The underscore of that sentiment would be that he married his common-law wife on his deathbed and she was of the Creek Indians. If youre not using this phrase what are you waiting for? When you arrive on the banks of the fishing pond on Saturday mornings, you're hoping for a good catchenough big catfish and bream to fry up for the family on Saturday night. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Page created 25 Feb. 2012, Problems viewing this page? 15. 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. 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. 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. Well, hells bells. He wrote it in response to a request from the President to return to our Nations Capital and the reference is not to a creek, but The Creek Indian Nation. 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. When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs'. If the Creek Don't Rise|Paperback - Barnes & Noble Because that is supposedly how the original author first wrote it. Wow! Thats a mouthful, but we lumped these all together because they are allsubstitutes for (God) d*mn it. All the ones I know from growin up : r/ShitSouthernersSay I grew up with that saying and Ive said it more times than I can count. What is the origin of the phrase the good Lord willing and the creek dont rise? However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. Feller-citizens Im not customed to public speakin before sich highfalutin audiences. 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. "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. God willing and the creek don't rise - TheFreeDictionary.com 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). During the course of his 21 years in these positions he would oversee the longest period of peace with theCreek, only to watch his lifetime of work destroyed by a faction of this Indian Nation known as the Red Sticks during the War of 1812. Often said as "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," this expression means, with a little bit of luck and no unexpected problems, things should work out. The Lafayette gazette(Louisiana), 3 Nov. 1894. Here are a couple of examples of this claim. Threats not only from abroad, but internally as well, forced the fledgling nation to negotiate treaties with the tribes on the western frontier. If you just heard your mama come home and you haven't finished your chores, she will definitely be "madder than a wet hen." 25 Southern Grandparents' Sayings That Deserve a Comeback, Forgotten Etiquette Every Child Should Learn, Kimberly Schlapman and Her Family's Tea Cakes, Lauren Alaina Talks 'American Idol', Southern Manners, and Her Grandmother's Famous Recipe, 30 Quotes That Remind Us Why Southern Manners Are So Important. As they returned home, some of them also killed some settlers in the Ohio valley. IF THE CREEK DON'T RISE - Leah Weiss And yes, they roll their eyes, too. She captures the whole Appalachian scene - the vocabulary, the falling down houses, the likker, the poverty. 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. A Quite certainly not. A search for the word rise does not produce this phrase, so it appears that the body of water theory was correct after all. No, we don't mean you need to go fix your hair. 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.. This was the phrase that he always used, at the end of each performance. But in following verses the rhyme changes through "creeks don't rise", "creek stay low", back to "creeks don't rise". I will continue to look for references to this phrase origin and would welcome discussion to prove (one way or the other) what the original author intended to mean. 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. I am feeling culture shock from reading this book. 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. But today Ive stumbled across the claim that it refers to an uprising by the Creek (or Cree) Indians. There is no reason to suppose the Indian variant is true. "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." Yes, I had heard of the Appalachians and how the culture spreads along those mountains over more than a dozen States. Firsts, Mines, Asks. It has been noted that the phrase should be correctly written as God willing and the Creek dont rise. 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. 133 Copy quote. purchase. 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. In the 1900s, the word evolved, taking on a Southern spin as well as new meanings such as "courage" and "get-up-and-go.". And yes, they roll their eyes, too. Let me love you again, give me one more try. There is a lot of controversy about this fairly common folk saying. When I was growing up, this was something we said all of the time. The clipping below from 1892 is a reference to flooding waterways not allowing the postmaster to get to his office. Step into the Deep South and experience the lives and hardships, hopes and dreams, of folk who have nothing except gritand sometimes loveas their currency. He was a politician and Indian agent. If you think you can't, you won't be able to accomplish something, but if you think you can, you'll succeed. Who better to write about the risks of the Creek rising in revolt? This phrase can be intensified by the addition of the word "way," as in "way over yonder.". Eventually, you became a singular pronoun, and we lost the plural pronouns. No Bigger Than a Minnow in a Fishing Pond, A Rooster One Day and A Feather Duster the Next, If You Know These Sayings, You Definitely Grew Up in the South, Only Real Southerners Know the Meaning of "Putting On the Dog", Things Only Southern Moms Say To Their Daughters, Things Only Southerners Say When It Snows. 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. If the Creek Don't Rise by Leah Weiss | Goodreads Following that treaty John Siever formed the state of Franklin from land previously claimed by North Carolina but never ceded by the Indian tribes. If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise, If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise, Good Lord's Willin and The Creek Don't Rise, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_creek_don%27t_rise&oldid=1136534691, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 20:39. 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. 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. "Creek" originated as a reference to creeks flooding and preventing travel, but is sometimes re-interpreted as a reference to the Creek tribe. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. origin of phrase - "if the creek don't rise" - Factual Questions Soda web site devoted to this age-old debate. Catawampus(or, cattywampus) may have been popularized by Brits who delighted in parodying Southern vernacular. 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. I reckon "I reckon" can replace any number of phrases, such as: I guess, I suppose, I think, and I imagine. !, Reckon has ancestry tracing all the way back to the 1000s (and maybe older still), and originally means to count, calculate.. Come visit me at LeahWeiss.com where you can subscribe to my CREEKRISE author news. Settle in, because whatever we're talking about is going to take all day. I see some folks walk easy and carry peace on their shoulders, but I been chained to a iron life." Leah Weiss, If the Creek Don't Rise 3 likes Like 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? 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. TOP 25 QUOTES BY JOHN WAYNE (of 133) | A-Z Quotes We like to read this as one of the greatest Southern encouragements, but, like most of these phrases, you can use it however you'd like. Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise - phrase meaning and origin Two years after the signing of the treaty, Benjamin Hawkins died at the site known as Old Agency. To cover your bases you might say, "I'll see you then if the creek don't rise." Now, she admits to saying this to her children. Neither provides any documentation: http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm2.showMessage?topicID=191.topic, http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOriginsData.htm#LordWillingAndTheCreek. Often said as Lord willing and the creek dont rise, this expression means, with a little bit of luck and no unexpected problems, things should work out. Quick, what do you call a soft drink? Affixes dictionary. But did he really say the words quoted or was a phrase morphed to include him as the author? If the creek rises, travel will be impossible and Ill never get to Grannys. 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. Used in a sentence - If the creek don't rise and God's willing, you should be able to see this video. Oh, how I loved this story - I simply didnt want it to end! DeSantis ends Disney's free reign over Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill. Your email address will not be published. Is this derivation correct? 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 . An odd few (6% of Americans) do use soft drink, according to the Pop vs. Copyright 2023 KAIT. According to http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Benjamin_Hawkins: Generally recognized as the Creek Indian agent, Benjamin Hawkins also held the title of General Superintendent of all tribes south of the Ohio River. No matter where you go in Kentucky, the people often have some colorful expressions.
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