Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Nervous as a Polecat”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Stanley Wilkins from Tyler, Texas.
Hello, Stanley. Welcome.
Hey, what’s up?
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Well, I had a phrase for you guys, and I’ve heard it in Tyler, Texas, East Texas.
I’ve grown up in East Texas all my life.
And I’ve heard this phrase around, so I just wanted to run it by you guys, get your thoughts on it, see if you can give me some more insight there.
But the phrase goes like this, that I’m as nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor.
As nervous as a polecat and perfume parlor.
Correct.
And do you know what a polecat is?
I think it’s a skunk.
At least that’s what I’ve heard in reference to.
And what about a perfume parlor?
I’ve never even…
What is that?
It’s like a Sephora at the mall.
That’s kind of my visual on that is just that.
It’s like a perfume counter as you’re walking into the mall or something like that.
Okay.
Getting spritzed.
You can lounge on the velvet couch and the models come by and you smell their wrist.
Exactly.
The fragrance that you want.
That is the one I want, yes.
And so a polecat would be nervous in a perfume parlor because a polecat is known, you know, as a skunk, known for not smelling well, right?
Sure.
Is that your understanding of it?
Exactly.
And that’s kind of my initial thoughts where, yeah, I mean, a skunk obviously would stick out like a sore thumb, if you will, and something where the fragrances are sweet and inviting.
And then here’s this horrible odor prancing through the perfume parlor.
Yeah, this reminds me, what was that movie with Reese Witherspoon where she played a lawyer and she’s like the all pink frilly kind of girly.
Is that Legally Blonde?
I think that’s it.
And is it the scene where she goes to the fancy dress party?
Is that that movie?
Oh, I don’t remember.
And she doesn’t realize that it’s not a costume party, so she comes dressed as a sexy bunny.
And everyone else is wearing nice gowns and tuxedos.
Right.
That’s how the skunk feels in the perfume parlor.
There you go.
Okay, okay.
Just out of place, unwelcome, not of that class of person.
But, of course, the version that everyone’s screaming at the radio right now is nervous as a polecat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Or a long-tailed cat.
Or a long-tailed cat.
In a room full of rocking chairs.
Well, the polecat is a figure of derision in idiomatic and proverbial sayings.
I’ve got a whole bunch of them here.
As nervous as a polecat at a police dog convention.
As nervous as a polecat on a hot tin roof.
As nervous as a polecat facing hunting hounds.
As nervous as a polecat surrounded by alligators.
As nervous as a polecat in a standoff with a porcupine.
Wow.
Wow.
Oh, wow.
It’s very complex then.
And the polecat, you can say, as mean as a polecat, as lonesome as a polecat, I guess if you stink that you don’t have a lot of friends, right?
Yeah.
As ornery as a polecat, as popular as a polecat, meaning not popular.
Okay.
This is one of my favorites, as tickled as a polecat eating briars, which means not tickled at all.
They were grinning like a possum eating persimmons.
We could go on and on.
Yeah, there’s a ton of these.
But polecats, first, they’re distinctive.
They’re black and white striped down the middle.
Second, they’ve got that smell that goes for miles.
You know when a polecat is scented because you can smell it from quite a distance.
I actually like this smell from far away.
Yeah, some people do.
Some people really like it.
It just reminds me of growing up in the country.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There you go.
But not close.
Yeah, some people really like that smell.
Keep it a half mile or further.
Right.
That’s what we know about polecats.
Excellent.
Excellent.
So, yeah, it sounds like then there’s enough, I guess, culture around just the polecat and using it in different areas.
That makes a lot of sense.
Mm—
Well, Stanley, thanks for calling.
Yes.
Thank you very much, guys.
Very insightful.
Thank you.
Take care now.
Thanks.
You too.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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