FROZEN FIEFDOM 

Words, Phrases, and Lines

Ah yes.  The power of the spoken word.  Some things you just never forget, even if you'd like to.

Below are selected words, phrases, snippets of expressions or sayings which I've heard during my life, and have chosen to use them in this story.  Some readers may have heard some of the same words or expressions during their own lifetime, used in the same context as I heard them, or might have an entirely different frame of reference.   

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"People did anything and everything to keep body and soul together." 

"You can't fight City Hall." 

"Corruption at the highest level."

"Everybody's in on it." 

"LeRoy!  What's that you say, LeRoy!"

"Conformity!  That's the name of the game."

"Snuff Movies"

"And That passes for knowledge?"

"Believe half of what you read and none of what you hear."

"Shut your Goddamned mouth before I shut it for you.  Permanently."

Small towns are the worst! 

"I got nuttin'." 

"You ask too many questions." 

"Go talk to Mrs. Beasley."  (a child's doll, popular in the late 1960's or early 70's.) 

 "You talk too much." 

"See what?  I don't see anything." 

"You don't want to know." 

"The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing." 

"You have no idea what they can do." 

"Government isn't about helping people, it's about Control."

"They practically make you give up your firstborn, just to get ahead!!  Hell!, just to keep what you have!" 

"You have to play by the rules, or they'll make life difficult for you."

"I'm on your side!  If there's something wrong going on here,

I wanna know about it." 

"Is that right?  Well then, Prove it!" 

"So you think you're going to change the world?  Good luck with that!" 

"They'll say you're crazy and lock you up in the Funny Farm.  Then they'll take your children away."

"It's The Greater Good Theory." 

"He who rows the boat doesn't have time to rock it." 

"The Bird's got The Word."

"They said they'd help us, if we'd let them do those things." 

"It's not who you know, it's who you blow." 

"Get your coats on!  It's time to Pay the Piper!!" 

"Her arms looked like railroad tracks." 

"Did you hear about "so and so?"   Damned shame that their place burned down, and no insurance!  Can you believe it?  The policy just expired, and they hadn't renewed.   Funny how that happens." 

"Troublemakers were given a Blue Ticket out of town.  They never came back." 

"Everybody's got to eat.  Even in the Poppy Fields."  

"Any more outta you, and they'll grind you up and feed you to the fishes; like the Others!" 

 "Lawyers are paid to tell lies, and judges are paid off.  The little guy can't win."

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." 

 "How could you know that?  You were in bed, right here!!"  

"It's just your imagination." 

""You only thought that you heard that.  You didn't see that; you only imagined it." 

"Who saw it?  No, they weren't there.  They were...., you only thought that you saw them doing that." 

"We Don't Give a Damn How They Do It OUTSIDE"   (A popular bumpersticker in Alaska during the 70's)  A rather arrogant statement, but viewed by some Alaskans as assertive independence. 

"You Gotta Get Off Your Ass to Get On Your Feet" (Another popular local bumperticker; as true today as it was then.)

"Jesus Was a Gill Netter and So Am I"  (A favorite bumpersticker of the local fisherman.  According to some Bible stories, Jesus did in fact toss a net or two into the water and pulled out a few fish.  My Grandfather was a gill netter, and I spent a few summers on his boat, cooking, counting fish, watching out for seals and sea lions biting fish in the net, and simple deckhand duties.)