"Gwine"

[Page Stephens]

It wasn't Stephen Foster.

http://www.answers.com/topic/jump-jim-crow

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson Gray" <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 1:32 PM
Subject: Re: "Gwine"


> ---------------------- 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: "Gwine"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Absolutely. I'd completely forgotten about Stephen Foster's oeuvre. In
> fact, I can recall that that's how I first learned the form, starting
> in the first grade and ending in the sixth, now that you've reminded
> me. Thank you, Jon. Indeed, we were even taught the song, "Jim Crow!" -
> I've never known who wrote it - in the first grade.
>
> Jump! Oh, jump!
> Oh, jump, Jim Crow!
> [...]
> And around you go!
> Slide! Slide!
> Point your toe!
> You're a funny little fellow
> When you jump, Jim Crow!
>
> There was no PC back in the day. On the other hand, though, "Jim Crow"
> was such a popular brand of whiskey that it had a nickname: "Dirty
> Bird."
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Feb 23, 2005, at 8:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "Gwine"
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> "Gwine" became an iconic spelling in minstrel songs: Foster's "Gwine
>> to run all night, gwine to run all day!" and "I'm gwine to Louisiana
>> with my banjo on my knee!" come to mind instantly.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>> Subject: "Gwine"
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> "Y'all" was so much fun that we should do another one, "gwine," that
>> should be less controversial. I'm no longer certain of how or when I
>> became familiar with this example of old-school Negro dialect. But I do
>> recall hearing it spoken in jest by a schoolmate in Texas around 1947.
>> Otherwise, I was familiar with "gwine" only from the movies, especially
>> George Pal's dumb-nigger animated cartoons and from comic books and
>> such written in Negro dialect. But, similarly to "y'all," as a
>> singular, I never heard it spoken in real life.
>>
>> For years and years, I listened to all kinds of blues and rhythm &
>> blues, talked with colored folk from all over the South, and the
>> closest that I came to hearing a real "gwine" was "goina." Then, one
>> evening in 1979, I was listening to an interview with Sunnyland Slim,
>> an old-time blues pianist and a native of Mississsippi, on the local
>> NPR station, when I heard him say quite clearly, "They was gwine
>> broke!" My reaction was, "Damn! It's true! In fact, it's still a living
>> form!" Then I noticed that Memphis "She plays guitar like a man" Minnie
>> used "gwine." That was odd, because I'd been listening to her songs for
>> years without hearing any "gwine." But that mystery solved itself.
>> Sometimes, Minnie chose to use "gwine"; other times she chose to use
>> "gon(na)." I assume that she originally used "gwine," shifting over
>> time to "gon(na)," as "gwine" fell out of fashion. But that's just a
>> guess.
>>
>> Sunnyland Slim and Memphis Minnie are both now deceased. Has "gwine"
>> finally died with them?
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
>>
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