This is a point of emphasis and exclamation that often ends without any additional telling at all. So, if during the time of Benjamin Hawkins life, the Creek Indians were experiencing the longest period of peace, why would he fear that they would rise. Like trying to meet a friend for lunch but having the car breakdown on the way. The earliest example known is this mock rustic speech: Feller-citizens Im not customed to public speakin before sich highfalutin audiences. 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.. Page created 25 Feb. 2012, Problems viewing this page? Weiss has spun me upside down in this backward county in the Appalachian mountains and made a southerner out of me. Donate via PayPal. This was a Traveling Sister Read with Brenda, Sarah, Jennifer and Porshajo. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. Poor little doggy. When you're fixin' to do something, it's going to happen, but you also may decide to take your sweet time. She captures the whole Appalachian scene - the vocabulary, the falling down houses, the likker, the poverty. You'll most often hear it coming out of Mama's mouth when the kids are running amok. Youd be in a real fix then. Used in a sentence - If the creek don't rise and God's willing, you should be able to see this video. The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. If the creek don't risewas a whimsical way of saying that the speaker would carry out some task provided that no figurative obstacle were put in his path. 24 of 30. What in tarnation? These skies can darken at a moment's notice, and summer afternoons often see winds churning and heavy rain clouds blowing in to cool that Southern summer heat. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. According to World Wide Words, when asked if it meant Creek Indians, their expert responded with: Quite certainly not. Yes, I had heard of the Appalachians and how the culture spreads along those mountains over more than a dozen States. Well, at least we thought we did.but maybe not. The saying has been attributed to Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson among others, on the usual principle that attaching a famous name to a story validates it. Come visit me at LeahWeiss.com where you can subscribe to my CREEKRISE author news. This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 01:18. I was surprised as all get out. But, what we do know is English once used you and ye strictly to address a group of people. Take a load off the ole dogs, sit on your front porch, and let your know neighbors know about that sugar honey iced teayou had to deal with today. Though youre likely to hear Southernisms such as hold your horses and pretty as a peach nationwide, youll likely only hear the following from a true Southerner. What is the origin of the phrase the good Lord willing and the creek dont rise? Many thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the ARC in return for an unbiased review. However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. Have you ever seen a wet hen? If you think you can't, you won't be able to accomplish something, but if you think you can, you'll succeed. Another publication, Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Jurisdiction, Volumes 88-89, coins the phrase: if the Lord is willing and the creek dont fire, we will so do. What better way to sweeten the sour than with a classic Southern libation? Here are a couple of examples of this claim. 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. Just wait till you see what Granny Gladys does..with a bit of help from Mother Nature..hehehe. The General replied to Stonewall Jackson that he would send troops "the Good Lord is willing and the Creeks don't rise (in rebellion). Sign up for writing inspiration in your email, , Scarlett OHara says: I do declare, Frank Kennedy, if you dont look dashing with that new set of whiskers!, The distinct English dialect of the American South, which has a close relationship with Black English (African American Vernacular English), is fascinatingand plenty lively. Is this derivation correct? We've had a lot of delays, but God willing and the creek don't rise, we should have the house finished before winter. As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss (Author), Tom Stechschulte (Narrator), Kate Forbes (Narrator). By extension, maybe the Southern US expression was the way for an affronted or shocked listener to say none of that crazy untoward talk or behavior shall have power over me.. After eating a big, delicious Southern dinner Granny just made, you have to finish up with a slice of sweet potato pie, right? 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. I first heard of the notion of creek meaning Creek on a camping trip a couple of years ago at Barkcamp State Park in the area of Wheeling, WV. 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. Share. There is no reason to suppose the Indian variant is true. 