Savvy Sayin’s: True Wisdom from The Real Wes

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

I found this treasure trove of cowboy wisdom a few years ago.  Savvy Sayin’s: True Wisdom from The Real West was collected by Ken Alstad and as the quote by American West Magazine says, they are “entertaining, pithy advice on how to get along in cowboy and Indian country.”  Here’s a few to amuse you.

• ·         Skill throws more weight than strength.
• ·         Second-hand gold is as good as new.
• ·         Teeth and memory weaken with age.
• ·         Set your pace by your distance
• ·         If you don’t buy what you only want, you’ll have money to buy what you really need.
• ·         Out west, every prairie dog hole is a gold mine, every hill is a mountain, every creek is a river, and every prospector is a liar.
• ·         A stone stops rollin’ when it finds the kind of moss it wants to gather.
• ·         If you live to be 29 and have made no enemies, you’re a failure.
• ·         Some men never reach a marriageable age.
• ·         Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.

I consider this book one of my ‘research books'.  If nothing else, it’s a fun a read.

Anna Kathryn Lanier
Romance Author, SALVATION BRIDE

http://aklanier.com/

Never let your memories be greater than your dreams. ~Doug Ivester 

Savvy Sayin's

As usual, I’m a doing my post at the last minute.   My life has just been crazy for the past year or so, and the 14^th of the month always jumps up at me.  This month, I did try to find a subject, but nothing jumped out at me.  So, I doing a little cheating and going to reference a book I found a few months ago, SAVVY SAIN’S: True Wisdom from the Real West, as collected over a couple of decades by author Ken Alstad, who worked in Arizona as a farm and ranch reporter. Here are a few samplings of the hundreds of sain’s.

v  Don’t point a gun at nobody you ain’t willing to shoot, if necessary.

v  Some men’s wives are angels. The others are still alive.

v  Out West, every prairie dog hole is a gold mine, every hill is a mountain, every creek is a river, and every prospector is a liar.

v  Some cowboys got too much tumbleweed in their blood to settle down.

v  Nobody but the cattle knows why they stampede and they ain’t talkin’.

v  A corkscrew never pulled no one out of a hole.

v  When a cowboy‘s too old to set a bad example, he hands out good advice.

v  An old timer is a man who’s had a lot of interesting experiences, some of them true.

v  Don’t count the teeth in someone else’s mouth.

v  With the Homestead Law, the U.S. is betting you 140 acres that you can’t live on it.

This is a nice little book and is enhanced by the fact it has woodcut illustrations by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell throughout.  They add character to the book and are beautifully done.

Happy Friday!

Anna Kathryn Lanierwww.aklanier.com
http://annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/

Never let your memories be greater than your dreams. ~Doug Ivester

Savvy Sayin’s Two

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

No matter how often I remind myself that my blog date is coming up, it seems I am always writing my blog the night (or day) it’s due.  Sure enough, here it is, 11:30 p.m. on Friday, January 13^th and I’m just now writing my blog.  So, it has to be something simple and not requiring a lot of research.  I’ve gone to my shelf of ‘western’ books and found SAVVY SAYIN’S: True Wisdom from The Real West collected by Ken Alstad. (check out my Savvy Sayin’s  here).  The book includes woodcuts by Remington and Russell from the 1800’s.  Sorry that I can include those in this list of sayin’s, which, by the way, don’t come with translations, which some of them need.

·         You can’t measure water with a sieve.
·         Some men can’t live without lonesome.
·         It’s a sure sign of bad luck to bet on the wrong horse.
·         The ignorant hold up trains n’ stages. The intelligent steal ‘em.
·         Teeth and memory weaken with age.
·         Careful is a naked man climbin’ a bobwire fence.
·         Some men never reach a marriageable age.
·         Saddle your horse before sassin’ the boss.
·         Advice is only handy before trouble comes.
·         Cowboys are paid $30 a month to outthink cows.
·         The west is good country for men and dogs, but mighty hard on women and oxen.
·         A full house divided wins no pot.
·         The west is famous for rare and wonderful sights. But the rarest of all is clean socks in a bunkhouse.
·         Love your enemies, but keep your gun oiled.
·         Secrets are better heard than kept.

 Which one is your favorite?  Do you have a sayin’ to share?

Anna Kathryn Lanier
www.aklanier.com annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com

Western Sayings

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

Few weeks ago, I got a new book “Savvy Sayin’s: True Wisdom form The Real West” collected by Ken Alstad.  The back blurb says: Ken worked as an Arizona farm and ranch reporter, became vice-president of Leo Burnett Advertising and, as a researcher of frontier lore, spent 20 years collecting Old West witticisms. This is the books 14^th printing, reflecting the sayings’ enduring relevance.  I thought I’d share a few of his sayin’s with you. 

·         Silence can be a speech.

·         A cowboy who says he ain’t never been thrown is a liar.

·         Wild oats make a mighty poor breakfast.

·         Sleepin’ late keeps a fellow huntin’ his horses.

·         Life is one man getting’ hugged for sneakin’ a kiss and another getting’ slapped.

·         You can educate a fool, but you can’t make him think.

·         When a territory gets full of family men and empty of game, it’s time to move on or get married.

·         An optimist is a man who, when she says, “I’m tellin’ you no for the last time,” he says, “I knew you’d weaken in time.”

·         Priceless ain’t free.

·         Careful is a naked man climbin’ a bobwire fence.

I really haven’t had time to read the book, including the 4 page introduction.  The book is about 95 pages long, and probably averages 7-10 quotes on each page.  Woodcutting illustrations by Fredric Remington and Charles M. Russell are included throughout the book, so the number of quotes per page varies, but needless to say, there are a LOT of saysin’s. 

Do you have a favorite Western Sayin’?  On my own blog today, I’m offering up an Old West recipe: Stack Cake….come by and see what that means and when they were often served.

Anna Kathryn Lanier
http://annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/