hoss-pinch
n.— «To those of you who do not know what a “hoss-pinch” is, it is when somebody older than your grandmother has been working for many years in the fields, has used a “rub-board” for years to wash clothes and has soft motherly hands stronger than steel—pinches your flesh with not two fingers but five as if they are making a cup for water. The thumb is used as a straight edge at the end of the cup made by the hand, so when the fingers are closed, it’s comparable to a finger being slammed in the door—but this is worse. When this happens, you would rather take any “high-number spanking” than to feel your skin, flesh, muscle and nerves caught in that trap. This is why our great-grandmother never had to spank us. She had such finesse and the ultimate control. Not the Church pinch but the “hoss pinch.”» —“It’s amazing what our ancestors did with so little” by Desmond Scaife Opelika-Auburn News (Alabama) Feb. 20, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Jane Alberdeston is a poet who lives in Norfolk, Virginia, but she’s originally from Puerto Rico, and notes that in the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, there’s a famous statue of Christopher Columbus with his finger pointing toward the horizon. In...
Deb in Lombard, Illinois, shared an expression her grandmother used when irritated with someone: Hey, buddy, walk east till your hat floats! In other words, it’s the same ill-willed advice as go play in traffic! This is part of a complete episode...