More Nerves than a Cranberry Merchant

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Cora Weisenberger. I’m calling from Chicago.

Chicago.

All right, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

What can we do for you?

My grandmother always had this expression that I’ve never been able to figure out if she was talking about someone that she thought was kind of rude or pushy. You would say, he’s got more nerve than a cranberry merchant. And I never could figure out what that was. And I’m sure I asked her, but I don’t remember her ever giving me a clear-cut answer. You know, it could be one of those things of it’s just something her parents said, and she just continued doing it.

So, first of all, what is a cranberry merchant, I guess, other than somebody who deals in cranberries?

That’s pretty close. Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s the only thing. And why are they particularly nervy?

Nervy.

Yeah, and it was also particularly interesting because, you know, I grew up in north central Illinois in a farming community, but we never raised cranberry. So it’s just funny that that expression would work its way into a non-cranberry growing area. So I just always wonder, you know, why does somebody have more nerve than a cranberry merchant?

Well, that’s a good question. The expression I’ve heard far and away, much more commonly than that, is busier than a cranberry merchant. Have you come across that?

Right.

I’ve heard of that, or at least I saw that when I did a little research. Yeah, and that’s the oldest version, too. That goes back to the late 1800s.

Right.

For a long time, that is the only version of the expression that you can find.

Right.

Okay.

Well, my grandmother was born in 1899.

Okay.

Maybe she knew some particularly nervy cranberry merchants.

Yeah, who was she talking about?

To my knowledge.

What do these people like that she’s using this expression for?

Like I said, they were usually somebody who was kind of pushy or audacious. I have said that I think if she was alive today, she’d say that Donald Trump had more nerve than a cranberry merchant. It was never done in a positive light. And when I saw the expression about busier than, it’s like, well, that makes sense. But no, she never said it. And she never said it like that. It was always more nerve than a cranberry merchant.

Interesting.

Yeah, I mean, the busier than a cranberry merchant is pretty self-explanatory. I think, you know, the berries get harvested around Thanksgiving or right before Thanksgiving, and so you’re frantically trying to get your crop there.

Right, yeah, and I’ve heard the extension busier than a cranberry merchant at Thanksgiving, which is kind of like busier than a one-armed paper hanger.

Right, right, or busier than a cranberry merchant in November, something like that. But it’s easier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

Yeah, exactly.

But, yeah, no, it’s always more nerve than a cranberry merchant. I wonder if she conflated two different expressions.

Yeah, that happens all the time with metaphorical expressions. We combine them, make our own versions. We kind of want to own them. We put our stamp on them.

Well, we don’t know that particular variant of the expression, but we are going to be on the lookout for it. And if we turn up more information, we will let everyone know, okay?

Okay.

All right.

Thanks so much, Cora.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to maybe find the route to this.

Okay, yeah.

You’re welcome to call us anytime with anything else that your grandmother may have said or anything that occurs to you.

I was trying to think, yeah, about it. She had a couple that were not too savory, but.

Oh, I love those.

Yeah, those are the ones we want to hear. Leave those on the voicemail.

Okay.

I will.

Thanks, Cora.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Cora.

Bye-bye.

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