[or-roots] Snap Your Sprocket

Fri Jun 11 11:26:15 PDT 2004

Thanks everybody for sharing the memories of favorite
and curious expressions/sayings of ancestors! They
bring a smile and chuckle of a time when expressions
were more colorful and descriptive - even when "not
for ladies, children or polite company"

My (deceased) grandfather's favorite expression to
describe a heavy rain "like a cow peeing on a flat
rock"

..and to describe something way far away or a long
journey the destination was  "in the tooley (Tule)
weeds (meaning close to Tule lake - a great distance
to travel from Yamhill county)

referring to someone not too bright:
"doesn't have brains enough to be dangerous" 
or "his saw is missing too many teeth"

(and also one mentioned below -"i don't know whether
to shit or go blind")

and my mother's reply in response to "so"?? - "Sew
button's on your nose!

--- LMA Project_Managers <lma_projman at msn.com> wrote:
> This was not one of my dad's sayings as he would
> have considered speaking like that around his
> children "too vulgar." But an older man who was
> about 65 when I first heard him say this, gave me my
> favorite: 
> 
> "Stronger than stud horse piss with the foam farted
> off."
> 
> Another of my dad's was his "deep seated (seeded)
> sense of humor." He was always referring to it. 
> 
> My mother also had one that irritates my husband
> when I use it on him. When we were children and
> asked our mom "What for?" (In response to a request
> from her.) She'd say "Cat For (fur?) to sew a pair
> of kitten britches." That'll stop 'em from asking
> that question. 
> 
> -Laura
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Connie Guardino<mailto:census at wi.net> 
>   To:
>
or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us<mailto:or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
> 
>   Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 4:55 PM
>   Subject: Re: [or-roots] Snap Your Sprocket
> 
> 
>   Interesting discussion. My late husband's father,
> George A. "Dell" Hodges (1887-1969 born Cougar
> Mountain)
>   was 54 years old when Del was born. There was a
> "skipped" generation because of the age factor. Dell
> Hodges
>   was an old-fasioned farmer and fur trapper. I
> adopted some of his sayings, some of which were
> quite colorful
>   and descriptive: "crazier than a crap house rat"
> is one of my favorites, followed by "worthless as
> tits on a
>   bull." Then there's "I don't know whether to shit
> or go blind." "Let's make like a hoop and roll out
> of here"
>   was a blander one. I agree that "snap your
> sprocket" is akin to "knock your block off."
> 
>   Kith-n-Kin wrote:
> 
>   > And, don't forget a sprocket wrench, which as I
> recall had to do with bicycles.  Oh, here, I looked
> it up.
>   >
>   > "Sprocket - a toothed wheel that engages a
> chain. Freewheels consist of one or more sprockets.
> A 15-speed
>   > bike will have three sprockets on the
> chainwheel, and six sprockets on the freewheel.
> Synonym: cog.  Some
>   > people will also call sprockets "gears."
>   >
>   > "Sprocket wrench - a tool to remove sprockets
> from a freewheel.  There are several forms of
> sprocket
>   > wrenches.  Some are a bar with a length of
> bicycle chain attached.  Others are hooks that
> engage one or
>   > more sprocket teeth."
>   >
>   > So, my take was that "snap your sprocket" had to
> do with what happens when you use a sprocket wrench
>   > without care <G>.  Don't know about the thump on
> the head, though.
>   >
>   > Otherwise, to me sprockets are the projections
> on little guide wheels on a movie projector -- what
> goes in
>   > the "sprocket holes".  Again -- where is the
> thump on the head.
>   >
>   > So, I agree with Les - knock your block off one
> way or t'other.
>   >
>   > Pat (in Tucson)
>   >
>   > -----Original Message-----
>   > From:
>
or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us<mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
>   > [mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us]
> On Behalf Of
>   > Leslie Chapman
>   > Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 18:05
>   > To:
>
or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us<mailto:or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
>   > Subject: [or-roots] snap your Sprocket
>   >
>   > Laura;
>   >
>   > That expression is a new to me, and my father
> was 46 when i was
>   > born and I know the meaning of most of the slang
> he used as
>   > well as a good portion of the slang from the
> last fifty years.
>   > I tried the expression online and came up void.
> Sprocked itself
>   > so far has turned up an Aussie expression
> directly related to
>   > bicycling, thousands of hits associated with
> bike/motorcycle
>   > parts, one phallic reference; pocket sprocket
> which "might" be
>   > associated with what you father was trying to
> say as I can
>   > think of any number of expressions that could be
> implied with
>   > the words "snap your sprocket", there is also a
> slang term
>   > "popped a sprocket" but it is related to
> computer hardware,
>   > specifically lanport problems, so unless you are
> about minus
>   > twenty years old it probably isn't relevant to
> your question.
>   >
>   > Here is a defintion of sprocket that might be
> meaningful;
>   >
>   > sprocket - 1536, originally a carpenters' word
> for a piece of
>   > timber used in framing, of unknown origin. The
> meaning
>   > "projection from the rim of a wheel that engages
> the links of a
>   > chain" is first recorded 1750.
>   >
>   > Now since they don't go into any detail in
> defining; "piece of
>   > timber used in framing" let us just suppose it
> is specifically
>   > a short piece such as a fire break which is the
> cross piece you
>   > see nailed between two studs in a wall, or  the
> even shorter
>   > pieces that are nailed in between window and
> door headers; in
>   > another words "a block" hence "snap your
> sprocket" would be
>   > another way of saying "knock your block off"
> which from what
>   > you have described, which I believe I have heard
> elsewhere
>   > referred to as a "brain duster," sounds very
> much like the same thing.
>   >
>   > Sprocket Opera is apparently a slang term for a
> film festival,
>   > given the other definitions I have found for
> sprocket I don't
>   > even want to think about that one.
>   >
>   > I am of course not an etymologyst, but I really
> think knock
>   > your block off is what he was implying.
>   >
>   > Les Chapman
>   >
>   > -----Original Message-----
>   > From:
>
or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us<mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
>   >
> [mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us]On
> Behalf Of LMA
>   > Project_Managers
>   > Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:12 AM
>   > To:
>
or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us<mailto:or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
>   > Subject: Re: [or-roots] Humour in the 1840-50's
>   >
>   > Have any of you out there ever heard the term
> "Snap your
>   > Sprocket?" My dad, who was 47 when I was born,
> had a lot of
>   > these sayings and because he was an older father
> I didn't hear
>   > the sayings from any other fathers. So I never
> knew if he made
>   > them up or if it was an old timey slang.
>   >
>   > Anyway, if we were misbehaving as children or
> bothering my dad
>   > in some way- he'd say "I'm going to Snap your
> Sprocket." Then
>   > he'd thump us on the head by flicking his middle
> finger away
>   > from his thumb. It HURT too. You had to learn to
> get moving if
>   > he said that before he could actually make good
> on his threat.  Thanks.
>   >
>   > I can't ask him this now because he passed away
> two 
=== message truncated ===

=====
carole
cjpjoppe at yahoo.com
... unwrap each day as a precious gift

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