One-armed paper hanger

Posted by R. Berg on March 01, 2004

In Reply to: Busier than a one armed paper hanger posted by mike owen on March 01, 2004

: : Does anyone know what this means? A colleague of mine used this phrase today and I've been too polite to ask what it means.

: Kaz,

: the phrase in Mississippi is often used to denote some one that is very, very busy ! It comes from the idea that it takes at the least two good hands to hang wallpaper. You can see the prediciment that a one armed (absent one hand as well) wall paper hanger would be in !

It's popular outside Mississippi, too. This phrase has been used for decades, probably all over the U.S.

• One-armed paper hanger ESC 01/March/04
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