[eloy]

"A southerner knows that "fair to middlin" comes from grades of cotton."

Did yer Grandeddy tell you that, or are you just that dang old?

[arjay]

I grew up in Lubbock, Tx and my uncle was a cotton farmer. I am getting old, 61, but not dang old yet.

I have always assumed that is where the expression fair to middlin' comes from because that is the way cotton is graded.