wildflowers

[Wilson Gray]

On May 19, 2005, at 9:45 PM, James C Stalker wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: wildflowers
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> You question jogs my memory.  As a matter of fact, my mom called the
> collection of salad greens (aka weeds) poke salad, even though it was
> cooked, not served raw, and was a mixture of greens, not just pokeweed.
> (This hot cold thing is interesting as a side bar.  German/Dutch cole
> slaw,
> cabbage salad, can be hot or cold, at least in my wife's German
> heritage.)
> Back to my mom.  She did include young poke greens in the mix.  As
> these
> wild greens got older they became bitter or toxic.  Poke salad was a
> spring
> dish.
>
> Now, as for Tony Joe White.  I only heard the song and never saw the
> lyrics.
> I always assumed that I was hearing poke salad.  (As a matter of fact,
> I
> heard Tony Joe say "salat" rather than "salad.")  I just googled "Poke
> Salad
> Annie," and indeed the "official" title is Polk Salad Annie.  However,
> the
> transcriber of the lyrics that came up first left the title untouched,
> but
> changed almost all of the "polks" to "pokes."  The description of the
> greens
> in the lyrics fits with pokeweed.  Why "polk"?  Possibly a
> hypercorrection
> or an older spelling representing an older pronunciation.  In
> Appalachian
> English /l/ tends to be deleted before final stops.  You can hear the
> deletion in Patty Loveless's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" where
> 'cold'
> becomes /cod/.  You also hear final /l/ deletion, 'coal' becomes /co/.
> The
> /l/ deletion is not unusual.  Dennis can no doubt fill in the details.
>   I
> don't know Louisiana dialects well enough, nor Tony Joe's origins, to
> know
> whether he assumed that "poke" had to have an /l/, just as non-rhotic
> folks
> are never sure where they are missing those /r/s that rhotic folk worry
> about so much, so he spelled it that way, or he was more poke/polk
> literate
> than I and spelled it right.  However, MW 11 does not list 'polk' as a
> variant spelling.
>
> Jim
>

Until I bought the record, I likewise thought that the the title was
"_Poke_ Salad Annie" and I still feel that it ought to be, I also
thought that Tony Joe was black instead of White, until I saw him on
TV. He's from Goodwill, LA, which seems to be located just a few miles
beyond West Hell. My guess is that the spelling, "Polk..." is the
result of an assumption by someone unfamiliar with the spelling of
pokeweed, but who was familiar with the surname, "Polk." As for "salat"
v. "sallid," let's compromise on "sallit."

-Wilson

> Wilson Gray writes:
>
>> Jim, would you happen to know whether poke(weed) and poke/polk salad
>> are the same thing? I know what poke(weed) is, but I know the term,
>> "polk salad," only from a song. Do you recall a bit of blue-eyed soul
>> by one Tony Joe White from Louisiana? He had a one-hit wonder entitled
>> "Polk-Salad Annie," i.e. "Poke-Sallid Aynih," described as "a mean,
>> vicious, straight razor-totin' 'oman"?
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On May 18, 2005, at 10:25 PM, James C Stalker wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: wildflowers
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> --------
>>>
>>> In the spring, I used to follow my mother around our ex-urban
>>> neighborhood,
>>> in development but not developed, as she collected up greens for
>>> supper--dandelion, poke, and other stuff.  Even in the spring they
>>> were
>>> pretty strong tasting, but good.  My regret is twofold: as a
>>> linguist,
>>> I
>>> didn't pay attention to the names; as an eater, I can't replicate her
>>> search.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> Arnold M. Zwicky writes:
>>>
>>>> On May 17, 2005, at 12:01 PM, sagehen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> arnold writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> and there are strains of some weedy
>>>>>>
>>>>> wildflowers -- even dandelions! -- that are meant for cultivation,
>>>>> though i tend to be wary indeed of them.<
>>>>> ~~~~~~
>>>>> Those dandelions that are cultivated for food are usually not
>>>>> actually the
>>>>> same as the wild ones, /Taraxacum/, but are a variety of chicory,
>>>>> /Cicchorium/.
>>>>
>>>> i've seen both offered for sale.
>>>>
>>>>> Wild dandelions are a wonderful food plant. In our cool New
>>>>> England-
>>>>> like
>>>>> summers we can eat them from early spring until well after frost in
>>>>> the
>>>>> fall.
>>>>
>>>> yes indeed.  in my eastern pa. childhood, the beginning of spring
>>>> was
>>>> signaled by my pa. dutch grandmother going out and grubbing in the
>>>> snow for dandelion greens, which she'd prepare with "endive
>>>> dressing" ["endive" here = chicory], mostly curdled milk and bacon.
>>>> yum.
>>>>
>>>> arnold
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> James C. Stalker
>>> Department of English
>>> Michigan State University
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> James C. Stalker
> Department of English
> Michigan State University
>