jeet chet

[Dennis R. Preston]

I think (but I haven't seen it for a while, and, as Ellen Johnson
suggests, it is a bit old-timey) that the entire conversation from
the old Shuy-Preston USIA film was

Jeet chet?
Nachet. Jew?
No.
Skweet. Slate.

dInIs (who could also tell you who the creole speaker is when Roger
plays the tape recorder, but won't)



>On Fri, 7 Dec 2001, Ellen Johnson wrote:
>
>>Also, something that people around here think is a "southernism" but I
>>suspect it is widespread.  I heard it commented on this week and saw it
>>on a sign at a Taco Bell:
>>
>>Jeet chet?
>>Yont to?
>
>I first heard <jeet chet> used as an example of general informal
>speech (not regional in distribution) when I was a doctoral student Fall
>1961. I have used it in class lectures for many years. I think I heard it
>first in a class in Old English.
>
>Bethany

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736