phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Morning glory evening grace

Posted by Smokey Stover on December 27, 2007

In Reply to: Morning glory evening grace posted by Baceseras on December 26, 2007

: : Hi, I'm a fan of Hugh Hewitt and many of his callers begin the call with the comment "morning glory" to which Hugh responds "evening grace". He has said often that he would explain its meaning when asked but I'm never around to hear it. Any one care to advise on the origins and/or meaning of "morning glory evening grace"? Thanks.

: "Morning" is short for "good morning" --- adding "glory" gives the name of a flower. Responding in kind, "evening" (short for "good evening") is stretched to "evening grace". Got it? Good night nurse.

An answer of a sort was given on this site some time ago, but I don't find it in the Archive. Baceseras' explanation seems to me to be tad terse, although he is correct. Morning and evening, to be paired, don't have to be thought of as salutations, but they work that way. Morning glory is indeed a flower, but also a common word-association, as is evening grace. I think that for Hewitt the additional association of glory and grace in their religious sense (God's glory, God's grace) provides a parallel pair of associations congenial to his outlook.

I don't know if Hewitt heard this somewhere or invented the phrase, but the followers of his radio talk-show have enthusiastically adopted it.
SS

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.