Will You Gimme That When You Die?

I’ve only ever heard one person say “Will you give me that when you die?” It means “I love that thing so much I’m begging you to leave it to me in your will.” And, of course, it’s a joke that expresses a truth.

It’s such a Texas kind of back-handed compliment that it’s hard to imagine that my next-door neighbor at the time, Conway Craig, was the first person ever to say it. It just sounds like a good old Texas classic.

For the record, Conway’s wife, Mary, was horrified when he said it. (I think she was originally from Oklahoma.) But I knew exactly what he meant. It was a compliment on some hand-carved animals from Africa that were displayed in my dining room.

So the point of the story is this: Even if you never hear a Texan use that particular expression, watch for the back-handed compliments. Texans, especially men, though often generous with praise (as with most other things), tend to hate to sound mushy. Hence the back-handed, sneaky compliments, couched in humor.

You see, as my Irish grandmother used to say, “Many a truth is told in jest.” Well, that’s especially true in Texas.