A summer-like day, as predicted, to kick off May. The grass is green, early-greening trees are budding, and a few insects are braving the cool evenings to do whatever it is that insects do.
The other day I went to a certain big box retailer at which I have an account, to pay the bill. The clerk, a woman about 10 years my senior, spent a while inputting the information on the payment, apologizing that the computer was running slow. It wasn’t that slow, and after about a minute it starting processing the payment.
“You’re golden now,” she said. “You’re cooking with gas.”
I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone say “cooking with gas.” I’m not sure I ever heard anyone say that, except on TV, and old TV at that.
Later I queried the rest of my family about it. No one had ever heard the phrase before. I can’t imagine it has much life left in it, and it’s quietly headed to that elephants’ graveyard where old idioms go.
The phrase “You’re Cooking with Gas” apparently was more popular in Mississippi in the 1950s/1960s because I remember hearing it pretty often when I was growing up. It certainly sounds like an advertising slogan, probably for “Mississippi Valley Gas” which used to be the natural gas supplier for most of the state.
I also have not heard it in years, except once and a while from my older (85+) relatives.