I saw a friend at church recently and said, \u201cHey, you got your ears lowered.\u201d He looked at me like I had three heads and said he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. When I was growing up, that was a common phrase \u2014 if my dad was going to get a haircut, he almost always said, \u201cI\u2019m going to get my ears lowered.\u201d In fact, just about everyone said it, no one hardly ever said they were going to get a haircut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I admit that I hadn\u2019t heard the expression in a long time, and it just kind of popped out, but I was still amazed that my friend swore he had never heard it and had no idea what it meant. Actually, this slang term always made more sense to me than a lot of the others that I heard \u2014 when you get a haircut, it appears there\u2019s a larger distance between your ears and the ends of your hair\u2026. giving the illusion that your ears have been lowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess this is just something else that shows my age \u2014 it probably falls into the category of an old fashioned (i.e. corny) sense of humor. I also remember when I was a kid, when someone would ask, \u201cD\u2019y get a haircut?\u201d we\u2019d always answer \u201cNo, I got \u2018em all<\/em> cut.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course just getting a haircut itself was a lot different than it is today. When I was a kid growing up in Maysville, we had a couple of barbershops \u2014 that\u2019s where men<\/em> got their hair cut (or \u201cears lowered\u201d) and there were a couple of beauty shops \u2014 that\u2019s where women<\/em> got their hair cut, or whatever they had done to it. If it was a barbershop, it had a barber pole outside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember my dad always took me to get my ears lowered. When we went in, the barbers (usually two) both acknowledged us and spoke while they clipped away. We always just took a seat, there was no signing in or anything like that \u2014 we just looked around and saw who was ahead of us. My dad usually talked to people and I usually looked a a comic book \u2014 I remember the barber shop always had comic books for kids. I always kind of listened to the conversation(s) because the barber shop was where ordinary farmers and businessmen solved the world\u2019s problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When the barber finished cutting someone\u2019s hair, they left and whoever was next just climbed into the chair \u2014 everyone always knew who was next. Then they\u2019d start a conversation with the barber about the weather, or fishing or hunting, sports (usually baseball) or maybe some town issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When it was my turn, the barber put a board across the arms of the barber chair to make me taller and it was hard to sit still when the scissors and clippers got around my ears. I remember knowing when the barber was about finished, when he put some lather on the back of my neck and made a few swipes with a straight razor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All barbershops (at least all good barbershops) had a barber pole \u2014 and it was in good working order, with those red and white strips spinning around. When I was a kid, I don\u2019t remember ever having my hair cut in a barber shop with more than three chairs \u2014 most only had two. And most of the good or popular shops had a deer head or a fish or something hanging on the wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, I get my hair cut where Claire gets her hair done \u2014 it\u2019s honestly not a \u201ccool\u201d place. No talk about fishing or hunting, or sports, political issues\u2026 no deer heads on the wall \u2014 not even any straight razors.\u00a0 I saw a friend at church recently and said, \u201cHey, you got your ears lowered.\u201d He looked at me like I had three heads and said he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. When I was growing … Continue reading
No wonder \u201cgetting my ears lowered\u201d has turned into just another chore to check off my list.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"