Transcript of “Ain’t My First Rodeo”
Welcome to A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Porter O’Neill. I’m in Madison, Wisconsin.
Hey, Porter. Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Well, I work as a receptionist at a company that proctors professional examinations.
And sometimes a candidate will fail and have to come and try again.
And when that happens, as I’m explaining the check-in rules, they say, oh, this isn’t my first rodeo.
And eight years ago when I started this job, I never heard that.
But in the last couple of years, it’s become very often.
And so when they say this isn’t my first rodeo, they’re saying I’ve done this before.
Yes, they’ve heard it.
They don’t need me to tell them again.
Okay.
Yeah, it’s an interesting twist and turn in this expression.
I don’t think it’s any more common than it was eight years ago.
Perhaps you’re just noticing it more.
The first use that I know of in popular media was found by the language researcher Barry Poppik.
And it’s in the film Mommy Dearest from 1981, the Joan Crawford biopic, where she says, I’m going to modify the curse word on this.
She says, don’t F with me, fellas.
This ain’t my first time at the rodeo.
And then in 1990, there was a country song by Vern Gosden called This Ain’t My First Rodeo.
And it’s got lines like, this ain’t my first rodeo.
This ain’t the first time this old cowboy’s been throwed.
This ain’t the first I’ve seen this dog and pony show.
This ain’t my first rodeo.
So the idea is there even then, you know, 40 years ago, 40 plus years ago, that it’s about, you know, I’ve been here before.
I know how this works.
There’s no surprises for me.
But there’s an older version of it, which goes back to the 1940s, and it’s still about being experienced.
And there are long versions of it and short versions of it.
But a lot of them go something like, I’ve been to three state fairs and a goat rodeo, and I’ve never seen anything like this.
And sometimes goat rodeo is a goat roping or a goat race.
This goes back to the 1940s.
Sometimes they’ll say pumpkin pickings or I don’t even know.
They have a lot of a frog race.
I’ve been to two state fairs, a goat roping and a frog race.
And, of course, there are vulgar versions, but you can find those on your own.
So that’s what we know about it, Porter.
Again, I don’t think it’s any more common than it was,
But certainly there’s a long history of people talking about their experience compared to going to a rodeo.
Okay.
Well, thank you very much.
It’s our pleasure.
Thanks for calling.
Take care.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
We talk about all kinds of slang expressions on the show.
Give us a call.
