Talking Southern – Stem-Winder

    The most recent Talking Southern post was on gumption, that wonderful old Southern-sounding word which describes someone with backbone or courage.  In a similar vein is the term, “stem-winder,” which your compiler has heard the whole of his life, every minute of which has been lived in Georgia, thank the good Lord!   The term is used to describe an interesting and usually entertaining character, as in the following three-sentence story about a former mayor, now deceased, of your compiler’s hometown of Brooks, Georgia.

    “I still cannot believe Allen Putman had those biggol truck tired dumped in the middle of downtown Brooks back in 1986, and after pouring kerosene on them and setting them afire, stood down both the county fire department and the sheriff, telling them he by-God was mayor of Brooks and could do whatever he damn-well pleased.   You couldn’t ever tell what Mr. Allen was going to do!  He was a real stem-winder!”

      Your compiler has also heard “stem-winder” used in describing rousing speeches, usually of a political nature.  “Ol’ Gene Talmadge was known for snapping his red galluses and giving a stem-winder of a speech at his political rallies and barbecues,” is an example.   So is, “FDR came to Barnesville in 1938 and gave a stem-winder of a speech urging Georgians to dump Senator Walter George. Not caring for Yankee intervention in their business any more in 1938 than they had in 1860, they spurned FDR and kept George in the Senate another twenty years or so.”

     While the terms “gumption” and “stem-winder” do not particularly go hand-in-hand when describing a person, your compiler cannot recall a single stem-winder he has ever known who did not also possess a healthy dose of gumption.  Thus, he believes, the terms are related, although it should be mentioned that not all who possess gumption are stem-winders – plenty of quiet, dignified people have plenty of gumption – “still waters run deep,” as the old nugget of wisdom goes – but are not stem-winders.  The relationship between the two terms is a one-way street, it would seem.

     There are other terms for “stem-winder,” of course.   One might also hear one or more of the following:

       “He’s a pure caution!”

       “ She’s a sight in this world!”

        “He’s a cutter!” (which one presumes stems from “one who cuts up.”)

        “She’s a mess!”  (but never a “hot mess,” whatever one of those may be.)

         “That boy’s a spizzerinctum!”  (a term that was a particular favorite with your compiler’s late, great-aunt Helen in Brooks.)

All of these are used with an exclamation mark at the end – your compiler cannot think of a situation where they would not be, for most of the time they are said by someone in amazement at the stem-winder’s latest shenanigans.

     Your compiler has no idea where the term “stem-winder” comes from: online queries have proven less than elucidatory.  But he makes the following hypothesis, which he hopes is at least a somewhat educated guess, that the term comes from mechanical toys which one winds-up and watches go.   “She’s a real stem-winder.  Wind her up and watch her go!”

     Maybe your compiler is wrong, but who really cares?  “Stem-winder” is a time-tested Southern phrase, and it frankly describes a lot of Southerners one meets.  Enjoy watching the stem-winders in your personal orbit.  They are almost guaranteed to make one laugh, and laugh, and laugh.  And they’re usually the folks whom one remembers most, to boot.