<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">===========================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 20 July 2009 - Volume 02<br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">
<span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)</span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Language Codes: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/codes.php">lowlands-l.net/codes.php</a></span><br>
===========================================<br></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color: rgb(200, 137, 0);">Brooks, Mark</span> <span class="go"><<a href="mailto:mark.brooks@twc.state.tx.us">mark.brooks@twc.state.tx.us</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI">LL-L "Etymology" 2009.07.17 (04) [EN]<br><br></span><p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Karl
wrote: “</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">My companion, younger than I am, raised mostly in small towns in
Texas, has known the expression "gussied up" all his life, and added,
without prompting, that he remembers old people using it.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">Yes, I think I’ve only heard it from “older” people. Does the
fact that I used it make me old? ;-) I do live in Texas, by the way, and have
trod this earth for 58 years. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">I have noticed another interesting item regarding older people. My
mother and dad live with my wife and me. They have taken to using old-timey
phrases that they never used to say. But, as they have gotten older (both in
their late 80s) they have started talking like their parents used to. For
example, my mother says things like “I reckon” now, which she never used to
say. I remember her mother (my grandmother) saying it all the time. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">I wonder if we have sort of a secondary lexicon that we don’t use
until we reach 70 or 80 years old. Maybe reverting to using the kind of speech
we heard as a child from our parents. Just an idea.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black;">Mark Brooks</span></p><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" lang="NL">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: Idiomatica<br><br>Hey, Mark, Gang!<br><br>This is fascinating</span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It would be interesting to figure out if this register switching is a family tradition or if it's more widespread. It sounds to me like a cultural phenomenon. When people identify themselves as seniors they change their lifestyles, their dress, their self-perceived status within the family and society at large, their behavior, oftentimes their opinions regarding social matters, their expectations as to be treated, and so forth. Perhaps in this case they feel they need to change their language behavior as well, apparently following their parents' and grandparents' lead. I find that fascinating.</span> <br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I myself have noticed in several "Western" countries that older people, especially older women, will refrain from using "naughty" expressions that they used to use when they were younger. Especially a swearing old woman is still perceived as an outrageous and unbecoming phenomenon. (I once watched a YouTube video made by young guys of an old Hamburg woman berating them in the most foul-mouthed Missingsch anyone can imagine, apparently because they kept passing by her window pestering her to coax this foul language out of her.) I guess (or reckon or figure) this is because society expects old people to behave in an especially dignified manner, this stemming from a time when elders occupied the highest social status, were considered leaders and were revered (as it still is in most non-"Western" societies). In New Age archetypal life role classification this is the stage of "Crone" and "King".</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">But sometimes there seems to be no accounting for language behavior, especially idiolectical behavior. For instance, at one point in time, my maternal grandmother (the one of Sorbian background) took to lisping whenever and only when she talked about money. I remember how fascinating I found that as a child. I never heard anyone else do that. Was it because she was a dirt-poor widow and money was an unpleasant subject for her?</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As for "I reckon", I used that all the time when I arrived in the States from Australia, because its use is normal in Australia, at least was normal at the time. Several Americans told me to stop it. Only one person (a Midwesterner) told me why: it sounded to her as though I was trying (very unsuccessfully) to put on a "Cowboy accent".</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Another type of expression I used at that time irritated several Americans: "I wonder if ...", e.g., "I wonder if you'd mind giving me a lift" instead of something like "Do you mind giving me a ride?" or just "Will you give me a ride?" or even just "Please give me a ride". They thought it was super-politely indirect, irritatingly so, when to me it was normal at the time. And then again, several American expressions are rather indirect and can grate on speakers of other English dialects as well. An example is the common practice of dressing commands up as polite questions; e.g. a boss saying, "How would you like writing a weekly report from now on?" to which the answer had better not be "Not very much", because it's a command: "(You'll) write a weekly report from now on."</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Regards,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Seattle, USA</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">P.S.: I heard from our lately almost incomunicado Sandy (Fleming). His trials and tribulations regarding his Internet connection seem to be nearing their end. I can't wait to have him back in the thick of things so we can pet or pummel him when the mood strikes us ...</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<p>
==============================END===================================
<p>
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l@listserv.linguistlist.org.
<p>
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
<p>
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
<p>
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l")
<p>
are to be sent to listserv@listserv.linguistlist.org or at
<p>
http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
<p>
*********************************************************************