I decided that gunny sacks would be just the things to tote some of my Viking gear around in. So I dropped in at my local hardware store tonight. A young female employee asked me if I needed help. I asked if they had any gunny sacks.
She said, “Any what?”
She had never heard of a gunny sack in her life.
What strange world is this I find myself in, where there are people who don’t know what a gunny sack is?
Then I was thinking about how we speak about time. In Norwegian, if it’s, say, 9:55, or five minutes before 10:00, you call it “fem på ti.” Which literally means, “five on ten.”
And I remembered something I used to hear people say when I was a kid. My parents and folks around my home town would have called that time, “five of ten.”
So I’m wondering, do people say that anywhere else in the country, or is it an Americanized version of the Norwegian idiom, exclusive to areas where Scandinavians settled in large numbers?
Penn Jillette, the magician and showman, had sort of grudging praise for religious Americans in an appearance on Lopez Tonight on the TBS television network.
…I’ve got to say it was actually a shock doing the show, the religious communities in the United States of America are the most tolerant people worldwide. I mean, we did really aggressive stuff we believe strongly, and mostly got letters from Christians and Catholics saying we really like how passionately and clearly you put out your ideas. Very few nut cases.
I don’t follow Jillette’s work closely, and I’ll confess he’s offended me occasionally when I’ve tried. But I have the impression that he’s a man of rare integrity in our day, someone who refuses to tell lies just because they’ll support his views. He has my respect.
I’m not sure about the time question. I think in my area we say “five till ten” or “five till.” What you said, “five of ten,” doesn’t sound foreign to me, but I can’t think of the last time I heard someone say it.
Penn had a very interesting vlog post a while back about proselytizing.
Seinfeld once did a whole episode on the same subject.
I am actually not surprised.
Penn recently defended Tea Partiers on CNN by callin the word “racist” a “magic word”. Of course, he was up against Seth McFarland and Rachel Harris so it was an unfair fight.
It seems like a Norwegian thing… In Iowa, where I grew up….it was usually 5 of…. often,if you knew the hour, and many assumed you did, you just heard, “five of…”
Here in Oregon, when around, Norwegians, I still hear the 5 of …but usually it’s 5 ’til or 9:45…
In Japan, I heard 5 before 10.
As for gunny sacks… Of course, gunny sacks are for carrying greasy machine parts in from work site to work site. Also,they were often used along with rocks and rivers to dispose of kittens or puppies that no one wanted…….. (Where’s PETA????!!!)
PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals….
Well, now it’s time to bug out……..
“He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack, and sit beneath the tree by the railroad track.”
– Can you name that tune?
Johnny B Good, ain’t it?
Indeed it is. And for guessing correctly I’m going to award you that nickel Phil.
No, no. It was my pleasure to give it to you. In fact, I’ll double it. You’ve earned it.
One of the pianists at our church is named Gunnie, and if you ever happen to mention gunny sacks around her, she firmly but gently lets you know that they’re called “burlap bags.”
Lars, try at a Dunn Brothers coffee shop. They sell the burlap bags that coffee beans come in here in Fargo. (And if you can’t find any, I’ll grab a couple for you and hold on to them until the next time you’re up this way.)
I’m familiar with “five of ten” or just plain “five of,” but then I grew up surrounded by Scandinavians, mostly Danes.
I’m also familiar with gunny sacks, but I’m not especially familiar with Penn.
Am I the only girl here again?
The fact you’re willing to turn down your prize for winning makes me suspicious Phil. I wonder if the rumors that you came up with the answer by doing a Google search might be true. If this can be confirmed I’m afraid I’m going to have to withdraw that nickel.
– Due to the influence of Lars and his detective reviews I’ve learned a lot about this detective business, and I think I smell a rat.
What? I did not search for the answer, and if I had, I would not have given it. I thought about searching for it to check my spelling, but I didn’t. So, hand over that nickel!
@John Book. Were you in the Air force, stationed at Mtn Home AFB in the late 70s-early 80s? If so, Blackie says, “hi.”
Have to say I like salad…Grew up in the Chicago area and heard “5 of” or “10 til” quite a bit and still use them myself. In Spanish, it’s often “las diez menos cinco”, meaning literally “ten (hours}, less five (minutes)”; I believe French and Italian also use that construction.
As for Penn and Teller, I very much appreciate their integrity if somewhat less happy with their crudity. I have never seen either one get caught with “spin”.
I’m rereading Rudyard Kipling’s story “Wireless,” one of the “‘rum’ stories” that C. S. Lewis praises in his essay on Kipling (Selected Literary Essays). Much of Kipling’s writing is highly allusive and best enjoyed with helpful notes at hand (the kipling.org.uk ones are excellent).
Anyway there’s a reference to jute (not Jutes now, mind you). “Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse strong threads,” the note states. “It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, Family Malvaceae and used for making coarse cloth as well as sacks etc. known as gunny in India and burlap in the United States.”
http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_wireless_notes.htm