Like Salts Through a Widow-Woman

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Marissa calling from Tallahassee in Florida.

I had a question about a phrase that I heard on a family beach vacation.

And the person who said it is from East Tennessee, and she said as she was drinking coffee, she said, this coffee goes through me like salts through a widow woman.

And I had no idea what that meant, and neither did she.

So I was hoping you guys could help me out.

Did she mean it went through her really fast?

Yes.

I see.

What salts and why a widow woman?

Yes, both of those questions.

Yeah, yeah.

This is an old expression.

It dates back to the 1860s.

And salts refers to Epsom salts, basically magnesium sulfate, which were used as laxatives.

And so there are lots of things that those salts were said to go through, and it’s all about something going fast.

So you could say that something lit out like or disappeared like or hurried like or go through like.

And we don’t know why sometimes it said like a widow or a widow woman.

We think it’s just because they were basically poor and had a poor diet.

So sometimes they were constipated, so they were known to take Epsom salts.

But other than that, we’re not sure.

But sometimes it was salts through a hired girl or a tall Swede or a weak man, a sick child, a sick cow, a sick horse, a skeleton, a goose.

And, you know, geese don’t need any help doing their business anywhere they like.

Or skeletons.

Or skeletons.

So all of these things.

So it’s all about Epsom salts helping people do the number two.

Wow.

Well, that’s so great to know because I guess coffee does that too.

So thanks for enlightening me.

Yeah, exactly.

Coffee does do that.

Absolutely.

Well, I can’t wait to tell her.

Yeah, invite her over for a cup of coffee.

All right.

Will do.

Thanks for taking the time.

Our pleasure.

Thanks for calling.

Call us again sometime.

Bye, Marissa.

All right.

Take care.

I love it when the old expressions continue to be used.

Whether it’s in English or another language, we’d love to help you get to the bottom of them.

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