Colloquialisms: Enough hens' teeth to choke a horse

Having grown up in the south, I heard my fair share of colloquialisms. My paternal grandmother, in particular, was fond of a colorful turn of phrase. As a writer of southern, historical fiction, I often find myself imbuing my characters with the same creative bent. Such was the case a few mornings ago when I found myself writing, “She gave it a lick and a promise….” Then I found myself wondering, “Where the heck did that even come from?”

So, I looked it up, not only because I’m curious by nature, but also because I seem to be into procrastination these days, and internet searches are one of my favorite means of procrastination. In fact, my procrastination these last few weeks has made the development of my work-in-progress slower than molasses (<<< see what I did there?). Anyway, as often happens, I got caught up in searching for answers. Here are some of the ones I heard most often growing up in Tennessee:

Lick and a promise
Meaning: To do something quickly and carelessly
Origin: I wasn’t able to pin down (<<< and again!) a specific origin, but according to The Grammarphobia Blog: http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/201..., the phrase is at least 200 years old and has British origins. One theory is that a “lick” meant “to give a quick washing.”

For Pete’s sake (one I often use)
Meaning: An expression of frustration or disbelief
Origin: According to Reference.com: http://www.reference.com/motif/refere..., in medieval times it was in bad taste to use, “For God’s sake” or similar expressions, so other names were substituted. One theory is that since Peter was an apostle, his name would do nicely.

Others that need no explanation:

Scarce as hen’s teeth
Interesting aside: I found a fascinating article on this topic (and managed to waste at least 15 minutes in the process, which made me happy): http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2... Apparently scientists in the U.K. have managed to grow (wait for it): hens’ teeth. Seriously.

Big enough to choke a horse
Madder than a wet hen
Knee high to a grasshopper
Dumb as a bucket of rocks

Raining cats and dogs
Another interesting aside: Although it hasn’t been known to rain cats and dogs, according to Farmer’s Almanac, fish and frogs are another matter entirely: http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather...

As you can imagine, there are enough more “colorful” colloquialisms out there to choke a horse, but the older generation on the paternal side of my family is notoriously reserved, so I didn’t hear much of those growing up.

At any rate, while y’all chew the fat on those, all that stuff I’ve been procrastinating is waiting on me. Heck, I’m busier than a two-dollar…well, you know.