| Author |
Topic: Just What Does David Allan Coe Mean? |
Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 7:30 pm |
|
There's a line in the song "If That Ain't Country" that goes (I think): "If that ain't country, it'll harelip the Pope."
At the end of the movie "Casino" with DeNiro, Pesci and Sharon Stone, a C&W-looking local guy is politely disagreeing with DeNiro and he says "That'll harelip the Governor."
What the heck? What does it mean? I don't think this expression is used east of the Mississippi. Anyone? |
|
|
 |
Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 8:04 pm
|
|
| It seems to be a southern expression. Slim Pickens used it in "Dr. Strangelove", saying something like "I'm gonna get those doors open if it harelips everyone in Bear Creek". |
|
|
|
Jody Sanders
From:
Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 8:42 pm
|
|
| Just an old south expression. Like "can't beat it with a stick" and "hotter than a depot stove". Jody. |
|
|
|
Rick Campbell
From:
Sneedville, TN, USA
|
Posted 25 Jul 2009 8:56 pm
|
|
| We used to say "if it harelips hell" of "if it harelips the devil" It meant you're really dedicated to doing something... like "I'm going to learn to play that song if it harelips hell". |
|
|
|
Bo Borland
From:
South Jersey -
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 1:38 am
|
|
I never really listened to it that closely but I thought he was saying "I've heard it befo' (before)
if he does say harelip the pope , then I'm cornfused.
Last edited by Bo Borland on 29 Jul 2009 3:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 2:21 am
|
|
| A harelip is a medical term for a divided upper lip. It develops during gestation. You probably knew this (no offence). But in this context? |
|
|
|
Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 4:24 am
|
|
Most usually it means that the user is dead set on an event taking place; come hell or high water 
phred
_________________
There are only two defining forces that have offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American GI!!
Think about it!! |
|
|
|
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
|
|
|
|
Barry Blackwood
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 6:03 am
|
|
Here's what I could find on it ....
| Quote: |
harelip, v.
(...)
The verb harelip (as it’s usually spelled) is found chiefly in figurative phrases that suggest dire consequences that one will ignore in order to get something done. If it harelips (something) as a phrase thus means ‘regardless of consequences’ or ‘come hell or high water’. The meaning of harelip alone can’t really be defined, but ‘to destroy’ provides a rough guideline.
One source, referring to Alabama in the 1920s, defines to hare-lip hell as “to show great determination regardless of consequences. ‘I’m gonna do it if it hare-lips hell.’” From Texas we have an example of “I’m gonna bed her if it harelips the governor,” and from the Ozarks, “I’m going to do it even if it harelips all the hogs in Texas.”
This expression is first recorded in a 1960 collection of regional expressions, although various sources claim that it was in use in the 1920s, the 1940s, and the 1950s. It seems to be confined to the South. It is presumably based on harelip, a sixteenth-century term for ‘a cleft lip’ (a congenital defect of the upper lip in which a fissure extends into one or both nostrils); this term is now sometimes considered offensive. |
|
|
|
|
Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 9:14 am
|
|
| When I was just a pup, my Mom would say, "I don't care if it harelips Eisenhower..." |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 9:45 am
|
|
harelips unite!!! (dyslexics untie)
i think there may be some drastic political wrongness here and it may warrant some litigation.
i know david allen coe certainly wouldn't want to offend anyone! |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 11:51 am
|
|
| Then what are Ju Ju Eyeballs (Come Together)? |
|
|
|
Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
|
Posted 26 Jul 2009 7:33 pm
|
|
Now we're making some progress.
Barry B.: Where did you get your citation? I'm still stumped by "harelip" as a verb... |
|
|
|
Barry Blackwood
|
Posted 27 Jul 2009 6:42 am
|
|
Frank, just Google 'harelip verb,' and you'll find it in there somewhere.  |
|
|
|
Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
|
Posted 27 Jul 2009 11:31 am
|
|
| chris ivey wrote: |
i know david allen coe certainly wouldn't want to offend anyone! |
I think that must be the funniest thing I've heard on this forum. |
|
|
|
David Tunnell
From:
Marshfield, Missouri, USA
|
Posted 28 Jul 2009 12:10 pm
|
|
The DAC song is the only place I have ever heard the expression. I always figured it meant that it would make the Pope to where he couldn't talk, which would take some doing because one of the Pope's primary job duties is talking. This would fit well with the expression "harelip the governor" that is posted above, but it wouldn't fit well with "harelip hell" posted above. I tried to look it up in a dictionary, but it didn't have an entry for it. So, long story short, I don't know what it means. I just know what I think it means.
_________________
Very truly yours,
David T. Tunnell
Alesis QS8; Peavey KB/A 300; Peavey KB5; BMI U-12; Session 500 |
|
|
|
Ellis Miller
From:
Cortez, Colorado, USA
|
Posted 28 Jul 2009 1:41 pm
|
|
It is an old southern expression I have heard all my life. Something like "I am going to (insert outrageous action here), I don't care if it hairlips (insert revered authority figure here). It indicates determination and often defiance in the face of presumed opposition.
