Sin on Sunday

Ben and I started a new book this week – “A Day No Pigs Would Die” by Robert Newton Peck. I had some trepidation about getting started after reading the first chapter which includes a rather grisly account of the birth of a calf.

I purchased the book on tape, so Ben and I listened to the first chapter together yesterday. Normally he is a bit squeamish but he did not seem too disturbed – even when the main character reached his hand into the cow’s throat because it was choking. He cleared the obstruction – and in a show of thanks the cow clamped down on his arm and took him for a romp through the thorn bushes. Did I mention he did not have his pants on?

I enjoyed a few turns of phrase in this first person account of the Author’s childhood in Vermont:

• He described getting a hold of the half born calves head by saying he ‘got a purchase on him’.
• ‘I was feathered if I…’ was his way of saying ‘No way was I …’.
• He described not letting go of something as ‘hanging on to wait Christmas’.

Ben’s favorite was when he described someone as being ‘as wrong as sin on Sunday’.

There are many gaps that have to be filled in before we have know the basics. We will read and listen to Chapter 2 tomorrow.

Can you think of any statements we use in conversation that might sound as funny in the future as 'wrong as sin on Sunday’ does today?