Relax, this article is not about a racial slur toward African American males.
Lewis Grizzard in another Bestseller “I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths" (1992-Villard Books) explained the origin of the term “Good ol’ Boy.”
In 288 pages he writes about what he thought was wrong with our country in 1992 and the book is “about almost everything that’s happened to American in the last 30 years – as seen through the eyes of someone who doesn’t like what he sees.”
He discusses a wide variety of topics that are still controversial and timely in 2022 although the described “Mark Twain of the South” has been dead since March 1994.
Political correctness, white trash, blacks, gays, bubbas, rednecks, females, Yankees, etc.
are discussed in his unique style that covered controversy and humor.
In two of those 288 pages, he defines the term that is the topic of this article:
That term was once used in the South to indicate that a male might have a few weaknesses, but he basically was a nice person who would come over and help you plant corn if you really needed him.
That went something like this: “Harvey, he’s bad to drink but he’s a good ol’ boy.”
“Good ol’ boy” is Southern for the most universal “ol’ boy,” as in the “ol’ boy network in Washington,” which is what women with hyphenated last names curse when they get turned down for a federal post.
“Ol’ boy” refers to a white male, who has ascended to some position of power, like president or senator, or secretary of defense.
“Good ol’ boy,” however, again connotes ignorance, pickup trucks, beer-drinking, football-watching, gay- and race-baiting, ad nauseum.
Frankly, I don’t know how that happened. “Good ol’ boy” originally connoted an individual with bad points and good points both. Sort of like all of us.
I’ve even heard, “good ol’ girl,” as in “Nadine is uglier than a speckled-heart butter bean, but she’s a good ol’ girl.”
As I mentioned, I’ve often been referred to as a “redneck;” some of these references were in jest, others were not. And how many times am I described as a “good ol’ boy?”
No problem, if it’s the original meaning, such as, “Lewis is bad to play golf all day and play gin at the men’s grill until midnight, but he’s a good ol’boy.”
But if it means I want to hurt other people, and all those other things, I damn sure don’t care for it.
What I hope I am is a person of diverse interests who certainly has his faults, but just because he often writes about his native South, it doesn’t necessarily mean he wants for the white race to take the country back and throw out every vestige of multiculturalism. Hell, if anybody out to take the country back, it’s the Indians. But if they want to be called something besides Indians, I don’t think Native American is the ticket.
“America” was named after an Italian. I sort of like, “the people who were here first,” as in the Atlanta People Who Were Here First’s Most Courageous topped the Cleveland Just Plain People Who Were Here First in the first game of the World Series.
(Who am I kidding? The Cleveland Just Plain People Who Were Here First have as much a chance getting into the World Series as I do of getting asked to deliver the keynote address at the National Organization of Women Who Are Just Plain Mean and Ornery annual convention.)
Bubbas and rednecks and good ol’ boys have accomplished a lot. We’re not perfect, of course, but neither is anyone else. But we are damn tired of being the villains.
Much has changed since when LG wrote the aforementioned book in 1992.
He goes into a discussion about the “Speech Police (SP) and how they got empowered in the Nixon era downfall as the Watergate president and “started an entirely new sort of journalism in the country.” He identified numerous individuals that may have misspoken that adversely affected their careers and lives such as Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder, Andy Rooney, Al Capanis, Dan Quayle, etc.
The effect of these two individual words “ethic and purity” when spoken together led to a firestorm of criticism towards Jimmy Carter by the then small vocal minority but now are part of 24-hour attacks on cable and news networks.
Throughout the book he pierces the thin skin of the SP and makes a reference to a phrase used by African-American former Atlanta mayor Andre Young when LG listed Young’s credentials as former US Congressman, civil rights leaders, ambassador to the United Nations, and an intelligent, thoughtful, hell of a nice guy.”
* * *
You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
Jerry Summers