If the Shoe Fits: the Backstory of Mint Slippers
Mint Slippers can be one of the favorite parts of Keeping Tab and yet WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Mint Slippers? I did a little investigating, and after interviewing several previous editors, I was nearly at a loss. No one knew. Apparently, we just kept printing them every edition as one of our most popular columns! I continued my search looking online for the phrase. Perhaps it was a slang term used from a bygone era? Well, my online search simply yielded a lot of mint colored slippers for sale! But, a dead end. The phrase "mint slippers" was turning out to be quite the slippery phrase!
Finally, I struck gold and found a secret stash of Keeping Tab magazines being kept since the early 1970's. One of our previous members and editors, June Allred has an incredible archive! There, as I'd hoped, I was delighted to find the Mint Slippers column, where much like our current conductors, Jerry Ottley, Jay Welch, Spencer Condie and others were on record with all kinds of choice one liners or slips of the tongue.
Wait. Slips... Slippers! Could it be? I wanted to smack my forehead.
Pouring over these vintage editions it was interesting to note that prior to being called Mint Slippers, the column was titled "Did I Say That?" and "A Famous Conductor Sez..." and "Quotable Quotes from Famous Conductors", meaning the conductors of the Tabernacle Choir. The earliest sighting of it's use as Mint Slippers was in 1979 where the column was titled "Ku'tsu or Mint Slippers". The choir had just returned from a tour to Japan! Many of the articles of that edition had Japanese references. So I looked up "Ku'tsu" and in Japanese it means shoes. Haha! Japanese for shoes and Mint Slippers! Clever!! It was starting to come together!
But why Mint? My research found, and you may already know, it is a British phrase that began as a way to describe something new, perfect or of the highest calibre (think of coins in "mint condition" from the Mint). But currently it can also be used as slang in much the same sense as Awesome (US) and Brilliant (UK). So if you give someone some positive news, they might say "Oh, that's mint, that is!"
We may never know who actually coined the phrase "Mint Slippers" but it does seem unique to our organization, and likely one of our own clever choir members on staff. But if the shoe fits, and it's a catchy phrase, it lasts for over 40 years! Mack, Ryan, and Leanna ought to find consolation in knowing they are in a long line of conductors keeping us on our toes and entertained with their funny quotes, analogies, and slip-ups.
-----------------------------------------------------
Some favorite Mint Slippers I came across from the 70's and 80's:
"I gave you all that rhythmic introduction-- and you came in like a pie on a wall!"
"Basses! You sound like you need your furnace filters changed!"
About staying late: "I'm as glad to get rid of you as you are to be gone."
About the sole soprano who always holds on-- "I'm going to put on a dress and disguise myself and see if I can find her!"
"I won't grind my teeth any more, because they are getting smaller."
To a certain organist: "You see, you can be wrong even though you're a genius. I can't be wrong because I'm not a genius!"
On quality--"I want the cream! This is not a diet!"
"I'd sooner you sing with more thought and less voice!"
"Tenors, we just have two problems: one is finding the pitch, and the other is when to sing."
"Lets record 'Bring the Torches' while it's hot."
(After a flourish on the organ by John Longhurst) "You've been spending too much time at Pipes and Pizza, John."
"Longhurst, that's a forte piano, not a forte organ!"
"When you have a good bright vowel, proceeded by an 'L', get the "L" out of the way!"
"Men take the sweet potatoes out of it. It's not I YAM, it's I.... AM."
"Sing it down where it belongs. Put a little hair on your chest."
"All Bob has to do is play the organ. I work!"
"You often sound like 'Utah High Mountainese' instead of Latin."
(During "He's got the Whole World in His Hands)... "No, altos! Not so boisterous! It's just a little bitty baby!"
"Don is one of these guys who is so skinny he has to run around just to get wet in the shower!"
Editing some music: "And remember, no breath after death. That's obvious, isnt' it?"
No comments:
Post a Comment