This blog post requires a story to set it up…
While at a customer’s office, some how we starting talking about bad commercials. One that always comes to my mind when thinking business-to-business and bad, are the old EDS commercials. These commercials characterize and personify its customers as cats, squirrels, or airplanes (my blog post including links to the commercials).
The underlying message in each commercial is EDS makes the complex world of technology and consulting easier. The rub is that with each commercial, EDS pokes fun at its customers. This is what makes the commercials “bad.” While they are 1,000% on message and hilarious, they make fun of the customer.
After I shared my EDS Cat Herders blog and story as a suggestion on commercials, someone in the group said she loved those commercials for the same reasons. And interestingly, she looked up cowboy slang after first watching those commercials. All she remembered was one phrase, “Chew gravel,” which means “thrown from a horse” (see #33).
This got me thinking about cowboy slang and jargon. I thought it would be a fun blog post. I then curated the cowboy phrases from the sites listed below the list. Visit those sites to enjoy a lot more slang with cowboy/old west history as well.
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COWBOY SLANG, LINGO, AND JARGON
- A hog-killin’ time: a real good time1
- A lick and a promise: to do haphazardly. “Bill just gave it a lick and a promise”3, 4
- Above Snakes: If you were “above snakes,” you were above ground – meaning still alive4
- Ace-high: first class, respected1, 3, 4
- Ace in the Hole: hideout or a hidden gun4
- Acknowledge the Corn: admit the truth, to confess a lie, or acknowledge an obvious personal shortcoming4
- Adam’s Ale: water4
- Airin’ the Lungs: term for cussing4
- A lick and a promise: to do haphazardly. “Bill just gave it a lick and a promise”3, 4
- All down but nine: missed the point, not understood. This is a reference to missing all nine pins at bowling3
- At sea: at a loss, not comprehending. “When it comes to understanding women, I am at sea”3, 4
- An invite to a dance: could mean shooting at a man’s feet to make him dance1
- Bad plum/Lead plum/Blue whistler: bullet1
- Bag of Nails: Everything in confusion, topsy-turvy4
- Bake: to overheat a horse by riding too fast, long, or hard2, 4
- Bangtail: wild horse; mustang2, 4
- Barkin’ at a Knot: Doing something useless; wasting your time, trying something impossible4
- Barn sour: horse that loves his stall; speeds up the pace as he nears the barn on the journey home2
- Batwings: long chaps with broad leather flaps2, 4
- Bazoo: mouth. “Shut your big bazoo”3
- Bear sign: donuts. A cook who could and would make them, was highly regarded3, 4
- Bee: gathering of friends, family and neighbors to get a specific job done. Usually used with women’s quilting get togethers as in a quilting bee
- Bee in Your Bonnet: An idea4
- Best bib and tucker: best clothes. “There’s a dance Saturday, so put on your best bib and tucker”3
- Big bug: the boss, an important person1, 3
- Boil over: horse that starts bucking2
- Bone orchard: cemetery3, 4
- Broom-tail: a negative term for an ill-behaved or ugly horse, often a horse that looks or acts like a mustang2
- Burn the breeze: ride at full speed2
- Busted off: bucked off2
- Caterwauling: usually terrible singing, or complaining1
- Cayuse: cowboy’s steed2
- Chew gravel: thrown from a horse2
- Chisel/Chiseler: cheat or swindle, a cheater3, 4
- Choke Strap: A necktie4
- Clean his/your plow: get or give a thorough whippin’3, 4
- Clipped his horns: took him down a notch or two; referring to a fight or a braggart1
- Coffee boiler: shirker, lazy person. (Would rather sit around the coffee pot than help)3, 4
- Cow sense: a horse that knows what to do around cows2
- Crowbait: derogatory term for a poor-quality horse1, 3
- Curly wolf: real tough guy, dangerous man. “Ol’ Bill is a regular curly wolf, especially when he’s drinkin’ whiskey”3, 4
- Dug for his cannon: reached for his gun1
- Eatin Irons: Silverware4
- Fish: cowboy’s rain jacket, from a rain gear manufacturer whose trademark was a fish logo. “We told him it looked like rain, but left his fish in the wagon anyhow”3, 4
- Fit to be tied: angry1
- Flannel mouth: overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen. “I swear that man is a flannel-mouthed liar”3
- Fly at it: cook says this when his food is ready1
- Full as a tick: drunk or over eating1, 3
- Get a wiggle on: hurry4
- Hang fire: delay, lets hang fire before we make up our minds1
- Hazing a tenderfoot: giving a city man a hard time1
- Hoosegow: jail3
- I can set with that: I can agree with that, I can handle that1
- In apple pie order: in top shape3
- Lickety Split: Headlong, at full speed4
- Light a shuck: to get the heck out of here, lets light a shuck1
- Nailed to the counter: proven a lie3, 4
- Odd stick: eccentric person. “Ol’ Farmer Jones sure is an odd stick”3
- Of the First Water: First class. “He’s a gentleman of the first water”4
- Owl headed: horse that won’t stop looking around2
- Plumb: meaning completely or totally (plumb tuckered out)1
- Prairie coal: dried cow manure, used to build fires1
- Pull in your horns: back off, quit looking for trouble3
- Quirley: roll-your-own cigarette3
- Rocky Mountain canary: burro used by the miners in the Rocky Mountains2
- Roostered: drunk. “Looks like those cowboys are in there gettin’ all roostered up”3
- Scratching Rake: A comb4
- Shooting iron, six shooter: gun, pistol1
- Simon pure: the real thing, a genuine fact. “This is the Simon pure”3
- Squinny: To cause a laugh, to laugh, wink, smile4
- Taradiddles: Falsehoods, traveler’s yarns or tales4
- Ten-cent Man: a small, narrow-minded, trifling man4
- That Dog Won’t Hunt: That idea or argument isn’t going to work. Or, the person saying it doesn’t believe what you’re saying4
- Thunderation: non-profane curse1
- Too Much Mustard: a braggart4
- Uncorkin’ a bronc: breaking a horse2
- Varmint or Varment: wild animal or a bad man1
- Waddie: hired man, especially in the western United States, who tends cattle and performs many of his duties on horseback; sometimes refers to a cattle rustler; especially a cowboy who drifted from ranch to ranch and helped out in busy times2
- Wanna snort? Want a drink1
- Wild West Weekly: Pulp or “dime” novels4
- Will die standin’ up: brave1
- Wobblin’ jaw: talks to much1
- Yarn the hours away: tell stories1
SOURCES
1 Cowboy Kisses
2 The Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation
3 A Writer’s Guide to the Old West
4 Legends of America
Photography Source: Texas Cowboys, circa 1901, Wikimedia – Library of Congress
#chiefstoryteller #communication #culture #cowboy