An old Southern expression you may have heard expresses one’s general health condition. But does that expression use meddling or middling?
I watched a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show the other night and caught a typo in closed captioning. One character asked another how about the health of the second character’s wife. The second character answered with a single word. Should that word have been meddling or middling?
I sometimes watch shows with closed captioning on because audio levels can be a lot less consistent than they used to be. Sometimes, I’ll even have the TV on while I’m doing other things. If I take a call, I might mute the TV. Captioning allows me to still follow along (to a point) during such instances.
Now back to the scene at hand. This particular episode of The Andy Griffith Show was called “Sheriff Barney.” Lead character Andy Taylor, the sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, was trying to build up the self-esteem of his deputy, Barney Fife. As Andy was about to leave the courthouse, the door opens and Rafe Hollister, a moonshiner, walks in.
Andy greets Rafe and asks how Mrs. Hollister is doing.
“Middlin’. Middlin’,” he answers. “She stubbed her toe and complains about it a lot. But otherwise, she’s fine.”
He used middlin’ with an I. In the old school Southern expression, we usually drop that ending G.
But the closed captioning showed meddling with an E.
Meddling or middling? What’s the difference?
As we’ve seen so many times over the years, one little letter can make a difference.
Most people would probably recognize the word meddle. Merriam-Webster defines the word as “to interest oneself in what is not one’s concern.” To put it another way, someone who is meddling is guilty of sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.
I would guess that fewer people have encountered the word middling, however. Merriam-Webster provides three definitions for that one. It can refer to being in the middle, or medium, of moderate size, degree or quality; mediocre or second-rate; or being a middle class.
Dictionary.com gives us the definition intended in the scene above: “Older Use. in fairly good health.”
The Southern expression I’ve heard most of my life when someone asks how one feels is “fair to middlin’.” It’s another way of saying “pretty good” when someone feels average but neither exceptionally well or ill.
The closed captioning confused the two words, which is understandable since they almost sound alike.
But whether you’re a Southerner or not, I hope you now know the difference between the two!
