Tom Ladwig

Grandpa Had a Word for It: How We Talked Before Television Tom Ladwig

A collection of more than 400 country sayings from throughout the U. S. gathered in the 1980s and 1990s by the late Tom Ladwig, a journalist and librarian at the University of Missouri. The sayings are originally sourced, mailed in after Ladwig appealed to a passing generation in interviews with the Kansas City Star and the PBS show "All Things Considered." It was Ladwig's contention that our talk was more colorful before the television age. One of the early contributions: "He lied so much he had to have his wife call the dog."