Plumb ducky
By DAN LANGFORD
“Plumb ducky” is a phrase used sarcastically in the South to mean everything is not okay. “Plumb” is a adjective meaning “completely;” while “ducky” is another meaning “satisfactory or fine.” No one uses this phrase in its literal sense, though; it always means the opposite.
Mr. Vernon Woods was a man in my hometown of Brooks, GA who never, ever cursed even once in his life so far as anyone knew. One day in the 1970s after a church dinner on the grounds, my granddaddy dropped a leftover bowl of banana pudding as he was pulling the church door to. It splattered all over the place, but Mr. Vernon took the brunt of the spill.
My stately and refined grandmother, who never in her life cussed except to say a single thing — “Dammit, Hubert” — said it at that moment to my grandaddy. All she had was little droplets of banana pudding on her stockings. Mr. Vernon’s brand new polyester suit was ruined by Grandaddy’s clumsiness, and he had every right to be mad. What he said in the heat of the moment exemplified the use of the phrase under examination. “Hubert,” he intoned with disgust, “that’s just plumb ducky.”
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