The exclamations “I’ll be John Brown!” and “I’ll be John Browned!” have a sticky history, going back to view that the abolitionist John Brown was doing something damnable by arming a slave revolt. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “I’ll be John Brown”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hey.
Hey.
How are y’all?
This is Steve from Thomasville, Georgia.
Well, hey, Steve.
Hi, Steve.
What’s up?
Well, I’ve lived here 36 years. I moved here from South Florida. I noticed an interesting exclamation that people used around here. I first heard it with my father-in-law and then several contractors and older carpenters. And I was working with my father-in-law one day, 30-something years ago, and things weren’t going right and he suddenly exclaimed, “I’ll be John Brown.” And I’m somewhat of a history buff. I thought for a minute and I asked him why he used that. He said, “I don’t know, my daddy used it.” And I heard two of my boss men contractors use it and other older carpenters. I haven’t heard it several years, but it just killed me that people were using this abolitionist revolutionary’s name as basically as a swear word. Oh yeah, exactly. And I asked each one of them if they they knew who John Brown was, and they didn’t.
154 years after Harper’s Ferry, people are still using his name as a swear word. And, Steve, did they say, “I’ll be John Browned” or “John Brown”?
I believe it was said both ways.
Okay.
I believe it was said both ways. I haven’t heard it in some time over the years. The older generation is not around as much, and I haven’t heard it as much, so it seems to be dying out.
You’re on the right track here with this. The history of this expression does go back to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, when John Brown, who was an abolitionist, he was apparently, to judge by the paintings, a giant white man with a big beard, who he raided a government arsenal with the intention of arming slaves so they could carry out a revolt. And he was caught and hanged. And so depending on which side you were on, you may or may not have used John Brown as a swear word. And it was euphemistic for two things, either “I’ll be hanged,” meaning I’m as surprised if I were hanged, or “I’ll be damned,” because the assumption was that John Brown had done not only offense against the government, but he’d done a defense against humanity by trying to arm slaves. And so it represents a certain old-fashioned political point of view.
I’m not surprised that this far along that people haven’t kept up with the history of John Brown and who he was and why they’ve got this kind of euphemized swear word coming out of their mouths. It’s a mild oath, really. It’s not even a swear.
Oh, yeah. I understand perfectly, but it just tickled me that not one of the persons who used it knew who he was.
Yeah, and that’s the language. You know, the history of a word doesn’t travel as baggage with the word itself. It’s just like the world’s worst airport. The bags are soon separated from the passenger. Language is the world’s worst airport.
That’s great.
Well, it just kind of frowns on our school system that people can’t remember important parts of history, because John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry and his subsequent execution proceeded and perhaps pushed along the succession of the southern states.
Yeah, absolutely. It was a catalyzing event. In 1859, we’re talking a precipitous event. By that, I mean an event in which either side could crystallize its own points of view and rally its own supporters to support the pro or the against.
Definitely.
I can’t even think of a modern political performer who’s been as catalyzing as that. Perhaps, maybe it’s too early to say, Edward Snowden could be seen as somebody who’s supposedly committing a crime against the government from one point of view. But on the other point of view, he is exposing the government as this malicious actor.
Yeah, it’d be great to have the perspective of 150 years.
I know, yeah. 150 years from now, will we even remember Snowden? I don’t know.
I’ll be Edward Snowden.
But John Brown, there were songs about him. I mean, you could not have not heard his name every week of your life for the next 50 years. He was a constant topic of discussion even long after the Civil War was settled, even long after… his body was lying moldering in the grave, right?
There we go, yeah.
Steve, thanks so much for calling.
It was my pleasure. Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
