Do you have a saying for when you drive over a bump and plop back down? In the Northeast, it’s common to say thank you, ma’am, since the nodding motion of a head going over a bump is reminiscent of genteel greetings. It’s also known as a dipsy doodle, duck-and-dip, tickle bump, whoop-de-do, belly tickler, and how-do-you-do. Our favorite, though, is kiss-me-quick, a reference to seizing the opportunity when a bump in the road throws passengers closer together. The term goes back to the days of horse-drawn buggies. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Bump! Thank You M’am”
Hello, you have A Way with Words?
Hi, this is Jennifer from Evansville, Indiana.
Hi, Jennifer. What’s going on in Evansville?
Hi. Well, I’m calling because I want to know if you know the origin of a phrase that we used to say when we were kids, and I have nobody else to ask but you.
Well, what’s the question? Let’s hear it.
When we were kids, when we were in the car with our mother, my sister and I, and we would drive over one of those bumps that sent your stomach doing flip-flops inside of you. The minute you landed from the bump, everybody in the car would in unison say, thank you, Mom. Thank you, Mom. When you got down at the bottom of the bump.
And I never even sought to ask why until our public radio station started airing your show, and then I started to wonder but didn’t have anybody around to ask. So I’m calling you.
Let me ask you, did you grow up there in southwest Indiana?
Well, I grew up in Indiana, but all my family is from the northeast, and this is this part of the family from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, actually.
Perfect.
Perfect.
I can’t believe it. We’re really excited about this.
Oh, golly.
Okay.
Because this is an expression that you hear up in the northeast in particular, and you painted the picture really well, Jennifer. You’ve got a whole bunch of people in a vehicle. You go over a bump, and everybody goes up and down, right? And their heads nod, right?
Yeah.
Your head kind of goes forward and then jerks back. And it’s like somebody saying, you know, tipping his hat and saying, thank you, ma’am.
Right, because you would nod your head as you were walking by a lady on the street, right?
Yeah.
Good day to you, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh. So that’s why people started saying that in the car?
Oh, well, even before the car.
Yeah, the wagon days.
Yeah.
It goes back at least to the 1840s. It’s probably older still. And it’s got a lot of names.
Excuse me, ma’am. How do you do? Whoop-de-doo. Tickle bump. Yes, ma’am. Tons of names.
Oh, my God. Kiss me quick is my favorite.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I never knew, and I have my mother’s cousin’s cousin is the only other person that I even thought to ask. And they said, thank you, ma’am, when they were growing up. But she didn’t know where it came from either.
So, oh, my gosh, wow, that’s exciting. You know, there’s a really great entry. I feel compelled to mention this in the Dictionary of American Regional English. Our friends and colleagues there at DARE, as it’s known, have done a great job of mapping this. And it’s so perfectly just clustered in the Northeast that it’s not even funny, which is why we were both delighted when you said New Hampshire and the White Mountains.
Oh, yeah, nobody here in Indiana has ever heard of it.
Well, they have now. And they look at me like I’m crazy. But I hadn’t had anybody in the Northeast that even heard of it either.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I wonder if it’s just not as common anymore. I mean, it didn’t ask lots of people. With better roads, maybe people say it less.
Yeah.
Or better shocks in the cars or something like that.
Yeah.
So there’s your answer.
Yeah.
Bumping the road is a thank you, ma’am.
Thank you.
That’s great.
Thanks for calling, Jennifer.
Thank you.
All right.
Take care now.
You too.
Bye.
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