Die Bull-Headed

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Darcy calling from North Pole, Alaska.

From North Pole, Alaska.

Wait, didn’t we have one from there recently, too?

We did.

Oh, North Pole, Alaska.

We did.

We’re just full of questions.

I love it.

Great, so you’re near Fairbanks.

Yes.

Cool.

Well, welcome to the show, Darcy.

What’s on your mind?

Well, I just had a question about a family saying that I’ve been hearing since I was a little kid, but it sounds like, as far as I can tell, no one else that I know has ever heard of it.

It’s something that my grandparents used to say to us when we were kids.

When we’d ask for something or ask to do something that wasn’t going to be possible, my grandpa would say, you may want horns, but you’ll die moleheaded.

And I thought it was a normal thing until recently I said it, and people give me this quizzical look like, what are you talking about? Where did you hear that?

So let me get this straight.

You’re doing something mischievous or demanding something?

Not necessarily mischievous, but maybe you want a piece of candy when you haven’t had dinner yet.

Okay.

And then he says, you may want horns, but you’ll die.

What does he say?

Mole-headed.

M-O-L-E.

Like the letter M is in Mike. The letter O is in Oprah. The letter L is in Leonard. Letter E as in L. Well, I’m not quite clear on that because I’ve never seen it spelled.

Okay.

This is what okay sounds like. Mole like M-U-L.

Okay, here.

Okay, oh, that’s perfect, that’s perfect.

Because I think there’s a misunderstanding here. I think there’s been a game of telephone taking place because the usual expression is either butt-headed like B-U-T-T or bull-headed like B-U-L-L.

You may want horns, but you’ll die butt-headed or bull-headed.

But I could totally see how bull-headed could become modified to sound like mole-headed, M-U-L-L, or mole-headed, M-O-L-E.

Okay.

So it’s common enough that it appears in the writings of Zora Neale Hurston.

And you’ll find it pop up here and there.

It’s not that common an expression.

You can’t Google your version of it, but you can Google you’re going to die butt-headed or die bull-headed, and you’ll find a few people have said it here and there on the Internet and books and literature and newspapers and that sort of thing.

And generally, the whole idea behind the expression is you want a thing, but it’s not going to change your basic nature.

You may want this, but you’re still going to be basically who you are and what you are.

Sure. And what does the name butt-headed or bull-headed mean? Is it referring to an animal?

I mean, bulls have horns.

It’s kind of a mix of metaphors here.

One of the ideas behind it supposedly is the idea of being butt-headed is that you don’t have horns.

If you talk about a cattle that is butt-headed, it means its horns have been sheared off or it doesn’t have horns to begin with.

The other idea of the idea of being bull-headed is the idea of being stubborn.

So it’s a mix of multiple expressions where it’s kind of been corrupted all along the way.

But the general idea here is that you want a thing. You’re not going to get the thing. You’re still going to be the basic stubborn person that you are.

Oh, it just doesn’t sound very positive.

No.

You’re kind of putting the person down when you say it.

Well, he’s calling you a butt-headed child, basically, right?

And he said it in a joking, jovial, fun, teasing way?

Yes.

Yes, always.

Affectionate.

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

I got to say, I’m really surprised to see that this expression is still out there and circulating in the world.

Well, apparently only in our family.

Yeah, it’s never really been all that common.

And I think these days the people who know it are the ones who know the Zora Neale Hurston literature and have read it and borrowed it into their own writing or into their own everyday language.

Well, thank you guys so much.

I will let my grandpa know what you guys told me.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thanks, Darcy.

I appreciate it.

Have a good day.

Well, if you know that expression, you may want horns, but you’ll die bullheaded or buttheaded, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email words@waywordradio.org.

Heck, call us about anything.

And you can talk to us on Twitter @wayword.