FEEDBACK: Readers enjoy Hollings’ wit, colorful language

Phrase is for those who just don’t understand

Hollings

To the editor:

I really enjoyed this article.  The phrase, “You don’t know from sic’ em,” I suspect to be a shortened version of the phrase, “You don’t know sic’ em from come here,”  referencing the command to a dog to get after someone or something.  A command used to release a dog to attack and the “come here” portion is hopefully self-explanatory.

Fritz was apparently dismayed by someone not knowing the difference between the two or the individual’s inability to understand.  [Editor’s note:  Yes, that would have been me!]  My parents and grandparents used the phrase for those lacking common sense.

— J.J. Anderson, Charleston, S.C.

Two favorite lines

To the editor:

Two of my favorite [Fritz] Hollings’ lines came off the presidential campaign trail.

• “I go up in New England, and they talk about a nuclear freeze.  Down in Alabama, they think that’s something you buy at Dairy Queen. “
• On his being unknown:  “In Wisconsin,  they thought Fritz Hollings was a German moving company. “

— W.C. Surratt, West Columbia, S.C.

Hollings is irreplaceable

To the editor:

So very good to hear the Senator’s voice again. He remains irreplaceable.

I well remember as a reporter in Camden asking him about the Sam Donaldson incident and him saying “He asks about my Korean suit and I asked about his Oriental rug.”

— Rodney Welch, Elgin, S.C.

Peatsy had some choice words, too

To the editor:

More than delighted to see this article.

I was honored to know Peatsy [Hollings], and to some degree, Fritz, when I was president of the Woman’s National Democratic  Club in the 1980s. Peatsy was a valued and active member. I once asked her to describe the difference between  living in  D.C. when Congress was in session and  living at home in South Carolina. “Well, when I am cooking at home in South Carolina and I realize I don’t have sour cream for my recipe, I need to decide whether to do without it  or dress to go to the store, because everyone in Charleston knows me and Fritz.”

I once told Peatsy that if Central Casting called and said, “Send me a person who looks like they should be president of the United States,” it would be Fritz.

— Jean  Jensen, Alexandria, Va.