Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Gail Vrenna.

Hi, Gail Vrenna. Where are you calling from?

I am calling from Huntsville, Alabama.

Oh, Rocket City. Welcome to the show.

That’s right. Thank you.

What’s on your mind, Gail Vrenna?

I’m wondering, I’m here, sometimes whenever somebody is, I guess, saying someone is not smart or something, they say they cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

Now, in my mind, I’m thinking, well, that is easy. Anyone who has a mouth can move up and down and chew gum. It’s like while they’re walking, it doesn’t make sense why they say this.

So I’m called a show.

So you can do it, and you assume others can do it.

Exactly.

It does not make sense to me.

I’m hearing an accent, Gilverna. Where are you from?

I am from Uvarugio.

Okay. And do you have expressions like this in the other languages that you speak?

We have idioms.

Yes.

As you have, but they are nowhere near as outlandish as the ones I first hear.

Nowhere near.

All right. So this expression has some history to it. And I want to tell you about a couple of different times when it’s been well known.

Back in the 1970s, President Lyndon Johnson was well known for a lot of coarse language. He was an earthy fellow. He was known to, off the record, use a lot of swearing and to speak exactly what was on his mind.

And at one point he said about Gerald Ford, another U.S. President, that he was so dumb he couldn’t fart and chew gum at the same time.

Oh, no.

But although a leader, a lot of people thought that was too coarse, and so they just quoted him as if he said walk instead of fart. But that wasn’t the earliest time that that was said, although it was a very significant time that that was said.

What it turns out is that there was a time in this country in the mid-1800s where chewing gum became very popular, especially for women and children. And it was considered an unbecoming habit, something that you probably shouldn’t do.

And you will find in the newspapers of the period, these letters or these opinion columns where they talk about how ladies should not talk slang or bet on horse races or smoke cigarettes and chew gum. And it was a thing that you weren’t supposed to do.

They would act as if chewing gum was this kind of hallmark of a low class woman or a woman with no sophistication. And you can see over time how chewing gum and these other bad habits, supposedly bad habits, were used as a shorthand to indicate the kind of woman who wasn’t very bright.

Oh.

Yeah, so women who chewed gum were considered the kind of woman who was undesirable and that she wasn’t sophisticated. She wasn’t educated. She probably was never going to make anything of herself. You wouldn’t want to date her or marry her.

I would not last in that world.

I would not. I would not. None of the women I would date would last in that world either, frankly.

And so over time, you’ll see, here’s a newspaper from 1876. It’s just a little blurb. It says, no woman can talk successfully who chews gum. And they’re basically saying that women were too dumb to do both.

It’s just basically misogyny. It’s a time and a place where women were considered inferior to men. And certain segments of society had no problem just saying it plain.

And over time, the expression was broadened to refer to anyone, to men and children and anyone of any age and gender and background and stuff. And so it stopped referring just to women. But it started referring just to women mostly, and particularly young women.

I mean, young women often take a lot of guff in our society because they tend to be the ones who adopt new language first and adopt new habits first and innovate with fashion and that kind of thing. So they catch up a lot of abuse for doing things early and first.

I agree.

Yeah.

They would not last in this world, though. This is the world of women empowerment. And it’s beautiful. And that kind of mindset is a blasphemy for this world.

Yeah, I agree.

So I’m glad he did not live here.

Yeah, I’m glad we live here and now.

I agree with you.

Gail Brenna, thank you so much for your call.

Thank you.

This has been an honor. Thank you so much. I listen to you every day.

Well, call us again sometime. We’d love to hear from you.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Well, when you’re done tuning your gum, give us a call, 877-929-9673.