A big time at the [picture] show

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 22, 2004, at 8:59 PM, Janis Vizier Nihart wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Janis Vizier Nihart <tarheel at MOBILETEL.COM>
> Subject:      Re  The show
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> Yes, we used it here in South Louisiana.  I gradually stopped using
> the =
> term when I moved away for several years.  Our last theater closed
> down =
> about 4 years ago.  I t was officially named The Show.  The older
> people =
>  who speak mostly French still use the term as a French word.

I'm a native of Marshall, TX, about 35 mi. W of Shreveport in North
Louisiana and yes, ma'am, we sure enough did used to go to the
"[picture] show" After we came back from the [picture] show, folk would
ask us whether we'd had a "big" time at the show and not whether we'd
had a "good" time, the way that folk do up North. What kind of time did
y'all have at the show, a "big" time or a "good" time?

-Wilson Gray