I'm your huckleberry

[Spudman***]

This is just one of those interesting tidbits. You might remember it in the Tombstone movie.

I'm Your Huckleberry!

by Lawson Stone

On and off I hear discussions in which people speculate on the exact origin and meaning is of the quaint idiom used by Doc Holliday in the movie "Tombstone." I've heard some wild suggestions, including "huckleberry" meaning "pall-bearer" suggesting "I'll bury you."

Still others think it has something to do with Mark Twain's character, Huckleberry Finn, and means "steadfast friend, pard." This is unlikely, since the book of that title was not written until 1883. Tom Sawyer was written in 1876, but nowhere there is the term "huckleberry" used to mean "steadfast friend" or the like. Still others claim that a victor's crown or wreath of huckleberry is involved, making the statement "I'm your huckleberry" something like "I'll beat you!" But no such reference can be found in the historical materials supporting the use of this term in 19th century America. Additionally, "huckleberry" was native to North America so it's unlikely it was used in ancient Britain as a prize!
Solutions to such questions are actually very easy to find, since there are numerous dictionaries of the English language in its various periods, and there are dictionaries of English slang. These works simply cull from books, magazines, and newspapers of the period representative usages of the words to illustrate their meaning. I consulted several of these and found the expression to have a very interesting origin.
"Huckleberry" was commonly used in the 1800's in conjunction with "persimmon" as a small unit of measure. "I'm a huckleberry over your persimmon" meant "I'm just a bit better than you." As a result, "huckleberry" came to denote idiomatically two things. First, it denoted a small unit of measure, a "tad," as it were, and a person who was a huckleberry could be a small, unimportant person--usually expressed ironically in mock self-depreciation. The second and more common usage came to mean, in the words of the "Dictionary of American Slang: Second Supplemented Edition" (Crowell, 1975):
"A man; specif., the exact kind of man needed for a particular purpose. 1936: "Well, I'm your huckleberry, Mr. Haney." Tully, "Bruiser," 37. Since 1880, archaic.
The "Historical Dictionary of American Slang" which is a multivolume work, has about a third of a column of citations documenting this meaning all through the latter 19th century.
So "I'm your huckleberry" means "I'm just the man you're looking for!"
Now ain't that a daisy!
The "Daisy" comment is easier. In the late 19th century "daisy" was a common slang term for "the best in it's class." So for "daisy" just substitute "the best" and you'll have it. It was a short-lived idiom and doesn't seem to be popular much after 1890.

[sunvalleylaw]

I love that line. I gotta rent that movie again. Probably my favorite role for Val Kilmer.

[Tone2TheBone]

Val lives near here and while he's one of my favs too he's kinda a jerk.

"You're a daisy if you do"

[Bloozcat]

One of my favorite movies...

Val Kilmer is very believable as Doc Holiday.

"Why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone just walked over your grave."

[Childbride]

this is going to sound totally goofy, but then, selah.

the byproxy and i have a fav movie that we watched constantly together for four years that he lived here while he was going to college... real genius.

he even ordered one of those tshirts that val wore in the movie... [was it 'i love toxic waste'? something like that, baseball style shirt, black and white]

that's one of my favorite byproxy memories, so val may be a jerk [and probably is] but i thank him for that memory.

[Skip77]

Good one CB - Tombstone is one of my all time fav movies - one of Val Kilmer's best performances, I believe. I quote several lines from the movie regularly. Keep up the good work with the movie tips. Or should I say, "go ahead, skin it... skin that smoke wagon and see what happens"!

[Kodiak3D]

That's my favorite character he's ever played. Great movie.

[Tone2TheBone]

To be completely fair I will list some of the movies that he's in that we enjoy.

Tombstone (duh)
Willow
Thunderheart
The Missing
Cold Mountain
The Saint
The Doors
Top Gun

[sunvalleylaw]

Ya, Willow is another good one. I like some of the others too, but have not seen all of them. I prefer his Doc Holliday to Iceman anyday, though I do like the TG movie.

[Spudman***]

Anyone ever see Top Secret? I heard a few people rave about it and then I watched it. I didn't get it. In fact I didn't/couldn't watch the whole thing.

[Kazz]

I absolutely love Tombstone....I have it memorized word for word and do pretty good impressions of all the main characters voices.

[Tone2TheBone]

I absolutely love Tombstone....I have it memorized word for word and do pretty good impressions of all the main characters voices.

Hey do the "lawdawg" one.

[Bloozcat]

I really liked Val Kilmer in The Saint...and Elizabeth Shue looked absolutely delicious in it as well...

[R_of_G]

Anyone ever see Top Secret? I heard a few people rave about it and then I watched it. I didn't get it. In fact I didn't/couldn't watch the whole thing.

i thought it was pretty funny actually.

[Tone2TheBone]

I really liked Val Kilmer in The Saint...and Elizabeth Shue looked absolutely delicious in it as well...

Oh man don't even get me started on how hot Elizabeth Shue was/is....
she has that girl next door look...blonde...petite...and she has that sexy little underbite.....oh yeahhh.

[Skip77]

Elizabeth Shue has always been one of my alltime favorite hollywood hotties. She was great in The Saint - agreed!

[Tim]

Is that her cooking pancakes for Warren?

[luvmyshiner]

Snicker, on a side note, there used to be a lawyer in Texas named Barbara Kazen who literally wrote the book on family law (six volumes, Steve and Brian will appreciate this, in looseleaf notebooks so they could charge you $200 a year for updates ). I had the opportunity to visit with her a couple of times and she was one of those "scary smart" people.

The rumor is that Val hired her for his divorce, and she subsequently closed down her lucrative private practice, moved to New Mexico, and became his personal attorney. Last I heard she was doing nothing but family law mediation out of New Mexico and charging out the kazoo for it.

[Childbride]

i thought it was pretty funny actually.

i did too.