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. When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs'. There, we listened to amazing stories told by Dr. John Mattox. It was a big old chunk of a book, so only a couple of the kids including myself read it. Doh! Someone once said that when you visit the South, you need a translator. A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. To understand Hawkins, I read a little further into his history. This phrase isn't about physical appearance. It mentions . I reckon "I reckon" can replace any number of phrases, such as: I guess, I suppose, I think, and I imagine. 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. Someone kicked in with we say cricks. Origin debaters point to Col. Benjamin Hawkins of North Carolina, a Continental Congress senator. A sister who is afraid of losing her brother and Sadie's grandmother and aunt, all tell their stories adding to Sadie's own. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. In the 1900s, the word evolved, taking on a Southern spin as well as new meanings such as "courage" and "get-up-and-go.". Whatscatawampus? [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. (Or maybe the Piggly Wiggly, a Southern market chain that originated in Memphis, Tennessee). Farmers know that if you do something 'til the cows come home, it's going to take all day. This means that if everything continues to plan, things will be okay. 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. On his deathbed he married the Creek woman who had been his common-law wife. Positive thinking, Southern style. Not one shred of evidence is a clear invitation to fault the writer. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled, origin of phrase - "if the creek don't rise". "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 that." 04 Mar 2023 03:30:05 He was a politician and Indian agent. The story of Benjamin Hawkins relationship with the Creek,Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians goes back to 1786, when America was working on solidifying its hold on the new nation. While there, we happened upon a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. 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. HARDY, Ark. (the good) Lord willing and the creek don't rise rural If all goes as it should; if everything goes well. You Cant Use These English Words In The UK, Understanding Black History: 10 Terms That Illuminate The Black Experience In The US. I see said the blind man to his deaf wife. the creek don't rise. This was the phrase that he always used, at the end of each performance. If the good Lord's willin and the creek don't rise. "If the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.". Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. If someone tells you that you've got gumption, you should thank them, and then walk a little taller, because you've received a lovely Southern compliment. Theres probably a connection between eternal damnation and tarnation. Any of you word experts have solid information? No, we don't mean you need to go fix your hair. The grit and darkness don't just belong to Sadie, though. Hawkins, college-educated and a well-written man would never have made a grammatical error, so the capitalization of Creek is the only way the phrase could make sense. If we relied on written sources it would be hard to believe in such continued use. Funny Phrases ben stanczyk 10/25/01 This phrase enjoyed national exposure in 1988 after Texas Governor Ann Richards remarked: When we pay billions for planes that wont fly, billions for tanks that wont fire, and billions for systems that wont workthat old dog wont hunt.. Georgia-born blogger Jennifer Collins says she always rolled her eyes when her mom said this to her. It is a paraphrase of a popular biblical saying from James 4:15, and while there are scores of citations to the phrase in the sense of the waters rising, in the US and Europe, there is not one shred of evidence of a reference to the Creek nation. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. from The New York Times: If there is a good state of the world in 2021 the Lord willing and the creek don't rise everyone and all Blue Dogs in office needs to recognize . If the Creek Don't Rise Quotes Showing 1-14 of 14 "Times like these I wonder if I ever been happy. This article about the English language is a stub. Your email address will not be published. When I was growing up, this was something we said all of the time. [3] The capitalization of the word Creek supposedly referred to the Creek Indian tribe rather than a body of water.