To describe someone who is dazed, lost, or confused, you might say he looks like he was sent for and couldn’t go. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Sent for and Couldn’t Come”
We had a voicemail from Kate Patrick in Indiana who said that when she was growing up and her mom walked into her room and it was a mess, she would say that this room looked like it was sent for and couldn’t go.
Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that one.
Have you?
As a Southernism, maybe?
I don’t know if it’s a Southernism or folk saying. I’ve seen it back as far as the 19th century.
Yeah.
I heard it in the 1970s from comedian Jerry Clower.
Oh, I remember him.
Sure.
Talk about somebody who was a mess.
Yeah, he is a Southerner. He looked like he was sent for and couldn’t come.
Right.
Like, I could just imagine somebody, like, spinning around in a circle with indecision or not knowing what to do or where to go.
Yeah, well, the sense I have of, and her phrase was sent for and couldn’t go, that’s what I’ve seen mostly is, you know, like you’re all dressed up, but you can’t go someplace.
Or it describes people who are sort of like forlorn or something at a loss, you know. Like the one that I saw a reference to it from 1863 where people were on a ship and were seasick and they had this whole meal set before them. But they just looked kind of sad, you know, like they were sent for and couldn’t go.
My mother used it to describe someone who is disheveled. No fit to go anywhere.