Stephen Bly Down A Western Trail

He's Such a Big Galoot

August 11, 2022 Stephen Bly Season 4 Episode 11
Stephen Bly Down A Western Trail
He's Such a Big Galoot
Show Notes Transcript

WESTERN WISDOM  Season 4, Episode 011  "He's Such a Big Galoot" audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.  

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He's Such a Big Galoot 
Stephen Bly
1993 

I was staring at a picture of my two oldest boys the other day. And it seems to me there’s one trend in our modern society that’s dangerously alarming. Yet, no one’s concerned about it. That is, every generation is getting taller and bigger than the previous one. Now, if you project this on out, why it has hazardous implications. 

My great-grandson will need twelve-foot ceilings in his house and his kids will get a sore back from stooping down to stare into the refrigerator. My great-granddaughter will need to ride a draft horse to do barrel racing.  

Now, my daddy was a good four inches and fifty pounds smaller than me. And my two grown sons are galoots. A man could get cold standing in their shadows. I suppose my youngest son at age thirteen will get about as big. You might say I’ve got two big galoots and one little galoot.  

That word “galoot” came originally from the East as a slang word meaning an awkward or simple fellow. But once it got associated with the West, it became used mainly for the man who wasn’t there. It wasn’t necessarily derogatory at all. And by the late nineteenth century it became synonymous with hombre or man and a friend.  

That’s why my youngest, Aaron, sometimes gets called a little galoot. It’s a nickname that distinguishes him from all the others. It’s one he doesn’t seem to mind as long as it comes with a smile.  

The Old West was crammed with nicknames. You had Wild Bill and Buffalo Bill and Crooked Nose George and Three Fingered Charley and Galena Smith and Sawtoothed Ed Mason and Cactus McQuarry. 

It's always been a trend when men gather together to have nicknames. Jesus didn't mind calling his disciples by other names. Simon was called “the rock” and James and John were called Sons of Thunder, which I presume indicates their willingness be rather explosive in speech and action.  

Now, all of this caused me to wonder. Just what nickname would the Lord give to you or to me? Maybe we ought to give more thought to what kind of reputation we're building with him.  

I've been told that the name Stephen in the Greek means the Crowned One. That’s a mighty princely title, but I'm not at all sure the Lord would select that one from me. Maybe he'd call me impetuous Steve, or the wild ox, or the Idaho tornado. Chances are, he’d just call me a big galoot. Call can call me, of course, anything he wants. Only I'm hopin’, whatever it is, he does it wearin’ a smile.