Only in East Texas? More widespread?

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 8, 2004, at 7:38 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Only in East Texas? More widespread?
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>> What I find so interesting about this is that the rule kicks in only
>> when the two people can't see each other. How in hell did that
>> constraint ever come about?
>
> I don't know, and I don't know that I'm familiar with this /hu/.
>
> Just as a wild guess, maybe it's "Who?" originally, i.e. "Who's calling
> me?" or so.

It doesn't sound as though the person answering is asking who. It
sounds more like a person imitating an owl, except that only a single
"hoot" is used. There's an old R&B song from the '50's entitled
"Nite[sic] Owl." In the background is a person repeatedly making the
sound [hu:]. One [hu:] of this type of [hu:] is close to what the E TX
[hu:] sounds like. There's a sound clip of this song at
towerrecords.com. Of course, this has no bearing on the origin of the
call-and-response "hoot." It may very well have begun with the
responder simply asking "Who?"
>
> Does /hu/ appear when the identity of the caller is absolutely clear?

Yes. Someone out of sight hollers "John!" If John hears and recognizes
the voice as that of someone who can command his presence, he gives a
hoot. Otherwise, the call will be ignored or, if his location is known,
it will be relayed to John. In that case, the person closest to the
caller will holler back, "Here he come" or some such.

>  For
> example, imagine that I'm a user of this /hu/ and my wife is making
> repeated remarks to me as I putter around the house, and nobody else is
> present. Every 5 minutes or so, she calls my name with some new notion:
> sometimes I'm in the same room, other times not. Must I respond /hu/
> if I'm
> one foot out of sight in the next room but something else (maybe
> "What?")
> if I've moved over a foot so I'm visible? Suppose I can see her but she
> can't see me? Suppose I can see her feet but not her face? Suppose
> we're
> only a few inches apart but the room is completely dark? Would only the
> first call be answered with /hu/, or might an addendum one minute
> later get
> a /hu/ too?

Very few "folk Negroes," to revive a term from the not-so-distant past,
live in houses so large that one inhabitant can get out of the sight of
any other inhabitant(s) simply by moving about within the house. In any
case, if the two people are near enough to each other that there is no
need to shout, then, of course, the "hoot" response is not relevant. In
the normal case, someone of high familial status, such as a parent,
inside the house or outside of it calls to someone of equal or lower
status, such as a husband or a child, who is outside the house in some
unknown location that is very likely to be within earshot.

-Wilson Gray

> -- Doug Wilson
>