a sentence such as: “I am so tired I about to ‘keel over’.”
Tipper, your gardens look beautiful!!! I love the flowers too:)
I have heard “keel over”, although I hadn’t thought about it in a while. “He just keeled over graveyard dead.” I never thought to connect it to boats.
So a “keeler” is the predecessor of a dishpan or a wash tub? Or a bread bowl? Maybe a gravy boat too?
I have learned something. While I use “keel over” I’ve never heard “keeler” before.
I’ve heard keel over and it is a boating term.
I have heard the term “keel over or keeled over” many times in my part of Eastern Kentucky. In most cases, someone “jus keeled over” or that dad gummed mule “jus keeled over” and was associated with either fainting or dying …….. No doubt in my mind that it is indeed derived from the nautical background noted, previously. It seemed to be a fairly common term of usage in my younger days, if I recall correctly! So, jus’ saying!
Gene is right. “Keel over” and “keel haul” are both nautical terms. My dad was in the Marine Corps and he used these terms regularly.
in my family the phrase “keep over” meant extremely tired, usually said after a long day of hard work. Grandpa said he might keel over when he finally got the last row of corn weeded. or… It is so hot out here today I am going to keep over if I don’t get out of the sun. This usage was probably derived at some point from the nautical version mentioned earlier.
Now I always heard that used as if you were going to pass out. “If I walked up that mountain I might keel over.
I had never heard of a keeler before. Now I need to know about a piggin. I’d never heard of that one, either 🙂
My hubby is working on making me a bread bowl or a keeler right now out in his shed. It isn’t made of maple, but from a big chunk of walnut a friend gave him. I have never heard that word before, but it’s always a learning experience here on the blind pig blog!
The pan pictured looks like what I have heard called treen ware, used for kneading bread.
I’ve always suspected the terms “keel over” and “high and dry ” had something to do with boats, but I’ve never heard of a keeler before. Once again learned something new. Which is always a good thing.
I agree, very happy I don’t have to wash dishes bent over a hearth with my head to the fire.
I meant I have never heard a wooden bowl or tray called keeler.
Folks around here say “keel over” for when someone faints..and I guess that fits boats too because of “keel”.. sailors also say “she hove to”
I remember my grandmothers and mother having large round wooden bowls they called dough trays. They would mix up their dough for biscuits or other things in them. I have heard any type of wooden bowl or tray called keeler.
Thank you, Tipper, and commenters. I just learned a lot but am still a bit mystified. In my experience, “keel over” meant sink down with an attack of weakness caused by over-exertion, overwhelming emotion and such. Similar to “take the weak trembles”. Nearly always used as exaggeration rather than fact. I had never heard the word “keeler” and southeast KY in the Cumberland Plateau/Mountains country was not much of a boating place before lakes were made because streams are not easily accessible, too shallow or both. Anyway, you might hear something like, “I overdid hoeing out the corn and after dinner I liked to keeled over.”
Perhaps the settlers to southeast Kentucky brought that term, and possibly these kitchen vessels themselves, with them when they left Scotland.
I’ve heard people say, “I just about keeled over,” meaning to faint or fall. The bowl in the picture looks like a dough trencher. I love the old trenchers, and you can still find nice ones on Ebay.
So very interesting. I had not heard of these things pertaining to keel over. Love learning new things on here! I don’t mind doing dishes but oh my aching back if I had to lean over the hearth.
My family and I are familiar with the term “keel over”. “I’d better sit down a while before I keel over.” It’s interesting to learn where the word came from. The wooden keeler reminds me of the small porcelain bowl (mortar) and pestle we used in nursing when we had to crush up certain meds and put them in applesauce, pudding, or other foods so the patient could swallow them. The word “roas’n’ear” is what my family referred to when speaking about ears of corn. I haven’t heard that word used in many years. My family and dads moved to northeastern Ohio in 1953 when I was four and one-half years old. One of my aunts went into a grocery store (A & P probably) and asked the clerk if they had some “roas’n’ears.” They didn’t know what she meant until my mother explained that they were ears of corn. The “roas’n’ear bread” sounds like it was cornbread.
“Roastneers” (i.e., roasting ears) was used by my family to refer to corn on the cob, but the corn was usually boiled since I grew up in a time and place where few people had grills or even brick fireplaces outdoors. I’ve heard and used “keel over” my whole life and come uncomfortably close to actually doing it when mowing in triple digit Texas summers. I never gave a thought to the boating origin of the term. The Ohio River doesn’t have tides.