Discussion Forum (Archived)
Guest
My Father discovered a phrase that was reportedly used by troops in World War II. He was in Casual conversation with a WWII veteran in New Albany Indiana (probably in the 50's time frame) when the Veteran said, "I haven't laughed so hard since old lady Frick got her tit caught in a wringer".
My Father was stunned because My great grandmother is named Frick and famously got her breast caught in a hand crank wringer while doing Laundry. My understanding is that she was running a sheet through the wringer and the front of her dress got bunched in and before she realized it she was stuck. It was so painful to reverse the the rollers that she had to send someone to get a neighbor to get her out.
My father said that he had never heard the phrase before that point and he couldn't find anyone in the family. The Vet sad the phrase was used in Europe and he had heard it from several different sources in other units. I'm sorry I don't have any idea what his unit was or where he served.
My great grandmother was Alice Frick she was married to John Frick in Pomeroy Ohio. There are lots of family there that know the story. My Father is still living an would, I'm sure would be happy to tell you what he can remember, if you are interested.
John Livingston
Fishers Indiana
John, how interesting! I never thought about this as more than a figure of speech, but now that you mention it, I'm wondering if getting grabbed by a wringer was an actual occupational hazard of doing laundry that way. I'm serious. I'm not familiar with the longer phrase you mention, but it'd be fun to research it. My hunch, and it's only a hunch, is that the fact that your great grandmother was named Frick and experienced this unfortunate accident is just coincidental. But as I said, I'd love to research it further.
Reminds me, btw, of Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell's famous comment about Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham.
My mother did not have a close encounter, but it seems some lady in the community did. Or, maybe she broke her arm; I can't remember the details and mom is gone, so I can't ask her.
I remember the story in the context of an admonition to practice safety and be careful around the wringer. Although she did later lose the tip of her finger in a punch press at work, her and dad's (a heavy equipment operator) safety instruction must have done some good. Our family is blessed with all of our limbs and digits and that is something to say in a farming community. Almost all of our casts and hospital stays were sports related, although one cousin crushed a leg when an almost-cut-down tree kicked back and another was pulled between a PTO shaft and tongue of a feed grinder pulled behind a tractor. And, in the last 10 years or so, three men in the community have died, two in tractor accidents and one in a big round hay baler.
Was it the TV show, NYPD Blue, where the sergeant always said, "Let's be careful out there."? I hope all Wayworders will.
Emmett
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
1 Guest(s)