Huckle bearer is a nonexistent word that is claimed to have been used in the South to mean the same as 'pallbearer' during the 1800s. This is based on the claim that the term huckle referred to a coffin handle. This term was made up out of whole cloth by a 'historian' engaged in blatant speculation after the release of the movie Tombstone, where Doc Holliday, played by Val Kilmer, utters the famous line "I'm your huckleberry." The claim is that the real Doc Holliday said 'I'm your hucklebearer." Some also claim that this is the correct line from the movie. It is all complete nonsense. There is no evidence that this term ever existed.
"I'm your huckleberry" is a well-attested English idiom that was used during the 1800s and is still used in some parts of the South today. It probably does not come from Mark Twain's character Huckleberry Finn since it seems to have existed before the novel was published. It means "I'm your man" or "I'm the man for the job."
"I'm your huckleberry" is a well-attested English idiom that was used during the 1800s and is still used in some parts of the South today. It probably does not come from Mark Twain's character Huckleberry Finn since it seems to have existed before the novel was published. It means "I'm your man" or "I'm the man for the job."
by Essential English April 21, 2022
huckle is a handle on a casket, it is synonymous to pall bearer, term was used in the south in th e mid to late 1800's
Tombstone- Doc Holliday "I'm your huckle bearer" - I'm your man. Not huckleberry that says i'm your friend
by i luv joe pesci April 26, 2011
"Huckle Bearer" is a nonsense phrase invented by nincompoops on the internet who didn't understand what Doc Holiday was saying in "Tombstone" when he said "I'm your huckleberry". It comes with a made-up "explanation" that in the mythic Old South, handles on coffins were called "huckles" (they were not), qnd this pall bearers weere called "huckle bearers" (they were not). The idea is as stupid as it is false, and it is entirely false. The term "huckle bearer" was created ex nihilo shortly after the release of "Tombstone" in 1993, and has no history prior to that at all.
by MillwallForever April 6, 2022
Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) in Tombstone says "I'm your huckle bearer" which has been misquoted as "I'm your huckleberry"
by bardnpoet February 25, 2014