[Vhfcn-l] Monday musings

Mon Aug 2 09:39:13 EDT 2021

Personally i think it came from rural people who planned to do something but high water would prevent it. Seems logical to me. Love these musings by the way. I look forward to them. 
Moe

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 2, 2021, at 8:16 AM, Gary Thewlis via Vhfcn-l <vhfcn-l at lists.vhfcn.org> wrote:
> 
> In my house I'm the boss, my wife is just the decision maker.
> 
> Woody Allen
> 
> 
> 
> As you may or may not know, in keeping with the high-class tone of Beverly
> Hills, our police force is probably the most snobbish group of gendarmes in
> the world. It is said that the Beverly Hills Police Department is so fancy
> that it has an unlisted number.
> 
> Jack Benny
> 
> 
> 
> My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was
> right. I feel ten years older already.
> 
> Milton Berle
> 
> 
> 
> I love to sing, and I love to drink scotch. Most people would rather hear me
> drink scotch.
> 
> George Burns
> 
> 
> 
> We should make politicians dress like race car drivers -- when they get
> money, make them wear the company logos on their suit.
> 
> Jay Leno
> 
> 
> 
> We pick politicians by how they look on TV and Miss America on where she
> stands on the issues. Isn't that a little backwards?
> 
> Jay Leno
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> God willing and the creek don't rise
> 
> 
> 
> An item floating around the internet claims that the expression God willing
> and the creek don't rise referred to the Creek Indians, not a body of water.
> It mentions Benjamin Hawkins of the late 18th century, who was asked by the
> US president to go back to Washington. In his reply, he was said to have
> written, "God willing and the Creek don't rise". Because he capitalized
> Creek it's asserted that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not
> a body of water.
> 
> 
> 
> However, this is quite certainly not true. Every researcher who has
> investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue.
> The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. It's worth looking
> into because of the way in which it has been elaborated.
> 
> 
> 
> Anecdotal evidence suggests that it has been in regular use throughout the
> lifetimes of some elderly folk in parts of the US, either in the form given
> or as the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. One such bit says it
> was a sign-off tag line of the 1930s US radio broadcaster Bradley Kincaid.
> 
> 
> 
> If we relied on written sources it would be hard to believe in such
> continued use. The written record dates the saying from about the middle of
> the nineteenth century, but just four instances from that century were
> found. Then there's a long gap in the record before it began to appear again
> in the 1950s. It took a further decade for it to become popular as a
> supposedly hayseed utterance, sometimes as and the crick don't rise to
> reflect a regional form.
> 
> 
> 
> The earliest example known is this mock rustic speech:
> 
> 
> 
> Feller-citizens - I'm not 'customed to public speakin' before sich
> highfalutin' audiences. ... Yet here I stand before you a speckled hermit,
> wrapt in the risen-sun counterpane of my popilarity, an' intendin',
> Providence permittin', and the creek don't rise, to "go it blind!" -
> Graham's American Monthly Magazine, Jun. 1851.
> 
> 
> 
> And this is one appearance in a newspaper:
> 
> 
> 
> We are an American people, born under the flag of independence and if the
> Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise, the American people who made this
> country will come pretty near controlling it. - The Lafayette gazette
> (Louisiana), 3 Nov. 1894.
> 
> 
> 
> You will have spotted that neither of these capitalises creek, which
> suggests they didn't have the Creek people in mind. In fact, virtually all
> the examples found in books and newspaper archives down to the present day
> are in lower-case.
> 
> 
> 
> That argues for a more mundane origin: the old-time difficulties of
> travelling on dirt roads that forded rivers and streams; a sudden storm
> could cause water levels to rise without warning and render the route
> impassable. If the creek don't rise was a whimsical way of saying that the
> speaker would carry out some task provided that no figurative obstacle were
> put in his path. It can be summarised as "if all goes well". It's a more
> conditional statement of intent than come hell or high water.
> 
> 
> 
> The saying has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson among
> others, on the usual principle that attaching a famous name to a story
> validates it. Mentioning Benjamin Hawkins is a masterstroke, since he was
> the General Superintendent for Indian Affairs between 1796 and 1818 and was
> principal Indian agent to the Creek nation; he became so close to its people
> that he learned their language, was adopted by them and married a Creek
> woman. Who better to write about the risks of the Creek rising in revolt?
> 
> 
> 
> But if the supposed letter was ever written, it doesn't now exist in any
> archive that any researcher has so far found (his letters have been
> published, if anybody would like to check). It must surely be the creation
> of a fertile modern mind desiring to put the flesh of evidence on the dry
> bones of outright invention. And even if it did, the initial capital letter
> would mean nothing, as at the time it was still common practice to
> capitalise all nouns.
> 
> 
> 
> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> 
> 
> 
> How long is a day on Mars?
> 
> A: 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds.
> 
> 
> 
> What gives the gemstone turquoise its distinctive color?
> 
> A: Traces of copper.
> 
> 
> 
> What is the most plentiful element in seawater?
> 
> A: Chlorine.
> 
> 
> 
> What device was introduced commercially in 1934 as a "portable super
> regenerative receiver and transmitter"?
> 
> A: The walkie-talkie.
> 
> 
> 
> What color is topaz in its pure state?
> 
> A: It's colorless. Topaz takes on a variety of hues from trace elements,
> radiation and defects in its crystal structure. Pale gold-brown it its most
> common color.
> 
> 
> 
> Before the barometer was discovered, what animal did German meteorologists
> use to predict air pressure changes?
> 
> A: The frog. Frogs croak when the pressure drops.
> 
> 
> 
> At what temperature does water boil at the top of Mount Everest?
> 
> A: At 150 F (or 70 C). At sea level, the boiling point of water is 212 F
> (100 C). As you get higher, the atmospheric pressure drops, and with it the
> boiling point of water.
> 
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