Andrew from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, recalls a phrase his grandmother used: You’ve got to eat a peck of dirt before you die. A peck is a unit of dry measure equal to a quarter of a bushel. Peck is also a term of approximate measure, as in to be in a peck of trouble or the old lyric I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck. A longer form of the philosophical observation about eating a peck of dirt is You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die, but nobody wants to eat it all at once. Another bit of advice goes: If you have to eat dirt, eat clean dirt. An older version, going back at least 400 years, is You have to eat a peck of ashes before you die. Incidentally, translators of ancient Greek have long rendered a Greek unit of dry measure, medimos, as the English word peck, as when noting the proverbial peck of salt that one must share with a friend to form a truly intimate bond. In other words, friendships form over long periods of time, little by little, like the salt one consumes over a shared dinner. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Have to Eat a Peck of Dirt”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, my name is Andrew Sexton. I’m calling from Cape Cod.
Hi, Andrew. Welcome to the show.
Well, I have a memory of a phrase that my grandmother used to use. I heard her use it several times. My grandmother lived with us, and she was my best friend. And she kind of took my side and stuff. Like, if my mother was admonishing me about, you know, getting dirty in the backyard, playing in the mud or whatever, she would say, you’ve got to eat a peck of dirt before you die. My grandmother would say that. And that phrase stuck in my head, and I’ve always wondered, and as I’ve grown much older, that has taken on additional meaning. So I was just wondering if you had any inkling about where that phrase came from. It’s a way of being philosophical about your your trials and tribulations. Your grandmother was right. You know, everybody’s going to suffer setbacks and disappointments. I mean, that’s just part of the deal, right? If you’re alive, that’s part of the bargain. Do you know what a peck is? It’s half a bushel.
I believe it’s a quarter bushel. Right. Oh, really? Yeah. Eight U.S. quarts, a little under nine liters. Yeah. I thought it was a half, but okay. You know, if you’re talking about eating a peck of dirt, a quarter of a bushel or a half a bushel, that’s a lot of dirt. That’s a lot of dirt. Yeah. I think that she was probably familiar with this as a metaphorical phrase that also works if you’re talking about a little kid out in the backyard. But in any case, yeah, the word peck is often used as kind of an approximate measure in English.
You know, he’s in a pack of trouble or, I don’t know if you used this phrase, but I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
Oh, sure. That’s an old song.
Oh, is it a song? I didn’t know that.
Oh, yeah. I love you a bushel and a peck, bushel and a peck, and a heck around the neck.
Lovely.
Plus the double meaning of peck, right?
Oh, I never even thought about that.
Oh, okay.
Well, you’re teaching me stuff, Andrew. I’m a musician and a songwriter, so I’ve got a vast history of miscellaneous music in my head.
Oh, okay.
Well, maybe you can put this one to music. Sometimes people say you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die, but nobody wants to eat it all at once.
That’s a good point.
And another variant is if you have to eat dirt, eat clean dirt. But Martha, it’s old, right? We’re talking 400 years, although it was a peck of ashes I think in the beginning. Yeah, it’s really, really old. And you know, there’s another phrase that that I have to bring up which may be related in antiquity. There was the phrase to eat a peck of salt, or at least that’s how it’s translated into English. In his Ethics, Aristotle writes about friendships and about how friendships require time and intimacy. And one place he says, as the saying goes, you cannot get to know a man until you have consumed the proverbial amount of salt in his company. Of course, that’s in translation from the ancient Greek, but the Greek word here that’s translated as pek is medimos, which is a unit of measure for things like corn. So you have this idea for a couple of thousand years now that you eat something that you don’t ordinarily eat that amount of for something else to happen.
Oh, I thought that was about the passage of time, though. The salt represented the little bit of salt that you sprinkle on each meal that you eat with a friend.
Yeah, that’s what it is. It’s a cumulative effect.
Yeah, not all at once.
Yeah, sorry if I you didn’t make that clear. Your kidneys will thank you for not eating that all at once.
Well, there you go, Andrew. It’s an oldie, but a little bit of background for you.
Okay, great.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Take care now.
Bye-bye.
Bon appetit.
Bye-bye.
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