Throughout my life I have heard many unusual terms used in daily conversation and wondered how they came into use. With the Internet and artificial intelligence so readily available today it is quite easy to learn more about such things. The term that recently triggered my curiosity was “pipe dream”. A pipe dream is defined as “ an unrealistic, fanciful, or highly improbable hope, plan, or idea — something that is pleasant to imagine but very unlikely to ever come true.” 

As a mechanical engineer with a lot of heavy industrial construction experience I found it difficult to imagine how the definition of “pipe dream” related to pipes. I didn’t realize that I was considering the wrong kind of pipe. The term relates to opium pipes and the hallucinations and daydreams which opium smokers experienced. AHA!  Now it makes sense to me.

An  old Farmer’s Words of Wisdom…

Your  fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and  bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a  distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the  stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a  John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears  are whispered…. not yelled.

Meanness don’t just  happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes  up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don’t take a very big  person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel  word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The  best sermons are lived, not preached.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best  answer.

Live a good and honorable life, then when  you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second  time.

Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t  bothering you none.

Timin’ has a lot to do with  the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself  in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have  to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good  judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from  bad judgment.

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a  whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.

If you  get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try  orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.

Don’t pick  a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll  just kill  you.

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Life isn’t a competition. But if it were,
I’d totally win at procrastinating.
Anonymous