The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-03-03
SuME ODD SOUTHERNISMS.
AFEw EXAMPLES OF oUArNTsAyINGs
In SOUTH CAROLINA.
Our Ridiculous Figures Of speech and how
they Look in Priht--Somo OF tito Ille
Eunc,es of n P~hiiogosist.
Is. Pa,dec IN "Dicis.'')

Is. Paydee IN "Dicie.'')
Some years ago Richard Grant White
wrote Il delightfully."- interesting book
on Amcritani>ms. ir might well
nave dividcd the ,Abjcct NO Two
paris: Gankcclsiis AMI ouuIhcruisms.
Absolute correctness in pronuuCiuti"I,
VI IN ihr io.niati'n oi ecntciiccs, Is Il
uioNt u'ificull accomplishment, ANA
tnrrr bc, either North or South, who
Iavc reached such II degree OF pcrtcctiun
INA: 40 exceptions can nc taken by
''carping critics" To their utlrruucc>.
In The matter OF pronunciation, the
times are chan.ing, and one scarce
!! Keep pace with the innovations
being introduced by tho leading ortnc-
oplsts.
The purpose of this paper is, how
ever, To present, IN Il succinct way, q
few OF Tho qualItnesSus OF p]runnncla-
ton ana construction held to bl the
Southern people ~ u class. Among
these tho first ilIrt comes t. mint is
the custom of emitting the las, two
letters i'll such words us more"
"iour,'"store"-w hichare pronounced
"lno," "iu," and "eto." "Wnat
O'Clock is it?" You ask the Curollnian,
and ten to one he tell, YOU it is "half
pas TO-" If that happen To DC the hour.
Another couimon Suuthurnism is the
use OF 'likc rs H." or "likc" for the
words "as it," ''Shc looked like she
knew me" is IL common expression, or
"si,e looked ike as If she'd die" This
Is very common in Washington, and
III all the States south Of Mason aud
DiXun's line.
The word %"funny" is frequently
used Instead of strange, and some
times with startling effects. A young
Southern &irl was visiting us ouce,
aud u caller was telling OF The death ol
ner mother through swallowing Il fish
bone. "Oh! wasn't 1t .funny?' cx-
claimed our visitor at the close of the
narrative. ~ think You mcan strange"
SAID the caller, as SOON as she r%ecovcr-
ia from the astonIsnIent. Our g,rl
friend has never used the word "iun-
ny" since!
If You happen to hear anybody say
rye cheer" you NAV know it is in
tended to mean 'right here" For
instance: a South Curuliuian will say:
"Where was he ut last night, Z" aud ms
tellow-citizcn will say, ''lIe slaid rye
cheer with me-" Djccr pronounced
III one sylluble-is not Russian word
as might be supposed; it means .'ho
YOU hcar?' and is usually addressed 10
>ervan:s in this form: You, jim!
Bring in that wood, djcarp
ITO get TO go" is essentially q Geor-
gia expression. They saw, 500, don't
TAIL TO come tonight" and the reply
is, "l've tried to gettO 90 three weeks,
now, 80 L reckon IN be there t'might.''
The expression 'Do dOn't'' is heard in
Georgia and South Carolina, but rare
~ elsewhere. One OF the most laugh
able things yon ever heard is the pc
culiar pronunciation of the word
"0bott. 1t is impossible to express
the South Caroiinian's pronunciation,
phonetically. 1t sounds like 0baOut-
pronounced very quickly in three ~
tables. "Quarc," Tor "qn or," is
another word. The use Of "r.,c @
Tor "presulne" is said to have been
derived from the Yankees, as was ,hc
expression fright smart" for the word
"much."
"ln imitation of English, perhaps, i
the custom of Sd! Ing i've got il" ion
~ v it, amt The general use of Tn,
word got where it is quite unncccs,
sary. Also English i the use OF
"nbli9cd," a. "l'm obliged to do it,
for II uiu>t ito t;""hc is obliged tt
co." for she must go" Ambiguity oI
expression il 100 prevalent IN i'ixic
aud too many people sacrifice scust
for sound.
Low-counlry people and the resi-,
dents Of middle South Carolina 81,
"gee-arlem" for ''gardeu,' and "yee
sound of .g.5 So, too, with such
words as "card," scar" and "cart''
into which is introduced the sound OF
"kec," to take the place OF the first
~conspnant, thus: "kee-uy,d," "kce-nr,'
"kee-dTt."
The Use of delightful for delicious,
in such Il sentence as: "rhc ice ca zen
is delightful" is very "Prrl.
ty" Is a word very often mi>uscd, fOl
instance: "Isn't this u pretty day ?
and this error is Il very general one.
NortA Car"linians say the scenery is
"prctty"-mcaning picturesque; the
day ia ''pretry"-mrauing fine; and
that Il persons manners are "urctly'
meaning wcll-bred.
YOU aU," or, rs it is abbreviated
''y'uU," is one Of the m 'st ridiculuu.
OF all the SouthernismS | can call to
mind. II usually means two or more
persons, but is sometimes used when
only N person is meant. For in.
stance q caller on trking her dc Jarture
says: "Y'all must come to sec u.s.
She NEAR the lady, hpuI whom she is
calling, and her husband may call.
The Yankees have quite us mauy
ridiculous figures of speech AZ those ]
have mentioned rs peculiarly Southern
and it will he reserved for another
| paper 10 prcsen; The oddities oi Yankee
conversation. In the meantime every
true-hearted Snulhrrner who reads
these lines will declare that he never
used any of these SOuthcrn.sms, aud
" i'll be just az honest in his belief D.
the Charleslonian when he VOWS that
he v says "dis a.wny" for ''tili>
way and ''d0t away" for ''tliut way
.->S~---
DR.. Bcilinge' Case.
The case against DR.. Amos N. Bel