Taos A to Z Excerpt: Highfalutin

Definition: “Pompous or pretentious speech, writing, or ideas.” Origin: “mid-19th century, during the period of the populating of the Old West.” ~Jean

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Taos A to Z Excerpt: Getting Hitched

An Old West term, meaning “getting married.” It was derived from the practice of horses being hitched to a wagon. Used as slang even today, it leads one to believe that somehow marriage is a burden or sharp restriction of an individual’s freedom. I’ll leave this for the reader to decide. ~Jean

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Taos A to Z Excerpt: Howdy

Definition: “An informal friendly greeting, particularly associated with the Western United States, as in ‘howdy, stranger.’ ” Origin: 1820–1830; from the phrase “how do ye?” It is typically associated with the American Southern accent, especially from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. It is also a well-known phrase, as used by cowboys in early- to mid-20th century Western movies. ~Jean

A Bit of Baby Boomer Howdy Trivia: Gosh, how I dreamed of being on “The Howdy Doody Show”! Oh, to be a part of the “Peanut Gallery” while Howdy and Buffalo Bob did their thing! Of course, it wasn’t possible, as I lived in the heartland of America, far, far away from the big city studio where the show was produced. We did, however, have a local kiddie show that was hosted by “Foreman Scotty” (one of the TV station’s newsmen). The highlight of our show was when they would move the camera around back and forth on the rows of kids, and whoever it stopped on would win the “Lucky Horseshoe.” One of my close friends actually won it, and all us kids just stared at it in awe. Those were the days. ~Jean

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