Wish In One Hand

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Janie Chambers. I’m calling from Gainesville, Florida.

Well, welcome to the program. How are things in Gainesville?

Oh, they’re great. We’re getting ready for football.

Go Gators!

Go Gators, that’s right. Go Gators.

What can we do for you today?

Well, my grandmother, who passed away years ago,

She used to tell us when we were little a saying,

You know, you would say, I wish I had this or I wish I had that.

And she would say, well, wish in one hand and tacky in the other, and tell me which one gets full first.

We never knew what tacky meant.

And tacky in the other.

Have you heard that other ways?

I’ve heard other things there in place of the word tacky.

Well, I have heard some other things, too.

And somebody at one point told me that tacky was an old English word they thought, but they didn’t really know what it meant.

Oh, very interesting.

They had no other information except that they thought it was an old English word.

Right.

And so do you use this expression as well?

No.

No, okay.

I don’t know what it is.

It’s a very parental thing to say, though, isn’t it?

Yeah.

Where was your grandmother from?

Well, she was a Hatfield, and originally she was from West Virginia,

But she was from northwest Georgia, from Appalachian Mountains.

So she was basically saying, Janie, good luck with that.

Exactly.

Okay, okay.

I wish you luck with your wish.

Yeah, so to speak. That’s good.

Yeah, because I think what we’re all getting at, and maybe you’re getting at too,

Is that it sounds like tacky is either a mishearing or a euphemism for a much stronger expression.

Have you heard a much stronger expression, Janie?

I have heard a much stronger expression.

My grandmother wouldn’t have said that word.

Okay, all right.

So wish in one hand and say…

Spit or maybe poop in the other.

Yeah.

Exactly.

I’ve heard those, but a much stronger dose.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And the idea is which hand is going to fill up faster?

Well, if you’re wishing and you’re spitting, let’s say, in the other hand, then, yeah, the second hand is going to fill up faster.

That’s a great expression.

I’ve never heard tacky used as a euphemism for.

No.

I mean, I know things like hard tack, which are kind of hard biscuit.

And, of course, everyone knows the adjective meaning cheesy or kind of cheap looking, right?

Right, right.

But tacky as a noun referring to something in large qualities?

I don’t know.

Is that related to molasses, maybe?

Steaky?

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

Well, Janie, did other Hatfields say this and your neighbors and extended family or just your grandma?

Mostly it was just my grandmother.

I don’t remember hearing my grandfather say that.

Just my grandmother, her name was Othella Mae Hatfield.

Othella Mae?

Nice.

Love that.

There actually was another word she would say.

It was carrion.

And if something smelled bad, she would say, smell like carrion.

-huh.

Or have you heard charney?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, in that part of the country, charny kind of means filthy or just icky.

Like you said, the house is charny or something like that.

One really interesting thing about the more traditional form of this,

Where we use the four-letter word beginning with S and meaning poop,

Is that you can find it in that form as far back as the 1730s.

Lord have mercy.

In books of Proverbs.

Yeah, absolutely.

And they didn’t euphemize it either.

They just went ahead and used the four-letter word.

And there are a few other proverbs there that you might find interesting.

Do you want to hear those?

Yes.

If wishes were butter cakes, then beggars might bite.

Oh, I like that.

I like that one.

If wishes would bide, then beggars would ride.

I never heard of that one.

If wishes were horses, then everyone would ride.

You ever heard that one?

I’ve heard that one.

It’s very similar.

Everyone would ride.

I’ve heard that one.

I think my favorite is your grandmother’s, Janie.

I like it.

The assumption that I make is that it was maybe that, as I got older, that it was the F word.

But I didn’t really know if that’s what it meant.

Maybe she, I suppose it was something that came down from her family.

Yeah, maybe she’s trying not to be tacky.

Exactly.

Thank you so much for your call today.

Well, thank you.

All right, take care of yourself, Jenny.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

All right.

What did your grandmother say when you wished?

Let us know, words@waywordradio.org, or call us, 1-877-929-9673.