Hind Wheels of Destruction

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Mary Johnson, and I’m calling from South Pittsburgh, Tennessee.

My mom, when I was little, she always used a phrase for whenever we would get

Messed up, untidy, just hair or clothes just messed up some way.

She would say, you look like the hind wheels of destruction.

And I have never heard anyone but my family say that.

The hind wheels of destruction.

That’s bad. You looked bad when your mama called you behind wheels of destruction.

I bet you did.

It was usually when she was trying to get us, there were five of us,

And it was usually when she was trying to get all of us ready for church.

And she would sit us down on the couch once she got us clean.

And if you got up and messed yourself up, you were in trouble.

And you were called behind wheels of destruction.

I love this. It sounds almost biblical, doesn’t it?

Something out of the book of Revelation or something.

You look like the hind wheels of destruction.

Well, what’s really interesting about this expression, for one thing, it sounds so epic, like you said.

I mean, you didn’t mistake her meaning, did you?

No, ma’am.

Definitely not.

Well, there are various versions of this phrase, and they usually have to do with somebody who’s been run over by some kind of hind wheels.

And I just, I love that it’s the hind wheels.

You know, whatever the front wheels were, they already ran over you.

And you’re already—

Behind wheels, finish the job.

So you’ve got to double those.

Yeah, you’ve either got wagon ruts on your body or, you know, you’re lying there on the ground like Wile E. Coyote after a steamroller or something.

But there are different versions of this.

The oldest version that I’ve seen is from 1878, which is a newspaper article talking about somebody who looked like they had run up against the hind wheels of bad luck.

And so I’ve seen that expression a little bit earlier, or you look like the hind wheels of bad luck have run over you.

You know, you can also find a version of this expression in the lovely book, The Yearling by Marjorie Kennan Rawlings.

You look like the back of bad luck, which kind of sounds good.

It sounds like bad luck is left.

It’s leaving.

Well, maybe you’re the scat left behind after bad luck has chewed you up and let you out.

Mary, thank you so much for your memories and bringing up this expression.

We really appreciate it.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

I guess the opposite of the hind wheels of destruction is the front wheels of creation.

Climb aboard with us.

Call us 877-929-9673.

We’ll talk about language.

It’s all for you, U.S. And Canada.

Or send us an email, words@waywordradio.org.