One Saturday afternoon in the late 1960's I ran into Tom Marsh and Joe Walters on 55th near the I.C. in Chicago, where I was studying Linguistics at the U. of C. We all repaired to an emporium of spiritous liquids and traded stories and smokes for the rest of the afternoon. Now some of my other friends there were relative newcomers to the American language, and didn't have a firm grasp of the meaning of some common country terms like "feisty". Joe and Tom told me a story on Tom that I made use of to show exactly what it means.
A few years previously Tom was living on the South Side of Chicago and dating a black girl, who he later married. One night Tom was driving her home from a date, about 3.7 sheets to the wind and weaving at least somewhat. He noticed the flashing blue lights of a cop car, and pulled over. Now this was in the heart of solid-black South Side Chicago, and a big black cop, about 6' 4" steps out and walks up to Tom's rolled-down window. He takes a look in Tom's car and notices this comely black girl next to Tom. He says, politely but ominously, "Excuse me, sir, but is that your wife in there with you?". Little red-headed Tom looks back up at him and replies, calmly and quietly but unmistakably, "Touch her and find out..." Now that's feisty!
Bill Fisher (Class Of 58)
What "Feisty" Means
One Saturday afternoon in the late 1960's I ran into Tom Marsh and Joe Walters on 55th near the I.C. in Chicago, where I was studying Linguistics at the U. of C. We all repaired to an emporium of spiritous liquids and traded stories and smokes for the rest of the afternoon. Now some of my other friends there were relative newcomers to the American language, and didn't have a firm grasp of the meaning of some common country terms like "feisty". Joe and Tom told me a story on Tom that I made use of to show exactly what it means.
A few years previously Tom was living on the South Side of Chicago and dating a black girl, who he later married. One night Tom was driving her home from a date, about 3.7 sheets to the wind and weaving at least somewhat. He noticed the flashing blue lights of a cop car, and pulled over. Now this was in the heart of solid-black South Side Chicago, and a big black cop, about 6' 4" steps out and walks up to Tom's rolled-down window. He takes a look in Tom's car and notices this comely black girl next to Tom. He says, politely but ominously, "Excuse me, sir, but is that your wife in there with you?". Little red-headed Tom looks back up at him and replies, calmly and quietly but unmistakably, "Touch her and find out..." Now that's feisty!
- Bill Fisher