[4][5]. Its a more conditional statement of intent than come hell or high water. The second contributor on the AOL site is simply repeating things without any understanding. At the same time there is some evidence that the creation of Fort Deposit (Fort Deposite) in Georgia was a cause of concern in that munitions and arms were stockpiled. The History And Traditions That Make Hanukkah Light Up, Examples Of Ableist Language You May Not Realize Youre Using, Winter 2023 New Words: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Fall In Love With 14 Captivating Valentines Day Words, Rizz And 7 Other Slang Trends That Explain The Internet In 2023, Win With Qi And This List Of Our Best Scrabble Words, We Had ChatGPT Coin Nonsense PhrasesAnd Then We Defined Them, Surprise! Settle in, because whatever we're talking about is going to take all day. Though youre likely to hear Southernisms such as. Feller-citizens Im not customed to public speakin before sich highfalutin audiences. (KAIT) - Its been a busy 24 hours for first responders in Sharp County. If youre not using this phrase what are you waiting for? The nabbit, gonnit, gummit, blasted, and burnit match the rhythm of damn it, but they can easily be modified for use as an adjective or adverb: That dagnab idiot didnt look to the dadgum left and, dadburnit, he crossed over in my dadblasted lane and dadburn near hit me. When used as a stand-alone oath, hold out on the first syllable and accentuate the second: DaaadGUMMit! We've had a lot of delays, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we should have the house finished before winter. Speaking ofI declare, this now old-fashioned phrase acts as flustered response to an insult or an unbelievable story about someone who sadly made it into the rumor mill. I've never forgotten it and it's drove me nuts because I would love a copy of it. 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. Neither provides any documentation: http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm2.showMessage?topicID=191.topic, http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm#LordWillingAndTheCreek. Firsts, Mines, Asks. You gonna do nothing?". DeSantis's year-long quest to strip Disney of its self-rule came after the entertainment giant, and Florida's . 'Cause everything's fine, God, I wish it were . For instance, I might promise to show up for Christmas at Grandmas if the good Lords willing and the creek dont rise. A true Southern tradition. and the word HOPE. Note that the Creek Nation(s) did not rise at all. This one may be self-explanatory, but we can imagine it originating back in the days of stagecoaches, when horse-and-buggy pairs filled the streets. The researchers went on to cite two different publications in the 1800s in which the authors did not capitalize the word creek, leading one to believe they did not mean the people proper. The thing isI read one that I have never stopped thinking about. Eventually, you became a singular pronoun, and we lost the plural pronouns. Some newspaper clippings are harder to determine which meaning they meant. Youll thank us later! Its especially difficult for people that live south of River Road and some of them that live in Woodland Hills. Anytime it rains as hard as it did last night, it always brings back fears of having to face something like we did in 1984, he said. Copyright 2023 KAIT. Eli is the backbone of the community; all he wants is a better life for the people of Baines Creek evidenced by the succession of teachers he has procured.and been scared off, and his scheming troublemaking spinster of a sister Prudence who "don't like nobody" doesn't help matters any, but when the giant 6' 2" Kate Shaw arrives, wellthat's another story. A: "Do you reckon we'll have enough from this harvest to make ends meet?" B: "God willing and the creek don't rise." The underscore of that sentiment would be that he married his common-law wife on his deathbed and she was of the Creek Indians. The expression make groceries is a translation of the French faire son march (to do ones market shopping). Most of the ones on paved roads had bridges or culverts by that time, but not all of them and everyone still clearly knew what that saying meant even if the threat wasnt very real anymore. Let me love you again, give me one more try. "If the creek don't rise" is a slang phrase predominantly used in the Southeastern United States and can translate to "if all goes well." It's a more conditional action statement than the famous phrase "come hell or high water." That means whatever you're talking about is worth less than very little. Well, I found it. Charles Wilson said the flood waters are something he has to live with to enjoy residing on the river. Those who live on Valley Drive along the Spring River in Hardy awoke around 3 Friday morning to first responders urging them to leave their homes due to rising water. And Lord have mercy, wait till you meet Birdie with her gamy birds-nest hairdo and top notch fine feathered companion Samuel.and all his buddies. Gumption is spirit, courage, spunk, boldness, and initiative. It is sometimes thought that the word "Creek" instead refers to the Creek Indians, but this is unlikely. Can't Never Could. The saying "God willing and the Creek don't rise." Came from those traveling west in the OLD DAYS. Threats not only from abroad, but internally as well, forced the fledgling nation to negotiate treaties with the tribes on the western frontier. by Leah Weiss. Unarguable Southern criticism. Take a look here Michael: http://www.genealogynation.com/creek/. A young woman goes missing and has the town both fearful and wondering. