The word druthers is an informal American colloquialism meaning one’s choice, preference, or wished-for option.
Noun Usage
- Druthers: A preferred choice or wish. Although plural in form, it can refer to a single wish or multiple desires.
- Example: “If I can’t have my druthers, whatever you decide is fine.”
Idiomatic Phrases
- If I had my druthers: A common conditional phrase meaning “If I had my choice” or “If it were up to me.”
- Example: “If I had my druthers, I’d live by the beach year-round.”
- To have one’s druthers: To get what one prefers or to have freedom of choice.
- Example: “Given his druthers, he’d choose fried chicken over steak every time.”
Grammar & Usage Note
- Fossil Word: Druthers is almost never used as a standard standalone noun today—it survives almost exclusively inside the set idiom “if I had my druthers” or “given [one’s] druthers.”
- Etymology Origin: The word originated as a 19th-century southern American dialect contraction of “would rather” (e.g., “I’d rather” > “I drather” > “druthers”).
Origin of “Druthers”
This American colloquialism has been used since the late 1800s. Druthers is a variant of ‘drathers,’ a rural contraction for ‘I would rather’ where something that ‘a person would rather have’ becomes their ‘drathers.’ In other words, “If I had my drathers” means “If I had the thing I would rather have.”
Drathers is found in print as early as 1870 as in Overland Monthly:
We see some hubbly life, off and on, we did; and if I was a youngster, I ‘drather set up in any perfession but a circus-driver, but a man can’t always have his ‘drathers.
Note the use of the apostrophe showing that the author knew he was using a contraction.
Mark Twain uses ‘druthers’ in Tom Sawyer:
Huck Finn: Well then, I’m as sorry as you are. Any way you druther have it, that is the way I druther have it. He —
Tom Sawyer: There ain’t any druthers about it, Huck Finn; nobody said anything about druthers…
This phrase is still used in certain regions of America, chiefly rural regions of the South. It has become archaic and the word ‘druther’ used alone is rare enough to be considered a fossil word.
Movie and Television Citations
- Man of the Year (2006): Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) uses the phrase while discussing political inclusivity during a talk show interview: “I believe democracy is a collision of ideas. I’m not of the school that if you’re not for us you’re against us. That being said, if I had my druthers, I’d love an all-lesbian cabinet.”
- Rooster Cogburn (1975): Rooster (John Wayne) uses it to politely express his preference to relax rather than hunt down outlaws: “Oh, I’d love to, Winona, but the trail’s too hot. I had my druthers, I’d just pull a cork and jaw with you all night. So long.”
- Elementary episode Step Nine (2013): Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) uses it to criticize Watson’s choice of acquaintance: “Okay, so he’s a restaurateur…” | “No, he’s an indolent man-child, and if I’d had my druthers, you would never have crossed paths with him.”
- Psych episode 65 Million Years Off (2007): Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez) uses it while making excuses for his crude police sketch: “I didn’t have time for shading. There’s no forced perspective. If I had really had my druthers, I would’ve done it in charcoal.”
Sentence Examples
“If I had my druthers, I’d be living in the city but my mother needs me to help her stay on her feet.”
“If I had my druthers, I’d take fried chicken over chicken and dumplings.”
“If I had my druthers I’d be working for myself.”
“You can’t let him fool you. If he had his druthers, you’d be married and in the kitchen the rest of your life.”
Similar and Related Idioms
- If I Had My Way: If events were arranged or decided according to my personal wishes or preferences.
- If it Were Up to Me: If I had the full power, authority, or decision-making responsibility to choose.
- If I Had My Choice: If I were allowed or able to choose freely according to my personal preference.
- If I Had My Say: If my opinion, vote, or judgment were requested or taken into account.