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Took off like Snyder's hound

Posted by ESC on February 14, 2010 at 13:23

In Reply to: Took off like Snyder's hound posted by Nancy on February 14, 2010 at 11:29:

: My mother, who was from East Tennessee, used to say that someone "took off like Snyder's hound" meaning very fast. I see by looking through the archives that a few others have heard this expression (which I've always liked), but not many - and I find no origin for it. Does anyone know more?

"The Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English" by Michael B. Montgomery and Joseph S. Hall (University of Tennessee Press, 2004), Page 549, has several variations: Snyder's hound/house cat/pup, as fast/peart/quick/smart as. The earliest date of the phrase in print is 1937 Hall Coll. Emerts Cove TN That plane went over here as fast as Snyder's pup. (Mrs. Will Shults)."Sayings from Old Smoky" by Joseph S. Hall, Cataloochee Press, Ashville, N.C., 1972, Page 127, cites the same Mrs. Shults from Emerts Cove. Also has "take off like Snyder's pup." For good measure, adds "as lazy as Hall's dog." I don't think we will ever know who Snyder or Hall is.

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