After the death of Aretha Franklin, her ex-husband described her as someone who didn’t take tea for the fever. If you don’t take tea for the fever, you refuse to put up with any nonsense. Among many other places, this expression appears in a story by Langston Hughes. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “To Take Tea for the Fever”
After the death of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, her ex-husband, Glenn Terman, said that he would remember her humor and stubbornness.
And then he used a delightful phrase. He said she didn’t just take tea for the fever, as the old folks would say.
Oh, I love it. Tea for the fever.
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s in the Dictionary of American Regional English. Not to take tea for the fever means not to put up with any nonsense or not allow oneself to be intimidated. Outstanding.
It’s a phrase that Langston Hughes used, as a matter of fact. I will not take no tea for the fever. And I’m not sure why it’s not taking tea for the fever. Maybe somebody can explain it to me.
But my guess is that if you’ve got a fever, you’re not going to take hot tea for it. Or maybe it’s like not a drink as weak as tea? I don’t know. I was thinking about the sedatives that you might put in a tea. So you’re not going to be shut down with someone else’s somniferousness.
Somniferousness. Oh, that’s a nice word. You’re not going to let the opiates that go along with the tea you’re drinking for the fever reduce your ability to react and have an opinion and then be involved and tell them exactly what you think. Well, maybe somebody can explain it to us.
877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org and on Twitter @wayword.
