A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“Don’t be a chaser, be the one who gets chased. You are the tequila, not the lime” (3/28)
“Shoutout to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
“Thank you, ATM fees, for allowing me to buy my own money” (3/27)
“Anyone else boil the kettle twice? Just in case the boiling water has gone cold…” (3/27)
“Shout out to ATM fees for making me buy my own money” (3/27)
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Entry from August 08, 2010
“Serious as a snake bite” (“Serious as a snakebite”)

“Serious as a snake bite” (or “serious as a snakebite”) means very serious, indeed. A snake bite could cause serious illness or death—and Texas has plenty of snakes.
 
The phrase “serious as a snakebite” has been cited as a Texas expression by at least 1996.
 
 
25 February 1996, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Piney Woods history buffs talk Texan” by Kent Biffle:
Some Texas expressions are plain foolishness. Others are serious as a snakebite.
 
13 December 1996, Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, “Cowboy Kudos,” pg. 8:
Congratulations, Cowboy. When we say you deserved to lasso the award, we’re serious as a snake bite.
     
Google Books
One tough Texan
By M. J. Rodgers
Toronto: Harlequin Books
1997
Pg. 148:
“You’re not serious.”
“Just as serious as a snake bite.”
   
Google Groups: alt.support.tall
Newsgroups: alt.support.tall
From: Margaret


Date: 1999/09/30
Subject: Re: Incredible shrinking bathrobe
 
Linda, I was ‘serious as a snakebite’, as they say in West Texas!

Posted by {name}
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Sunday, August 08, 2010 • Permalink


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