It is just an expression... don't try to make too much of it or over analyize it.
_________________
Ellis Miller
Don't believe everything you think.
http://www.ellismillermusic.com |
|
|
|
Clyde Mattocks
From:
Kinston, North Carolina, USA
|
Posted 28 Jul 2009 1:43 pm
|
|
It would appear that this phrase is less widespread than I would have imagined. I have heard it all my life. I suppose to wish a harelip on someone would be an extreme dare. Around here it was
always "harelip the Pope" or "harelip hell". Another local one my neighbor used to say was "I'll bet you any amount from here to Rocky Mount!"
_________________
LeGrande II, Nash. 112, Fender Twin Tone Master, Session 400, Harlow Dobro, R.Q.Jones Dobro |
|
|
|
Ellis Miller
From:
Cortez, Colorado, USA
|
Posted 28 Jul 2009 1:52 pm
|
|
An afterthought....
I have also heard the expression "slap a hairlip on..." This is a different context - more a direct threat. In other words, hit someone hard enough to split their lip.
_________________
Ellis Miller
Don't believe everything you think.
http://www.ellismillermusic.com |
|
|
|
Darrell Criswell
From:
Maryland, USA
|
Posted 29 Jul 2009 6:23 pm
|
|
| I am from the south and one thing to keep in mind is that historically Catholicism and the Pope are not highly regarded in the south among most of the population to say the least. I had a friend who was Catholic and grew up in the South and the neighbors children were told they could not play with her because "she prayed to idols" |
|
|
|
Jeff Evans
From:
Cowtown and The Bill Cox Outfit
|
Posted 29 Jul 2009 7:11 pm
|
|
Since the harelip "targets" in the colloquialism have ranged widely from governors, to Hell, to everyone in Bear Creek, to Ol' Scratch, and even the Pope, it should be very hard to argue that the expression is anti-papal or anti-Catholic. The point is the first half of the expression, not the fill-in-the-blank of the latter half.
This hardly would seem to be the place for the discussion, but the South is a pretty good sized place, and I'm not sure blanket generalizations based on something that happened in 1962 do it much justice today. Here in the Western South, for example, you certainly can't queue up at a taqueria without becoming a Catholic sandwich yourself.
Is Louisiana Southern? (Is the Pope Catholic? Sorry.)
Turns out, the South seems to a hotbed of growth for Catholicism.
| Quote: |
In the popular imagination the American deep South is the land of rednecks, Scarlett O’Hara and the Ku Klux Klan. The religion has always been a heady mixture of confederate pride, bigotry and hell fire fundamentalism. But it’s worth another look. In the southern United States, the Catholic Church is growing, and taking on a particularly Southern complexion.
The Catholic population in the Southern states is only about 12%, but journalist Tim Padgett reports that in the booming cities like Atlanta, Greenville, and Charlotte, Catholics can number up to 20%, and the numbers are on the increase. In the 1990’s Catholics in the south enjoyed growth of nearly 30% compared with a less than 10% growth amongst Baptists. The Southern Baptists still dominate the religious scene, but the steady growth of the Catholic population is making an impact. – Friar Dwight Longenecker http://www.dwightlongenecker.com/Content/Pages/Articles/biblebeltNew.asp |
|
|
|
|
Jeff Evans
From:
Cowtown and The Bill Cox Outfit
|
Posted 29 Jul 2009 7:42 pm
|
|
By the way, a point of decorum: Names of regions (and derivative terms) should be capitalized, as in Old West or the South of France as well as Southern expression or Northern way of life.
The same words referring to directions are not capitalized, as in, "Go west, young man" or "The Opry is 200 miles south of here." |
|
|
|
Jeff Hyman
From:
West Virginia, USA
|
Posted 2 Aug 2009 5:53 pm
|
|
| I wonder if someone born with a harelip, is offended when they read about it, even out of context as explained in this thread. |
|
|
|
Ellis Miller
From:
Cortez, Colorado, USA
|
Posted 3 Aug 2009 8:21 am
|
|
| Jeff Hyman wrote: |
| I wonder if someone born with a harelip, is offended when they read about it, even out of context as explained in this thread. |
It is a safe bet someone will be offended.
While I do not bow to political correctness for its own sake, this is one expression that I don't use in general conversation. I do not necessarily change how I write or speak in the interest of political correctness. I will in the interest of respect for my fellow man.
_________________
Ellis Miller
Don't believe everything you think.
http://www.ellismillermusic.com |
|
|
|
Rick Campbell
From:
Sneedville, TN, USA
|
Posted 3 Aug 2009 8:46 am
|
|
| I'm offended when someone ask me if I'm "picking and a grinning" this weekend. But, I don't say anything because I know they mean no offense by it. It's just that I take my music with a lot of pride, and I don't like to be grouped with the stupidity and corny behavior expressed on the Hee Haw show. But again, you have to suck it up and go on, because there is no intent to offend. Same goes for the harelip jokes. |
|
|
|
