if the creek don't rise saying

Positive thinking, Southern style. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Im terrible about reading usernames as I scan threads, and I completely missed who had contributed that comment.). A sister who is afraid of losing her brother and Sadie's grandmother and aunt, all tell their stories adding to Sadie's own. As was the case with Dr Mattox, the remark is routinely attributed to first being said by Benjamin Hawkins. This is our creative way of saying that you shouldn't crow like a rooster about your wealth and belonging today, because it could all disappear tomorrow. During the early days of the War of 1812, one party of Creek marched north and joined the Indians fighting in Ohio and Michigan, participating in the River Raisin Massacre. He wrote it in response to a request from the President to return to our Nations Capital and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. (Recall, also, that the Creek who did go to war against the whites were a smaller group within the Creek nation and that the larger group remained neutral or actively assisted the whites in the warat which point they were betrayed by having the U.S. sieze all their land.). You may still hear it if you stop into a country store. For instance if someone invites you to church on Sunday, you would respond "I'll be there with bells on God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise.". It is a physical and mental state a few degrees past weary and just this side of dog-tired. A: "Do you reckon we'll have enough from this harvest to make ends meet?" Your first citation is much stronger than your second. I have even heard the accents and many of the stories from various artists who escaped the confines of this culture and were successful in attaining fame and fortune for themselves. You might say cocola. The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. Learn how your comment data is processed. If so, you know that being madder than a wet hen is very mad indeed. The Creek so-called civil war of 1812 involving the Red Stick faction, and their combat North and South, appears to have been an impetus for that forts creation. Donate via PayPal. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Im not going to wrestle with historians and their Creek uprising story. It was set in the Ozark mountains featuring what some people called a witch. Charles Wilson said the flood waters are something he has to live with to enjoy residing on the river. This means that if everything continues to plan, things will be okay. Over yonder past the cotton field. In the 1900s, the word evolved, taking on a Southern spin as well as new meanings such as "courage" and "get-up-and-go.". It was a big old chunk of a book, so only a couple of the kids including myself read it. Therefore if the Lord is willing and the Creek don't rise up and start up another uprising or battle, we will be able complete what ever it is we intend to do. In Gone With the Wind, Scarlett OHara says: I do declare, Frank Kennedy, if you dont look dashing with that new set of whiskers!. And I have used this page's title often-feeling quite sure I knew exactly what it meant. 133 Copy quote. Youve heard that old saying, Ill be there if the creek dont rise? Well, theyve all risen, and a lot of people are staying home because of that.. Change). Where did this contraction, popular in both African American English and Southern American English, come from? It completely nailed the "mountain living" that I remembered my grandmother talking about. Baines Creek, high up in the Appalachian mountain, a poor place filled with impoverished people, a place where moonshine is king. Not one shred of evidence is a clear invitation to fault the writer. If you hear this one, you should probably pause a moment. There, we listened to amazing stories told by Dr. John Mattox. Im a longtime admirer of your calm demeanor and encyclopedic knowledge. Marty Stuart places the words "If the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll see you in the mornin'." But, what we do know is English once used you and ye strictly to address a group of people. From the present day of the story in 1970 to flashbacks of the past and dreams, these various points of view give us a vivid picture of this place and the people who live there. Positive thinking, Southern style. I ate that up with a spoon and did my best to read them all. When you're in the South, "over yonder" is a distant directionany direction. Although he admits when the rain starts to fall, it makes him a little nervous. In the South, a hill of beans is its own measuring stick. This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 01:18. You dont know whats underneath that water, Rose said. Given that many small farm streams were crossed without bridges, which worked find most of the time, a swollen stream would cause problems. At the time Hawkins was Congressman, he joined other well known Southeastern American leaders in negotiating a major treaty with the Creek and Cherokee at the South Carolina city of Hopewell. Translated, this means: "We'll be there unless something out of our control stops us." Can't Never Could. This Southern saying, God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise. Because that is supposedly how the original author first wrote it. The Cree and the Creek lived over a thousand miles apart, (the Cree are from Canada), so we now have people contributing folk etymologies that are nonsense on their face. If The Creek Don't Rise is a unique novel whose structure feels light and breezy and veers drastically from the standard formula found in fiction. Since we'd never dare hang up the phone while Mama's chatting