The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-03-03
some ODD s0UTHERNISMS.
AFEw EXAMPLES OF QUAINT SAYINGS
IN SOUTH CAROLINA.


(S. Parutee an "DEcis.'')
Some years ago Richard Graut White
wrote II delightfully."- interesting book
on Aineri1aui>ms. He might well
have divided The subject into TWO
parts: Iankceisms and Southcrmisms.
Absolute correctness in prunuuciatiun,
or in the formation Ut sentences, is u
most difficult accomplishment, and
there be, either North or South, who
have reached such degree OF perfection
that no exceptions can be taken by
''curping critics" to their ulterances.
In the mater of pronunciation, the
times are changing, and one can scarce
~ keep pace with the Innovations
being introduced by the leading orthc-
. plsts.
The purpose of this paper is, how
ever, to present, III u succinct way, q
lew OF the quaintliesses of p]rouuncia-
ton and construction held to by the
Southern people as u class. Among
THESE the first tbrt comes to mind i,
'hc custom of emitting the last two
letters in such words as more"
Observation-Disclosures are prol,uuuced
''mo," "tu," and "slo." "Whai
O'Clock is il?' You ask the C%aroiinium,
and ten To one ne tell, You il is ''haif
pas to-" If that happen to be the hour.
Another common Southermism is the
use vi ''likc ~ il" or ''likc" for the
words "as it," ''Shc looked like she
knew me" is i common expression, Or
''siic looked like as if shed die" Til,
Is YER COMMON in Washington, and
IN all the States south of Mason aud
DiXun's line.
The word Sunny" is frequently
used instead OF stiange, and some
times with startling effects. n young
southern -irl was wishing us once,
and u caller was telling OF The death Of
her mother through swallowing II fish
bone. "Oh! wasn't il Gnnny?' OK
claimed Gun visitor ut the close of the
narrative. ~ think OF mean strange"
sad the caller, as soon as she ccovcr-
ia from the astoinslncnt. Our girl
TREND has never used the word cum
ny" since!
If You happen to hear any body say
"fye cheer" you NAV know it is in
tended to mcan ''riglit here" For
Instance: "A South CuruIitian will say
"Whcrc was he at last nigh. ~ and ms
tcllow-citizcn will say, ''ile stuid rye
cheer with me-" DjeW pronounced
III one syllablc-is not "a Russian word
as might be supposed; it means '1u
YOU iieary' and is usually addressed TO
servanss in this form: "IOu, Jim!
Bring in that wood, Njcdrr
sc get TO go" is essentially q Geor-
Sia expression. They say, 800, don't
Tail to come tonight" and the reply
il, "Ivc tried to gcttO go three weeks,
now, so 4 reckon IN be there t'ni.hl."
The expression do DON'T is heard in
Georgia and South Carolina, but rare
~ elsewhere. One OF the most laugh
able things You ever heard is the PEE
''"Jout." Ii is impossible to express
the South Carulinian's pronunciation.
phonctically. 1t sounds like 06uOut-
tables "Quarc,' tor SOU cr,' is
another word. The use Of "r,c O.
TOR "piesuine" is said to have urcn
derived from the Yankcrs, as was the
expression "rlght smart" for the word
"much."
sin imitation of English, perhaps, is
the custom of say ing "Tvc got IL for
81 have it," and the general use of the
word "gOt" where it is quite uniccus-
sary. Also English il the use OF
"~obligcd," a. "I'm obliged to do il"
for ~ must do it;""hc is Obliged to
co." for 'hc must go" Ambiguity of
expression IL 100 prevalent in Dixie,
aud too many people saci iticc sense
for sound.
LOw-couii'ry people and the resi-
dents of middle South Carolina IA,
"gee-a'niem" for 'gnrden,'' aud "gee.
ya'd' for "guarn"-w with the hard
words as card" %''.car"' and "curt':
INTO which is introduced the sound OF
"kec," to take the place Of The first
|consonant, thus: ''hee-urd," "hee-ar,"
"kee-art.'
The use of delightful for delicious,
in such a sentence as: "rhc ice cream
in delightful" is very common. ''Pret-
~" is Il word very often mi-used, for
instance: "Isn't This u pretty day P
and this error is Il yer. general one.
North Carolinians say the scenery j.,
'prctty"-mcaning pic, urcsquc; the
day is ''prct'y"-mcauing fine: and
that a PERSONS arc "pretty"
meaning weil-bred.
"YOu uU," or, as it is abbreviated
"y'nN," is one OF the IN ST ridiculuu>
Of all the Southcruisms | can call to
mind. Ii usually means two or more
persons, but is sometimes used when
only one person is meant. For in
stance a caller OIL trking her de parturc
says: "I'all must come to sec us"
She means the lady, upon whom she ia
calling, and her husband may call.
The Yankees have quite rs many
ridiculous figures of speech us those l
have mentioned as peculiarly Southern
aud it will be reserved for another
paper TO present the oddities Of Yankee
conversation. In the meantime every
tr~ue-hearted Snutherner who reads
these lines will declare that he never
used any of these So~uthern.sms, and
will be just as honest i'm his belief D.
the Charlcstonian when lie VOWS that
he never says ''diS away" for ''lhi-
way and "dut a-way" for "that way"
DIR. Bcl1inge Case.
The case against DR.. Amos N. Bel.