It’s the shank of the evening! But when is that, exactly? This phrase is typically suggests that the night is far from over, shank being an old word for something straight, or the tail end of something. But as the Dictionary of American Regional English notes, in the South, evening is considered “the time between late afternoon and dusk.” This is part of a complete episode.
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We should also remember Hoagy Carmichael’s great song from the 50’s “In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening”. It contains the lyric:
In the shank of the night,
when the doins’ are right,
well you can tell ’em I’ll be there.
when I lived in eastern Kentucky in the early 80’s, an old man I knew referred that time as “owl light”.
When I lived in Eastern Kentucky back in the early 80’s, I knew an old man who referred to this time period as “owl light”. He also had a couple of other archaic sayings. One he used was not so old–“I courted her” but the most delightful one was “I couldn’t look her in the countenance” meaning he was embarrassed by something in front of a woman.
The man also had a couple of other archaic sayings. One he used was not so old–“I courted her” but the most delightful one was “I couldn’t look her in the countenance” meaning he was embarrassed by something in front of a woman.