An alleged country singer, whose name I do not recall, and don't want to know, introduced a Southernism to the country in a song called Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.

Now this song is wrong on so many levels, I could write a book, but I won't.  It did really miss the mark on the said expression that left many in the country scratching their heads.

The line from the song went:

Ooh we, shut your mouth, slap your grandma.

Ok, so my friends want to know, what's with slapping your grandma?

First a word about the kinds of people who come up with this:

Around the late 1600's, the native Irish were in a fight for survival against the British and the Scots who were given land grants by the King in what is now Northern Ireland.  It was a fight they were slowly losing.  As the lands available in America came available, it looked like a good alternative.  As a matter of fact, William Penn told the Irish, and what became known as the Scots-Irish (that's another book) that if they killed the Indians in Western PA, they could have land to farm.  Both sides of this fight thought this was a good deal, instead of fighting each other, they could fight groups of people who didn't have superior weapons.  They got there, killed Indians, but Penn reneged on the land.  They kept moving South, killing Indians and stealing land.  They farmed for a generation or two, then kept moving, killing Indians and stealing land.  Along the way, they married a few Indians into the Clan.

So these people, having suffered and dealt out hardships over several generations, became known as both violent and poetic, and hyperbole was their stock in trade.

So that's what slap your grandma is, hyperbole.  It's a huge overstatement, since you would never slap your grandma.  First, grandma is usually a tough old bird, and you're likely to draw back a nub.  (Is that a Southernism, or does everyone say that?)  Second, even if grandma wasn't up to the task of taking you to the woodshed, the rest of the family would have at you.

It refers to something of great quality, of such rare excellence, that you might forget yourself in obtaining it.

As in, "That cornbread was so good, I'd slap my grandma to get the last piece from her."

Hyperbole, of course is not exclusive to Southern idiom.  You see it in all languages and dialects.  Consider, slap you silly - dead tired - eating out of my hand.  Not literal, just making a point.

Empathy - that sense of shared experience.  The feeling of being connected, because we are all in it together.

I am remembering my dreams now.  For a long time I didn't.  Recently I dreamed that my wife was mad at me and wanted a divorce.  Is this just a random synapse gone broken arrow on me, or is it my subconsious sending a message?

Are we all insane, compared to a "standard" norm?  I it possible that the normal person does not exist?    Should we all just live our lives, as we see fit. without regard to what conventions say?

Jimmy Buffett once sang, "This morning, I shot six holes in my freezer, I think I've got cabin fever, everything seems to be wrong."

Tonight, I chipped golf balls in my backyard while taking shots of Bushmill's.

Is crazy really the norm?