away, this may be the only way to end your conversation in a timely manner. World Wide Words is copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. Your email address will not be published. No bigger than a minnow in a fishing pond is as tiny as can be. Who better to write about the risks of the Creek rising in revolt? by Leah Weiss. If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator), Kate Forbes (Narrator). "We plan to be there," we might say, and then add on a quick, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise." It's another way of saying, "I am dead serious about keeping my word on this, short of a hurricane or earthquake." In other words, I'm doggedly committed to this unless the devil stops me. This string of double negatives is actually meant as encouragement! I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him. In fact, Georgia and South Carolina produce more peaches than any other states in the South. He told us about a young man who had been in the museum some weeks previous. Georgia-born blogger Jennifer Collins says she always rolled her eyes when her mom said this to her. My officers and fire department, we went along the river houses and notified everybody and recommended evacuation, said Hardy Police Chief Scott Rose. Anything to the degree of "all get out" is something to talk about. If you hear this one, it's best to slow down. According to World Wide Words, when asked if it meant Creek Indians, their expert responded with: " Quite certainly not. Don't worry, though, everyone hears this every now and again. If you answered soda, you probably hail from either coast or some patches around St. Louis or Milwaukee.Pop lovers congregate mostly in the Midwest and western states. I see said the blind man to his deaf wife. Often said as "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," this expression means, with a little bit of luck and no unexpected problems, things should work out. It's almost always accompanied by a good-natured, perhaps slightly exasperated, shake of the head. Its a one-size-fits-all reply that can both express sympathy and insult someone, depending on the delivery. Which means if nothing crazy happens or anything out my control such as a natural disaster. Fans of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek will love this intimate insight into a fiercely proud, tenacious community and relish the voices of the forgotten folks of Baines Creek. I was surprised as all get out. When a fellers fixin to do something, theyre about to do it. [1][2], Classic versions of its use tend to be along the lines of "The good Lord willing, and the creek doesn't rise"i.e. Grahams American Monthly Magazine, Jun. That book was a 1908 publication and leans toward the thought of Creek Indian, even if not capitalized, because of the word fire (as in shooting guns). Come visit me at LeahWeiss.com where you can subscribe to my CREEKRISE author news. It is a modern error to presume that "the creek don't rise" is a grammatical error, so the fact that a speaker in the past was college educated would not be an argument against his having used the phrase. I see some folks walk easy and carry peace on their shoulders, but I been chained to a iron life." Leah Weiss, If the Creek Don't Rise 3 likes Like (I would not be surprised to discover that the last contributor on your first link is none other than our own samclem.). Well, whether its Creek or creek, it would still have much of the same effectyou wont be going where you thought you would or could. To understand Hawkins, I read a little further into his history. Her grandmother Gladys tells us of her awful past ridden with the drunkenness and senseless abuse. Historically, Southerners in the Appalachian mountains pronounced eternal as tarnal. That pronunciation suggests a clever word-smoosh between tarnal and damnation, so the savvy Appalachians could euphemistically express their anger without wasting an extra breath. And, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, come March of next year, I'll be 225 years old. A different style for the story telling in this as we hear from many of the people in this town and Sadie Blues own story is woven through the fabric of theirs. The expression "the creek don't rise" is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. On his deathbed he married the Creek woman who had been his common-law wife. According to http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Benjamin_Hawkins: Generally recognized as the Creek Indian agent, Benjamin Hawkins also held the title of General Superintendent of all tribes south of the Ohio River. What's The Difference Between Y'all And Ya'll? Theres probably a connection between eternal damnation and tarnation. And of course, there's nothing prettier than a warm summer day picking peaches in the sunshine. Signed in November, 1785, A Treaty With the Cherokee (the technical name of the Treaty of Hopewell) created the first rift between theCherokee Nationand the Chickamauga Cherokee that would not end until the Chickamauga went West following the Revolt of the Young Chiefs. While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington. Werefixin to tell you more Southernisms, and now were doing just that. Neither provides any documentation: http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm2.showMessage?topicID=191.topic, http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm#LordWillingAndTheCreek. What in tarnation? Yet here I stand before you a speckled hermit, wrapt in the risen-sun counterpane of my popilarity, an intendin, Providence permittin, and the creek dont rise, to go it blind!. Many thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the