Falling off the Wagon (minicast)

Support for A Way with Words comes from Mozy Online Backup.

Mozy protects your valuable computer files against data loss from hard drive crashes, viruses, theft, and other disasters.

Find out more at mozy.com.

Welcome to another minicast from A Way with Words.

I’m Martha Barnette, along with Grant Barrett.

And Grant, we got an email recently from someone named Jan who wondered about the expression, falling off the wagon.

Janice, where does this expression come from, and what about being on the wagon?

Is it the same idea, and were there such things as temperance wagons at one point?

When I was younger, I did think it was the temperance wagon.

If you fell off the wagon, it meant that you were climbing down from this platform that was used by these temperance speakers.

They would have bands up there.

They would rail and rant against alcohol and its abuses.

They would park it up in front of a saloon or a bar.

And the idea was that if you were on the wagon, that meant you were anti-alcohol and you, of course, weren’t drinking, right?

There were temperance wagons, yes.

And did they go from town to town or just around town?

No, no.

It’s just the kind of thing you do around town.

It’s just another way to demonstrate.

It’s very much kind of a historical ancestor to any kind of protest or march that you would have today.

It’s definitely a good way to bring attention to your cause, right?

To park out in front of the place that’s offending you.

Sure.

And to shout and holler and sing songs and have your brass band play tunes.

That’s interesting, and it’s true.

Those things did happen, but it’s actually not the origin of falling off the wagon.

Okay, so what is the origin?

Well, did you ever live in the country, Martha?

I mean, way out in the country on a gravel road or a dirt road?

No, no.

I aspire to, but I never have.

I did as a boy for a time, and it was a gravel road, Ridge Road it was called, and it’s the dustiest thing that you’ve ever seen, living on a gravel road like that.

And so to keep the dust down, they would spray, and they would spray it from a water truck.

And these water trucks are massive.

They have big tanks on the back.

They have kind of a sprayer across the bottom and the back.

They roll slowly down the street.

They spray the road, not enough to make it muddy, but enough just to keep the dust down so it’s not all over your house and your food and your person.

And these wagons used to be a fairly common sight even in the cities.

And so the idea, if you were on the wagon, you were on the water truck drinking water, obviously, in lieu of drinking alcohol, right?

It’s kind of a joke.

It’s jocular, as they say.

You’re up there.

The idea is if you were saying that somebody else is on the wagon, they’re up there sucking on the spigot from the water truck instead of having a drink down at the bar with the boys.

Oh, no kidding.

So you must be really dedicated if you’re on this truck and drinking that water, right?

Yeah, and don’t forget, there’s a humorous notion there.

This is a joking idea that you’re so anti-alcohol or so not drinking alcohol that you must have gone completely over to the other side and you’re gulping the water down.

Well, that’s interesting.

Well, that’s all for this minicast.

You can find out more about our show and past episodes at waywordradio.org.

From Studio West in San Diego, I’m Martha Barnette.

For A Way with Words, I’m Grant Barrett from the Argo Network in New York City.

Bye-bye.

Cheers.

You can support this program by making a donation at waywordradio.org.

Thank you.