Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917) (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mullins, Bill AMRDEC Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Wed Dec 5 19:09:47 UTC 2007


Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The version I heard (which came from dirt-poor rural south Georgia) had
as a punch line:

"Tell Mr. BuzZARD and Mr. RabBIT
That Mr. TurTELL is here with the SHIT"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Dennis Preston
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 5:33 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child
> Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a
> child Re: "Jazz Means
>               Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> Wilson,
>
> Stupid Northern chillun (and their stupider parents) don't
> know that brer (or bre'r) means "brother." One English
> Professor (sic!) splained to me that that was the spelling
> for 'briar' ! (Member, Bre'r Rabbit lived in the briar
> patch!) They some r-full folk in the world (and even better
> folk-etymologizers).
>
> How the turtle got in:
>
> The three of 'em (rabbit, turtle, lizard) was buddies and
> saved and bought a farm, but wouldn't nothin grow without an
> exotic fertilizer.
> Rabbit was chose to go off  and get it (somewhere far away of
> course). Lizard and turtle was trying to scrape somethin out
> of the bad ground while he was gone but struck oil. After
> they was rollin in dough and put up their mansion, rabbit
> come back with a little bag of shit and, piuzzled, went up to
> the door and asked for his ol buiddies. The word final stress
> on turTELL and liZARD represent the snootiness of the butler,
> and help make the punch line (rabBIT) funnier.
>
> Naturally, the telling of it takes much longer than this
> quick summary, but that's where the turtle came from in the
> Louisville version.
>
> dInIs
>
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject:      Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re:
> >"Jazz Means
> >               Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> >-------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >--------
> >
> >"*Remusian* 'Bruh'"? I thought that the "Remusian" stories
> used "Brer."
> >I heard the story from my mother about sixty-five years ago and she
> >used [br@] and not [brei@(r)], which is the only pronunciation I've
> >ever heard used among blacks for the spelling, "brer." Either her
> >memory is wrong or my memory is wrong or the versions are simply
> >different. Like, how does the turtle get into the story? And, of
> >course, things do change with the passage of time.
> >
> >I've just heard "do you _a_ solid" used on the tube for the
> umpteenth
> >time. Yet, I've known the expression as "do you _some_
> solid" for the
> >past sixty or so years. I wonder how "a solid" is negated. To negate
> >"some solid," I say, "I can't do you no solid," which
> probably takes no
> >one by surprise.
> >
> >So, is "err" pronounced [^r] or [ei at r]?
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On Dec 4, 2007 7:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >>  Subject:      Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child
> >>Re: "Jazz Means
> >>                Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >>---------
> >>
> >>  The version I heard in the '70s also included "Mr.
> TurTOOL is out by
> >>the pool."  I don't recall the Remusian "Bruh" honorifics, however.
> >>
> >>    JL
> >>
> >>  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>    ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>  Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>  Poster: Wilson Gray
> >>  Subject: Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a
> child Re: "Jazz
> >>Means
> >>  Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >>---------
> >>
> >>  When I was a child, somebody gave me a copy of the book for
> >> Christmas,  but I wasn't able to make any sense out of it,
> even with
> >> the aid of  the accompanying illustrations and nobody in my family
> >> was able to  read it to me. Nineteenth-century Black English
> >> eye-dialect wasn't  taught in school. Nowadays, I know
> that "brer" doesn't spell "brayer"
> >>  and that "sezee" doesn't spell "see zee."
> >>
> >>  Here followeth the only tale of anything at all like
> those of the
> >> Uncle Remus school that I've ever heard. It dates from around the
> >> time  of my mother's childhood, AFAIK. Ca.1910? Earlier? Later?
> >  >
> >>  Bruh Rabbit and Bruh Buzzard were partners in a business
> cleaning
> >> outhouses. After a day's work, Bruh Rabbit went by Bruh Buzzard's
> >> mansion. Bruh Rabbit rang the doorbell. The butler
> answered the door
> >> and asked,
> >>
> >>  But: Yes, sir? May I help you?
> >>  Rab: Bruh Buzzud tuh home?
> >>  But: Yes, sir. Mister BuzZARD is out in the yard.
> >>  Rab: "No lie? Well, tell 'im that Bruthuh RabBIT is heanh
> wit duh shit."
> >>
> >>  -Wilson
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>  On Dec 4, 2007 9:47 AM, Amy West wrote:
> >>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>  > Poster: Amy West
> >>  > Subject: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child
> Re: "Jazz
> >>Means
> >>  > Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> >>  >
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >>---------
> >>  >
> >>  > A personal anecdote:
> >>  >
> >>  > I never read the Uncle Remus stories as a child. I have
> a distinct
> >>  > memory of pulling it off the shelf of the branch library in
> >>  > Tonawonda, NY, opening it, and not recognizing it as any type of
> >>  > English I was familiar with -- and I was used to
> foreign languages
> >>  > with my dad doing German and Russian translations --
> nor the type
> >>of
> >>  > English that my (white) Southern relations spoke. And it scared
> >>the
> >>  > bejeesus out of me. I put that thing back on the shelf and never
> >>  > touched it again.
> >>  >
> >>  > ---Amy West
> >>  >
> >>  > >Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 16:01:56 -0500
> >>  > >From: "Baker, John"
> >>  > >Subject: Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
> >>  > >
> >>  > > "Rastus" seems to have been popularized by Brer Rastus, the
> >>  > >deacon of a colored church, in the story "Uncle Remus's Church
> >>  > >Experience," collected in Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle
> Remus, His
> >>Songs
> >>  > >and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation 190 - 93
> >>(1881;
> >>  > >copyright 1880) (Google Books full text). But Harris does not
> >>seem to
> >>  > >have invented the use. Here's an earlier, passing example:
> >>  > >
> >>  > > "While Brudder 'Rastus Putts passes round de hat, de
> >>  > >congregashun will please sing de useal Ducksholiday to de same
> >>good ole
> >>  > >tune."
> >>  > >
> >>  > >Professor Julius Caesar Hannibal [probably a pseudonym], Black
> >>Diamonds;
> >>  > >or, Humor, Satire and Sentiment, Treated
> Scientifically 15 (1857;
> >>  > >copyright 1855) (Google Books full text).
> >>  > >
> >>  > >John Baker
> >>  >
> >>  > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>  >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>  --
> >>  All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint
> >> to  come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >>  -----
> >>  -Sam'l Clemens
> >>
> >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>  ---------------------------------
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> Yahoo! Mail. See how.
> >>
> >>
> >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >                                               -Sam'l Clemens
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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