Tee-nine-see

[Tom Zurinskas]

How would one pronounce "sey".  Normally, it would be long a (~ae) as in
"they" (~thae).  So for Tennessee it would be tee-NINE-say?  (I've never
heard anything but TENN-ih-see.)


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.





>From: James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Tee-nine-see
>Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:01:51 -0400
>
>---------------------- 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: Tee-nine-see
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Louisville, same maturational period.  First syllable stress for normal
>use;
>second syllable stress for emphasis.  "I tell you.  It was a TEE nine sey
>(little) thing.  I mean tee NINE sey."
>
>JCS
>
>Doug Harris writes:
>
> > Like you, dInIs, I grew up in the Louisville area in the same period --
>with
> > a couple of years in the middle up Morehead and Mt Sterling way -- and I
> > seem to think we emphasized the NINE sylabobbel.
> > Something else I remember from the time I was maybe ten or eleven was a
> > saying a Lexington-resident aunt of mine said was an "old" one, or maybe
>she
> > said it was a "common" one. Either way, I never to this day have heard
> > anyone but her say "spit is a horrible word, but it's worse on the end
>of
> > your cigar." I neither smoked nor spat much in those days (nor do I do
> > either today!), and I couldn't quite fathom what the saying was meant to
> > mean. I'm still not quite sure, and I'm still wondering why the memory
>of
> > her reciting that to a cousin of mine while we were on a (local) bus has
> > always been such a vivid memory.
> > (the other) doug
> > ================
> >>I grew up in the Louisville area, 1940's and 50's and used TEE-nine-see
> > (stress on first not second syllable, and 'see' not 'shee' in the last).
> > Wilson, you just got to stop thinking that everything you said when you
>was
> > little is Black. Lots of us white guys out here say the same stuff. If
>you
> > want to be shocked by white guys, save it for Imus.
> >>
> >>The palatalization is interesting in your form. (I take the 'see' form
>to
> > be more widely distributed.) Is it the influence of the following high
>front
> > vowel? I'm having trouble thinking of comparatively weakly stressed
> > /-Vnsi##/ strings. (I can think of /-VnsiC/ forms like "linseed".)
>"Unseat,
> > "unseemly," etc... are all in stressed syllables and seem to me very
> > unlikely to go to /sh/ so perhaps it's the sequence plus the lenition of
>the
> > weaker stress that promotes the palatalization in your form.
> >>
> >>Finally, if this is formed from "teensy," as it almost certainly is
>(itself
> > already surely a development tiny -> teeny -> teensy), are there other
> > examples of a "diminutivizing infix" of this sort? (Of course, it could
>be
> > an augmentative augmenting the notion "small.")
> >>
> >>This will teach me to get up early on Saturday.
> >>
> >>dInIs
> >
> >>>Subject:      Re: Query for Charlie-nim
> >>>-----------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>>Are y'all familiar with the term that's pronounced something like
> > "tee-NINE-shee"? It means "very small" and is used instead of
>"itty-bitty"
> > or "teeny-tiny." When I was in the Army, I heard this used by Texans of
>all
> > races, creeds, and colors from all over the state. I learned it from my
> > mother and my grandmother - I hated any story that  began, "Whin yew wuh
> > jes' a tee-nine-shee baby ..." Until my Army days, I was under the
> > impression that this word was peculiar to the women in my family. You
>can
> > imagine my shock when I first heard it fall tripppingly from the tongue
>of a
> > white farm boy from Mundy, Texas. Later, I heard it used by GI's from
> > Weslaco, Dallas, Odessa, Midland, Tyler, Galveston, etc., etc. But that
>was
> > fifty years ago.
> >>>>
> >>>>So, I was wondering whether any y'all were familiar with this term? Is
>it
> > peculiar to Texas or is it also used elsewhere?
> >>>>
> >>>>-Wilson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>James C. Stalker
>Department of English
>Michigan State University
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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