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Werefixin to tell you more Southernisms, and now were doing just that. In fact, Georgia and South Carolina produce more peaches than any other states in the South. Unlike the United States Postal Service, whose motto proclaims "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" will keep them from their routes, sometimes a Southern visit is thwarted by a rising creek or other unexpected bump in the road. Dont worry, if youre helping a friend make groceries, youre not expected to create food from scratch. A: "Do you reckon we'll have enough from this harvest to make ends meet?" As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Benjamin_Hawkins, Follow Thoughts and Ponderances on WordPress.com. If you've ever been caught in a summer storm, you know that you can feel, smell, and see a storm blowin' up across the wide Southern skies. But if the supposed letter was ever written, it doesnt now exist in any archive that any researcher has so far found (his letters have been published, if anybody would like to check). "Creek" originated as a reference to creeks flooding and preventing travel, but is sometimes re-interpreted as a reference to the Creek tribe. Which means if nothing crazy happens or anything out my control such as a natural disaster. The doin hasnt been done yet. is a common way to use this next Southern cussemism. It traces to the 1700s and is based on darnation, the mild form of damnation. Jan 29, 2014 at 19:34 . Its worth looking into because of the way in which it has been elaborated in the version you quote.. Over yonder toward the water tower. "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. In a letter to the Commander in Chief, Hawkins stated that he would return to the nations capital, God willing and the Creek dont rise., Hawkins, college-educated and a well-written man would never have made a grammatical error, so the capitalization of Creek is the only way the phrase could make sense and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. And I mean took me there! Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. 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. Get help and learn more about the design. Over yonder down the road. QFrom Bob Scala: An item that has been floating around the internet claims that the expression God willing and the creek dont rise referred to the Creek Indians, not a body of water. Im told it was a sign-off tag line of the 1930s US radio broadcaster Bradley Kincaid. It completely nailed the "mountain living" that I remembered my grandmother talking about. And I have used this page's title often-feeling quite sure I knew exactly what it meant. "He broke bout every piece of sweet in you. Its typically used to describe a situation thats gone askew, awry, or out of alignment. Theres nothing more Southern than a lively Hey, yall! And dont you dare think of spelling it yallSouthern Living has decreed this contraction of you all is spelled one way, and one way only. I will be at church on Sunday. Positive thinking, Southern style. Do You Know These Sizzlin Southern Sayings. It happens often during a Southern summer, when the heat rises and the temperatures shoot past 100. "If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" was later covered by Johnny Cash during his tenure at Sun, and a few of the other tracks here ", If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise, "If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise", Learn how and when to remove this template message, "World Wide Words: God willing and the creek don't rise", "William Clark Green: 'Ringling Road' Album Review", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=If_the_Good_Lord%27s_Willing_and_the_Creek_Don%27t_Rise&oldid=1067282742, "If The Lord's Willing And The Creeks Don't Rise", song by, "If The Good Lord's Willing And The Creek Don't Rise", Lattie Moore, Jerry Reed 1961, "If The Good Lord's Willing", Ray Godfrey, arranged Jerry Reed, Tollie Records 1964, "(Be The Good Lord Willing) The Creek Don't Rise", Jivin' Gene, arranged Smith, Hall-Way Records 1964, "God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise", with the lyric "God willin' an the creek don't rise, I'll be home again before this time next year." As I was in a museum, I felt confident in repeating the knowledge to others as fact. If the Creek rose, Hawkins would have to be present to quell the rebellion. writes one commentator.. The tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. Runnin around like a chicken with it's head . The expression is incorrectly attributed on modern social media[citation needed] to an Indian agent, Benjamin Hawkins, in the late 18th century in a rumored letter not found in any archive to the U.S. President. I grew up with that saying and Ive said it more times than I can count. Southerners tell it like it isno matter what it isso think of this as a learning moment.