"gwine"'

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/10/2006 09:13 PM, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: "gwine"'
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The song's composer, Stephen Foster, wrote "gwine."
>On the long-ago
>occasions when I've sung the song, I've always followed that spelling.
>I can't recall ever having heard a recording of it.

Gee, no recordings?  Make one yourself!  (I can't be positive whether
I've heard it live or recorded--probably both, but it's too long ago.)

>Reminds me of a
>joke, though:
>
>Square:  Does the crosstown busline pass this way?
>
>Hipster:  Doo-dah. Doo-dah.
>
>If "goin'" outnumbers "gwine" on Google, I'd attribute that to recent
>political correctness, given that "gwine" is original.
>
>-Wilson

It was "going" I Googled for (only 15,800 today).  For " 'camptown
races' words goin' "  , there are only 554, with"gwine" there are 568.

Political correctness was my speculation also; 'going' doesn't fit the melody.

Joel

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