who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «He was selling very cheap to Wm. Larew, the grocer, when the capture was made, and “lit out for who laid the rail,” but the marshal was a little too spry for him.» —“Chicken Thief Caught” Knoxville Journal (Kentucky) Aug. 4, 1893. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Sherman from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, says her grandfather used to speak of accomplishing something physically challenging through main strength and awkwardness–in other words, through brute force and sheer determination. In the 1500s, English...
A Kentucky listener says her father often prefaced statements with the phrase I tell you what’s the truth. This regionalism appears in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon). A shorter version is I’ll tell you...