Buck up and buckle down. They are two idioms I heard frequently growing up. I was never quite sure what it was I was supposed to be bucking or buckling. But those sayings popped out of my mouth in a conversation I was having with my wife. She says she hadn't heard them when she was growing up. I was surprised by that as I thought they were common enough. Of course they weren't the first sayings I have used that she wasn't familiar with. I expect that is true with a great number of us when we weren't raised in the same state, town or neighborhood. She was raised in Stony Creek, Maryland. A neighborhood I know nothing about beyond the few times she has mentioned it. I think I would have liked it though. Seems homey from what I've heard.
Now I was born and raised on Long Island New York. I was told to buck up often. According to the Internet this idiom is used predominately in the south. So I'm wondering why it was used there. No one in my family is from the south. I knew one man that came from down south and he spoke funny. He said, ya'll a lot. Big John was what we called him and he drove the school bus. He would stop that bus, stand up facing us children and say in a very loud and booming voice, " ya'll sit down and stay sit " and I found it hilarious. I did exactly as was told, but finding it funny at the same time. He was a bit scary when in that mood. I was related to him in some fashion through in-laws or outlaws and would see him in social settings as well. A jovial man by nature I really liked him. I don't recall him ever saying buck up though.
As for buckle down, I heard that from my teachers and my parents. If I had only buckled down I guess I would be a millionaire today to hear them tell it. I had the protentional, if I would only buckle down. I hated hearing that. I found it to be an annoyance. You need to buckle down young man. In 1968 Archie Bell and the Drells released a song called Tighten Up. The refrain was, Do the Tighten Up. So after that every time I heard buckle down. I thought, Do the tighten Up and it would bring a smile to my face. Sometimes my Father would offer to wipe that smile off my face. Well fact is, he called it a smirk and a smirk and a smile are different things altogether, subject to interpretation. To the uninitiated the difference is quite subtle. My father, and a few others were experts at recognizing a smirk! Thinking back I was often told to buckle down following the appearance of that smirk! Wonder if they are somehow connected. I think the phrase would be, you had better buckle down! The implication being clear, bad things would happen if I didn't buckle down. Well, they did, guess I should have listened. But then again I suspect those things would have happened anyway but I wouldn't say that out loud, get accused of being a wise guy. That's another I heard a lot. Don't be a wise guy! The three wise men were a good thing but being a wise guy wasn't.
It was a bit confusing. I would be told to buckle down. I didn't and received less than satisfactory results, well less than satisfactory to Mom and Dad anyway, and got punished for that. When I complained about the punishment I was told to buck up! But if I bucked up too much, got that smirk on my face, I was a wise guy. Don't be a wise guy! I thought the buckling down was supposed to improve my grades, make me a wiser person. If I cried I was informed I would be given something to cry about! I already had that in my view, it's all very confusing. But I was told to remember what goes around comes around. So in reality it was all my fault for not buckling down. Guess I should have just bucked up! Bucked up and buckled down that's the key! And so it has all come true, now I'm just a wise guy.
Now I was born and raised on Long Island New York. I was told to buck up often. According to the Internet this idiom is used predominately in the south. So I'm wondering why it was used there. No one in my family is from the south. I knew one man that came from down south and he spoke funny. He said, ya'll a lot. Big John was what we called him and he drove the school bus. He would stop that bus, stand up facing us children and say in a very loud and booming voice, " ya'll sit down and stay sit " and I found it hilarious. I did exactly as was told, but finding it funny at the same time. He was a bit scary when in that mood. I was related to him in some fashion through in-laws or outlaws and would see him in social settings as well. A jovial man by nature I really liked him. I don't recall him ever saying buck up though.
As for buckle down, I heard that from my teachers and my parents. If I had only buckled down I guess I would be a millionaire today to hear them tell it. I had the protentional, if I would only buckle down. I hated hearing that. I found it to be an annoyance. You need to buckle down young man. In 1968 Archie Bell and the Drells released a song called Tighten Up. The refrain was, Do the Tighten Up. So after that every time I heard buckle down. I thought, Do the tighten Up and it would bring a smile to my face. Sometimes my Father would offer to wipe that smile off my face. Well fact is, he called it a smirk and a smirk and a smile are different things altogether, subject to interpretation. To the uninitiated the difference is quite subtle. My father, and a few others were experts at recognizing a smirk! Thinking back I was often told to buckle down following the appearance of that smirk! Wonder if they are somehow connected. I think the phrase would be, you had better buckle down! The implication being clear, bad things would happen if I didn't buckle down. Well, they did, guess I should have listened. But then again I suspect those things would have happened anyway but I wouldn't say that out loud, get accused of being a wise guy. That's another I heard a lot. Don't be a wise guy! The three wise men were a good thing but being a wise guy wasn't.
It was a bit confusing. I would be told to buckle down. I didn't and received less than satisfactory results, well less than satisfactory to Mom and Dad anyway, and got punished for that. When I complained about the punishment I was told to buck up! But if I bucked up too much, got that smirk on my face, I was a wise guy. Don't be a wise guy! I thought the buckling down was supposed to improve my grades, make me a wiser person. If I cried I was informed I would be given something to cry about! I already had that in my view, it's all very confusing. But I was told to remember what goes around comes around. So in reality it was all my fault for not buckling down. Guess I should have just bucked up! Bucked up and buckled down that's the key! And so it has all come true, now I'm just a wise guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment