Redd Up / Read Up?

[Beverly Flanigan]

I'm quite sure Michael Montgomery could translate the entire sentence!
But we have "redd up" in southern Ohio too, though the young people tend
not to use it.  The Scots Irish tradition is strong here, migrating
westward from Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc. (it's not really "Elizabethan"
anymore, of course, in No. Ireland or here, but there are some continuing
influences).  Pennsylvania speech isn't "unique" either; the folks there
just think it is!

At 01:27 PM 1/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
>At 09:09 1/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >How is this Pennsylvania expression pronounced?
>
>It's not just a "Pennsylvania expression"; I come from rural Northern
>Ireland, in which it is alleged that the local dialect is Elizabethan (the
>1st one, that is) and the term "redd up" is frequently used to imply "clean
>up", "get ready", as in:
>
>"Hey, wee cutty, redd up the flure with thon bizzim fornenst the chumley"
>
>Am I the only one on the list who knows what that means, in the present-day
>Queen's English? ;-).
>Jimmy


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm