Oh, Fiddlesticks!
Thursday February 1, 2007
"Oh, Fiddlesticks!" was one of my grandmother's favorite phrases, she used it as something of an expletive, illuminating such unfortunate situations as spilled milk or burned toast. As a child I wasn't entirely sure what it meant. I remember envisioning a fiddle shattered into tiny splinters. Later in life, I discovered that the word itself comes from an old American musical tradition where one person would play a fiddle, and another would beat on it with thin wooden sticks. It's a clever way to get twice as much sound out of one small instrument, and it became popular in early rural communities throughout the United States.
To get a sense for what fiddlesticks actually looks and sounds like, click on the above video to see Kevin Wimmer (fiddle) and Linzay Young (sticks) of the Red Stick Ramblers perform the Cajun Music Classic, "J'Ete au Bal". Take note, Linzay is beating very gently with very lightweight wooden sticks (it doesn't take much to make a steel string ring)... and thus, no fiddles were harmed in the making of this video.
To get a sense for what fiddlesticks actually looks and sounds like, click on the above video to see Kevin Wimmer (fiddle) and Linzay Young (sticks) of the Red Stick Ramblers perform the Cajun Music Classic, "J'Ete au Bal". Take note, Linzay is beating very gently with very lightweight wooden sticks (it doesn't take much to make a steel string ring)... and thus, no fiddles were harmed in the making of this video.
Thats interesting – I always assumed a ‘fiddlestick’ meant the bow. Live and learn….
Is “Oh fiddlesticks!” customarily used by the elder generations? My mother uses it often, and I (born in 1987) have inherited the habit.
I also, like my mother, will say, “You dipstick!”
Michael Makovi also uses the word “gumption.”
while 2nd players on a single instruments is/was common. I’d have to say its coincidence. And that a fiddlestick is the wooden part of the bow. I think you are mistaken. Maybe not. How about a reference source?
Gladly!
From the Louisiana Division of the Arts:
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/FOLKLIFEimagebase/FLImagesListing.asp?Page=300