wildflowers

[James C Stalker]

Sallit it is!

Wilson Gray writes:

> 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
>>
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University