Assuming the Drab Color of the World

I needed a little something in case I got stuck with nothing to do on a recent trip.  Most simply turn their attention to that little black box in their pocket.  I usually avoid that at all costs.  This book stuck out on my bookshelf as something that might be mildly entertaining, without too huge of commitment.   I do not recall from where it came at all.  It just appeared in my collection one day; perhaps, under its own power, it invited itself into my world.  

Regardless.  While standing in the line of eternity at the airport, I began reading and quickly found it fit the bill perfectly.  Short passages within specific topic chapters outlined a diversity of opinion and speculation on the cause of this or that in the turn-of-the-century Ozark world.

One of the most striking observations came in the forward.  It not only fits the time of the writing but could easily be applied to the impact of globalization that occurred throughout much of the time after.

"Wherever railroads and highway penetrate, wherever newspapers and moves and radios are introduced, the people gradually lose their distinctive local traits and assume the drab color which characterizes conventional Americans elsewhere. The Ozarkers are changing rather rapidly just now, and it may be that a few more years of progress will find them thinking and acting very much like country folk in other parts of the United States. This standardizing transformation is still far from complete, however. A great body of folk belief dies very slowly, and I suspect that some vestiges of backwoods superstition will be with us for al long time to come."

Indeed these vestiges of backwoods superstition persist in much of our daily lives, as demonstrated by a few other passages within the book.  The very first that I encountered took me back to a saying my great-grandmother espoused frequently that was always left me a little confused about what rain and sunshine had to do with the devil beating his wife.  I remain perplexed to this day too.

The next I encountered came straight from my parents mouths.  It is but another that leaves me wondering.  Why Bread and Butter?

Some may be more familiar with the "Salt and Pepper" variation.  While this one seems equally unfounded, the book does discuss beliefs surrounding various aspects of good and evil associated with having, keeping and freely giving salt away to another.

Then there are some that do not match perfectly to well known phrases, though it is easy to tell from where they may have had their beginnings, as with this related to finding a pin.

I could probably snapshot most of this book, and may yet include more of these phrases in the comments as I go along.  It is a fun read, to the say the least.  Some phrases have no specific origin and some are meant to keep children busy in the days before radio, television, or any sort of other technology. I neglected to snapshot this point but it amounted to sending children to go count the freckles on the face of another to find out how many days until summer or some such thing.

Randolph, V. (2012). Ozark Magic and Folklore. Dover Publications. (Original work published 1947).