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In the Netflix film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, there is a tune called When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings, which contains these lines:

When they wrap my body
In the thin linen sheet,
And they take my six ounce
Pull the boots from my feet...

What does “my six ounce” mean here? I’ve searched for the phrase on the Internet and asked an American friend who is a native speaker, but with no result. Is “my six ounce” an established phrase in English?

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  • 7
    A quick Google search of the previous line gives at least one YouTube video which has “and they take my six irons”, which makes more sense (clearly a reference to guns). – Janus Bahs Jacquet Dec 1 '18 at 10:07
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's based on a mishearing or transcription error. – Jim Dec 15 '18 at 4:55
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I do not think it is "six ounce", but, rather, six irons.

"Six irons" would be 6 round revolvers.

One hears what one hears, I might be in error, but, I do not think so.

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    Well, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. – Hot Licks Dec 9 '18 at 2:37
  • @Hot Licks... I agree that is often the case. I tried very hard to hear what was there. – J. Taylor Dec 9 '18 at 2:41
  • youtu.be/wzUEL7vw60U – Hot Licks Dec 9 '18 at 2:46
  • @Hot Licks...Simon and Garfunkel, not really my choice for listening, and, this rendition was somewhat distorted. – J. Taylor Dec 9 '18 at 2:52
  • Oh, come now! J. Taylor is built on Simon and Garfunkel! – Hot Licks Dec 9 '18 at 2:58
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My Netflix captioning says "thin linen" and "six irons". I hear "bindlin'" but "six irons" sounds like what actor Tim Blake Nelson is, in fact, saying.

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I would have thought that he said 'six irons' as well. But, when you watch the movie with subtitles, it clearly says 'six ounces.' Maybe just a mistake on the end of the subtitler?

Also, in the scene where the banker is getting shot at and yelling "Pan shot!" the subtitles say 'Bad shot!' the first time and 'Pan shot!" every time after that. Looks to me like this is a bad transcription job.

(Watching on Netflix)

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    jdoe, without some authoritative source, the facts may not be known. Welcome toEnglish Language & Usage – J. Taylor Dec 9 '18 at 3:16
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I think that they may be referring to his hat (Stetson approx. 6 ounces). just a guess, but opposite end to boots

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  • Thank you for your guess! I haven’t thought of a hat and it looks like you are right here. – Sergey Dec 10 '18 at 13:05
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    I’m confused. This answer is rated -2, but it’s the right answer. What does that say about the reliability of voting merit? – Richard Z Dec 15 '18 at 2:51
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    He didn’t just like it. It’s objectively the correct answer, no? Surely there should be a difference. – Richard Z Dec 15 '18 at 3:15

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