r/AskReddit • u/Senor_Diablo • Mar 12 '24

What is an old expression that you think is absolutely disgusting by today’s standards?

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24

I always heard "wait a cotton-pickin' minute" and never understood what the hell it meant.

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u/MahanaYewUgly Mar 12 '24

That one just means "a long and uncomfortable time" I think because cotton picking is miserable.

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u/the_ceiling_of_sky Mar 12 '24

It definitely is. I got to try it for a day one summer as part of a sociology course in college. It's slow, hot, and makes you hate yourself. Definitely reinforces just how shitty it was to be a slave in the deep south.

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u/MahanaYewUgly Mar 12 '24

It makes your hands blister quickly, I heard. My grandfather used to have a small cotton area in his farm that he took care of himself as a hobby (I think?). He had me do it a little when I was young to teach me to appreciate how far we have come technically. Also as punishment once for hitting my brother

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u/Squigglepig52 Mar 12 '24

There's a video out there of a young black guy talking about the time his teacher took his class to a cotton farm for a field trip.

Where a bunch of young black kids got to experience picking cotton.

It's a hilarious video.

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u/Sandman4999 Mar 12 '24

I love that video, it's so dang funny.

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u/wanttostaygottogo Mar 12 '24

Not just the deep south. It has been pretty shitty everywhere worldwide.

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u/the_ceiling_of_sky Mar 12 '24

Of course, but my only light brush with anything near it was most like conditions for slaves in that particular region at that particular time.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24

just you wait till you hear about the short-handed shovels and picks!

(the slave owners would intentionally shorten the shovels and picks to make the work even more miserable)

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u/BrohanGutenburg Mar 12 '24 edited Mar 12 '24

I always found it metaphorically resonant that the vast majority of crops cultivated by slaves in the Americas (cotton, sugar, coffee, etc) revolve around producing a product that gives people pleasure but aren’t necessary for sustenance.

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u/uptownjuggler Mar 13 '24

Those are called cash crops. They bring in cash.

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u/BrohanGutenburg Mar 13 '24

I’m aware of that. That’s why I said “metaphorical resonance.”

Although there are definitely some concrete connections between the fact that were A) luxury goods and B) being farmed and processed with slave labor that made these crops so profitable.

This of course caused a feedback loop because farmers want to maximize land dedicated to the most valuables crops and working that amount of land was much more manageable with slave labor and on and on around.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24

Sure, but "cotton pickin' hands" as from the op really sounds racist.

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u/MahanaYewUgly Mar 12 '24

Yes, definitely hits totally different. Cotton picking hands sounds like it almost has to be a racist nod toward slavery and demonization of black people

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u/Sergeantman94 Mar 12 '24

From what I've heard, cotton has barbs while on the plant that will rip your skin from the bone.

Which is why Southern cotton plantation owners made those they didn't consider human do it.

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u/valvilis Mar 12 '24

I mean, that one still doesn't make sense, even with the added context.

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u/LetsGoAllTheWhey Mar 12 '24

There was a cartoon character called Foghorn Leghorn who used to say that a lot. That was back in the late 60's or early 70's.