[Ads-l] Heard on Corrupt Crimes: _to put on_ "to pretend, to fake it"

[Wilson Gray]

> Is this a regional term?

Until I heard it on TV, I had no evidence at all that _to put on_, in the
relevant sense, was used anywhere except in the colored part of town,
which, likewise, proves nothing. I never heard a natural use - i.e. outside
of "dis-de-way-dey-say-we-tawk" joking around - of _gwine_ before ca. 1977,
even though I'd known from the beginning of time that it was a
(stereo)typical feature of "negro dialect." Then, one evening, I was
listening to an interview with bluesman Hubert Sumlin, a native of
Mississippi who grew up in Arkansas, on WBUR/NPR and I *clearly* heard him
say, "'Ey was gwine broke!" I was shocked. Shocked!

Youneverknow.

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 12:48 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:

> Is this a regional term?  It’s certainly familiar to me as a white
> Kentuckian, but I was unaware of any limitation in its use (not that that
> proves anything).  The OED has it from 1625.
>
> If it is a term used primarily by African-Americans and Southern whites,
> it wouldn’t be the first time.  I’m still getting over my surprise at
> hearing the term “triflin’,” familiar to me only from my parents’ use, in a
> song by Destiny’s Child.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 7:40 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Heard on Corrupt Crimes: _to put on_ "to pretend, to fake it"
>
> External Email - Think Before You Click
>
>
> "If he [J. T. Lundy] was _putting on_ [that he was heart-broken over the
> injury to his horse, Alydar], then he was doing a great job of it!"
> - Tom Dixon
> Insurance-adjuster
> Lexington, Kentucky
>
> As hard as it may be to believe, I have misplaced the relevant volume of
> DARE. So, I suppose that this intransitive _put on_ is cited in DARE, but I
> don't know that it is. IAC, I've been familiar with it since I learned to
> talk - e.g. a child pretending to be sick or hurt in order to get the
> attention of its parents is said to be "putting on":
>
> That child is just putting on. Don't pay it no mind.
>
> The use of the term by a white Kentuckian, IAC, is an indication that its
> use is not peculiar to black East Texans.
>
> AFAIK, this intransitive _put on_ has no connection with the transitive
> hippie-ism, _put someone on_. I first heard that from a fellow-GI from
> Darien, Connecticut, back in 1959. Unfortunately, he's had a stroke. It
> would be interesting to know whether he learned that in Darien or at
> Stanford, out of which he had dropped before joining the Army.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> 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.
> -Mark Twain
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<
> http://www.americandialect.org>
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
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.
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org