tall cotton
n.— «President Bush must be wondering where it all went wrong. After the fall of Saddam, it looked like America had followed up its victory in Afghanistan with another triumph. The president was in tall cotton, as they say in Texas.» —“The Future of Iraq” by Bill O’Reilly Human Events Jan. 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...
A Dallas, Texas, woman and her friends often use the expression All the things to mean something like and whatnot or as a way to signal a kind of mutual understanding, suggesting something similar to the phrase you know. This sense probably comes...
The Term “tall cotton” to describe a state grandure, success or happiness is older than the hills. Background for non farmers: When the weather has been good, proper mix of rain and temperature, the cotton plants grew TALL and stong and the cotton yield was particuarly bountiful. He was happy because he was “Standin’ in tall cotton” or sometimes
“Sittin’ in tall cotton” or just “In tall cotton”
examples:
“John’s daughter finally gave him his first grandson. John was in tall cotton when he got the news.”
“John asked Jane to marry him, and she said yes. John’s been standing in tall cotton ever since.”
“John’s standing in tall cotton now. He just won the lottery.”
Variant: high cotton, used in exactly the same ways.