Old West Words and Phrases

[Russ T Chambers]

Let's try this one:


Root hog or die

Scrounge for food?

Slim

Sounds good, but it's not what I have.

And, what do you have?

Slim

To go after something all out.

[Silver Creek Slim]

That sounds good to me.

Slim

[Russ T Chambers]

Probably where we get "going after something, Whole Hog".

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

To go the whole hog. An American expression meaning unmixed democratical principles. It is used in England to signify a "thorough goer" of any kind. In Virginia the dealer asks the retail butcher if "he means to go the whole hog, or to take only certain joints, and he regulates his price accordingly." (Men and Manners of America.

    Mahomet forbade his followers to eat one part of the pig, but did not particularise what part he intended. Hence, strict Mahometans abstain from pork altogether, but those less scrupulous eat any part they fancy. Cowper refers to this in the lines:

"With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
Till quite from tail to snout `tis eaten."
Love of the World Reproved.

Another explanation is this: A hog in Ireland is slang for "a shilling," and to go the whole hog means to spend the whole shilling. (See Hog.)

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

'fraid hole

ketch dog

pants rats or seam squirrels

throwing the steel


'Sposed to meet up with Bambi in the mornin'.  Wish me luck.

[Delmonico]

pants rats, seam squirrels - cooties,  lice nasty things you don't want

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

pants rats, seam squirrels - cooties,  lice nasty things you don't want

I'm guessin' Del was a mite disappointed he didn't get to use "poop" in his reply, but he did get to display his knowledge of other undesirable things.

How 'bout someone takin' on these other three:

'fraid hole

ketch dog

throwing the steel

[Russ T Chambers]

pants rats, seam squirrels - cooties,  lice nasty things you don't want

I'm guessin' Del was a mite disappointed he didn't get to use "poop" in his reply, but he did get to display his knowledge of other undesirable things.

How 'bout someone takin' on these other three:

'fraid hole

ketch dog

throwing the steel

Throwing the steel ---- tossing a knife perchance?  Don't have a clue on the wildlife one (ketch dog)

[Delmonico]

ketch dog- maybe bounty hunter?

fraid hole- hidin' place?

throwin' steel- losin' a horseshoe?

Russ T. I think the Capt. out smarted himself here and crawled down his fraid hole, thats why we ain't heard from him in  afew days.

[Russ T Chambers]

ketch dog- maybe bounty hunter?

fraid hole- hidin' place?

throwin' steel- losin' a horseshoe?

Russ T. I think the Capt. out smarted himself here and crawled down his fraid hole, thats why we ain't heard from him in  afew days.

Del

I think maaybe his meeting with Bambi may not have turned out like he thought.    Maybe Bambi won this one!! 
Or Texana found out Bambi wasn't the ruminant we thought she was. 

[Delmonico]

Cool, I got to already dead Bambi's given to me this week, the Bambi killer's even help me de-bone it.  Don't know which ones parts I cooked last nigh, but it was wonderful, course one was a 1 1/2 old buck that needed culled because of antlers and a this year doe.  Wonderful eatin' and in our area they are almost considered varnmints, so right now G&P wants bunches kilt cause they are vicious, they are attackin' Yuppies in mini-vans kamakizie style. 

Did ya ever notice that serious deer hunters (as in kills them often) very seldom hit one on the road and if they do it's most often after dark.  I've talked to several rural vollenteer Emt's about this and they have noticed the same thing.  Bet of the Govt. would give me big bucks fer a grant I could tell them why.

[Russ T Chambers]

Maybe if Bambi won, we need a recipe on  how to properly cook a Hamp.

[Delmonico]

Just use a beef recipe and where it says beef, use part of the Capt.  I vote for Chili, good and spicy in case he tastes a bit funny, no wait, clowns taste funny.

Taint funny though, I had a standoff with a ruttin' buck several years ago, almost shot him out of season, he was within a few feet of my imaginary line when he backed off, 243 was loaded, safety was off and the crosshairs were on his chest and the scope was on 1X and the line was only about 50 feet away and he was pawin and beatin the brush.  I really did not want his harem, even though he thought so.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Maybe if Bambi won, we need a recipe on  how to properly cook a Hamp.

Reckon a recipe for buffalo hump would work - could call the results "Buffalo Hamp".

Sorry for delay in response, but am still not getting email notification of posts since changeover to AOL.  Any ideas how to correct this problem?

Haven't had a successful encounter with Bambi yet, although other extended family members have taken three
8-pointers and one 6-point off our place here.  Also have a herd of feral hogs that are passing through on a regular basis for the first time ever.  Supposed to be 12+ hogs and several 40-50 lb pigs in the bunch.  Would definitely like to get one of those pigs.

At least you guys gave it a shot, so here are the definitions of the most recent words/phrases:

'fraid hole ~ Cyclone cellar

ketch dog ~ dog trained and used to catch cattle by the nose and hold or throw them until they could be tied.

Throwing the steel ~ using spurs freely.

[Delmonico]

Capt. tell em not ta kill the herd bulls fer eatin', them young does and the young bucks with less antlers than they should have are mighty good eatin'.  Never could come up with a decent recipe fer antlers, tried fryin' them, boilin' them and bakin' them and they're still to tough ta eat.

Course thats the kinda thing ya think I would say.   Had braised deer, canned milk gravy and sourdough biscuits fer supper again.  The finest meal in the world two nights in a row.  Life don't get no better'n that.   Unless I do it again tommorow.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

In an eariler post old Del said  "Did ya ever notice that serious deer hunters (as in kills them often) very seldom hit one on the road and if they do it's most often after dark.  I've talked to several rural vollenteer Emt's about this and they have noticed the same thing.  Bet of the Govt. would give me big bucks fer a grant I could tell them why."

Can't speak for the other "serious" ones, but I know that anytime I drive on rural roads/highways I am always on the lookout for deer, especially at night.  While our deer here in central Texas aren't as large as in some of your locales, they are very numerous and are plenty big enough to cost you a bunch of change for repairs to your vehicle if you hit one.  Del mentions EMT.  Just this past year, the head honcho of our local EMS (flew choppers and had commanded an aviation battalion in Viet Nam) was returning from a meeting one night, swerved to miss a deer, ran off the road, and hit an embankment.  A large object in his back seat was thrown forward and struck him in the back of his neck, breaking it and paralyzing him.  He only lived for a couple of days after the accident.  The deer survived.

[Delmonico]

They tell us up here, never swerve to miss one, brake what you can and take it out, it will most often roll over top and the windshield will keep it out of most cars.  Swervin' will risk a roll over, that's how almost all who get killed get killed.

As an ex-bodyman I will agree, all cars I have ever fixed after a deer wreck, the deer or even the horse and rider go over top, pedestrians seem to want to go under though.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

singin' to 'em

top screw

cuitan

makin's

brain tablet

[Delmonico]

singin' to um-ridin' night herd

top screw-trail, ranch or roundup boss

makin's-yer tabaccy and yer papers or corn huks that ye roll yer baccy in

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

singin' to um-ridin' night herd

top screw-trail, ranch or roundup boss

makin's-yer tabaccy and yer papers or corn huks that ye roll yer baccy in

Got all three of those right, Del.  Ranch or roundup boss also often referred to as  "Cock-a-doodle-doo".

cuitan ~ Indian pony

brain tablet ~ cigarette