If You’re Waiting on Me, You’re Backing Up

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hey there.

My name is Eric, and I’m from Iron Station, North Carolina, right outside of Charlotte.

Gotcha.

Welcome to the show, Eric.

I appreciate it.

Hey, I’ve got a saying that my father-in-law says. If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up. And he usually uses that in context. If we’re getting ready to leave and we just ask everybody, are you ready? They’ll say, well, if you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up. And so I just want to know kind of the background of that, maybe the origin, and if you guys have heard that before.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, so he’s basically saying, you don’t need to wait on me. I’m ready, right?

Right.

Yeah, or I don’t have to get ready because I stay ready.

Yeah, and maybe that’s the case, but it’s pretty frequent whenever we’re going places. That’s kind of his go-to.

Yeah, yeah. It’s a joking way of saying, hey, I’m already ahead of you. In fact, you’re in my rearview mirror and you’re getting smaller and smaller if you’re just standing there waiting. It’s like, I’m already ahead of you. And I don’t know, maybe he’s a country music fan?

He’s country. I’ll tell you that.

Okay.

Whether he’s a country music fan or not, I’m not sure. But okay, that’s good. I appreciate that.

Well, sure. Yeah, I was going to say I asked if he was a country music fan because there have been a number of country music performers who have used this expression and recorded songs with a line like that in it, like the Kendall’s and Pam Tillis. There’s a famous song that goes, if you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up because I already fell in love a long time ago and you didn’t even notice me. You don’t have to worry about jumping the gun.

So that’s that same idea. If you’re waiting on me, you’re wasting time. Or there are different variations of this. If you’re waiting on me, you’re stepping back.

And, you know, there’s one thing that I find really interesting about this phrase. And it’s the part that goes waiting on, because that feels really familiar to me, and it probably feels familiar to you. Waiting on in the South is what a lot of people in the North would describe as waiting for, but waiting on is more Southern.

Yeah, it is. No, that’s a good point. I’ve not looked at it from that perspective before. It’s got some history. There’s versions of it go back to the 1930s. If you’re waiting on me, you’re fooling around.

Yeah, well, maybe the goal is not to be waited on at this point.

Right?

But anyway, I appreciate the background.

Sure.

Our pleasure, Eric.

Thanks for your call.

We take care of you now.

All right, thanks.

Bye-bye.

Well, if you’re waiting on us to call you, you’re backing up. Call us instead, 877-929-9673. Hit us up with your best ideas and thoughts about language. You can also tell us on social media. Find our handles and nicknames on our website, thewaywardradio.org.