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[SIZE=10pt]Fer all y'all foolish nuff ta live somewheres else![/SIZE]
No reason to be ‘askeered’ of colorful Appalachian dialect
Point Blank column
By John A. Blankenship
Register-Herald reporter
You may recall a column we wrote a couple of months ago about the Appalachian dialect, or the colorful use of language among local mountaineers.
We received several e-mails, many from readers who wished to share some of their own experiences and memories on the subject; other e-mails contained items currently posted on the Internet.
Some of the rich sayings popular among our ancestors are still in use today.
A-mite means a little bit of something.
Arthur-itis is the painful aching of the joints.
Askeered is being frightened beyond words.
Battree is used to start your truck.
Someone who is getting too big for his britches is called “briggity,” as in “Now, ain’t he briggity!”
Then, of course, an epithet for an egotistical person in the hollow was “briggity britches.”
The milk is blinked or “blinky” when it’s spoiled. A witch sometimes would “blink” her eyes at your cow and the milk would turn sour.
And while Bondo is actually a brand name, it has become a generic name for all fiberglass and putty based body filler. If a vehicle is full of bondo, it probably has been wrecked a few times.
If a person was educated, then he was considered “book red.”
People were “borned” back in the day.
You often referred to your brethren at the church as your “brother’n.”
Your buddy would bite off a “chaw” of tobacco, or it might take several sticks of gum to make a “good chaw.”
“Chill bumps” is what you got at the movie theater or when someone left the door open.
When company came to your house, you offered them a “cheer” to sit in. “Clever folks” were of the hospitable nature.
If you developed stiffness in the back, or a “crick” in your neck, you probably went to see the “choirpractor.”
When you got “thursty” in hot weather, you might purchase yourself a “Co-cola” or “Co-co cola,” even if it was some other brand of soft drink.
If you got sick, you might have a “colt” in the head.
Kids belonging to your parents’ sisters or brothers were your “cuzints.”
If a person was no longer among the living, then he was, of course, “daid.”
You placed flowers on his grave on “Decoration Day.”
If you buy a lottery ticket on Saturday or Wednesday, you wait up for the “draw-ling,” a word still used frequently by the WV lottery announcer.
West Virginia begins with a capital “dub-ya.”
Sick folks are “eat up,” meaning completely infected, and some cars are “eat up” with rust. In the past tense, they were “ate up.”
You let your friends borrow money if you had any “extry.”
Occasionally, there was a “far” in the “farhouse.”
You were on “fast time” during Daylight Savings Time or making “fast time” when you courted a local girl successfully.
You wouldn’t leave your house if there were snow “floories” or it was “spitten” snow.
You might even become “flusterated” because you couldn’t get over to see your “grandchurn” who lived in another town.
You headed to the “tall timbers” when it came a “gully washer,” because you knew the water would probably get up over your “haid.”
The word “haint” had two meanings: one referred to a ghost (from haunt) and the other meaning “I haint gonna doit, neither!”
“His people” and “her people” meant relatives were coming in.
When you found a job, you wrote home to tell “your people” that you’d been “hard.”
If you didn’t find work soon, you could get pretty “het up” (heated up, flusterated, or upset).
If you called your dog, you said, “Dawg, I sed come heya.” (This is not to be confused with the proper usage of folks from High Point, NC: “Oh, do tell thaaat purty li’l puppy to commme heeaaah!)
No reason to be ‘askeered’ of colorful Appalachian dialect
Point Blank column
By John A. Blankenship
Register-Herald reporter
You may recall a column we wrote a couple of months ago about the Appalachian dialect, or the colorful use of language among local mountaineers.
We received several e-mails, many from readers who wished to share some of their own experiences and memories on the subject; other e-mails contained items currently posted on the Internet.
Some of the rich sayings popular among our ancestors are still in use today.
A-mite means a little bit of something.
Arthur-itis is the painful aching of the joints.
Askeered is being frightened beyond words.
Battree is used to start your truck.
Someone who is getting too big for his britches is called “briggity,” as in “Now, ain’t he briggity!”
Then, of course, an epithet for an egotistical person in the hollow was “briggity britches.”
The milk is blinked or “blinky” when it’s spoiled. A witch sometimes would “blink” her eyes at your cow and the milk would turn sour.
And while Bondo is actually a brand name, it has become a generic name for all fiberglass and putty based body filler. If a vehicle is full of bondo, it probably has been wrecked a few times.
If a person was educated, then he was considered “book red.”
People were “borned” back in the day.
You often referred to your brethren at the church as your “brother’n.”
Your buddy would bite off a “chaw” of tobacco, or it might take several sticks of gum to make a “good chaw.”
“Chill bumps” is what you got at the movie theater or when someone left the door open.
When company came to your house, you offered them a “cheer” to sit in. “Clever folks” were of the hospitable nature.
If you developed stiffness in the back, or a “crick” in your neck, you probably went to see the “choirpractor.”
When you got “thursty” in hot weather, you might purchase yourself a “Co-cola” or “Co-co cola,” even if it was some other brand of soft drink.
If you got sick, you might have a “colt” in the head.
Kids belonging to your parents’ sisters or brothers were your “cuzints.”
If a person was no longer among the living, then he was, of course, “daid.”
You placed flowers on his grave on “Decoration Day.”
If you buy a lottery ticket on Saturday or Wednesday, you wait up for the “draw-ling,” a word still used frequently by the WV lottery announcer.
West Virginia begins with a capital “dub-ya.”
Sick folks are “eat up,” meaning completely infected, and some cars are “eat up” with rust. In the past tense, they were “ate up.”
You let your friends borrow money if you had any “extry.”
Occasionally, there was a “far” in the “farhouse.”
You were on “fast time” during Daylight Savings Time or making “fast time” when you courted a local girl successfully.
You wouldn’t leave your house if there were snow “floories” or it was “spitten” snow.
You might even become “flusterated” because you couldn’t get over to see your “grandchurn” who lived in another town.
You headed to the “tall timbers” when it came a “gully washer,” because you knew the water would probably get up over your “haid.”
The word “haint” had two meanings: one referred to a ghost (from haunt) and the other meaning “I haint gonna doit, neither!”
“His people” and “her people” meant relatives were coming in.
When you found a job, you wrote home to tell “your people” that you’d been “hard.”
If you didn’t find work soon, you could get pretty “het up” (heated up, flusterated, or upset).
If you called your dog, you said, “Dawg, I sed come heya.” (This is not to be confused with the proper usage of folks from High Point, NC: “Oh, do tell thaaat purty li’l puppy to commme heeaaah!)
