Missouri curiosities Quirky characters, roadside oddities & other offbeat stuff

(SIDEBAR) Ozark "Go Get'ers" In most of America, if you hear someone referred to as "a real go getter," you can be assured he (or she) is a hard working, energetic individual. The same phrase, uttered in the Ozarks, is actually a homonym, with almost the opposite definition. An Ozark "Go Get'er," for generations, has described a fellow whose wife was hired on at the garment factory, the chicken plant, or (many years ago) the tomato canneries. That man might "run" a few cattle on his unfenced land, and certainly he hunted coons with the boys at night, but his main money making activity derived from driving his wife to work in the morning, and "going to get'er" at night. Excerpted from Missouri Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff by Josh Young All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.