December 10, 1996

huckleberry

One of my favorite movies is Tombstone. It has a all-star cast headed up by Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer (who gives a fine performance as Doc Holliday). In the movie the phrase "I'm your huckaberry" is used several times. What does it imply?

Huckleberry (the "huckaberry" version in the movie is a dialectal pronunciation) has had a few different senses referring to people. One is simply 'a man; fellow'--this was used very generally, the way "guy" is today. Another is 'a foolish, inept, or inconsequential person; jerk'. But the phrase one's huckleberry has the special meaning of 'the very person for a particular requirement; the right person'. I'm your huckleberry means 'I'm the right man for you'.

These senses of huckleberry develop around the time of the Civil War. The phrase one's huckleberry is found in various sources from the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, showing that the use in the movie, set in 1881, is historically accurate.