Used in a sentence - If the creek don't rise and God's willing, you should be able to see this video. He told us about a young man who had been in the museum some weeks previous. in Williams' mouth in his tribute album Hillbilly Heaven. Threats not only from abroad, but internally as well, forced the fledgling nation to negotiate treaties with the tribes on the western frontier. Your email address will not be published. "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 The Lafayette gazette(Louisiana), 3 Nov. 1894. If you're trying to be nice, but you just can't quite let it go, "bless your heart" is a go-to. Wow! 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. Southerners adopted this phrase wholeheartedly from its early usages in 1700s England and Scotland (where it meant "common sense"). 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. (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.). We admit that we've heard this Southernism more than once. Settle in, because whatever we're talking about is going to take all day. I grew up with that saying and Ive said it more times than I can count. From another source Some historians attribute Benjamin Hawkins as having been the first person to ever say these words and he did so in a letter to the President of the United States. "If the Creek Don't Rise" We'll be there unless something out of our control stops us. Translated, it means, "He sure does think a lot of himself." It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. 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. https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Lord_willing_and_the_creek_don%27t_rise&oldid=70955250. Other words sites from The New York Times: And, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, come March of next year, I'll be 70 years old. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. What Do Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, And Lent Mean? This page was last edited on 17 January 2023, at 01:18. Back when I was in the fourth grade we had an English teacher who dumped a box of books out one day and told us to read them and do book reports. In fact, Georgia and South Carolina produce more peaches than any other states in the South. But, what we do know is English once used you and ye strictly to address a group of people. Any of you word experts have solid information? I agree that the Indian origin sounds unlikely. Kicked in the gut and sucker punched with one of the best books I have ever read. As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. I am feeling culture shock from reading this book. I've been in a slump of just ok books and was craving one that was special. If you've just had a big Southern lunch, complete with cornbread, collard greens, and pecan pie, you're definitely full as a tick. A strikingly sincere portrait of a town and its buried secrets from an outstanding new voice in southern fiction. 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. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. You might say cocola. 133 Copy quote. That argues for a more mundane origin: the old-time difficulties of travelling on dirt roads that forded rivers and streams; a sudden storm could cause water levels to rise without warning and render the route impassable. Oh, how I loved this story - I simply didnt want it to end! Page created 25 Feb. 2012, Problems viewing this page? In his response, he was said to write, "God willing and the Creek don't rise." When the U.S. demanded that the murderers be handed over for punishment, the Creek executed them themselves (for the Ohio murders, not for the River Raisin battle and aftermath). When you've met the girl of your dreams, chances are she is "pretty as a peach." However, with the west in flames, both whites and Indians began organizing fighters. Paperback, 305 pages. They had a conversation in which the phrase was discussed and noted as being about the Creek Indians. However, the first President to move to Washington was John Adams on 1 November 1800. All rights reserved. purchase. If the creek dont rise was a whimsical way of saying that the speaker would carry out some task provided that no figurative obstacle were put in his path. You will have spotted that neither of these capitalises creek, which suggests they didnt have the Creek people in mind. "The Good Lord willing and the 'creek' don't rise" is just one of them. Take a look here Michael: http://www.genealogynation.com/creek/. Copyright Michael Quinion, 1996. Copyright 2023 KAIT. After eating a big, delicious Southern dinner Granny just made, you have to finish up with a slice of sweet potato pie, right? Some say it originated with the Scottish-Irish term ye aw. 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. It was so enjoyable and fun reading and discussing the book with them. Donate via PayPal. And, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, come March of next year, I'll be 225 years old. And, when the doins been done, the feller done did it. Theres no better zinger than a bless your heart delivered in a condescending tone of voice that implies, as the Southern Decoder puts it, youre dumb, homely, or otherwise impaired, but you cant help it.Go ahead and practice it in the mirror a few times. This United Statesrelated article is a stub. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The resulting warfare and predictable civilian losses in the South reportedly gave rise (using the Southern frontier penchant for willin as opposed to the educated willing) to the phrase which was then likely mistakenly attributed to Hawkins due to his Native American connections. Although he admits when the rain starts to fall, it makes him a little nervous. Now, she admits to saying this to her children. Jan 29, 2014 at 19:34 . 