Sherman from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, says her grandfather used to speak of accomplishing something physically challenging through main strength and awkwardness–in other words, through brute force and sheer determination. In the 1500s, English speakers used the expressions main force, main courage, and main logic, to suggest this idea of managing to do something through pure willpower or muscle, and without much finesse. By the mid-1800s, they got across the same idea with such phrases as main strength and stupidity, main strength and prodigious awkwardness, main strength and pure awkwardness, main strength and ambition, main strength and ignorance, main strength and stubbornness, main strength and roughness, and main strength and determination. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Main Strength and Awkwardness”
Hi there, you have A Way with Words.
Well, hi, this is Sherman calling from Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
Welcome to the show. What can we do for you?
Well, my granddaddy had a saying that I just love. He would use it when, let’s say, a difficult, hard task had been accomplished by somebody who was probably not really well suited for that task. And he would say that they had done it through main strength and awkwardness, which I think is just one of the best things I ever heard. And I wonder if other people have said that too. Main strength and awkwardness, is that three things or two?
I guess it’s your main strength coupled with your awkwardness. Main strength and awkwardness. And so you said it was things that they weren’t well suited to. Like what kinds of things are we talking about? I think of things like, you know, putting up a shed, you know, working with your hands and creating a shelter or, you know, building something and just making it, it’s almost through your sheer force of will. Yeah. So main strength itself is idiomatic. It’s an expression that goes back to the 1500s.
And you’ll find main used in that way with main force or main courage or main logic. And all of these have to do with this, like, just like you said, kind of brute, whatever, brute courage, brute force, brute strength, or pure willpower and pure muscle. It’s like you’re just doing it without a lot of finesse, without a lot of elegance, you know? You’re not very refined, but you got her done.
And then by the mid-1800s, we start to see main strength and other things being paired together. And the earliest version that I can find is main strength and stupidity. And the first use I find of that in 1845, they write, as sailors say, main strength and stupidity. And they’re talking about how much of sailing has to do with pure muscle power. You know, it does not require an advanced degree. You know, there are no doctors on a sailing ship required at all. It’s a muscle.
But you’ll find other things. Main strength and prodigious awkwardness. Main strength and pure awkwardness. Main strength and ambition and ignorance and stubbornness and roughness and determination. And you can hear all of these nouns all have this idea of clussedness, you know, pure drive, energy, and almost animal energy.
Yeah, I was thinking simply determination, but okay. It sounds a little more brutal than that. One synonym you might run across is to bullet through. So, you know, imagine doing something with the force and energy of a massive bull, you know, B-U-L-L.
Oh, let’s do it.
Okay.
okay What do you think of that, Sherman?
I just think it’s fantastic, and I’m going to continue using it for myself. And thank you so much. This has been a blast.
Yeah, yeah. Thanks for sharing. We really appreciate it. Take care of yourself.
Great. You too, all. Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Talk to us about your main strengths and your awkwardness when it comes to language.
