dialectal "from the home" /of the home

Beverly Flanigan flanigan at OHIO.EDU
Sun Nov 21 18:54:32 UTC 2004


I should have said, like Wilson, that this was a phrase common in our
grandparents' day; I'm not sure our parents' generation could have gotten
away with home preparations (or could they?).  I'd add that city or county
police (or sheriffs) always escort funeral processions "up home" in
Minnesota, and I presume everywhere else.  A procession might travel 50
miles or more in a rural area, and police must clear the way and maintain
reasonable speed.  But using the State Police is new to me; I'll ask my
cousin, a retired MN highway patrolman.

Beverly
(To clarify: Borned and raised in Minnesota (as Ralph Stanley would say),
lived the past 25 years in SE Ohio, with St. Louis and So. Indiana in
between.  So am I a Midwesterner, a North Centraler, or a Mideasterner?)

At 06:52 AM 11/21/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sun, 21 Nov 2004, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> >> I'm sure the first was meant.  In any case, it's also used here in SE
> >> Ohio,
> >> in print obits too.  I won't swear by it, but I think the phrase "from
> >> home" used to be used (in my parents' day) to indicate a home funeral,
> >> without the use of a mortuary: "He was buried from home."  Do others
> >> recognize this?
> >
> >When my maternal grandfather died in 1956 in NE Texas, he was "buried
> >from home." The phrase, as you note, "indicates a home funeral, without
> >the use of a mortuary." BTW, the funeral cortege of any dead Texan,
> >irrespective of race, creed, color, or sexual orientation, is escorted
> >to his/her final resting place by the Texas State Police (not to be
> >confused with the Texas Rangers). [Of course, the unspoken assumption
> >is that the interment will take place somewhere within the borders of
> >the great state of Texas.]
>
>Now the phrase makes sense.
>
>I have assisted in the burial of a number of Texans, all dead, but never
>with the assistance of the Texas State Police. When did this
>custom begin?
>
>Bethany



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