I'll be your huckleberry ...

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Karanas

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Ever since Val Kilmer utttered this phrase while portraying Doc Holiday in the movie Tombstone, I've been intrigued by it's actual meaning.
While driving on the local interstate yesterday, I noticed a P/U truck (GA plates) sporting a bumper sticker with the same statement, bordered by a revolver.
Can anybody shed any light on the origin and true meaning of this phrase?
:confused:
 
All I can say is...

...thank the Gods for Google!

Who would'a thunk it might go back to King Arthur??? Hmmm. Sounds fishy to me. Historians ahoy! We might have a mythoid on our hands.

-J.
 
Alternative find... Tom Sawyer Connexion

This one sounds a little more likely.

Bumper Sticker
I'll Be Your Huckleberry

"I'll be your Huckleberry" was used most recently in the movie Tombstone. Doc Holiday told Johnny Ringo, "I'm your Huckleberry", meaning he would play his game, whatever it was.

It all started with Tom Sawyer who had a friend named Huckleberry Finn.
Huck was Tom's buddy and would do anything for, or with, him; from life threatening to fun. So wear it with pride. Let everyone know you are a sporting fellow
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"Huckleberry" was slang for a rube, a hick, a sucker, someone that a "huckster" separated from their cash, the guy that stepped forward from the crowd to get skinned by the guy at the three-card monte table.
 
Went down to Tombstone awhile ago, and this came up while we were talking to some of the gun fighter actors. They all seemed to think that undertakers were called "Huckleberrys" in the old days.......
 
Having just moved to the inland northwest (spokane) I know what a huckleberry is. It is a purplish berry that resembles a blueberry and is selling for 25 dollars a gallon.
So, I will go along with Tamara, anybody that pays 25 dollars a gallon for berries must be a
huckleberry

bob

http://www.nwplants.com/huck/
 
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To continue along with Tamara's definition, A "Huckleberry" would be plucked of his goods, or like the real berry, picked from the bush.

So if one would say; "I'm your Huckleberry." he was saying that he was ready to play whatever game you wanted and, perhaps, the results would not be what you intended.
 
From what I've heard (and this is the most plausible explanation I've encountered), Tombstone got the quote wrong. He didn't say "I'll be your huckleberry," he said "I'll be you hucklebearer," which was slang for pallbearer. Of course with his southern drawl, hucklebearer would sound a lot like huckleberry.

Ryan
 
If I were to make one of my famous Scientific Wild-@ssed Guesses (tm), I would say that there probably isn't a literal translation of "I'm your huckleberry."

English can, at times, be a wonderfully poetic language, with phrases meaning things that the individual words don't add up to.

For instance, when we say: "Let's roll!" do we mean that we're about to get down on the ground and roll our bodies? No.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Are we expecting seismic or intestinal vibrations? Nope.

When Al Bundy says: "Let's rock." we don't expect him to sway back-and-forth, do we?

These examples show the wonderful metaphorical and poetic side of English that sneaks in every once in a while. The phrases mean something other than what you'd expect from the individual words.

I would imagine that, "I'm your huckleberry" is probably the 19th Century version of the above examples.

LawDog
 
"I'm your huckleberry ..."

To the Group -

I apologize in advance for resurrecting this old & moldy thread but I recently watched Tombstone and was reminded of one of my all-time favorite movie lines!

"Huckleberry" was slang for a rube, a hick, a sucker, someone that a "huckster" separated from their cash, the guy that stepped forward from the crowd to get skinned by the guy at the three-card monte table.
Click to expand...
To continue along with Tamara's definition, A "Huckleberry" would be plucked of his goods, or like the real berry, picked from the bush. So if one would say; "I'm your Huckleberry." he was saying that he was ready to play whatever game you wanted and, perhaps, the results would not be what you intended.
Click to expand...
To my way of thinking, these two explainations get it right.

Regardless of the meaning, was Doc Holliday a badass or what!?! ;)
 
and for you country music fans.....

Toby Keith has a song speaking about his girl/wife or significant other.....
He too uses the phrase "I will be your huckleberry" :D

maybe in a different context?
 
Doc was soooo cool in Tombstone that every so often I find myself in front of the mirror wearing a long duster, My coach gun peering from under the front flap of the coat. My girl thinks i'm nuts.
I'm thinking i deserve a new nickname. Hmmmmm RINGO
 
Literally translated, Let us play. Remember the scene when Doc meets Ringo and shoots him above the ocular window. Wyatt enters the scene and Doc says that Ringo was no fun. A huckleberry was, is and always will be slang. Today we say playa. Same thang. LOL
 
I'm Your Hucklebearer is the correct phrase.

Doc said, according to Kilmer and history, "I'm your Hucklebearer". A hucklebearer is an individual who carried coffins at a funeral in the old south. Arguable, but likely true. If you listen to the phrase in the movie, it is clear that the character Doc Holliday says, "I'm your hucklebearer".
 
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