"to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)

Bill Palmer w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET
Sun Mar 8 18:10:09 UTC 2009


OK, thank you, Ron.

Here's another North Carolinaism, or at least I've never heard it anywhere
else, and in fact I've only heard it once there.

"early of a morning".  In the sense of "early in the morning".  e.g. "I
enjoy sitting outside, early of a morning."

Speaker was an early 80ish woman from north central NC (Vance County).
Don't know if it was unique to her idiolect, or in general use in that area.

Bill Palmer


----- Original Message -----
From: <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Re: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It occurs in the speech of both whites and blacks in the speech of people
> who were recorded in NC in the 1970s.
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
>
> Date:         Sun, 8 Mar 2009 11:19:15
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>
>
> I have no scientific research to support my observation, but in my nearly
> 50
> years of life in the South (5 different states), I do not *recall* ever
> hearing a white person use "stay" as as a substitute for "live".  My black
> students who showed this preference were mostly from southern states...but
> not exclusively, so it is definitely not a purely southern thing.
>
>
> Bill Palmer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:24 AM
> Subject: Re: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
>> Subject:      Re: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> If this is true, then why do rural whites (and blacks) in the South use
>> "stay" = 'reside'? Is there even a shred of evidence for Margaret's
>> explanation? It looks like just another fanciful folk  conjecture.
>>
>> ------Original Message------
>> From: Margaret Lee
>> Sender: ADS-L
>> To: ADS-L
>> ReplyTo: ADS-L
>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>> Sent: Mar 8, 2009 7:11 AM
>>
>> This topic was discussed on this list several years ago.
>>
>> African Americans' use of "stay" for "live" relates to the migration of
>> blacks from the South to the North in the early 1900's. Those
>> newly-arrived would often "stay" with family members or friends who had
>> migrated there earlier until they could find a place of their own--many
>> never did, given the harsh economic realities of the time,  and ended up
>> "staying" with a family member or friend for long periods of time
>> (years),
>> or moving from place to place with no permanent residence in which to
>> "live." As a result, in the African American community, the term "stay"
>> gradually became synonymous with "live,"  though it originally referred
>> to
>> residing in temporary lodging. I hear it used often by my students who
>> have established, permanent addresses.
>>
>> -- Margaret Lee
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
>> Adjunct Professor of English & Linguistics
>> Department of English
>> Hampton University
>> Hampton, VA 23668
>> 757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax)
>> mlee303 at yahoo.com
>>
>> --- On Sun, 3/8/09, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
>> Subject: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Date: Sunday, March 8, 2009, 1:18 AM
>>
>>
>> I taught for a number of years @ a historically black university in NC.
>> 100% of my students used phrases like "where do you *stay*", or "I don't
>> *stay* with my parents"...situations where the average white person would
>> use *live*
>>
>> How might this have originated?
>>
>> Bill Palmer
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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