I’ll Be John Browned

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is John McCall. I’m calling from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hi, John. Welcome to the show.

Hey, John. What’s up?

Thank you so much.

I have a question about a phrase that my mom and grandmother used quite a bit, and I never thought to ask them where they got it from or really much about it.

But the phrase is, I’ll be John Brown.

The context for it is when they were surprised, usually when someone said something or did something, or they didn’t know how to respond to something someone had said, they would say, well, I’ll be John Brown.

And I know who John Brown is as a historical figure, but I don’t know much about the phrasing.

Yeah, it does come from the name of the historical figure, John Brown.

He was the white abolitionist.

And you may recall that in 1859, John Brown led 21 men in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, which is now in West Virginia.

And the plan was that they were going to arm people who were enslaved and help them rise up against slavers.

And he was eventually caught and charged with treason and murder and conspiring to rebel.

And he was hanged for that. You remember that part?

I had no idea that his demise, that he had suffered like that.

I knew he was a staunch abolitionist, but I didn’t know how he died.

Yes, yes. He was condemned to death and he was hanged.

And you know how people will say, well, I’ll be hanged or, well, I’ll be damned.

It’s sort of the same idea. I’ll be John Brown.

You know, he was this very well-known figure at this pivotal time right before the Civil War started when people were taking sides, and he was very much in the public view.

Wow.

I had no idea.

And it is amazing that I only thought about this as I started to use it and didn’t realize it.

I had just picked it up, and then I thought, well, I don’t know the origin of this, although I did know a little bit about the historical figure.

But she would always use it when she was surprised by something.

And I didn’t know if that or she’d particularly use it if someone had made a comment and she didn’t know exactly what to say in return.

It was just kind of a way to transition the conversation.

And so that’s very good to know.

John, thank you so much for calling.

Well, thank you very much.

I am so grateful to be able to talk to both of you.

You all make the world a better place just by being on the radio, and I’m grateful.

We appreciate it.

Thanks for the kind words.

Take care of yourself.

Call us again sometime, John.

Bye-bye.

I’ll certainly do it.

Bye-bye.

What’s the word or phrase that your family uses that all of a sudden you’re curious about, just like John?

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