# Where does this expression come from? (f'er, fighter, wild bull rider) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708 "2005-04-17T01:56:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Panzram](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Panzram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panzram)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/1 "2005-04-17T01:56:59Z")
I’m a fucker and a fighter and a wild bull rider, with a pretty fair windmill hand!" Any idears? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/2 "2005-04-17T04:07:40Z")
I’ve never heard of this expression, and a Google search didn’t bring up a single page containing the phrase. Where did you hear it? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/3 "2005-04-19T06:54:26Z")
I’m still curious about this expression, and I’d at least like to get some more info from the OP, so I’m bumping this. On an entirely unhelpful note, I can’t help but hear Johnny Cash’s voice when reading the saying, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/4 "2005-04-19T08:35:13Z")
I’m not the OP, and I’ve never heard the phrase before, but a bit of Googling finds most of the constituent parts: [ul] [li]The ZZ Top song “[She’s a Heartbreaker](http://www.lyricscrawler.com/song/101968.html)” contains the line:[/li][QUOTE] She’s a lover ’n fighter, she’s a wild bull rider [/QUOTE] [li]The Becky Hobbs song “[Honky-Tonk Saturday Night](http://www.coquet-shack.com/lyrics/Hobbs_Becky/Honky_Tonk_Saturday_Night_1985.htm)” has the lines:[/li][QUOTE] I want a lover and a fighter and a wild bull rider, To hold me tight on this honky-tonk Saturday night. [/QUOTE] [li]The **Amarillo Globe-News** had an obituary on February 21, 2003 for one **David Carl Edwards** , that says:[/li][QUOTE] He loved to say he was a “lover, a fighter and a wild bull rider, and a pretty good windmill hand.” [/QUOTE] (if you Google “David Carl Edwards”+“windmill hand”, the first link leads to the obit, but registration is required. The cached version gives the relevant text, however. In addition, the second Google hit leads to a mirror [here](http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/potter/obits/2003/022103.txt). [/ul] Although lover (or the OP’s f\*\*\*er), fighter, and wild bull rider seem obvious, I can only assume that a “windmill hand” is someone who builds / tends / repairs windmills (which presumably around Amarillo might be used for pumping water or oil). Either that or it’s guitar-playing in the style of **The Who** ’s [Pete Townshend](http://www.dgpics.com/MusicPages/TOWNS2.htm), but that seems unlikely in this context. Hope this helps – otherwise I’ve got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Panzram](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Panzram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panzram)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/5 "2005-04-19T16:45:28Z")
Hi guys, Sorry it took me so long to write back, but I forgot all about this post! I actually read it in a wrestler’s biography (To Be the Man - Ric Flair), and I wondered where the hell it came from. I assumed a song, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it originated with ZZ Top. Seems like this is an obscure redneck rephrasing. But what do I know? ☹ Stay out of trouble, Panzram ---
**Author:** ![dcwampler1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@dcwampler1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcwampler1981)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/6 "2013-12-10T01:44:03Z")
I’m a fu\*\*er, I’m a fighter, I’m a wild bull rider I’m a purdy good windmill hand. I’ve got cows on the ranch, money in the bank And a Cadillac behind the Beer Joint I’m a bear so I wrestle alligators and I get loud when I drink… So I drink a little all the time. I have no idea where it comes from. My cousin used to get stoned and sing it often. ---
**Author:** ![FireBrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@FireBrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FireBrand)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-this-expression-come-from-fer-fighter-wild-bull-rider/299708/7 "2016-10-17T00:14:24Z")
> [@Panzram](#): > > I’m a fucker and a fighter and a wild bull rider, with a pretty fair windmill hand!" > > Any idears? I’m a little late to this party, but I hope someone will read this… When I was a teenager about 1972, myself and a couple of friends were at a 7-11 in Seattle late one night (probably trying to buy beer) and met a wild-looking dude outside. He was a bit drunk, and talking to anyone who would listen. Naturally we gathered around, and he came out with this: “I’m a fucker and a fighter and a wild horse rider I done the most from coast to coast Anything you done, I done it twice and I done it better. So don’t ya be givin’ ME no guff.” There was lots more but that’s what I remember. Years later I discovered that it was classic cowboy ‘brag talk’. They’d have a kind of fanciful rap bragging about their exploits and what they could do, like being born with spurs on or lassoing and riding tornadoes. Always wished I could go back and egg that guy on some more.