Last night, I was visiting my elderly neighbor and he said the following: "They told me I was going to go to the devil. So, I looked them in the eye and I said, 'I met the devil, in Korea, and let me tell you that I'm on a first name basis with him and he ain't all he's cracked up to be.'"
The Side Trip to Memory Lane
Whoa! I only wish that I could use that line. As I definitely won't be able to, I thought about this thing my grandmother used to say: "And the devil take the hindermost!" I always figured it meant something like "I'm doing this, and I don't care what anyone else thinks!" But, I googled it to see what was doin'.
The First Google
Pretty quickly, I found out that "And the devil take the hindermost!" confuses English language learners. Here's a question in a forum that kinda made me laugh: "Hello, I am reading a horoscope book which is about Aries. Then I came across the sentence as below. 'One can't help being reminded of a certain impulsive ram, Nikita Krushchev, who once banged his hoe in a fit of childish temper, on a table at the United Nations, in full view of a television audience, and the devil-take-the-hindermost.' I have no clue what the devil-take-the-hindermost. My dictionary does not help me at all. Will someone help me, please?"
First: I'm pretty sure Kruschev banged his shoe, but somehow it's better to think of him banging his hoe. Second, I sort of wish the English language learner was reading a different book--this one is bound to be old and include words like "hepcat." Anyhoo: The definition is: "without caring for the consequences" which is close enough to "And I don't care what anyone else thinks!"
The Second Google
Something about "the devil" and "hindermost" made me think about Underwood Devil Spread. Oh...yeahhhhhh. I used to eat this stuff--possibly just because there was a little cartoon guy on the label. And I thought, "I wanna see the little cartoon guy...I wanna see him NOW!" so I did a google image search. And...No! This guy didn't look right! His little arms are outstretched! (Something that also ain't right: Doing what this ad suggests and making a sandwich with Underwood Deviled HamTM and shredded pineapple.)
Blargh! No! His arms are stretched out again--he's looking like Ethel Merman...Also: "Taste the taste" is a pretty lame slogan, as is this little rhyme I found in a quick side search: "Only one good devil in the world. Its the devil on a can and the can is a can of Underwood Deviled Ham." Insufficiently catchy. Let's move on.
Okay, the slogan is a little more imaginative here: "It is branded with the devil, but fit for the gods." But, I'm not sure I would have ever eaten a deviled ham sandwich if I saw this picture of this GUY in a can of the stuff--with what appears to be a disgruntled onlooker pig.
Then, hold the presses, THIS came up! I had to track this down to the source...
...which turned out to be the General Mills Web site--specifically the marketing department in Venezuela. Apparently, "Diablitos Underwood deviled ham–found in nine of 10 Venezuelan homes–is just one of many brands that contribute to the success of General Mills Venezuela...Many Venezuelan children enjoy a breakfast of Diablitos Underwood deviled ham with arepas, a bread made of precooked corn flour. This high-quality, traditional product maintains a leading share of the country's meat spreads market."You know, I never even suspected there was such a thing as a "country's meat spreads market." It's a thing! Also: I did not know that Diablitos Underwood deviled ham was a traditional product in Venezula...Come to think of it, what IS a "traditional product"? Oh, those marketing ninjas...they get my head to spinning. Tired from this wild ride...must go lie down with a traditional blanket and pillow.
