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Regionalisms
Posted: 03 June 2009 08:07 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 31 ]
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by “that one” I meant ‘holp’.

thanks for the tutorial, I’ll try it next time.

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Posted: 03 June 2009 08:34 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 32 ]
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I took several linguistics courses in graduate school, and it seems that, the more isolated a community is, the more of their original dialect they retain. We had a Scotsman for pastor at one time, and I could hear many similarities between his dialect and the dialect of the Appalachian people. His long “i” was as Southern as Southerner’s I’ve ever heard.

One of my professors worked on what was known as the Linguistic Atlas of America, which studied dialects throughout the country. He said that, somewhere in SC,  the word “yellow” was pronounced with every vowel sound: yelluh, yalluh, yulluh, yillah, etc.

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Posted: 03 June 2009 08:37 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 33 ]
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Way cool!  that’s the kind of stuff that really floats my boat!

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Posted: 03 June 2009 08:38 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 34 ]
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Did you ever see McNeil’s (not sure of spelling) history of English?  (of McNeil/Lehrer)

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Posted: 03 June 2009 08:41 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 35 ]
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“yard” and the “garden” 

I’ve had clients from various parts of Latin America, some of whom use “yarda” for yard and others “jardín.” Same principle. One couple told me that the front was “la yarda” and the back was “el jardín.”

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Posted: 03 June 2009 08:45 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 36 ]
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Did you ever see McNeil’s (not sure of spelling) history of English?  (of McNeil/Lehrer)

No. Missed that one. I’ve read Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue (English English) and Made in America (American English). Both are very good.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 07:29 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 37 ]
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I’ve read Bryson, too.  Engendered some lively discussions, as I was in UK at the time.

I think you could get McNeil at the library.  Well worth the trouble!!

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Posted: 04 June 2009 08:01 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 38 ]
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Barnes and Noble has a paperback copy for $16.00 less member discount. They’re holding it for me. Thanks for the recommendation.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 08:17 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 39 ]
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saparris - 03 June 2009 07:08 PM

Another regionalism

Have you heard the work “holp” used and the past tense of “help”? I had an elderly neighbor who used it that way (“I rubbed it with liniment, and it holp some”).
The usage goes back to Old or Middle English, where “help” was help/holp/holpen.

It’s interesting how relatively isolated regions like the Appalachian Mountains retain so much of the dialect of the old country.

Because part of them are in South Carolina, the land time forgot.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 08:39 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 40 ]
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Forget, Hell! The South in fixin to get ready to rise again, just as soon as we take a notion.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 11:47 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 41 ]
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saparris - 04 June 2009 08:01 AM

Barnes and Noble has a paperback copy for $16.00 less member discount. They’re holding it for me. Thanks for the recommendation.


It was done as a TV series, too.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 01:43 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 42 ]
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I somehow managed to miss the series. Don’t know why. But I’ve rather have the book, which I can enjoy on my own schedule. Also, you can’t fall asleep with the television in your lap.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 06:34 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 43 ]
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I lost the train of thought on this thread.  Think I’ll just sleep on it.

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Posted: 04 June 2009 06:41 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 44 ]
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Here are some examples of Southernisms from Wikipedia. I’ve heard many of these from older, rural people or from living those closer to the Appalachian region.

Use of done as a redundant modal verb
I done told you before.
Use of done (instead of did) as the past simple form of do
I only done what you done told me.
Use of seen replacing saw as past simple form of see.
I seen her first.
Use of other non-standard preterits
I knowed you for a fool soon as I seen you.
Use of was in place of were, or other words regularizing the past tense of be to was.
You was sittin’ on that chair. [also settin’ on that chair]
Use of been instead of have been in perfect tense formations.
I been livin’ here my whole life.
Use of double modals
I might could climb to the top.
Preservation of older English me, him, etc. as reflexive datives.
I’m fixin’ to paint me a picture.
Replacement of have (to possess) with got, or have to with got to.
I got one of them.
I got to get me one, too.
The inceptive get/got to (indicating that an action is just getting started).
I got to talking to him and we ended up talking all night.
Regularization of negative present tense of do to don’t (instead of doesn’t).
John don’t like cake.
Merging of adjective and adverbial forms of related words (quick/quickly)
He’s movin’ real quick.
You sure are real pretty.
I’m right tired.
Saying this here in place of this or this one, and that there in place of that or that one.
This here’s mine and that there is yours.
Using them or them there as a demonstrative adjective or noun replacing those.
See them birds?
Them’s catbirds.
Use of fixin’ to as an indicator of immediate future action
He’s fixin’ to eat.
Existential It in place of There
It’s one lady that lives in town.
Use of ever in place of every.
Everwhere’s the same these days.

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Posted: 05 June 2009 02:29 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 45 ]
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I’m amazed at how difficult I’m finding this.  I guess I just retain stories now, instead of usages

How about “graceful as a pig on ice”?

Most of the examples listed in your last posting, Steve, have become generalized through the country, no?  I mean, none of them sounds unfamiliar.

Luke, where’s the story you promised?

and Steve, sorry, I forgot to clarify that in Boston, a “packy” is the package store, very unlike the use of the same in UK.

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