crick

[Peter McGraw]

[Reply to a message from Allen Maberry, which came to me instead of to
the list.]

My "informants" were definitely native Oregonians and "country folks,"
including my cousins, who had never been outside of Oregon and whose
mother had been out of the state only once in her lifetime.

On Tue, 26 Oct 1999 09:19:16 -0700 (PDT) "A. Maberry"
<maberry at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> Well, I guess I probably heard it even in the gentrified atmosphere of
> Portland. But, as I recall most of the people I heard use it were not
> native Oregonians but had come from the midwest. Back in the 50s and 60s
> in Oregon one could hear about anything. In fact as late as 1969 I worked
> with a bunch of people from Baker (now Baker City) and I swear I couldn't
> distinguish their dialect from the ones I'd heard from Arkansas.
>
> Allen
>
> On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Peter McGraw wrote:
>
> > You mean you never heard "crick" for 'small stream' in the Northwest,
> > Allen? Well, but you grew up in the city, right?
> >
> > When we moved from urban Southern California to rural Oregon in the
> > 1950s, the "crick" pronunciation was for me one of the features that
> > distinguished the local speech from my own.  But it was packaged with
> > -in' [In] for -ing and other ruralisms that I wouldn't have expected
> to > hear in Portland. I suppose I had been exposed to the word only in
> > writing up till then, since the place I had come from had no small >
> watercourses, at least not with water in them. >
> > Peter Mc. >
> > On Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:34:52 -0700 "A. Maberry" >
> <maberry at U.WASHINGTON.EDU> wrote: >
> > > On Mon, 25 Oct 1999, Pafra & Scott Catledge wrote: > >
> > > > In the Deep South, a creek or a brook is for wading/bathing > > >
> in--a [crick] (spelling unknown) is what you get in your neck if > > >
> you keep it in a position to which you are unaccustomed.  I > > > have
> heard Nawtheners --I'll be PC and not use the little 'd' > > > word
> ;{)--say "crick" in the sense of "brook." > >
> > > That is certainly my understanding of the creek/crick distinction,
> and > > I'm about as far north as you can get without leaving the
> country. Up > > here "brook" is not used for streams at all, although
> the names of many > > recent housing developments in the area would
> make one think otherwise > > (usually spelled "brooke".
> > > > > Allen
> > > maberry at u.washington.edu >
> > ---------------------- > Peter A. McGraw
> > Linfield College > McMinnville, Oregon
> > pmcgraw at linfield.edu >
>

----------------------
Peter A. McGraw
Linfield College
McMinnville, Oregon
pmcgraw at linfield.edu