Silly Phrases to Deflect Questions

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Claire and I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.

Hi Claire, welcome to the show.

Hi Claire.

I’m glad to be on.

Glad to have you. What can we help with?

Well, so I was curious about a phrase that my grandfather says.

And he says he learned it from a friend when he was a senior in high school who came from Beaumont.

And the phrase goes like this.

That’s a dingbat off of a whiff-em-dilly that you grind the smoke with.

A dingbat off of a woof—dilly that you grind the smoke with.

And he says this in response to what?

So if you’re asking, hey, what are you eating?

And he maybe doesn’t want to share or tell you, he would say, well, that’s a dingbat off of a woof—dilly that you grind the smoke with.

Or if you pick up a tool and you’re not sure what it does and he wants to give you a silly response, that’s what he says.

All right, then.

Yeah.

That is great.

And then how do you respond?

She puts salt in his coffee.

I don’t know.

What do you say to a man like that?

Well, I kind of just give an inquisitive look like, huh?

But my brother, who is six years younger than me, picked up on it,

And he says it all the time now, mainly to annoy my youngest sister, who is 12.

So, I don’t know.

I just kind of blank stare or ask my question again.

But he gets a real kick out of saying that to us.

Oh, gosh, that’s terrific.

I’ve never heard that version.

Have you, Grant?

No, no, that’s a new one to me.

Yeah.

Yeah, it’s part of that great tradition, I suppose, of things that parents say to kids

When kids ask too many inquisitive questions about, what you doing, Daddy?

Yeah.

What you making?

Yeah.

And it does.

It does catch you up short, right, and make you stop and think.

I’ve seen other versions of this that all have to do with that notion of grinding smoke,

Which is pretty ridiculous, right?

Yeah.

I’ve seen versions like that’s a hooey dink for grinding smoke or a Ouija for grinding smoke or a wigwam for a water windmill for grinding smoke.

Well, we did a call a couple of years ago where somebody asked about the expression layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.

And it’s the same sort of thing.

It’s like, what are you making, mama?

Layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.

And there’s like 15 or 20 versions of that, too.

Yeah.

Funny.

Yeah.

And they’re all kind of a way of saying, go away.

A whim-wham for a goose’s bridle is another one, right?

Yes.

Do you know this one?

No.

Claire, a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle.

So what you need to do is prepare yourself for the ones that Martha and I are giving you.

So when your grandpa says this to you, you say, no, it looks like a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle to me.

That’s great.

That’s great.

That’s good.

Or a wiggly woggler.

There we go.

Yeah, a wiggly woggler.

And what was your word, Claire?

Now I’ve forgotten it.

A dingbat off of a whiff-em-dilly that you grind the smoke with.

A Whiff-em-Dilly?

Whiff-em-Dilly.

Whiff-em-Dilly.

Okay, we’re adding that one to the list.

You know what it sounds like?

It sounds like somebody reading the menu at an ice cream shop.

Each pair of words sounds like a treat.

Yeah.

That’s fantastic.

I’ll take a ding-back and a Whiff-em-Dilly.

Two Whiff-em-Dillys, please.

Hold the smoke.

That’s great.

Well, does that help?

That does.

Thank you.

I didn’t know if it was maybe regional, you know, kind of being near Louisiana.

In the Beaumont area, but I guess it’s just kind of every area has their own flavor of that.

Yeah, it’s a kind of folklore.

Folklore comes in a lot of different dimensions,

And this is the strange folklore that is transmitted from an older generation to a younger one.

Yeah, and across the pond because Wim Wim for a Goose’s Bridal is found in England.

Oh, is that from the UK? How about that?

Oh, interesting.

So there you go.

But I just love this little bit of folklore that lingers.

It’s not that dominant.

There’s no television show named after it.

It hasn’t shown up as a book title as far as I know.

Just kind of lurks there.

Yeah.

And then there are these oddballs like your grandfather who can’t let go.

You go, Grandpa.

Well, great.

Thanks for calling, Claire.

Yeah, thanks so much.

All right, bye-bye.

All right, bye-bye.

Oh, there’s got to be a lot more of these, and I want to hear them all.

Yeah.

What do you say to your kids when they ask you a question that you don’t want to answer?

Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email words@waywordradio.org.