When I was in the 6th grade- 11 years old- one of my classmates (who I think was possibly distantly related to German or Dutch- type ancestry) one day started saying “I need some coleslaw for my boots!” He kept repeating this darn phrase, and when asked why, he replied something to the effect of "There were soldiers in (insert Germanic/Dutch - type European country here) who used to put coleslaw in their boots because (here I think he said “It kept their boots in good condition” but he might have also said “That was how they made coleslaw”- I’m 90% it was the former not the latter)
I’ve had this mystery stuck in my head for about the last 30 years, and no Googling has ever yielded a dang thing. I’ve debated many times whether to even bother asking this awful, ridiculous, and laughable question- hence the title of my thread- and yet, by god, I am finally going to do it!
Let me know if you have any inkling of what this 6th grader might have meant, or whether he was just making this crap up.
If you answer this ancient mystery of mine, I’ll be content for life
A mistranslation maybe? Germans use the very generic word Kraut for cabbage or coleslaw, which is also used to refer to herb or weed, which in turn seems more likely to occur in soldiers’ footwear.
Yeah. Or the kid was saying some German or Dutch word that sounds enough like the English “coleslaw” that the OP remembers that similar sounding but unrelated English word.
IMO most likely by far is the kid misunderstood something his parents had told him and he was faithfully repeating his confused understanding. Which our OP has mostly accurately remembered. But it’s still nonsense.
One thing I should clarify- I said this guy was possibly distantly related to Germanic or Dutch type Europeans- as in, his distant ancestors. He was all-American, and spoke perfect English and had every American trait I do. His name was Justin Brown, by the way, which is such a common name that I feel okay sharing that here. He wasn’t some European exchange student or something, he definitely said “I need some coleslaw for my boots!”
Could it maybe have been something that (some) soldiers did as a sort of lotion, to prevent their feet from getting all gross from marching fifty miles in ill-fitting boots?
You have just shown me coleslaw being poured into army boots- you, sir, may have just answered where Justin Brown’s silly self might have gotten that random crap from.
Well, there was that famous guy- a southern plantation owner wiped out by the Civil war. He had a small fortune- all in CSA notes- which were worthless. He left the south and migrated west- when he got holes in hom boots, he’d just put a bill or two in there. He finally made it to Bakersfield, where he grew cotton again. But his nemesis was that well known cotton pets, and he always complained about it, so that became his nickname. Later, after he got more well off, he had his boots made with CSA currency. You certainly have heard about him- Money is the Boot of Boll Weevil.
There is an error in that clip. When the yak leaps over to the sink there is no bowl of lather there. But when he looks down, there is. I hope somebody was fired over that.
