# Is ther no help for the widow's son? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660 "2000-02-18T16:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/1 "2000-02-18T16:48:00Z")
Someone came up to me, said this, then walked away knowingly. Anyone help at all. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/2 "2000-02-18T19:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > then walked away knowingly How do you walk away knowingly? There was a thread about this but a couple of days ago, suggesting that it was a Masonic catchphrase (I’m suer that’s not the right term, but you know what I mean). ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/3 "2000-02-18T19:32:00Z")
Tubal-cain 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/4 "2000-02-18T19:38:00Z")
I am not, nor have I ever been, a Mason. There are documents on the web that purport to contain the actual wording for the Master Mason’s degree. Part of that degree, according to these documents, is the newly initiated Master Mason being told both the recognition signs and the phrase he may use as a “Grand Hailing Sign of Distress.” That phrase, IIRC, is, “Oh Lord, Oh God, is there no help for the widow’s son?” Master Masons, according to the document, pledge to come to the aid of other Master Masons in distress. I cannot imagine why someone would come up, say that, and then “walk away knowingly,” whatever that means. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/5 "2000-02-18T19:40:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Tinker Grey: > **Tubal-cain 😃** Boaz. Shibboleth. 🙂 - Rick ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/6 "2000-02-18T20:00:00Z")
Some Mason thinks that you looked like a Mason, which I guess is a compliment… * * * …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! ---
**Author:** ![jaydabee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c89c15/32.png) [@jaydabee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaydabee)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/7 "2000-02-18T20:05:00Z")
Yes, it is a code pharse that mason’s use to identify each other. He was testing you. Cann’t tell you what the proper reply would be, I am not a mason. He might have been trying to look smug or perhaps he wasn’t a mason and wanted you to think he was. Most mason I have met are not smug. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/8 "2000-02-18T20:15:00Z")
I don’t think so. Assuming the purloined web documents to be accurate, the phrase is a “Grand Hailing Sign of Distress.” No Mason would use it to casually identify a brother Mason. Masons receive, in each degree, a lesson on a whispered give and take protocol that they may use to identify each other. They are also instructed on recognition signs, placements of the hands and feet in such a way as to signal their Masonry to a brother. “Spell it or halve it.” - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/9 "2000-02-18T20:18:00Z")
I was only fooling just then, really, I’d love to be a Mason! Masonry opens doors! * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![jaydabee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c89c15/32.png) [@jaydabee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaydabee)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/10 "2000-02-18T20:23:00Z")
The information I got came from a masons son. The man has been dead for years now and the masons probably have changed there signals since then. But that would only confirm my belief that the man wasn’t really a mason , but just wanted you to think he was one. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/11 "2000-02-18T20:52:00Z")
Me too, I’d love to be a mason! I’ve got a second-hand apron I can use! But they wouldn’t let me in, the black-balling bastards. ---
**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/12 "2000-02-18T21:02:00Z")
I recall a similar phrase was used as a Masonic sign in the great film “The Man Who Would be King” based on a Kipling story. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/13 "2000-02-18T21:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried: > \*\*Me too, I’d love to be a mason! I’ve got a second-hand apron I can use! > > But they wouldn’t let me in, the black-balling bastards.\*\* Tell me this is either hyperbole or that you don’t believe in a Supreme Being. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/14 "2000-02-18T21:47:00Z")
According to _Big Secrets_, “The ballot box in the Lauterer catalog uses white balls and black cubes. (Losers are blackcubed, not blackballed.)” ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/15 "2000-02-18T21:54:00Z")
Must’ve been the rotating knives, Arnold. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2000, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/16 "2000-02-18T21:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Bricker: > Tell me this is either hyperbole or that you don’t believe in a Supreme Being. It was Monty Python. [http://www.montypython.net/scripts/architec.php3](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/architec.php3) * * * Official winner of [Bricker Challenge #5](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/004959.html). ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/17 "2000-02-19T01:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried: > \*\* It was Monty Python. > \*\* **Sigh** How soon people forget. (I was nice and didn’t say “VRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOooooooooom”) A friend and I went to see “Fierce Creatures” in the theater. There is a scene where a series of girls are diving into the pool, where one of the actors remarks “Beautiful Plumage”. We laughed. Everybody around us looked at us, wondering what the joke was. * * * This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/18 "2000-02-19T01:13:00Z")
I have always heard that a mason would never hang. Meaning that the odds are that a mason would probably be on the jury and vote aquittal. * * * “I’m the best there is Fats. Even if you beat me, I’m still the best.” (Paul Newman in The Hustler) ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/19 "2000-02-19T01:18:00Z")
Have you ever noticed that “The Crossing of the Desert” is quite similar to “The Unblinking Eye” and almost exactly like “The Wreck of the Hesperus”? ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/20 "2000-02-19T05:01:00Z")
and of course “The Paddling of the Swollen Ass… With Paddles.” [muttering]Patience, Alphie… climb the ladder…[/muttering] * * * **Gypsy** : Tom, I don’t get you. **Tom Servo** : Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660.md?page=2)