Texas Sayings & Folklore

On the eve of his 100th birthday, Dr Mavis P Kelsey shares a generous collection of sayings from his homeland. What began as an enjoyable hobby and led to a limited edition book has now been expanded to include thousands more folk sayings. Many of the expressions here are as old as language itself. Some have their origin in ancient Sumerian and Sanskrit. Others come from Chinese and African tongues, as well as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Wherever they originated, they bear the wisdom of the ancients, and they have been used in vernacular speech in Texas during the last century. Some are light-hearted, while others convey deep emotion -- joy, sorrow, life, death, and human frailty. Born before sound movies, phonography, or rapid transportation became popular, Dr. Kelsey reminds us that language has the lasting power to both define and delight us. The more things change, the more we coin colourful phrases to describe our experiences.