# "God willing, and the Creek don't rise" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783 "2010-08-19T20:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/21 "2010-08-20T20:05:47Z")
I am a Creek Indian and I have heard both interpretations but, although I done considerable research on Hawkins’ interactions with my people, I’ve never seen it in his writings or seen a traceable cite. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/22 "2010-08-20T22:05:45Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > > > I always heard it as “God willing and the _crick_ don’t rise…” > > For some people, that’s the pronunciation of “creek,” not actually a variant word. “Some people?” I thought it was always just a variant pronunciation. It’s actually considered a separate word? ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/23 "2010-08-20T22:34:32Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > Growing up, I always heard “Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise”, but my folk are the epitome of rednecks. This is how it’s always been in my family. I’ve always thought of my ancestors more as hillbillies than rednecks. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/24 "2010-08-20T23:15:52Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > > > I always heard it as “God willing and the _crick_ don’t rise…” > > For some people, that’s the pronunciation of “creek,” not actually a variant word. Sure, but my point is that “crick” is a part of the meme as I’ve always heard it. People who would normally say “creek” will say “crick” when using this expression. It seemed odd, and relevant to the OP that everyone else knew it under the more standard pronunciation. Also, I usually hear it with “The Good Lord Willing…” I don’t know why I truncated that part. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/25 "2010-08-21T00:15:19Z")
Down in this part of the country, it’s invariably “The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” I’ve only ever heard it, so I can’t speak to the capitalization of the word ‘creek’. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/26 "2010-08-23T00:13:11Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > Growing up, I always heard “Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise”, but my folk are the epitome of rednecks. That’s the way I always heard it, and the way it appeared on this [1953 Hank Williams concert bill](http://www.royalsrecords.com/Thumbnails/hank%20williams%20poster.jpg). The Creek Indian explanation smells like _post hoc_ folk etymology to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/27 "2010-08-23T00:24:14Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > It has nothing to do with the _Creek_ Indians. > > The phrase has morphed over possibly hundreds of years, quite often in dialect speech, to what many are familiar with from the 1950s onward. > > Stephen Goranson, one of the premier word/phrase finders over at the American Dialect Society found what(I think) is the earliest variant(so far)–1851. > > > [@Stephen Goranson](#): > > > > “‘Feller-citizens–I’m not ‘customed to public speakin’ before such > > highfalutin’ > > audiences…Yet here I stand before you a speckled hermit, wrapt in the > > risen-sun counterpane of my popilarity, an’ intendin’, Providence permittin’, > > and the creek do n’t rise, to ‘go it blind!’…” > > > > [read do n’t or don’t, not clear] > > > > p. 447 (?) The Doolittle Delegation, to a “Woman’s Rights Convention.” by Miss > > L. Virginia Smith, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and > > Fashion v. 38 June 1851 > > . > > If anyone can give a cite in the works of Benjamin Hawkins(1754-1816), then I might change my opinion. While I am inclined to agree that the Creek Indian explanation is folk etymology, I’m not sure I see how your cite makes the case one way or the other. The fact that Benjamin Hawkins evidently _didn’t_ write it still doesn’t establish one way or another whether the phrase originally referred to Creek Indians. However, I am more inclined to think it originally referred to the fact that when the creeks (small ‘c’) rose, they were rendered un-fordable, cutting off travel routes. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/28 "2010-08-23T03:45:36Z")
I’ve never heard this expression in my life. I saw it on James Carville’s shirt during the oil thing and wondered what the heck it meant. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/29 "2010-08-23T04:33:54Z")
You are all wrong. 🙂 I have always herd the phrase as: The good lord willing and the **river** don’t rise Kinda takes the Indians out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/30 "2010-08-23T04:53:17Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > You are all wrong. 🙂 > I have always herd the phrase as: > The good lord willing and the **river** don’t rise > > Kinda takes the Indians out of it. But it doesn’t flow nearly as well. Heh…“flow.” For the record, I also grew up with “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/31 "2010-08-23T17:20:14Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > The Creek Indian explanation smells like _post hoc_ folk etymology to me. But it’s a pretty good one, isn’t it? Points for style, at least. > [@Spoke](#): > > [However, I am more inclined to think it originally referred to the fact that when the creeks (small ‘c’) rose, they were rendered un-fordable, cutting off travel routes. Yes, that was always my understanding. I’ve heard a tale or two about the things people got up to when stranded by the risen creek. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/32 "2010-08-23T17:45:00Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:22, topic:550783”] > [@spark240](#): > > For some people, that’s the pronunciation of “creek,” not actually a variant word. “Some people?” I thought it was always just a variant pronunciation. It’s actually considered a separate word? [/QUOTE] Well, in the _general_ etymological sense of course it’s the same word no matter how spelled or pronounced. But I meant to point out that there are people who pronounce “crick” and would write “creek” if transcribing themselves, whereas others will say _and_ write it as “crick.” The second case, “crick” as a variant word, seems to connote a smaller, twistier\* kind of waterway, often somewhat hidden, the kind of thing you can probably jump across. “Creeks” may be larger, faster-running, maybe even navigable for shallow boats. The people who use the word “crick” for a trickle running through the woods behind their house might identify someone else’s “creek” as a “river.” - I used to own one we called Watson Crick. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783/33 "2010-08-23T23:51:47Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > - I used to own one we called Watson Crick. You can go to your room, now. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-willing-and-the-creek-dont-rise/550783.md?page=1)