Slang with a dictionary date, and quotes with a record behind them.
Cowboy sayings come in three kinds: proven, traditional, and credited to a famous name without proof. Cowboy slang is older than most lists admit, with "cowboy" recorded by 1849 and "vamoose" by 1834. This guide dates each word, names its dictionary, and sorts the famous quotes by what the record shows.
Which famous cowboy quotes were in print before the person credited?
Three widely shared lines have a documented earlier source. "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man" was already circulating in 1859, in a letter from Theodore Parker reprinted that year. "Buy land, they're not making it anymore" ran anonymously in a Kansas paper in 1905, decades before it was credited to Rogers. A version of "fold your money to double it" was in print by 1805.
| Line | Credited to | What the record shows | Who found it |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man" | Winston Churchill | Newspapers reprinted a letter from the minister Theodore Parker in April 1859, and Parker's remarks showed the saying already in circulation. The International Churchill Society lists it as not traced to Churchill. | Barry Popik; International Churchill Society |
| "Buy land, they're not making it anymore" | Will Rogers (also Mark Twain) | The quip appeared by 1905 in a Kansas paper, and its creator was anonymous. | Quote Investigator |
| "Fold your money to double it" | Will Rogers | A version of the joke ran in print in 1805. Quote Investigator calls the Rogers credit late and not substantive. | Quote Investigator |
The Will Rogers Memorial Museum, run by the Oklahoma Historical Society, states on its own quote page that some quotes attributed to Will Rogers are falsely credited. That warning covers a lot of ground.
Other lines circulate with a famous name attached and no traceable source. "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway" and "Always drink upstream from the herd" are two. Each is widely repeated, and no primary source turned up for either, so no name goes on them here.
Which cowboy quotes are proven?
Six sourced quotes hold up: "When you call me that, SMILE." from Wister's 1902 novel, two dated Will Rogers lines from 1931 and 1932, Churchill's saddle line from 1930, Wyoming's 2010 "Talk less, say more", and Gene Autry's Cowboy Code from the late 1940s.
| Quote | Attribution | Date | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| "When you call me that, SMILE." | The Virginian, a character in Owen Wister's novel | 1902 | Project Gutenberg text of the book. The popular "smile when you say that" is a paraphrase and appears nowhere in the text. |
| "Why play Wall Street and die young when you can play cowboy and never die?" | Will Rogers | July 10, 1931 | Will Rogers Memorial Museum quote page |
| "You never saw a good horse grow where a good man didn't grow." | Will Rogers | April 6, 1932 | Will Rogers Memorial Museum quote page |
| "No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle." | Winston Churchill, My Early Life | 1930 | International Churchill Society. The word is "lost"; some lists print "wasted". |
| "Talk less, say more" | Wyoming's Code of the West | 2010 | 2010 Enrolled Act No. 7, which credits James P. Owen |
| "The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage." | Gene Autry's Cowboy Code | Late 1940s | Official Gene Autry site, which puts the earliest presentation on his Melody Ranch radio show of 17 August 1947. |
What are the traditional cowboy sayings?
Traditional sayings are anonymous lines with no traceable first source, passed down until they landed on quote lists. Three recur on the pages that record them.
- "Don't squat with your spurs on."
- "Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction."
- "There never was a horse that couldn't be rode; never was a cowboy who couldn't be throwed."
Their recorders are Vista Verde Ranch, in a 2013 blog list, and a boot retailer's quote list that labels them "Unknown". Both are thin records, so treat these as folk sayings.
When did cowboy slang words first appear in print?
