"Slow your roll!" was an expression that Joe Brown, a conk-wearing, punctilious waiter, in Clayton, Missouri, in the mid-1960s, used to admonish us busboys, whenever we were working too hastily, as evinced by spilling water, dropping silverware or like indiscretions. It means "be careful," in plain English. But, its éclat perfectly fit the smooth Joe Brown.
Another waiter at the same restaurant named Ben, but who lacked a 'conk', shared another hip expression with Joe Brown. It was "Bus! Bus! Tighten your game!" That one meant "handle your business or tend to your affairs, right now!" As we, young busboys, derived the bulk of our wages from these waiters, who derived their tips from happy, satisfied customers, we were duty bound to make sure that: tables were properly set; butter pads were down; water glasses were filled; stains covered; dirty dishes removed, crumbs whisked away, and that all inquiries or requests were resolved.
"Patient ingenuity" was an expression used by the observant James Weldon Johnson to describe a fisherman whose clever contrivance of a seine, inlet boat placement and knowledge of tides, was used to force fish to jump into his boat on their return to the sea in Venezuela, in his 1933 autobiography ALONG THIS WAY.
That same virtue, patient ingenuity, of writer, Johnson, subsumed perfectly our waiters', Joe and Bens's, cleverly idiomatic gems: "slow your roll" and "tighten your game." We understood!
Wisdom lasts a lifetime .
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
WISDOM LASTS A LIFETIME
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WISDOM LASTS A LIFETIME
"Slow your roll!" was an expression that Joe Brown, a conk-wearing, punctilious waiter, in Clayton, Missouri, in the mid-1960s, used to admonish us busboys, whenever we were working too hastily, as evinced by spilling water, dropping silverware or like indiscretions. It means "be careful," in plain English. But, its éclat perfectly fit the smooth Joe Brown.
Another waiter at the same restaurant named Ben, but who lacked a 'conk', shared another hip expression with Joe Brown. It was "Bus! Bus! Tighten your game!" That one meant "handle your business or tend to your affairs, right now!" As we, young busboys, derived the bulk of our wages from these waiters, who derived their tips from happy, satisfied customers, we were duty bound to make sure that: tables were properly set; butter pads were down; water glasses were filled; stains covered; dirty dishes removed, crumbs whisked away, and that all inquiries or requests were resolved.
"Patient ingenuity" was an expression used by the observant James Weldon Johnson to describe a fisherman whose clever contrivance of a seine, inlet boat placement and knowledge of tides, was used to force fish to jump into his boat on their return to the sea in Venezuela, in his 1933 autobiography ALONG THIS WAY.
That same virtue, patient ingenuity, of writer, Johnson, subsumed perfectly our waiters', Joe and Bens's, cleverly idiomatic gems: "slow your roll" and "tighten your game." We understood!
Wisdom lasts a lifetime .
"Slow your roll!" was an expression that Joe Brown, a conk-wearing, punctilious waiter, in Clayton, Missouri, in the mid-1960s, used to admonish us busboys, whenever we were working too hastily, as evinced by spilling water, dropping silverware or like indiscretions. It means "be careful," in plain English. But, its éclat perfectly fit the smooth Joe Brown.
Another waiter at the same restaurant named Ben, but who lacked a 'conk', shared another hip expression with Joe Brown. It was "Bus! Bus! Tighten your game!" That one meant "handle your business or tend to your affairs, right now!" As we, young busboys, derived the bulk of our wages from these waiters, who derived their tips from happy, satisfied customers, we were duty bound to make sure that: tables were properly set; butter pads were down; water glasses were filled; stains covered; dirty dishes removed, crumbs whisked away, and that all inquiries or requests were resolved.
"Patient ingenuity" was an expression used by the observant James Weldon Johnson to describe a fisherman whose clever contrivance of a seine, inlet boat placement and knowledge of tides, was used to force fish to jump into his boat on their return to the sea in Venezuela, in his 1933 autobiography ALONG THIS WAY.
That same virtue, patient ingenuity, of writer, Johnson, subsumed perfectly our waiters', Joe and Bens's, cleverly idiomatic gems: "slow your roll" and "tighten your game." We understood!
Wisdom lasts a lifetime .
