The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-10-11
THE SOUTHERN DIALECT.
Peculiar Idioms That Take tho Place
OF straightout Dictionary English.


OF straightout Dictionary English
Among the peculiarities Of our dia-
lect is the putting Of the defining word
before the object defined, as that ere
man" for "that man there" 'that ere
book" for "this book here" These
expressions must sound strange in cul-
tivatcd ears accustomed to Bostonian
English, and, yet there are several
millions of people who use them con-
stantly. stop" for ''lcave me alone"
is peremptory, and conveys the exact
meaning of the speaker. In the same
way quit" or drop" or 'let" are
used. For instance, one will say drop
it" or "drap it," as the expression Is
frequently used, meaning "say no more
about it." Hold on means to stay
proceedings, and "go it." with a pc
culiar information. means Ego on in
your own way, l have nothing more to
say" Get up" is understood rs de-
mand to move along. ''lt's shore to
be so" means that the assertion or the
existing circumstances are, without a
doubt, exactly as stated. ITO put out"
side. but to extinguish the light. To
"holler" is to cry aloud. and l think
there is. not more expressive word in
the language. To ''cry" in com
mon parlancc means Ito weep" while,
according to the dictionaries. it may
mean a variety of sounds of the voice.
1t is never used among the country
people in any other sense than to weep.
They have different word for other
noises, as yell. shrill cry; whoop, a
full-sounded cry; boiler. sort of cross
between the two, as used in common
with either word, etc. The rather pug
nacious expression "beat him all
holler," however, means that the one
alluded to first is far superior to the
other. Occasionally the rustic drifts
into a redundancy of expression quite
surprising. He says, 'his'n. ''her'n,"
'their'n. equivalent to "his own"
"their own" instead of simply Ibis, p"
"hers," ''theirs." BY this he seems to
impress the idea of proprietership by
the addition Of the word Gown" The
word split" to divide, is used as ''cut
down" is to diminish or decrease.
"Tolerably well'' means moderately
WE'LL" These words and phrases are
all good English to those who use Them
constantly, and you would be surprised
to know just how many people use
them constantly. There is one little
remnant of cockneyism that is observa-
BILE in the language of the common
people. This-the leaving off the aspir-
ate. Besides I've, we've they've,
which can hardly be placed in this class,
because "I'll." we'll" and they'll"
show the same contraction of the auxili-
AIRY verb in the same way. ! have
noticed that the pronouns suffer most
from the process of decapitation. .Is."
"im," and &C." for "his, "him." and
She" are examples. Another peculiar
thing is the prefixing of "a to active
-"ahuntin' ''afishin," "arun-
nin'," "awalkin'," and similar in
stances. All these peculiarities are
noticeable in southern dialect, and
many of them are common to all En-
glsh-speaking people. As for real
straightout dictionary English you will
hunt long distance before you are
able to secure enough strictly accurate
speakers to make up snug dinner
party, and when you have secured
them you may safely address every one
of them as professor. Albania Consti-
[uki0u.