Where I Was: A True Story

Do you remember a time and place when you came across a favourite expression? For me it was the time I was in Detroit many years ago and what I overheard. Then the Motor City was beaten down and well past its bustling prime of big engined cars and bigger than life ambitions. But its citizens were as nice as I'd ever met, and I've always wished them the best. Anyway, I was walking downtown along Woodward Avenue past a haberdashery that put on a sidewalk sale of men's suits and shoes. I heard a weary shop keeper nasally brush off a pestering customer with: "Money talks, bullshit walks."

I've liked the rhyme pattern he spoke so much I associate the expression with Detroit almost as much as I associate the city with the sounds of Motown. Life is funny. "Money talks, bullshit walks."