Ring Around the World

Down-Home is a state of mind and a way of life. From the way we turn a phrase to the way we cook a meal, down-home is distinctively different. So now I am going to pass along some favorite Arkansas talk.



Some Arkansas Talking:


Age

• "He so old he could have been a waiter at the "Last Supper!""
• "Old as Methuselah!""Old as Dirt!"

• "Taste so Good it Makes You Want to Swallow Your Tongue!"

• "Pretty as a Goggle-Eyed Perch!""Cutter than a June Bug on a Sow's Ear!"

• "Busy as a Bee in a Bottle!"

• "As Sexy as Socks on a Rooster!"

• "He Couldn't Hit a Bull in the Ass With a Bass Fiddle!"

• "You'd Grip if They Hung You With a New Rope!"

• "Like a Rubber-Nosed Wood Pecker in the Petrified Forest!"

• "Stubborn as a Cross-Eyed Mule!"

• "So Many Folks You can't Stir'em with a Stick!"

• "My Hearts Heavier than a Bucket of Hog Livers!"

• "Like Tryin' to Lick Honey Off a Blackberry Vine!"

• "Finer than a Frog's Hair Spilt Four ways and Sanded!"

• "She has a Heart Soft as Summer Butter!"

• "Bawlin' Like a Dyin' Calk in a Hail Storm!"

• "So Poor You Couldn't Make a Down Payment on a Hotdog!"\

• "She's Got Enough Kids to Bait a Trotline!"

• "Well slap me naked and hide my clothes!"

• "Her Tongue is Tied in the Middle and Waggin' at Both Ends!"

• "He's Got Enough Money to Burn a Wet Mule!"

• "You'd Worry the Warts Off a Frog!"

• "Worthless as a Pinch of Sour Owl Manure!

Singer Jim Ed Brown (James Edward Brown) he was raised on a Farm in Sparkman, Arkansas and in 1953 he entered a talent contest in Little Rock on a dare and won first place.


Entertainer Bob Burns from Greenwood, Arkansas was one of the top radio and movie comedians of the 30's and 40's.


Entertainer Glenn Campbell from Billstown, Arkansas who was a recording star, TV host, and movie actor.


First woman elected to Senate is Hattie Caraway from Jonesboro, Arkansas.


Entertainer Johnny Cash is from Cleveland County, Arkansas. He was born in a 3 room railroad shack to a sharecropper family, and by age 12 he was writing songs. His mother took in washing to pay for singing lessons, and by age 17 Johnny Cash won first prize in a local talent show.


Black Activist Eldridge Cleaver from Little Rock, Arkansas, and was known for the "in your face" black activism.


Military Hero William Darby from Fort Smith, Arkansas commanded WWII's elite striking force, the Rangers. He was wounded 3 times and decorated 10 times by 4 governments.


Actor Daniel Davis from Gurdon, Arkansas. He is the Famous Niles, the butler on TV's "The Nanny."


Baseball Player Willie Davis from Mineral Springs, Arkansas. For 13 years he played starting center field for the Dodgers, and he was among the fastest players in the game.


Hall of Fame Pitcher Dizzy Dean from Lucas, Arkansas and played for the St. Louis Cardinals.


Department Store Tycoon William T Dillard from Mineral Springs, Arkansas. The founder of the famous Dillard's Department Store.


Actress Melinda Dillon from Hope, Arkansas who was nominated twice for the Academy Award for her supporting performances in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and "Absence of Malice."


US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders from Schaal, Arkansas. She was the first African-American to serve as America's top doctor.


Pilitzer-Prize-Winning Poet John Gould Fletcher from Little Rock, Arkansas.


Singer Al Green from Forrest City, Arkansas. His first hit was "Back Up Train."


Author John Grisham from Jonesboro, Arkansas. No novelist of the 1990's sold more books than Grisham.


Actress Tess Harper from Mammoth Springs, Arkansas. Films/Movies "Crimes of the Heart", "Silk Wood", "Criminal Law", and TV shows such as "Chiefs", and "Little Girl Lost."


The First Arkansan to run for President was William Hope Harvey known as "Coin" Harvey from Monte Ne, Arkansas.


Hall-Of-fame Football Player Don Hutson from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.


Country & Western Singer Tracy Lawrence from Foreman, Arkansas. His first single hit was "Sticks and Stones."


Boxer Sonny Liston (Charles Liston) from Little Rock, Arkansas.


Actor Laurence Luckinbill from Fort Smith, Arkansas. He has appeared in movies like "The Boys in the Band", "Star Trek V."


Gangster Owney "The Killer" Madden from Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was among the most vicious mobster to ever fire a tommy gun.


Oscar-Winning Actress Mary Steenburgen from Newport, Arkansas. She appeared on movies like "Ragtime", Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", and "Parenthood."


"The Chicken King" Don Tyson of Tyson's Chicken of Springdale, Arkansas is the world's largest Poultry Producer.


Founder of Aromatique Patti Upton from Jonesboro, Arkansas.


Founder of the famous WAL-MART Sam Walton of Newport, Arkansas. He graduated from the University of Missouri and hired on at JC Penney. Mr Penney himself once taught Sam how to wrap a package. After a stint in the Army he used his savings to open a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. In 1950 he lost his lease and moved to Bentonville where is started Walton's 5 & 10. In time he and his younger brother J.L. "Bud" Walton added several more stores and from their the brothers saw the future and opened their first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas on July 2, 1962 and within a year the store had grossed $1 Million Dollars.

"If I could rest anywhere it would be Arkansaw where the man of the real-horse, half alligator-breed such as grows no where else on the face of the universal earth" Davey Crockett 1834


"Of all i seen in America it Arkansas one the one which pleased me most...I shall never forget the happy days there, where many a pure heart beats under a coarse frock or leather hunting shirt. " Frederick Gerstaecker German travel writer, 1843


"Little that is true is really known of the state and no other people have been more misunderstood." The New York Times, 1874


"Tell your mama, tell your pa, gonna send you back to Arkansas." Ray Charles, 1959


"If anybody asked me to pick the happiest 4 or 5 years of my life, it would be my time spent in Arkansas." Pat Summerall, 1990


"I would like to flee like a wounded hart into Arkansas." Oscar Wilde 1897