Wouldn’t That Just Cork You?

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Deb.

I’m calling from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

I have a couple of questions about phrases my mother used to use.

My mom has been gone a few years now, but she was originally from Milwaukee.

Her parents came from Slovakia.

But one of the phrases she used was, wouldn’t that just cork you?

And I don’t know where she picked that up.

I don’t know where it comes from, but my kids have adopted it.

They loved it.

So I was wondering about that one.

Deb, in what kind of context would she say that?

Wouldn’t that just cork you?

Oh, when she was annoyed or disappointed and, you know, nothing angry, but, you know, something like, oh, I left work early to meet the repairman and he never showed up or something like that.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you know what’s happening there with that cork?

That’s an old verb, meaning to cork something means to stop it up.

Like you would put a cork in a bottle.

Okay.

And basically it means, wouldn’t that just shut you up?

Wouldn’t that just make you stop talking out of frustration or anger or surprise or fear or delight?

And so it’s the same way that we might say to somebody today, well, shut up when somebody says something to you that surprises you, right?

Shut my mouth.

Yeah, somebody says, you know, I got into Harvard.

And you’re like, shut up.

You know, because it’s so surprising.

You can’t believe it.

So you’re just like, I mean, I have no words for this.

I don’t know what to say.

I’m shut up with surprise.

I’m corked with surprise.

Yeah, she was kind of outspoken and a little bit feisty, too.

So she used that phrase a lot.

Deb, do you know the expression, a real corker?

Something that is maybe really exciting or exceptional or unusual?

I have heard that expression, yes.

It’s related.

So something’s a real corker.

It’s something that’s so exceptional.

You’re wordless.

You’re speechless.

Because you’re corked up, like a bottle is corked up and so nothing can come out.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I just, I don’t hear many people use that expression.

So I was curious about it.

So what else did your mom say?

Well, she used this on me many, many, many times.

She’d say, you listen like a fish.

Really?

So you kind of look at her with your mouth hanging open like a fish in a tank?

I’m not sure.

I mean, it was later on in her years she followed it up by,

I’m going to get a tape recorder because you’re not paying attention to me.

That is a perfect parental insult.

You said she was from Slovakia?

Yes.

Well, her parents were.

Her parents were.

She was born in Milwaukee.

Yes.

And she used words from all kinds of different languages that I didn’t understand.

And I don’t understand slow walk.

She usually used that to keep us kids from knowing what she was saying.

Oh, that old trick.

That old trick, yes.

Well, Deb, thank you so much for calling and sharing these expressions.

I love that your kids are now carrying on, wouldn’t that just cork you?

Oh, I love that too.

Because it sounds so in fashion.

I’m just imagining these pert little buggers running around using these old-fashioned expressions.

We’re going to, yes, and we’re extending it to the grandchildren.

Absolutely.

That’s the way to do that.

You take care now, Deb, and call us again sometime when you remember some more, all right?

Thank you so much.

I love your show very much.

Our pleasure.

Thanks, Deb.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Share your family heirlooms with us, 877-929-9673.