If you complain that something went down your Sunday throat you mean that it went into your windpipe. Saying that something goes down your Sunday throat may derive from the fact that just as Sunday is a special day of the week in some religions, where you may wear special clothes and go to special places, the bite you swallowed also went into an unaccustomed place. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Sunday Throat”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Susan Byrne calling from Tallahassee, Florida.
Hi, Susan. How you doing?
Hey, Susan.
I’m well.
Welcome to the show.
Well, my question is that when I was growing up, I grew up in Minnesota.
And when somebody in my family would be eating or drinking something,
And if they swallowed incorrectly and they started coughing and couldn’t breathe,
My family members would say, oh, that must have gone down your Sunday throat.
I’m just wondering what the origin of that is.
Is that something just unique to my family or Minnesota, or does that have some sort of background?
Sunday throat, like the day of the week?
Correct.
Okay.
And throat, like the part of your body beneath your head and above your shoulders?
Yes, that’s right.
Okay.
Yeah, that’s an awful feeling.
Yeah, and the idea is that it’s just a joking reference to something going down the wrong pipe, right?
Correct.
And when I have said it recently, people look at me like I’m nuts and say, what do you mean?
I’ve never heard that before.
So I don’t know if that’s just because I no longer live in the Midwest or it’s a very odd thing to say.
Well, I guess it’s a little bit odd, but it’s been around for quite a while.
I mean, it goes back to at least the late 19th century.
Oh, wow.
I think it’s just the idea that Sunday is special, that it’s different from all the other days.
So it’s like the throat is different from the one that you’re supposed to have food going down,
Your Sunday throat being your windpipe.
I’m looking at a citation from 1894 where somebody says,
When a dry cracker crumb lodges in one’s Sunday throat,
Swallowing, coughing, shedding tears, and changes in breathing and circulation inevitably result.
I might tack on it’s a little like the Sunday go-to-meat-and-clothes.
Sure. Yeah, they’re special.
It’s your Sunday throat.
It’s something you hardly use.
And so it’s kind of out of practice of swallowing, perhaps.
And maybe that’s why you’re having trouble with foods being lodged in there.
Because it’s special.
And I’ve seen this, by the way, as Sunday pipe as well.
Yeah.
Same thing.
Yeah, I’m a Sunday pipe.
I’m a Sunday pipe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But the good thing is you and your family are not alone.
A lot of people have used this.
Yeah.
It’s never been that common, though.
But it does exist.
You’ll find it in literature.
Well, that’s great.
I love hearing this explanation.
Well, we’re glad to help.
Thank you for calling.
Thanks, Susan.
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
All righty.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Sunday throat.
Sunday throat.
Do you know what a Sunday milkshake is?
It’s an alcoholic drink without alcohol.
That’s pretty good.
It’s a euphemism for beer sold on the Sabbath in the South where you can’t get it legally.
Oh, you can’t get it legally.
It’s not like the 1% or whatever beer?
No, no.
It’s like in Prohibition or something.
I see out the back door, right?
Brown bags sold out the back.
Yeah.
