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I didn`t fall of the turnip truck yesterday

Posted by Baceseras on February 10, 2009 at 13:00

In Reply to: I didn`t fall of the turnip truck yesterday posted by Graham Cambray on February 10, 2009 at 11:20:

: : : : What is the origin of "I didn`t fall of the turnip truck yesterday"?

: : : I'm not a country lad/gal who just got into town.

: : -------

: : ESC, you're from the US. This has the same meaning as "I wasn't born yesterday", pretty much. An old European story (told to kids too young to have the mysteries of copulation explained to them) used to be that babies were brought by the stork. Go back a generation or two in the US, would they have told children that they'd been brought on the turnip truck, grown on a tree, or whatever? (GC)
: And my wife reminds me of gooseberry bushes and cabbage patches - and something to do (in the US?) with watermelon seeds. Would turnips (etc) fit into this? (GC)

Graham - I used to hear this expression, in midwestern US cities, and it carried no connotation of "where babies come from". Rather, it suggests a country bumpkin hitching a ride to town with a truck-farmer: so the meaning is, "I'm not naive; you can't easily fool me." - Bac.

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