Monday, June 30, 2008

Ned in the First Reader

My husband is a NASCAR fan, so by default I have also become one. Steve's cousin works for Kevin Harvick's pit crew, so we root for him to do well. This weekend we were listening to the commentary on the practice sessions for the race. One commentator said that if Kevin Harvick didn't practice he would end up "looking like Ned in the First Reader".

It was a phrase I had never heard before, so of course I had to research it. I had heard it as "Ned, the first reiver" so my initial web search turned up The Reivers by William Faulkner. Ned is one of the characters and is determined for a certain horse to win a race. Seemed appropriate, though it didn't illuminate the meaning of the phrase. But I was impressed that the commentator made an obscure literary reference. I figured that being a Southern writer, perhaps his works were more well known than I thought.

When you type something into Yahoo Search, it comes up with suggestions for words or phrases to complete what you're typing. One of the suggestions was "Ned the first reader." I did that search and found two things quickly. One, a lot of people also want to know what "Ned in the first reader" means. Two, coaches and sports commentators are very fond of using that phrase.

A little more research revealed that it was referring to The First Reader, most likely by McGuffey but perhaps one of the many others. It is a little difficult to determine what Ned was like from the simplistic stories and pictures in the first readers I found. There were people who reminisced about what the phrase meant to them or their parents. They say either that Ned was foolish and things always turned out poorly for him, or that he was messy and slovenly.



9 comments:

Sam Oswalt said...

Kitty,

I too have heard the term all my live (61 years) and therefore have used it all my life without ever having seen a picture or heard a description of Ned. By the way the term was used I always took it that Ned was somewhat of a buffoon who things never went well for and always looked foolish.

Unknown said...

I heard a slightly different version when I was growing up in the South: to look like "Ned in the funny papers" meaning to look unkempt or messy.

Joseph B. Stahl said...

"Ned in the First Reader" means someone stupid, retarded, uninformed and a lamebrain. According to the U.S. Constitution, however, he is considered the equal of everyone else.

Shoog Honea said...

Good lord people. Ned and the first reader is what people in the late 60s and 70s grew up in the first grade reading. See ned run. See ned throw a ball. NED is a character in a book we read back in the day. When people say that it means they look like an amateur. First starting out like reading a book from first grade.

Unknown said...

The phrase originated in the early 1900's or maybe earlier than that. Grammer school kids back then had a series of reading books. The first reader...the 2nd reader...and so on. Ned was indeed a charactor. He repreaented the slow learning kid. Other kids moved on to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th readers. Ned is stuck in the first reader. So, if somebody upstages you and makes you look bad in something...they made you look like Ned in the first reader.

Unknown said...

It was always used by my father in reference to unkempt hair usually when in need of a haircut.

WanderingOwl said...

My mom, born in the 40's, used this phrase all the time... usually when we kids looked sloppy. "You look like Ned in the first reader." Had no idea what she was talking about back then, but from the conversation context of the comment, we could guess. Nice to know what it means now. She's been gone a while, but this phrase popped in my head today and I thought I would look it up. Thanks!

fisher said...

You have hit the nail on the head! My mother inlaw was a teacher and librarian. She was kind and compassionate. It was all about Ned's hair! Nothing more...

Unknown said...

@Shoog Honea, You are confusing Ned from "McGuffey's First Reader" with the "Fun with Dick and Jane" series of reading books that were widely used in the 1950s,'60s, and early'70s. "See Spot run. See Dick and Jane chase Spot."