Seasonal Idiom “Winter’s Bone”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Good morning.

Good morning. Who is this?

This is Michael Rogers calling.

Where are you calling from, Michael?

Pretty much near you. I’m out in Fletcher Hills.

Oh, we’ll walk right over. We’ll do this in person.

How can we help you today?

Well, I saw the movie Winter’s Bone, and I was sufficiently interested to find out where that expression came from, and it’s a drive from like a dog after a winter’s bone, which really didn’t clear anything up for me.

Who said that?

From what I was told is supposed to be an expression that is unique to the Ozarks. Who knows how valid that is, but that’s what I read.

The term Winter’s Bone was a title of a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Right.

And it was about a girl who’s tenaciously trying to find out what happened to her father in an attempt to save the family home.

So I’m assuming that expression has to do with tenacity, but I’m not sure.

And so it’s cold and grim. It’s there in the Ozarks, and there’s methamphetamine involved and all kinds of grim stuff like that, right?

I mean, I’m thinking that part of the challenge here is how we talk about the book and the movie without giving away any spoilers, right?

Exactly. Exactly.

You haven’t read the book by Daniel Woodrell.

No, I haven’t.

It’s interesting. In the book, which he describes as country noir.

Country noir.

Isn’t that nice?

Yeah.

He actually has a Q&A at the end of the book.

I’m not sure why.

Maybe this is the edition that came out after the movie.

The book club edition, maybe.

Okay, maybe that’s it.

All right.

Yeah, and he says, of course, the winter part is obvious because it’s cold and grim.

And the bone part, he says, has to do with the idea of, oh, throw her a bone. You know, sort of, he says the season knows she’s earned it.

Oh, interesting.

So it’s personifying the season as a living entity that you’ve got to somehow appease.

Yeah, and yes, exactly. That’s a good way to put it. And so Winter is tossing her a bone. It’s the idea that she earns something.

Oh, interesting.

It sort of makes sense even if you don’t know what the author intended. You know, I mean, even if you look at the trailer for that movie, it’s just so cold and harsh.

I would agree that this is one of the better titles of a book or a movie that I’ve come across in a long time.

Yeah, just sort of bare and spare and nothing left, sort of like that hardscrabble life that they’re living there.

Yeah, I agree.

I agree.

It’s sort of like some things paint a picture rather than actually work on in your left brain. Just paint an internal picture for you.

And Winter’s Bone just did that for me.

That’s a great way to put it, Michael.

Michael, thank you so much for calling today.

Thanks for your time.

I appreciate it.

Take care now.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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