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. I doubt it will ever be possible to prove the source of some of these old sayings,but they sure are alot of funThis post set me a thinkin bout some things we grew up saying that we took from our eldersfor example when one is astonished you say Oh my Stars! Or when you havent seen someone in awhile you say I aint seen Hide nor Hair of em since..and there was plenty of times I was toldquit rootin around an causin such a ruckass!usually refering to me being in Granmas gardenand one can never forget the simpleSkeedaddle! Now the devil may knowWhere those sayings come from. 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. Does a bear shit in the woods? I am usually among those who bristle at change in usage. 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. The states involved sent Hawkins,Andrew Pickens(South Carolina), Joseph Martin (Georgia) andLachlan McIntosh(Continental representative, Georgia) to negotiate a treaty to end the fighting. Weiss has spun me upside down in this backward county in the Appalachian mountains and made a southerner out of me. You'll most often hear it coming out of Mama's mouth when the kids are running amok. 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. And of course, there's nothing prettier than a warm summer day picking peaches in the sunshine. The 1800s and 1900s were much simpler times, as people didn't have the luxuries afforded in modern times. Baines Creek, high up in the Appalachian mountain, a poor place filled with impoverished people, a place where moonshine is king. 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. In his reply, he was said to have written, God willing and the Creek dont rise. This was the phrase that he always used, at the end of each performance. With a colorful cast of characters and a flair for the Southern Gothic, If the Creek Don't Rise is a debut novel bursting with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit. Gumption is spirit, courage, spunk, boldness, and initiative. Oh, if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise. 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. If you've read the book summary, you already know Sadie Blue lives with a devil of a man, but she's not the only one who has lived with a wife beater of a husband. Or, depending on where you live, it could be Sewanee, the small college town in Tennessee. Its a more conditional statement of intent than come hell or high water. Runnin around like a chicken with it's head . If the Creek Dont Rise by Leah Weiss is a 2017 Sourcebooks Landmark publication. A very young, newly married pregnant woman, she vows her no good moonshining husband has beaten her for the last time. 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. Grahams American Monthly Magazine, Jun. As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. A true Southern tradition. As was the case with Dr Mattox, the remark is routinely attributed to first being said by Benjamin Hawkins. Devil's beating his wife (when it would be sunny and raining). But in following verses the rhyme changes through "creeks don't rise", "creek stay low", back to "creeks don't rise". Every researcher who has investigated the expression has dismissed an Indian connection as untrue. "Druthers" roughly translates to "I would rather," meaning, "If had things my way" The phrase is celebrated in song in the hilarious, Southern-inspired Broadway musical Li'l Abner, in which the title character sings "If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my druthers than anything else I know." 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 tale is widely reproduced and believed nevertheless. 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. 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.. Over yonder toward the water tower. What in tarnation? 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. Over yonder past the cotton field. Did you know the saying God willing and the Creek dont rise was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? It is sometimes thought that the word "Creek" instead refers to the Creek Indians, but this is unlikely. 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. She captures the whole Appalachian scene - the vocabulary, the falling down houses, the likker, the poverty. When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs'. Some say farmers used to dunk their hens when they got broody. 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! 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. In the 1900s, the word evolved, taking on a Southern spin as well as new meanings such as "courage" and "get-up-and-go.". the creek don't rise. I see said the blind man to his deaf wife. Statements of the form "God/Lord willing and (some other condition being met)" are ancient extensions of simple acceptance of God's will in phrases like God willing and Lord willing. Actually this is not proven. You may still hear it if you stop into a country store. "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." I'm fixin' to tell you that this phrase is as Southern as sweet tea. In fact, virtually all the examples that Ive found in books and newspaper archives down to the present day are in lower-case. This article about the English language is a stub. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled, origin of phrase - "if the creek don't rise". It was set in the Ozark mountains featuring what some people called a witch. We've had a lot of delays, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we should have the house finished before winter. (I would not be surprised to discover that the last contributor on your first link is none other than our own samclem.). There, we listened to amazing stories told by Dr. John Mattox.