Comments on: Rag off the bush, to take the

By: Connie Walls

Connie Walls — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:48:03 +0000

And yet another explanation … my mother told me that in the South at cotton picking time, one would hang a rag on a bush to signal where the next day’s picking should begin. It was an outrage if someone “tore the rag off’n the bush” because it disrupted the complete and orderly harvesting of the cotton. That’s my folks’ etymology anyhow.

By: Curt Mease

Curt Mease — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 22:05:54 +0000

When a tree or shrub is brought from the nursery, the roots with some earth are contained within burlap. I’ve always thought that taking “the rag off the bush” immediately prior to completing the planting led to a meaning of readiness to move forward with the business at hand. Obviously the ACTUAL origin seems yet to be discovered.

By: Rock Scissors Paper (full episode) | A Way with Words

Rock Scissors Paper (full episode) | A Way with Words — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:25:34 +0000

[...] Southern idiom tear the rag off the bush has been used when scandalous relationships are revealed, but it’s also applicable to [...]

By: Donald Ditzler

Donald Ditzler — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:40:10 +0000

Just came across your site. There are some colorful expressions from earlier years.These may amuse you:
1. “Comes a time when every man has to clean his own outhouse.” This refers to some distasteful task a man would rather have someone else do but can find no takers.
2 “He lost his nut.” or “He got his nut back.” In bygone days wagon wheel nuts were individually carved out. Each wheel had it’s particular nut. Wheel nuts were often used as collateral for a debt. Until you got your nut back your wagon was useless.
3. “Well, I suppose he is an okay guy but he relieves himself too close to the house.” This can have several amgigious meanings but implies the man has a few faults.
Outhouses could be many yards from a dwellinge. Some men (it seemed to be more of a male thing) did not bother to make the full trip. This saying faded away when indoor plunbing came into vogue.
The quote may indicate a man will leave a task before it is properly completed, he is lazy, or unreliable.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:01:46 +0000

My grandmother used to say this and I was told that it indicates a commotion. As in a bug gust of wind or quick storm that literally takes ” the rag off the bush” where they were hanging to dry.

By: ben stone

ben stone — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:30:47 +0000

…as heard said in the 1991 movie “doc hollywood” by woody harrelson’s character, hank:
‘well…don’t that take the rag off the bush.’
.

By: jl

jl — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 02:23:56 +0000

well that was next to no help at all. You could simply have said that shooting the rag off the bush results in a done deal – winner done proved himself. Hemmmf.