Welcome Back to Sunday & Southern Monthly!
If you missed the previous installments, you’ll be interested in reading Issue 1 where I give a full definition of colloquial and a favorite example of one. In Issue 2 you’ll find out what my youngest daughter does every morning. In Issue 3 you’ll find out what trait I’ve been fighting. In Issue 4 you’ll read about a quirky measurement. Find out what I’m sometimes tempted to say to my oldest in Issue 5.
Here in Sunday & Southern Monthly in an attempt to bring a little southern style, charm, grace, and humor to you once a month, I publish a colloquialism favored in the South ~ a southernism.
We’ve been tossing this saying around a lot lately. Trying to curb my children’s impatience is a never-ending task, but at least this saying makes it humorous!
HOLD YOUR HORSES!
Informal Idiom
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Exercise patience
-
Slow down and use caution
(Source)
Expanded Definition
Encourages someone to wait. This idiom is related to the usage of wagons or carriages that could easily get out of control. Someone literally held the horses from running until everyone was in place and ready to move forward.
Possible Origins & Usage
- Rome or Greece: During the initial noise of battle, a soldier would hold his horse (unconfirmed)
- Book 23 of The Iliad by Homer
- Appeared in print in USA from 1844 (Source)
Tune in next month {in a month of Sundays 😉 } for the next installment of Sunday & Southern Monthly. You’ll read all about another silly southern saying.
Thanks for reading! Hurry on back now, ya hear?
P.S. Do you have any favorite sayings?
