05/14/25 Grif.Net - Odd Story (+ Answers to 'Cowboy Lingo' Quiz)
b...@grif.net
A long time ago a boy was born breech-backward that ended up with a miss-shaped head. Doctor looked at the infant and said he was just odd. His parents were struggling to come up with a name and remembered what the doctor said, so they wrote down “Odd”. The clerk shared his name with the nurses, and they all got a great big giggle out of it. The said, "What an Odd baby."
Growing up was hard for Odd. Teachers looked at him as Odd, kids rejected his for being Odd, and he got bullied a lot. He finally graduated from school and took on "Odd jobs". He finally found an Old Maid that put up with his Odd ways and Odd speech and got married.
Years later he was looking back at things and gave his wife an odd request. He wasn't sure why his parents had given him that name, but it had caused him problems all his life and he never liked it. He asked, "Honey, out of respect for my parents I never changed my name, but when my day comes and you bury me, just don't put anything other than the year I was born and the year I die on my headstone."
His wife agreed and they went about their lives for several more years before the man finally passed away. The wife honored his request and had a headstone with only the birth and death years carved on it placed on his grave.
But to this day everyone knows who is buried there, even if they never knew the man. People who visit the cemetery look at the blank headstone and say, "Isn't that Odd?".
~~ANSWERS to “Cowboy Lingo” Quiz
Ambush at the Store – Scales of grocers because they were always “lying in weight.”
Barking Irons – Pistols.
Crowbar Hotel – Jail.
Dusted – Thrown from a horse.
Eagle – A gold ten-dollar coin.
Fish or Cut Bait – Do it or quit talking about it.
Grab the Apple – Taking hold of the saddle horn to avoid falling off (no self-respecting cowboy wanted to be caught doing this).
Hell Rousers – Spurs.
Iron Horse – Railroad train.
Jump the Broom – Get married.
Keep Company – To court.
Lunkhead – A horse (or person) of inferior breed or appearance.
Mouthpiece – A lawyer.
Night Hawk – While cowboys slept on a cattle drive, one stayed up all night standing guard.
Owl Hoot Trail – The outlaw way of life.
Prairie Oysters – Fried or roasted calves’ testicles.
Quincy – An indoor toilet. Not just a “John” (privy, outhouse), but a John “Quincy”.
Ride a Shank’s Mare – To walk or be set afoot.
Sixes And Sevens – To be in a state of disorder and confusion.
Three Ways from Sunday – Moving quickly; high-tailing it out of there.
Unshucked – Cowboy talk for naked, often of a gun that’s out of the holster.
Vamoose – To disappear or leave quickly.
Wearing the Bustle Wrong – Referring to a pregnant woman.
Yellow Belly – A coward.
Zitted – Past tense of zip or flew. “The bullets zitted about in every direction.”
~~
Dr. Bob Griffin
“Abhoring all my sin, adoring only Him”