Most cowboy words are recorded between 1834 and 1888. "Vamoose" is the oldest at 1834, and "wrangler" in the ranch sense is among the youngest at 1888. Dates below come from Etymonline unless another source is named.
| Word | Meaning | First record | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vamoose | Decamp, be off; from Spanish "vamos" | 1834 | Etymonline |
| Amigo | Friend, comrade, a form of address | 1837 | Etymonline |
| Cowboy | Man who tends grazing cattle on horseback | By 1849 | Etymonline |
| Tenderfoot | Newcomer to a Western ranching or mining district | By 1866 | Etymonline |
| Maverick | Unbranded calf | 1867 | Etymonline; the Texas State Historical Association ties it to Samuel A. Maverick's herd |
| Dogie | Motherless calf; origin uncertain | 1887 | Etymonline |
| Wrangler | Person in charge of horses or cattle on a Western ranch | 1888 | Etymonline |
| Hoosegow | Jail | 1909 or 1911 | American Heritage says 1909; Etymonline says 1911 |
| Pardner | Partner, companion, friend (regional) | Undated | American Heritage Dictionary |
The two dictionaries disagree on hoosegow by two years. American Heritage says the first known occurrence dates from 1909, and Etymonline says 1911. Both trace the word to a Western US mispronunciation of Spanish, so pick the source you trust and name it.
Words like lasso, chaps and reata, and the buckaroo-versus-vaquero question, belong to the vaquero guide. Cattle drives and the Chisholm Trail live in the history of the cowboy.
Where can you see cowboy words used in a real trail-drive book?
Andy Adams's The Log of a Cowboy, published in 1903, uses the words in ordinary sentences, and Project Gutenberg hosts the full text.
One passage reads: "before you could say Jack Robinson, our dogies had vamoosed the ranch and were running in half a dozen different directions." Another shows the crew: "the remuda, under Billy Honeyman as horse wrangler, numbered a hundred and forty-two."
Andy Adams is a different person from Ramon F. Adams, who compiled the dictionaries Cowboy Lingo (1936) and Western Words (1944). Ramon Adams offered a "dough-guts" theory for dogie. The American Heritage Dictionary lists it and says the origin remains uncertain.
How do cowboys say hello and friend?
Cowboys say "howdy" for hello and "pardner" or "amigo" for friend. Howdy is a contraction of "how do ye?" found by the 1560s, so it is older than the cowboy. Pardner is the American Heritage Dictionary's regional form of partner, and amigo has been a friendly address in American English since 1837.
Quick answers
What is a cowboy in slang?
A cowboy is a man employed to care for grazing cattle on horseback. Etymonline dates that American sense to 1849 or earlier.
Did Owen Wister write "smile when you say that"?
Wister wrote "When you call me that, SMILE." in The Virginian (1902). The longer version is a later paraphrase. The line is fiction, spoken by a character.
What is Gene Autry's Cowboy Code?
It is a set of rules for behavior that the official Gene Autry site says emerged in the late 1940s. Its first rule says the Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
Does Wyoming have a Code of the West?
Yes. A 2010 Wyoming statute, Enrolled Act No. 7, made the Code of the West official. It includes "Talk less, say more", and credits James P. Owen.
What is a good cowgirl quote?
Dale Evans said, "Cowgirl is an attitude, really." HistoryNet's 2017 article by Linda Wommack is the source used here.
Why do quote lists disagree with each other?
Lists copy each other, and a saying gains a famous name as it travels. Researchers searching old newspapers, Barry Popik and Quote Investigator among them, turned up the 1859, 1805 and 1905 finds.
Bottom line
Use the slang dates with their dictionary named, and use the proven quotes with their book, museum or statute. Call the traditional sayings folk sayings, and hold back any famous name that lacks a source. Where two sources differ, as with hoosegow, give both.
Where to go next
- Cowboy boots
- Vaquero: the Mexican cowboy who shaped the American cowboy
- The history of the cowboy
- Cowboy hat etiquette
Sources: Etymonline (Douglas Harper); American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed.; Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas (Samuel Maverick, Ramon Adams, Andy Adams); Andy Adams, The Log of a Cowboy (1903) and Owen Wister, The Virginian (1902), via Project Gutenberg; Will Rogers Memorial Museum; International Churchill Society, Finest Hour 118; Barry Popik; Quote Investigator (Garson O'Toole); Wyoming Legislature, 2010 Enrolled Act No. 7; GeneAutry.com; HistoryNet (Linda Wommack, 2017); Vista Verde Ranch.
