Mindy from Crescent, Iowa, grew up hearing about Herman, the son of her mother’s fearsome great aunt Julia, referred to as the woods colt. That phrase is a euphemism for “a child born out of wedlock.” Mindy’s mother said there was a man thought to be Herman’s father, but no one was sure if he and Julia were married. Woods colt comes from animal husbandry, where animals that got loose in the woods could produce offspring of unknown parentage. Variants include catch colt, grass colt, old field colt, bush colt, and stray colt, all going back to the 1830s. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “What “Woods Colt” Means: A Euphemism for a Child Born Out of Wedlock”
Hello.
You have A Way with Words.
Hi.
This is Mindy, and I’m calling from Crescent, Iowa.
Hello, Mindy from Crescent, Iowa.
What’s on your mind today, Mindy?
Well, I am calling about a term that I’ve only ever heard from family stories about a certain family member.
And the story gets a little spicy, so I should say beforehand that everybody here is in this story is gone from us, so I’m not spilling the tea on anybody.
But my mom had a great aunt Julia, And so I grew up around the Thanksgiving table hearing stories about Aunt Julia.
And she was described as fearsome to be to me by my mom.
She said she and her cousins would run when they saw her coming down the street.
And she apparently once threw my grandpa irritated her and she threw a bologna skin and that was kind of one of the family stories.
But despite this disagreeableness, Angelia had a son named Herman and whenever Herman is brought up in family stories he was always referred to as the Woods Colt, W O O D S C O L T, Woods Colt.
And so, I always just thought it was kind of a funny term and every time, like I said, every time he was mentioned they’d say, Oh, the Woods Colt.
And so finally as an adult, I decided to Google it and found out that it’s basically a euphemism for a child born out of wedlock, you know, as they would have said back in the day.
And so when I asked my mom about it, she said, Well, there was a man that they thought was Herman’s father, but they weren’t sure if he and Julia were married.
And so that whole thing is kind of murky.
But anyway, was just such an interesting term that I’ve always been curious about the origins of it.
So that’s why I’m calling.
Well, a wooden colt is a really interesting term.
It’s had some changes over the years.
The use that you have is how it’s mostly used today, somebody who was born out of wedlock.
And the origin of it is just about horse breeding or animal husbandry, where ordinarily, if you want to get the best animals out of your stock, you make sure that the right male and the right female of the animal breed.
You get potentially good offspring.
But occasionally, animals will get loose and end up in the woods where they may have liaisons that you did And not so when the cult is born, you may not know the parentage, and it might blow your whole plans for a good breeding stock right out out of the water.
So that’s what a woods cult is.
This idea of these animals who are mismanaged or managed themselves and have have different lineages than you would plan as a farmer.
But some other versions of this, Martha, is back as far as the eighteen thirties.
Let’s see catch cult and grass cult, c o l t, old field colt, bush colt, stray colt, particularly.
A lot of euphemisms for those things.
Yeah, particularly in horse breeding country, but, but not only there.
Mindy, we’re really glad you called.
Thank you.
Take care.
Well, I’m glad, like I said, it’s been a term I’ve heard my whole life, so I’m glad to be able to put some context to it.
So thanks for your time.
Sure.
Bye bye.
Bye bye.
Well, what’s the word or phrase that’s been circulating in your family for decades?
And it’s finally time to ask about it.
