What does the saying Lord willing and the creek don t rise mean?

What does the saying Lord willing and the creek don t rise mean?

Classic versions of its use tend to be along the lines of “The good Lord willing, and the creek doesn’t rise”—i.e. “If God so wills, and as long as intense rain does not wash away bridges or parts of dirt roads, or cover roads too deeply for safely following them.” It may take the form of real or mock dialect, in …

Where did the phrase God willing and da creek don t rise?

Origin debaters point to Col. Benjamin Hawkins of North Carolina, a Continental Congress senator and general superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1796 to 1818. When he was summoned to the nation’s capital, he reportedly once responded, “If God is willing and the Creek don’t rise.”

Who said Good Lord willing and the creek don t rise?

Benjamin Hawkins
It mentions Benjamin Hawkins of the late 18th century, who was asked by the US president to go back to Washington. In his reply, he was said to have written, “God willing and the Creek don’t rise”. Because he capitalized Creek it’s asserted that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.

What does the phrase God willing mean?

Definition of God willing —used to say what one hopes and expects to do or happen if no problems occur We’ll be able to move into our new house next week, God willing.

Where does the phrase God willing come from?

Philological and historical investigation indicates that “God willing” can be traced back through Christian triumphal affirmations to classical Latin and koine (New Testament) Greek commonplace expressions. The ultimate origin may well be a classical Greek Stoic expression which made its way into common parlance.

Can I say God willing?

If you say God willing, you are saying that something will happen if all goes well. God willing, there will be a breakthrough.

What’s another way to say God willing?

What is another word for God willing?

What is the meaning of by the grace of God?

By the direction, blessings, or assistance of a higher power (e.g., God). By the grace of God, let me never have to go through something like that again! We never need question our purpose, for we are led by the grace of God.

What type of phrase is God willing?

God willing is a phrase that could mean: Deo volente, Latin phrase signed at the end of a letter wishing for the safe arrival of the letter. Insha’Allah, Arabic phrase used when referring to future events.

What does if God is willing mean?

Who does “God Willing and the creek don’t rise” refer to?

Q From Bob Scala: An item that has been floating around the internet claims that the expression God willing and the creek don’t rise referred to the Creek Indians, not a body of water. It mentions Benjamin Hawkins of the late 18th century, who was asked by the US president to go back to Washington.

Where does the phrase “the waters rising” come from?

It is a paraphrase of a popular biblical saying from James 4:15, and while there are scores of citations to the phrase in the sense of the waters rising, in the US and Europe, there is not one shred of evidence of a reference to the Creek nation.

Will we so do if the creek don’t fire?

Another publication, Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Jurisdiction, Volumes 88-89, coins the phrase: “‘if the Lord is willing and the creek don’t fire,’ we will so do”. That book was a 1908 publication and leans toward the thought of Creek Indian, even if not capitalized, because of the word “fire” (as in shooting guns).

Why is the word ‘Creek’ spelled with a lower case ‘C’?

Poor grammar (“creek don’t rise”) and the common use of lower case “c” for creek instead of uppercase “C” for Creek natives obviously enter the debate. It’s all etymology food for thought. Kat Bergeron, a veteran feature writer specializing in Gulf Coast history and sense of place, is retired from the Sun Herald.