A caller is curious about the odd expression “to who laid the rail,” which is used to mean, among other things, “thoroughly, completely, excessively.” You can see Grant’s work on the term at the Double-Tongued Dictionary. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “To Who Laid the Rail”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, this is Bob Engel in Saratoga, California.
Well, hiya, Bob. How are you?
Hello, Bob. What’s going on?
When I was growing up in Iowa, there was an expression that was very common. It’s used two different ways. To who laid the rail is like a large but indefinite quantity, like John had corn to who laid the rail, or a long but indefinite amount of time, like John was away until who laid the rail. And I just wondered what the origin of it was.
I love this expression. If you don’t mind me being nosy, when in Iowa are we talking?
We’re talking about in the 50s.
And where in Iowa?
In Des Moines and around Des Moines.
Okay, great. You know, I have to say, I grew up in Kentucky, and I never heard the word, and then somebody from Kentucky asked me about it, and I had no idea where it came from. I mean, it’s a funny-sounding expression.
The expression is who laid the rail, right?
Who laid the rail, yep.
W-H-O-L-A-I-D-T-H-E-R-A-I-L.
Yep.
Bob, it’s your lucky day. You know, you should go buy a lottery ticket, and here’s why. Because I’ve already done all the research on this term, and I have an entry for this on my website, and I can tell you a few things about it that other people don’t know, except that they’ve seen my website.
What’s really interesting about this, to me, is that this whole expression, who laid the rail, behaves like an adverb. The whole phrase is like, it’s kind of like a superlative, right? Because there are other ways to say it. You can say, I’ve known her since who laid the rail. Or he was eating those corn dodgers to who laid the rail. So you can say to who laid the rail or from who laid the rail or since who laid the rail. And the who laid the rail is consistent.
The earliest uses that I can find, and I’m going to give you a footnote on that in just a second, are from the early 1880s. And the first four that I can find, and these are in newspapers, are all from Georgia. So my suspicion is that this phrase comes from Georgia.
Really?
There are a couple stories in the Luton newspaper, some guys telling some colorful anecdotes that don’t bear repeating here, but his name is Tom Arter, A-A-R-T-E-R. I don’t know if that’s his real name or it’s a pseudonym, but he uses it, and he makes it sound in those stories as if he goes around on speaking tours.
Right.
So it’s possible this fellow Tom Arter spread it just by doing speeches, say, at the courthouse or the church or wherever.
So in what time period?
1880s.
1880s?
Yeah, I don’t find it any earlier than the 1880s.
That’s pretty old.
Well, and here are a couple other things. Do you know where most Americans heard this expression?
No.
They heard it in The Music Man. Do you remember that play? And I think there was a movie as well.
Yeah.
Marianne, Madame Librarian. Is that the one?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it’s the one with trouble. It rhymes with P.
Yeah, it stands for pool. That’s the movie.
Well, the mayor in that play uses who laid the rail.
Oh, he does?
He does.
So most people might have heard it there because it’s not that common, really. You’ll find it in a few old newspapers and occasionally in the books, and people who are trying to write fiction with a little bit of historical color will sometimes yank it out of some old dictionary and use it.
Anyway, so that’s a mouthful and an earful and a brainful, but that’s the best I’ve got for you.
That’s great.
That’s a lot more than I had before.
He gave you information to who laid the rail, didn’t he?
Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.
If you do want more information, we’ll put a link to my full entry with the citations from the historical sources. We’ll put a link on our discussion forum so you can look for yourself.
Okay, great.
Okay, Bob. Take care.
Thank you so much.
All right.
Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
As you know, we love colorful expressions from the past and from the country, and we’d love to hear about yours. Send us an email to words@waywordradio.org or call us on the telephone, 1-877-929-9673.