ARC in return for an unbiased review. No matter where you go in Kentucky, the people often have some colorful expressions. Youll thank us later! Its not a recent change. A: "Do you reckon we'll have enough from this harvest to make ends meet?" B: "God willing and the creek don't rise." In his reply, he was said to have written, God willing and the Creek dont rise. And this is one appearance in a newspaper: We are an American people, born under the flag of independence and if the Lord is willing and the creeks dont rise, the American people who made this country will come pretty near controlling it. I absolutely loved the southern voice of these characters throughout this book. Is It Called Presidents Day Or Washingtons Birthday? Then theres a long gap in the record before it began to appear again in the 1950s. 1851. However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. Apparently Carter had a great many pills, because the phrase found its way into the Southern vocabulary. Curiously, this word might have roots in offbeat British humor from the 1840s. All rights reserved. Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. The swear-word equivalent would be something along the lines of No sh*t!I declare may have come from an English oath (the sworn proclamation kind) declaring that no foreign parties have power to subvert the Crown. Johnny Cash had a hit with the song If The Good Lords Willing, and Hank Williams Jr. titled his song If the Good Lords Willin (And The Creeks Dont Rise).. All of my life there have been local mountain sayings that I've heard and of course repeated, complete with a North Carolina southern drawl as literal fact. What is the origin of the phrase the good Lord willing and the creek dont rise? I will be at church on Sunday. Yet here I stand before you a speckled hermit, wrapt in the risen-sun counterpane of my popilarity, an intendin, Providence permittin, and the creek dont rise, to go it blind!. If the Creek Don't Rise Quotes Showing 1-14 of 14 "Times like these I wonder if I ever been happy. Chief Rose is asking drivers to be cautious while out and about. The dialect is obscure and living conditions primitive with a feel more like the 1870's than the 1970's..so backward..so uncivilized..the men so brutal and lawless, and for Sadie Blue, life seems grave. If you think you can't, you won't be able to accomplish something, but if you think you can, you'll succeed. Because this is a progressive verb (youll make progress with it for sure), remember You were fixin to patch the hole in the wall. Never say you fixed to do it! What Grandma says when you pull in the driveway, pop out of the car, and come running. Poor little doggy. It happens often during a Southern summer, when the heat rises and the temperatures shoot past 100. Some say farmers used to dunk their hens when they got broody. When you've met the girl of your dreams, chances are she is "pretty as a peach." The New Madrid earthquake (reputedly the largest in recorded history in North America) created the division between traditionalist Creek (Red Sticks) and those more willing to seek accommodation with the majority of the tribe. Cant never could is a reminder that if you dont even try, you wont ever accomplish your goal. 24 of 30. Grandma might whisper this one over her hymnal if she sees you cutting up in church on Sunday morning. When you're fixin' to do something, it's going to happen, but you also may decide to take your sweet time. A rising creek could spell trouble, as it can lead to flooding and other issues. And, when the doins been done, the feller done did it. "You've heard that old saying, 'I'll be there if the creek don't rise?' Well, they've all risen, and a lot of people are staying home because of. It's true, we do have a mouthful of sayings that only Southerners understand. And I mean took me there! And even if it did, the initial capital letter would mean nothing, as at the time it was still common practice to capitalise all nouns. The thing isI read one that I have never stopped thinking about. As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. In his response, he was said to write, God willing and the Creek dont rise. Because he capitalized the word Creek it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water. Paperback, 305 pages. Note that the Creek Nation(s) did not rise at all. We've had a lot of delays, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we should have the house finished before winter. It took a further decade for it to become popular as a supposedly hayseed utterance, sometimes as and the crick dont rise to reflect a regional form. We are an American people, born under the flag of independence and if the Lord is willing and the creeks dont rise, the American people who made this country will come pretty near controlling it. Unarguable Southern criticism. Note that the Creek Nation(s) did not "rise" at all. If you use this phrase, you could be declaring any number of things: surprise, dissent, happiness. It must surely be the creation of a fertile modern mind desiring to put the flesh of evidence on the dry bones of outright invention. Step into the Deep South and experience the lives and hardships, hopes and dreams, of folk who have nothing except gritand sometimes loveas their currency. Its typically used to describe a situation thats gone askew, awry, or out of alignment. Mentioning Benjamin Hawkins is a masterstroke, since he was the General Superintendent for Indian Affairs between 1796 and 1818 and was principal Indian agent to the Creek nation; he became so close to its people that he learned their language, was adopted by them and married a Creek woman.

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