LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.08.05 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 05.AUG.2005 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Idiomatica" [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn
> Subject: Idiomatica
>
> It was especially butter, coffee, oranges and bananas that to most East
> Germans were the symbols of "exotic" (i.e., West German) "wealth" after
> Western Germany got ahead economically.   When my aunts visited us from 
> the
> East, they were very keen on getting as much of those good things as they
> possibly could, but social norms dictated feigned modesty and led to
> numerous pretence games.  I still remember from my very early childhood

According to James R T Ritchie in "The Singing Street" (Oliver & Boyd 1964), 
in Scotland during the 1914-18 War when butter was generally unavailable, 
margarine was referred to as "Maggy Ann" or "the holy margarine".

He gives this skipping song of the time, which seems describes a 
falling-in-the-butter incident - did Scottish soldiers bring this back from 
the war or is it a native idea?:

Away down East, away down West
Away down Alabama:
The only girl that I love best
Her name is Susy Anna.

I took her to a ball one night
And sat her down to supper:
The table fell and she fell too
And stuck her nose in the butter.

The butter, the butter
The holy margarine
Two black eyes and a jelly nose
And the rest all painted green.

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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