"scurred"

[Wilson Gray]

Yes, I'm from Saint Louis. I was born in Marshall, Texas, but I lived
in Saint Louis from the age of about four or five till adulthood,
ca.1940 - ca.1962. And I agree that this strange, even to me,
pronunciation - the people who speak this way are, in general, young
enough to be my grandchildren - seems to have its epicenter in Saint
Louis.

I watch ComicView on BET. This show features Black-English speakers
from all over the United States and, so far, I've never heard "hurr,
thurr," etc. used by people not from  Saint Louis.

-Wilson

On 9/1/06, Mircea Sauciuc <msauciuc at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mircea Sauciuc <msauciuc at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "scurred"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ha! that's true. pragmatically, in romanian, it will not make sense if
> someone asks, "ce mai faci?" and you say "bine (fine/good)". so, yeah,
> tudor was right in saying that.
>
> nelly, too, right. i'm sure there are more than the two we had
> mentioned, but chingy was just the first one that came to mind.
>
> correct me if i'm wrong, but i *think* i remember reading about a year
> ago something about you being from the st. louis area. was it you or
> is it someone else on this list? wilson gray=st. louis sounds about
> right to me. i could be mistaken. if it is you, is this correct to say
> that that pronunciation of "there"--*thurr* and "hair"--*hurr* stems
> from that area? my assumption is yes only because coming from that
> area (i was only there for about three years or so) i heard that often
> and it was said by most of the local rappers who had made it big-time.
>
> On 9/1/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "scurred"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > You find this same phenomenon in the speech of the Saint Louis rapper,
> > Nelly. I've also heard, e.g. "hurr" used for "hair" ("I fix people
> > hurr") by speakers of Saint Louis - or "Nellyville" - BE.
> >
> > BTW, Mircea, ce mai faceti?
> >
> > Professor Iliescu's teaching assistant, Tudor Ionescu, once complained
> > that, "In Romania, when we ask someone that, we really want to know!"
> > This was back in 1972, so I can't recall whether a name like yours has
> > a special vocative-case form.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On 8/31/06, Mircea Sauciuc <msauciuc at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Mircea Sauciuc <msauciuc at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: "scurred"
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > i recently just came from the st. louis area and this was very common
> > > variation of "scared" there. as you've probably heard, the rapper
> > > *chingy* had a song "right thur(r?)", a varient for "right there."
> > >
> > > at any rate, the origin from what i've heard, is that st. louis
> > > region. having gone home to visit family in chicago, i heard it said
> > > there as well, but it was sparse and seemed more forced because of the
> > > chingy song.
> > >
> > > -mcs
> > >
> > > Mircea C. Sauciuc
> > > University of Kansas
> > > Department of Linguistics
> > >
> > > On 8/31/06, Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      "scurred"
> > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Anyone know the origin of "scurred" as a variant of "scared?" I noticed tod=
> > > > ay after someone wrote it in a online forum and after a brief search of Goo=
> > > > gle that it's used by a larger number of people than I'd thought.
> > > > =20
> > > > Scot LaFaive
> > > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > > Use Messenger to talk to your IM friends, even those on Yahoo!
> > > > http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=3D7adb59de-a857-45ba-81cc-=
> > > > 685ee3e858fe=
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Best,
> > > Mircea
> > >
> > > An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
> > > -Albert Camus
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > ----
> > Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> > complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >
> > --Sam Clemens
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> Best,
> Mircea
>
> An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.
> -Albert Camus
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
-Wilson
----
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

--Sam Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org