If someone’s gone pecan, they’re doomed, defeated, and down on their luck. This idiom, common in New Orleans, probably caught on because of its rhyme. This is part of a complete episode.
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Recently on a trip to Georgia a tour guide told us about pecan trees and their survivability during storms. The pecan trees did not fair well when compared with pines and their beloved live oaks. So as a result of two catastrophic hurricanes in that region the pecan production essentially went belly up. So i’m wondering if this is a possibility for the phrase “gone pecan”.