Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey Dialects)

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 20, 2004, at 4:31 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey Dialects)
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> Don't fret Wilson; I remember my grandparents (low-land hillbillies
> from far Western Kentucky) saying "davenport': course they'd be well
> into their 100s if they was alive.
>
> dInIs

Thanks, dInIs! I needed that. BTW, do you remember "Li'l Abner," who
lived in the mythical Kentucky hamlet of Dog Patch? If you do, did you
find Al Capp's eye-dialect as weird as I did? E.g. his spelling of
"you" as "yo' and "your" as "yore," as that pronunciation was
non-standard. When I was in the Army, I met people who pronounced
"your" as [yur] and "you're" as [yor], the exact opposite of my usage.
I've wondered for years whether Capp's eye-dialect was perhaps based on
some similar dialect.

-Wilson

>
>> On Oct 20, 2004, at 3:36 PM, Patti J. Kurtz wrote:
>>
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>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Patti J. Kurtz" <kurtpatt4 at NETSCAPE.NET>
>>> Subject:      Re: Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey
>>> Dialects)
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>>> --
>>> --------
>>>
>>> My students in Ohio did a field project and found "davenport," at
>>> least
>>> in their sample (which admittedly was small), to be very age
>>
>> Aaarrrggghhh!!!
>>
>>>  graded (sorry,
>>> Wilson!)  That is, mainly people over about 50
>>
>> Aaarrrggghhh!!!
>>
>>>  used it at all.  I
>>> suspect the same is true here, though I don't think my students have
>>> done that project here yet.
>>>
>>> And I also believe it was a brand name first.
>>>
>>> FWIW my grandmother used it all the time-- she was in her 60's at the
>>> time, in the 1960's in western PA
>>>
>>> But for me, it's a couch (with the appropriate Pittsburgh twang of
>>> course : )
>>>
>>> Patti Kurtz
>>>
>>
>> Despite my screams of anguish, thank you for your post. I'm glad to
>> know that "davenport" really was widespread at one time and that my
>> memory of it wasn't a case of the PIST phenomenon.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>>> wilson.gray at RCN.COM wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey
>>>> Dialects)
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>>>> --
>>>> ---------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> dInIs, I'm way disappointed in you, the way you're letting these
>>>> Northerners define the field of discussion. Uh-oh. I may be pulling
>>>> a
>>>> PITS, not realizing that some item that I (formerly) used routinely
>>>> is,
>>>> in fact, a localism. In any case, I'm referring to the use of
>>>> "davenport" in preference to either "couch" or "sofa." "Davenport"
>>>> was
>>>> the only term used in East Texas in my childhood, though locals
>>>> understood both "sofa" and "couch." If I remember rightly,
>>>> "davenport,"
>>>> like "frigidaire," was originally a brand name. In this case, it was
>>>> the brand name of a sofa or couch that could be pulled out into a
>>>> bed.
>>>> Currently, my conscious mind prefers "couch." but my fingers appear
>>>> to
>>>> like "sofa" better.
>>>>
>>>> -Wilson Gray
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Dr. Patti J. Kurtz
>>>
>>> Assistant Professor, English
>>>
>>> Director of the Writing Center
>>>
>>> Minot State University
>>>
>>> Minot, ND 58707
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Foster: What about our evidence? They've got to take notice of that.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Straker: Evidence. What's it going to look like when Henderson claims
>>> that we manufactured it, just to get a space clearance program?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Foster: But we are RIGHT!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Straker: Sometimes, Colonel, that's not quite enough.
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>         Asian and African Languages
> Wells Hall A-740
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
> Office: (517) 353-0740
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
>