I swan

[DAK]

"AH SWAN" = "I SWOON"

Peter Richardson wrote:

> An expanded version is heard as well, and probably well beyond northern
> Arkansas: "I swanee to my soul!" and "Well, I do swan!" I'd guess it's a
> euphemism for "swear," which of course no proper person would want to
> admit doing.
>
> Peter Richardson
>
> On Sun, 27 Oct 2002, Barnhart wrote:
>
> > This, of course, will not be found yet in DARE.  But, Wentworth treated
> > it in his American Dialect Dictionary.  He has cites from
> >
> > Michigan
> > Connecticut
> > Wisconsin
> > Kansas
> > Indiana
> > Illinois
> > Iowa
> > (central, northern, and s.w.) New York
> > Nebraska
> > Arkansas
> > New Hampshire
> > Alabama
> > New England
> > Maine
> > West Virginia
> > Missouri
> > Texas.
> >
> > Regards,
> > David K. Barnhart, Editor
> > The Barnhart Dictionary Companion [quarterly]
> > barnhart at highlands.com
> > www.highlands.com/Lexik
> >
> > "Necessity obliges us to neologize."
> > Thomas Jefferson-August 16, 1813
> >