Gracious Plenty Expression

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Mike from Fort Worth, Texas.

Hi, Mike. Welcome to the program.

Hi, Mike.

Thank you.

What’s on your mind?

Well, recently I attended a family reunion, and I was sitting next to an elderly aunt.

And we were having the normal family potluck food everywhere.

And somebody came up to her and asked her if she would like more to eat.

And her response was, oh, I’ve had gracious plenty. Thank you.

And it was an expression I’d never heard before.

And I was curious if y’all had ever heard of this expression and where it may have come from.

Great question.

Gracious plenty.

I know that, Grant, that goes back to at least the mid-19th century, and it sort of has a whiff of that.

To the early 1800s at least.

Yeah, I’ve seen it in translations of Plato.

I’ve seen it in Zora Neale Hurston’s work.

And I don’t know that it’s particularly Southern, but it has that whiff of a time when people were more, I don’t know, maybe I’m being overly nostalgic.

No, I think you’re right.

You didn’t just say, no, I’m fine, thanks.

Yeah, or I’m full or I’m stuffed.

Yeah, you were a little more elegant in your phrasing when you told people that you were satisfied and your belly was full and your plate was empty and that’s how you liked it.

Yeah, it sort of reminds me of that expression that we talked about that you hear more in Canada about my sufficiency is suffocated.

And there’s another one, elegant sufficiency is often a response as well, Mike.

It’s almost always at these big get-togethers, Thanksgiving, the church supper, preacher comes over for dinner, whatever.

There’s a conversation happening and person A says to person B, do you want some more fried chicken?

They’re like, no, no, I’ve had gracious plenty.

Thank you very much.

So it’s in this kind of ritualistic offering and refusal that we have.

All humans kind of have this, the ritualistic offering of more and the ritualistic refusing of more.

Well, it was something I’d never heard.

Similar to what you mentioned, most responses that I’ve heard are, I’m full, thank you, or even more southern, I’m full of the tick, things like that.

That one’s not particularly elegant, but very colorful.

You might hear that from your nephew rather than your elderly aunt, right?

Exactly.

So that’s why it struck me as being so much more genteel of a response than you normally hear.

Yes, that’s the word I was looking for.

Yeah, she must be a classy lady.

Yeah.

She is.

She very much is.

Yeah, and I wonder if it has a religious connotation, too.

I’ve seen it come up in a variety of religious texts, not as the main focus of the piece,

But as their particular wording to talk about the bounty that is given to us by God and so forth.

Interesting.

And that’s what I had asked one relative if they had heard it, and they used the religious connotation as well.

Okay.

Interesting.

Okay.

So sort of starting the meal off by saying grace and then saying gracious plenty at the end.

Exactly.

Oh, very good.

Well, that’s the most that we know.

We do know it goes back to the early 1800s.

It’s fairly common, maybe a tad bit more southern.

I do know that it occurs in the U.K. as well.

So there’s probably some history there, but it’s not that common,

And it’s a phrase that probably—

It’s lovely there, right?

Yeah, it’s a good one.

Gracious plenty.

I’ve had gracious plenty.

Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I’d say that after a Happy Meal,

But after Thanksgiving dinner, yeah.

Yeah, sure.

Particularly when you consider the time and trouble that’s gone into it, right.

Yeah, exactly.

Certainly.

Well, that’s interesting.

I appreciate the history on that.

Sure.

Are you going to adopt the phrase now?

Oh, certainly.

Certainly.

I think it can make me sound much better than the tick reference.

You sound pretty good, Mike.

Thanks for calling, Mike.

Thanks for calling.

Thank you.

Take care.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

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