The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-09
Some Odd southernisms.
Is. Pardee, in "Dixir."l

Is. Pardee, in "Dixic.")
Some, years ago Richard Grant White wrote
a delightfully."- interesting book on American
isms. He might we'll have divided the smb-
ject into two parts: Yankeeisms and South
erniSins. Absolute correctness in pronuncia-
tiun, or in the formation of sentences, is a
most difficult accomplishment, and few there
BE-, either North or South, how have reached
such II perfection that no exceptions can be
taken by "carping critics" to their utterunces.
In the matter of pronunciation, one can
scarcely keep pace with the innovations being
introduced by the leading ortheOpistS.
The purpose OF this paper ia, however, to
present, in IL succinctway. u few ofthe quaint
nesses OF pronunciation and construction
held to by the Southern people as ii class.
Among these the first that comes To mind is
the custom of emitting the last two letters in
such words as more Store 'four.'-which
are pronounced mo- 'sto,' and fn.' What
O'Clock is it"' YOU ask the Carnliniun, and
ten To one he tells you it is half pas TO- if
that happens to be the hour.
Another common SouthcrniSm is the use of
like As it, or like for the words 'as if 'Sle
looked like she knew me- is a common expr,s-
This is very common in Washington, and i'm
nll the States south Of Mason and Dixon's
line
The word funny is frequently used. i'll
stead ct strange, and sometimes with start
ling effects. \ young Southern girl was WIS.,
iting MS once, aud Il caller was telling of the
death of her mother through swallowing IL
fish bone. ooh vas IT j. funny q exclaimed
our visitor, al the ct"se of the NARRATIVES. Il
think yon mean strange said the CALLER, as
soon as she recovered from H.; establishment.
Our girl friend has never used the word fun
NY since.
If You happen to hear anybody say rye
cheer you may know it is intended to- mean
right here For Instance: 4 Scuih Caro-
linian will say 'Whrrc was he at lust night?'
and his t:llow-citizen will say. 'lIe staii rye
cheer with me- Djcar-pronoumccd in one
syliablc-is not Il Russian word, as might be
supposed it means do You hear" and is
usually addressed to servants in this form ::
You, Jim! Bring in that wood, djcar.'
II" get to 60 is essentially II Georgia cx-
preston. They SAY, Do, don't fail to come to-
60 three weeks, now, so 1 reckon III be there
tnight.' The expression DO don't is heard
in Georgia and South Carolina. but rarely
elsewhere: One of the most laug,able things
you ever heard Is the pronunciation of the
word 'absut:' 1t is impossible to express the
South Carolina pronunciation, phonetically.
sounds like ahaout'-pronnunccd very
quickly i'll three syllables. 'Quarc,' for queer
is another word. The use of reckon for pre-
sumo is said t" have b,en derived from the
Yankees, as was the expression right smart
for the word much
In imitation of English, perhaps. is the
custom of saying 'I'vc got it TO-" i have it,
and the general use of the word got where
- t"'N . NlSV IIuStISl Is I'LL
use OF obliged as I'm obliged to do H. for
i must do it, The il obliged to CO. for he
must co. Ambiguity If expression is too
prevalent in Dixie, too many people sacrifice
sense for sound.
Low country people and the residents Of
of middle South Carolina say gee arden for
garden gee yard for 'guard'-with the
hard sound of g. So, 200, with such words
as card 'cnr' and Cart, into which is intro
duced tho sound Of knee to take the place of
the first c"nsonant, thus: 'kec ard, 'kce arr
'kcc art
The use Of delightful for d, II .ions, in such
II sentence ~ AZ: 'Thc ice cream i delight
full is very common. Pretty is II word very
often n'lsuscd, Tor Instances: Isn't this a
pretty day and this error is Il very general
one. North Car"linians SAY the scenery is
pretty meaning picturesque: the day is
'pretty'-mcaning tine; aud tlnt persons
manners are 'pretty'--mcaning wei, bread. A..
Ynn ALL or, as it tx abbreviated, wall Is
one OF tn. most ridiculous of allthe Southern
isnls l cun call to mind. 1t usually meaus
two or more PERSONS, but is sometimes used
when only one person is meant. For instance
n caller, on taking her departure, says: 'Y'all
must come to see u.s. She means the lady.
upon whom she is calling, and her husband
MAY call.
The Yankees have quite as many ridiculous
figures of speech AS those | have mentioned
az peculiarly Southern, and it will be resurv-
ed tor another paper to present the oddities Of
I hnkee conversation. In the meantime every
true hearted Southcrner who reads these
lines will declare that he never used anv of
these S0uthernisms, and will be lust as hon
est in his belief Ms the Charlestnnian when he
vows that he never says dis way for this
way aud dat IL way for that way