'Bobonkt'

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

"Mrs. Maxwell's" sounds like a store, probably a general store.  And what could a 14-year old girl in Arkansas possibly want at a general store before going for a walk? Maybe something for what she might encounter along the way.  Say, birds. So (my WAG for the day): How about something (bird food?) in connection with the bobolink (a type of bird)?
 
Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Damien Hall
Sent: Sun 7/9/2006 2:55 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: 'Bobonkt'



Apologies for cross-posting.

Carlota Smith has posted to LINGUIST again as follows;  she gives the context of
'bobonkt' that a lot of people asked her for.

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania

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Message 2: More on Bobonkt
Date: 07-Jul-2006
From: Carlota Smith <carlotasmithmail.utexas.edu>
Subject: More on Bobonkt



Original query: http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/17/17-1952.html#2

A few days ago I posted a query about "bobonkt" and received some interesting
replies. Several people suggested that I check the transcription/spelling. I
haven't yet tracked down the word, but here is some more information.

The diary clearly says "bobonkt" but it may be a misspelling: the writer was a
14-year-old girl in the northern hills of Arkansas, near Batesville (not in the
West as I mistakenly said in my earlier posting). People also asked about the
context, which is this: "I felt like talking a walk, so I walked to Mrs
Maxwell's to get some bobonkt."

Any thoughts?
Thanks very much.
Carlota Smith

--

Carlota S. Smith
Centennial Professor of Linguistics
Dept of Linguistics
University of Texas
Austin, Tx 78712-1196

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