Heard on The Judges: "over GEOGRAPHICAL LOC"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed May 14 19:55:39 UTC 2008


That's possibly why "over home" sounds somehow familiar, whereas Ray
Charles's "over town" and the cited speaker's "over north," involving
only location and not movement, strike me as something else.

-Wilson

On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: "over GEOGRAPHICAL LOC"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm just a-goin' over Jordan,
> I'm just a-goin' over home.
>   "Wayfaring Stranger" (a spiritual)
>
> The song, including these lines and specifically "over home", is
> attested at least as of 1858. See
> http://supersearch.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=23495#624401  :
>
>>>>BEGIN QUOTE>>>
>
> Subject: Lyr Add: GOING OVER JORDAN (WAYFARING STRANGER)
> From: Burke
> Date: 09 Jan 02 - 06:52 PM
>
> GOING OVER JORDAN (Wayfaring Stranger)
> 8s & 9s
>
> 1. I am a pilgrim and a stranger,
> While wandering through this world of woe;
> But there's no sickness, death, nor sorrow,
> In that bright world to which I go.
>
> CHORUS:
> I'm going there to see my father,
> I'm going there to see my Lord;
> I'm just a going over Jordan,
> I'm just a going over home.
>
> ...
>
> From: Beaver, John., The Christian Songster, Dayton, Ohio: Printing
> establishment of the United Brethren in Christ, 1858. Text only, no.
> 23, p. 34. Reproduced in: Garst, John F., "Poor Wayfaring
> Stranger--Early Publications." The Hymn, v. 31, no.2 (1980): p.97-101.
> @religion @hymn @spiritual
>
> <<< END QUOTE<<<
>
> On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 1:14 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> These uses of "up home, down home" are new to me. But "over home"
>> seems fine, though not necessarily with so specific a meaning, of
>> course. ;-)
>>
>> -Wilson
>
> Mark Mandel
>
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>



--
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

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