Tee-nine-see

[James C Stalker]

Just a mistype.
JCS


Tom Zurinskas writes:

> 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
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> The average US Credit Score is 675. The cost to see yours: $0 by Experian.
> http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=660600&bcd=EMAILFOOTERA
> VERAGE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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