That's what Aunt Maudine said to her daughter,
cousin Karen. Karen hadn't heard the phrase before. She thought it was an odd thing to say. Any of our older relatives would have thought it odd that Karen didn't know such a commonly used phrase.
Karen had grown-up in the city. None of her friends said anything like, "Rue the day". I'm older. I grew-up
in Mt. Moriah, a north Missouri town that was suspended
in time. So did Aunt Maudine. That's why neither of us thought anything unusual about the word, rue.
While the rest of the nation lived in the mid-twentieth century folks around Mt. Moriah lived happily
in the twilight of the nineteenth.
I heard the expression, "They'll rue the day", frequently.
I heard a lot of expressions that the larger part
of the nation thought of as archaic, if they thought of them at all. Aunt Maudine was more likely to say, 'tis, than to say, it is. She might also say, That's the gist of it, rather than, That's the main part.
Gist, 'tis, and rue, are words still in use, but they aren’t used too often. A few generations from now they may be found only in old books.
My Father used a word that likely came from old English, old French - or old something. The word was: bolexed. Dad was very skilled at impossible repairs. On the rare occasions when something was truly beyond repair, he would say, "This thing's all bolexed-up". When I was younger, I thought it was a word he made-up.
The deep-rooted languages of Scott, Irish, and English extended in time from the 15th century until now across a latitude stretching from Virginia to California. For most of those years they were talking mostly to themselves. Their words, expressions, and pronunciations were increasingly abandoned by the rest of America.
If they were magically transported back to their 15th century origins they would find people speaking a language much the same as themselves - including pronunciation.
Everyone knows a hillbilly says, "vittles", because he doesn't know proper pronunciation is, "victuals".
What they don't know is the old French pronunciation of "victuals" was, "vittles".
I'm happy I had the time-capsule experience of an older age. There's much charm in old words and old ways.
I know there's no way to stop the ongoing evolution of language. I just wish we could slow the process down.
It seems to me devolution describes it better than evolution.
The language of Shakespeare's time had hundreds more words than we have now. We then had words to speak precisely. Now we rely on vapidities like, "You know", "Whatever, and, "kind'a like".
The popular culture will say. "Big deal. So what? Who cares".
They'll rue the day!