The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-15
TOUNGE SLIPS.
HOW soUTHERNERs MISS 1T
4 STUDY OF WORDS-
Kate Fields Vashrngton J

1i!~[, the CDAt'-'t VIZ"
esu.cIalIv in the impresslOnabie
periOd Of childhood; second, Tie
carclrssncse which characterize
warm climates. Low latitude IN
America. particularly on the easter n
sca-board. seem to have different
effect on temperament from the sane
mean temperament IN Eulol e.
There warmth produces languor, an
infinite campOsurt, a fOnduess for
sensuous trihing. Here, with su :
den. violent and almost lncesSaIt
change from cold TO hot ana wet To
dry, the result is nervousness, rest
lesSness. A morbid eagernesS TO ie
off with one thing and on with
anOtheI--In short, hurry and worry.
Possibly, too, there are physlologl-
cal effects of climate to be taken
INTO account; though IL may be that
long habit is accountable for tie
ease with which certain improper
sounds are made and the almost
Impossibihty of producing others.
Not only is the initial in unac-
cented words dropped, as is mole
or less the case eyeryW here, but e
in slurled die" or "me' becomes
y; as, "He saw y (he) couldn't ar
rive IN time This, as we'll as
drOpping-Or slurrlng till it is
tantamount to dr0pping-the final
Il in "wlnd," "hand," etc, and the
final 4 in going" "walking," etc,
are errors OF which we are usually
conscious at the time, and to which
most Southerne;s VIII plead guilty.
But there are much more glazing
errors which We commit without
ceasm2 ana without being at all
aware OF 1t. Thus, if the an "king, -
'.rng," "tAing," "wlng," "sing,'
"st1ing" and countless similar ones,
does not becom" e, it certainly be-
comes very suspicious
We SID, and sin unequlvocally,
over another and almost an equally
large class Of words. With Us Oil
spells "awn;" "cOfTte" becomes
''cawfy," 'Iong" "lawng," "s.amp'
"swawmpy," "croSs" "craws," "Bo
ton" "BawstOn," "John" "Jawn,
"gone" "gawn," and SO on without
end.
There is another class Of words
whose mispronunciatiol is almo, I
equally marked and much more
widely prevalent, being by 70
means confined to the South, thCug b
worse here than elsewhere. |
mean those IN which is unIaw -
falIy interpOlated. Thus "dpar' or
"deer" becomes dyer" or, more ex,
actly "dyeah;" shear" or "here,'
"hyeah:" "'fear,' "fyeah;" 'nt&r, .
'nyeah;7 care" "cyare;;" 'ea.''
often, but rot always, "yeab." A
few words that | can now recall as
being thus corrupted are "appeal, -
"tear," "beer," "bler," "mele,"
"steer' and "veer," and there 4re
doubtless others.
Ia average Southern society t.
give "otl, ''cotltt " '',iear," "care,"
tbeic Websferlan sound would be
deemed the height Of affect alton
"a, indeed, in one to the manner
born it would be. But there is
reason 10 believe that the Gust, 10
of lntefpolatlng the q is slowly dis.
appearing. Thirty years ago there
were plenty of old people who said
"gyarden,'. "cyars," etc, eirors
which no even haIt-educated person
would now think of cOmn:ttlnr.
But 1t viii lie many a day before
the last intruding takes its de.
paIture. 1t is no little consolation
to lelieve that it Will not make its
exit ahead Of me; for not only would
speech be painful to produce, but
almost equally painful to listen to.
There Is still another class OF
words which, during my own recol-
lection, have undergone no little
change, A decade or so ago, "hog''
was pronounced "hawg;' Iog"
"lawg," "fog" "faBg," a great deal
more commonly than is now the
case. But there Is one word at
which we still draw the line. No
wCi'-regnlated Southerner conld
possibly say "dog." If he did
some terrible retrlbatlon would
surely over take him-"dawg" be-
ing, by kind Of tacit common con.
sent, regarded as the shibboleth of
Southernism. The Northern. or
rather the New England pronuncia-
tlon-"d0G-r-g," or something yery
IKE l7-makes our flesh creep like
walking on broken glass, So we a.
VOID even the appearance of evil and