Knife display in local hardware.

[JB in SC]

According to Gev's World Wide Words link, Jerry hit the nail right on the head early in this thread with his explanation of "fair to middling"!

This has been a great thread, starting out with an interesting experience, but seeming to hold little promise for weighty discussion. But it turns out that there's been all sorts of fascinating topics touched on here, from language/dialect/etymology to economics/buying habits/hardware to "the times, they are a-changin'". Interesting bunch of folks that hang out here!

- GT

I worked in the textile business for thirty five years and my uncle was a cotton buyer, cotton was big business in the South. A cotton gin was a couple of blocks from my parents house.

 

[Raymond1000]

That is both fantastic and fascinating Carl, as you know I love the way that we can trace our history and lineage through language, some of our dialect and expressions go back almost to the beginning of time. That phrase 'fair to middling' is very common in the north of England (more so 50 years ago), where much of the dialect words go back to Old Norse, Anglo Saxon, and Celtic :thumbup:

I grew up mid-century, with relatives and friends who were a generation or three from Germany/Italy/Hungary/Slovakia/Poland/ect. It made for a lot of good eating.

In that crowd, fair to middling was so common I never thought of it as slang.

Wherever the phrase came from, it spread far and wide.

 

[Jack Black]

I grew up mid-century, with relatives and friends who were a generation or three from Germany/Italy/Hungary/Slovakia/Poland/ect. It made for a lot of good eating.

In that crowd, fair to middling was so common I never thought of it as slang.

Wherever the phrase came from, it spread far and wide.

I never thought of it as slang really either Raymond, but I am quite amazed it is such a widespread expression It must have been fascinating growing up with such a wide cultural mix :thumbup: