Out Like Lottie’s Eye

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Celeste Green. I’m calling from Fort Worth, Texas.

Well, hello, Celeste. Welcome.

Hi, Celeste.

Well, thanks for having me.

Delighted to have you. What’s on your mind?

Well, my question is about a phrase that I’ve picked up from my mother and my nana, her mom.

And the phrase is, out like Lottie’s eye.

And we know what it means, but we’re not sure where it came from.

We have no idea who Lottie is and why her eye is out.

Well, how is it used?

At least the way they use it is basically out like a light.

Like if someone is in a very deep sleep, they’ll be out like Lottie’s eye.

And this is something that all three of you use, all three generations use this expression?

Well, I haven’t really had much occasion to use it myself, but they have both used it,

And I’m sure one day when I have children of my own, I will continue the tradition.

And have you heard it outside of your family?

No.

Okay.

Well, we’ve done some Internet research and quotation database just in the past and have never been able—

I mean, we found the quotation, but no explanation of who Lottie is, which is our big question.

Your big holy grail.

Yes.

Did you find the quote attributed to Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame?

That is one of the ones we had found, yes.

Yeah, that’s the one that most people know when this expression comes up.

He supposedly said, I’m just kind of paraphrasing here, that he wasn’t going to try to run when the authorities were after him,

That he was just going to keep on going until he was out like Lottie’s eye,

Meaning until he was dead.

Right.

Very dead.

Well, see, that’s the thing about out like Lottie’s eye.

It’s all the different meanings of out can be used here.

Like you can say a horse ran out like Lottie’s eye, meaning it ran very fast.

Or you can say I’m going to finish this work and then I’m out like Lottie’s eye,

Meaning I’m leaving very fast or I’m leaving immediately.

So there’s a lot of different ways that Lottie’s eye can be used in this idiom.

Here are some interesting things that we know for certain, Celeste, about Lottie’s eye.

This looks to be a Texas expression.

It’s Texas.

Yeah, yeah.

Most of the citations that you can find for this, a few dictionaries have kind of addressed it,

And there’s a number of different places that it appears in books,

And even within the last couple decades or so, it’s not that old.

I mean, it’s not archaic.

It’s not out of fashion yet.

They almost all seem to have something to do with Texans or Texas or used by Texan or Texas authors, which is really interesting.

But why Lottie?

I mean, is this a person?

Could it be out like a light that somebody just played with and mangled?

There’s a theory.

There was a famous gambler, a woman, by the name of Lottie Dino.

Did you hear about this, Celeste?

I’m not sure.

I don’t think so.

And the last name is spelled D-E-N-O.

And some people think that maybe she was somehow involved in this expression because she did some of her gambling in Texas.

But the thing is there’s no record that she ever lost an eye, and people don’t understand why it might be pertinent to her,

And it might just be a red herring, not really the truth at all.

It’s not a hurricane.

You might think, oh, maybe there was Hurricane Lottie.

There was one Hurricane Lottie, but it was in Fiji.

This is what I love about my co-host, that he knows that Hurricane Lottie was in Fiji.

Well, you know, God bless the Internet, let’s just say.

Out of all the fine things created in the world, the Internet might be the best one yet.

Rest assured, first of all, that it’s a Texan expression, and that’s kind of nice to know that it belongs to a certain group, right?

And the other one is that it’s got a long history, so we know it goes back at least 100 years.

I did find uses of it from the early 1900s.

And the other thing, I like the fact that it’s still in use by novelists and even nonfiction writers who are writing about Texas and its history.

And occasionally it will even pop up in like high school football stories.

Like the quarterback ran out like Lottie’s eye.

Oh, come on.

Yeah, that’s kind of nice, right?

So it’s still an expressive bit.

Well, no.

I mean, I think kind of, I think what we’re understanding here is that whatever, whoever Lottie was and whatever was going off their eye.

It was that something was remarkable.

Maybe she had this piercing gaze that could get right into your soul.

And if Lottie’s eyes were out, then you knew something important was happening

Or that your secrets were about to be revealed to the world.

I don’t know, but whatever was happening, Lottie must have been a remarkable woman.

So there’s a little bit that we know about that.

I hope that will hold you until such time as more information comes to light.

Well, it definitely answers some of the questions.

So at least we have an idea now of possibilities.

Yeah, but do pass it along to your kids.

And Celeste, if we find anything more, we’ll put it on the website, of course, okay?

Awesome.

Sounds great.

Thanks for calling.

Thank you so much.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, if something’s mystifying you, give us a call.

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