A caller remembers an odd phrase from her childhood. If she asked too many questions, her mother would brush them off with the phrase “layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.” Say what? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Layers for Meddlers”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Oh, hello.
Who is this?
This is Lois.
Hello, Lois. Where are you calling from?
San Diego.
Oh, San Diego.
Hi, Martha.
What’s cooking over there? What are you doing over there in San Diego?
Well, I’ve been thinking about an expression that my mother used to say to me all the time, and I have never heard it since, or even read about it.
Aha, I love these. Let’s hear this one.
And I was a very curious little kid probably because I was always saying, what’s in there, what’s in that box, what’s in that closet? And she would say, layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks. And that indicated that it was none of my business.
Layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks. Layers like L-A-Y-E-R-S?
Well, you see, I’ve never seen it written. I only heard her. So when I was thinking about it, I wondered, did I hear it as layers, L-A-Y-E-R-S? Or did she say liars? I don’t know. I don’t know.
Oh, man. I love these. We’re collecting these, Lois. They’re fabulous expressions. And you’ve never heard anybody else say anything like this, right?
Never.
Right. This falls into the category of things that parents say to, as you said, give an easy answer to an over-inquisitive kid. And I’ve seen a lot of these. I have a whole collection of them, like I’m sewing buttons on ice cream.
Oh, my. I love that. I love that. Or in Britain, sometimes they say, I’m making a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle. And the idea is don’t ask me any more questions already, right?
Another one is spectacles for blind bumblebees.
Oh, I love that.
Oh, I never heard that. But yeah, they’re all questions to respond to kids. You basically give them nonsense in response. It’s a really befuddling saying, isn’t it? Because you could muse that over for quite a while and come up with nothing.
Layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks. Why are the ducks lame? Who made the crutches? Are these little tiny duck crutches? What are the meddlers people and what are the layers? Are layers like the chickens that lay eggs? Because you talk about good layers. Who knows?
Well, there are lots of different versions of this layers for meddlers things. I’ve seen lay-os for meddlers.
Yeah, I’ve seen as lay-overs instead of layers, right?
Yeah.
Yes, exactly. And, you know, in one of my favorite reference books, The Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, there’s an entry for layover and it’s a deadfall trap, you know, a kind of trap that you make where you make a hole and then you cover it up so that somebody won’t see it and then they fall into it. And so the idea may be that a layover is to catch meddlers.
I see. That makes sense. So your mother is laying a trap for you when she gives you this.
Yeah, or it’s just something that you want to stay away from. I do know, though, Lois, that the earliest that I’ve been able to trace this back is to the 1840s. So it’s got some history. You’ll find it in various books. A number of different slang dictionaries will include variations on a theme.
One variation in the 1885 issue of Manchester Notes and Queries in the United Kingdom was making lay house for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.
Wow.
Oh, so you actually did see something that said crutches.
I did. Yep, yep, absolutely. I found it in print. I found it in a couple places in 1906. I found Eric Partridge, the great English slang lexicographer, and Paul Beal put a guess of 1870 for the origin of the term. But as you’ve heard, I was able to take it to 1840s.
Wow. Well, Lois, I hope we’ve been enlightening.
Yes.
Oh, super. At least you know that it’s not something that your mom made up, and it’s got a history, right?
That’s right. It’s very interesting. Thank you so much.
All right. Thanks for bringing that up.
All righty. Bye.
I love this stuff.
Thank you, Lois.
Okay. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
You know, Grant, I know that there are people out there with other examples, and we love to see them.
Yes, please.
Yes, please. If you have an expression that you use to keep kids out of your hair or maybe your grandparents said something like that, why don’t you go to our discussion forum and let us know about it? The address is waywordradio.org/discussion.
