Susan in Virginia Beach, Virginia, says that whenever she looked sad as a child, her grandmother would say she looked like somebody licked the red off her candy. This phrase goes back at least to the 1920s, and refers to licking the red coloring off of a candy cane or other hard, sugary sweet. The phrase was popularized in a 1966 song, “Who Licked the Red Off of Your Candy?” by country singer Little Jimmy Dickens. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “You Look Like Someone Licked the Red Off Your Candy”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Susan calling from Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Hello, Susan. Welcome to the show.
So I had a question about an expression that my grandmother used to use all the time, and she was from northeastern North Carolina.
And she used to tell us that we looked like somebody had licked the red off our candy.
And I kind of always envisioned like a peppermint stick and somebody had licked the red off the bottom.
I noticed that if I try to use the expression today, kids don’t get it.
Not at all?
No.
To me, it makes perfect sense.
But I grew up hearing it.
You’re right that the image here is of a peppermint stick, a red and white one, that somebody licked the red off.
And the way I learned that was from a country song that came along a little bit later than the 1940s.
Did you ever hear of little Jimmy Dickens?
I did.
I know he died recently.
I remember them talking about him.
Oh, okay.
He’s the guy who became famous for his 1965 hit, May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.
Oh, I’m not familiar with that.
Yeah, that was his really big one.
That was the one that topped the country charts.
But the next year, he did a song that used that phrase, who licked the red off your candy.
Oh, interesting.
1966, right?
Yeah, 1966.
And in the song, he’s looking at somebody who’s looking sad, and he says, you’re standing there with teardrops almost flowing.
You look like a little girl that I once saw who bought a peppermint stick down at the drugstore and stopped to pet a big old friendly dog.
And you can imagine what happened next.
Oh, that is so interesting.
So the dog licked the red off the candy.
Yeah, that is really neat.
Well, my grandmother was a country, well, when they used to call it country western fan, so that would make sense.
Oh, well, there you go.
Yeah, might be where you got it from.
Yeah, I thought it was something she grew up in North Carolina here in.
Yeah, well, she probably did.
I mean, as I said, it’s been around since the 40s at least.
Yeah.
But it really took off in some sectors in 1966.
Martha, I do find it back as far as 1920.
Oh, no kidding.
Okay.
So even older.
And before that, I find lots of anecdotes about children licking the red off candy and then someone else unwittingly eating the remains, which is kind of gross.
But not the expression.
It’s just that, as precious as candy was for families back then, it probably was shared.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, thank you so much.
Well, thank you for bringing that story to us.
Thank you so much.
That was really interesting.
I appreciate it.
Have a nice day.
Okay.
Take care, Susan.
Bye-bye.
I did find a couple places where people suggest the variant, you look like someone licked the molasses off your biscuit.
Oh, that’s good, too.
It’s not that common.
I don’t find it in many places.
You know, what I really like about those phrases is, you know, I mean, how can you continue to pout or, you know, be sad if somebody’s giving you some perspective, I think.
Yeah.
They’re giving you a little bit of humor and a little bit of sympathy and a little bit of perspective all at once, right?
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
Who licked the red off your candy?
And that’s a real toe tapper.
It’s really worth looking up on YouTube.
Little Jimmy Dickens, 1966.
Little Jimmy Dickens.
