Out Where God Lost His Galoshes

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Sarah Jane Litscher from Tucson, Arizona, and I am so excited to be on your wonderful show that I enjoy so much.

Sarah Jane, welcome to the show.

We are so excited to have you as well.

What’s on your mind?

Well, when I was a child, and I’m 83 now, so that was a while back, instead of saying when somebody got stuck out in the snow or the mud out in the boonies, which is what I used to say, my mother would say that they got lost or stuck out where God lost his galoshes.

And I’ve always wondered where that phrase came from, and I’m hoping you can help me.

Where God lost his galoshes, and so you knew this was the back of beyond in the middle of nowhere.

Absolutely. Yep.

That’s great.

Yeah. Or we would say, how long is it going to take until we get to the cottage?

I don’t know. It’s out where God lost his galoshes somewhere. It’ll be a while.

I’m just imagining God in some brightly colored galoshes, colored with like birds and fish or something, and splashing in puddles with his rainbow umbrella or whatever.

Anyways, I think it’s a very cute turn of phrase.

And my mother used to say it, and she probably got it from her granddaddy who came from, her family came from England originally.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I completely agree, Sarah Jane.

I mean, I love the word galoshes.

It’s something to me that sounds like what it is.

You know, I think of those those sort of thin gray things that you would put over your shoes, you know, rubbery and flapping and galoshes.

I just I just love that word, first of all.

So thank you for sharing that expression.

But, yeah, the term where God lost his galoshes, as Grant suggested, means a place that’s very remote, just extremely far away.

And there are so many wonderful variations of this expression.

These comical variations and elaborations, all of which have to do with biblical figures who somehow lost something in this faraway place. So where God lost his galoshes is a great example.

I’ve also seen where God left his overshoes. And people say things like out where Jesus lost his sandals or where Moses left his sandals. And then you start going around the world and seeing all these other great expressions. There’s one in Brazil that translates as where Judas lost his boots.

And also in Spain, they’re really creative. They talk about where Jesus lost his cap or where Jesus lost his sandals, where he lost his underwear. And one of my favorites is donde Cristo perdió el mechero, which means where Christ lost his lighter. I’m just, you know, so, I mean, I’m just, you know.

Because you’re always losing a lighter if you’re the kind of person who needs a lighter.

Yeah, I’m just picturing him looking around, you know, a cigarette in one hand. Where is my lighter?

I don’t know what this is about Spanish speakers, but they really went to town on these far away expressions.

My favorite Spanish one is donde da la vuelta el aire, which means where the air turns, suggesting that there’s no other place to go, so it has to turn around and come back the same way.

Right.

As if you’d have run up against the wall at the end of the world.

Yeah.

So there are lots of different versions of this one, but I do love where God lost his galoshes.

It’s just such a…

I hope he finds them.

They’re at the lost and found down at the middle school.

The heavenly lost and found.

Well, galoshes, to me, are a little bit onomatopoetic.

Exactly.

You know, it’s like you can only feel them squish.

Yeah, it’s like gallop and splash together.

Yep.

Well, anyway, thank you so much for having me on.

I’m just delighted.

And my family, who are a whole bunch of word freaks, they’re going to have a wonderful time listening on Sunday.

Well, it sounds like a source of good calls.

Have them call us sometime.

Okay, thank you.

And you take care now, Sarah Jane.

All righty.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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