A Fool’s Grammar

With the deadline for the renewal of the Farm Bill looming, senators and representatives are scrambling to finish deliberations before April 18.

One of the good ole girls, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas while referring to the debates was recently quoted with saying “We are definitely getting down to the licklog here.”

Imagine my excitement when I realized that my review of agriculture policy and the Farm Bill was to yield a lesson in vocabulary! Because I had no idea what a licklog was let alone what was meant in getting down to it.

With a little research I discovered that a licklog was a felled tree in which troughs are cut and filled with salt for cattle. The term evolved to include any place where saltlicks were left for cattle or deer.

The phrase "down to the licklog" relates to the second to last thing cattle did before they died. It was an old rancher trick to take them to the salt lick and then to water to increase the weight before slaughter.

Apparently, many old lawyers (and politicians) use this term in referring to having exhausted all settlement efforts, discovery and other "things" lawyers do before they are ready for trial, leaving only trial/settlement/dismissal/some other 'final' resolution/end to the case. Everything has been done that could/should be done to resolve the matter, now it is time to resolve it. You need to either "spit or swaller", a tabacky term for when your mouth is full.

It was a day full of new words as later on in a staff meeting, when my boss was describing an unfortunate situation that the company is dealing with. He described a shyster who was creating a boondoggle. I was familiar with the term shyster but curiosity got the better of me and I had to look up the correct spelling. It isn’t a word I spell often in reports or include in official correspondences.

That ruddy shyster created one heck of a boondoggle for me wasting time and money in looking up what a boondoggle was.

Happy April Fool’s Day to you! For a laugh, enjoy some stories of past April Fool’s Hoaxes. Click here.