Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917)

Dennis Preston preston at MSU.EDU
Wed Dec 5 11:33:06 UTC 2007


Wilson,

Stupid Northern chillun (and their stupider parents) don't know that
brer (or bre'r) means "brother." One English Professor (sic!)
splained to me that that was the spelling for 'briar' ! (Member,
Bre'r Rabbit lived in the briar patch!) They some r-full folk in the
world (and even better folk-etymologizers).

How the turtle got in:

The three of 'em (rabbit, turtle, lizard) was buddies and saved and
bought a farm, but wouldn't nothin grow without an exotic fertilizer.
Rabbit was chose to go off  and get it (somewhere far away of
course). Lizard and turtle was trying to scrape somethin out of the
bad ground while he was gone but struck oil. After they was rollin in
dough and put up their mansion, rabbit come back with a little bag of
shit and, piuzzled, went up to the door and asked for his ol
buiddies. The word final stress on turTELL and liZARD represent the
snootiness of the butler, and help make the punch line (rabBIT)
funnier.

Naturally, the telling of it takes much longer than this quick
summary, but that's where the turtle came from in the Louisville
version.

dInIs


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re:
>"Jazz Means
>               Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"*Remusian* 'Bruh'"? I thought that the "Remusian" stories used
>"Brer." I heard the story from my mother about sixty-five years ago
>and she used [br@] and not [brei@(r)], which is the only pronunciation
>I've ever heard used among blacks for the spelling, "brer." Either her
>memory is wrong or my memory is wrong or the versions are simply
>different. Like, how does the turtle get into the story? And, of
>course, things do change with the passage of time.
>
>I've just heard "do you _a_ solid" used on the tube for the umpteenth
>time. Yet, I've known the expression as "do you _some_ solid" for the
>past sixty or so years. I wonder how "a solid" is negated. To negate
>"some solid," I say, "I can't do you no solid," which probably takes
>no one by surprise.
>
>So, is "err" pronounced [^r] or [ei at r]?
>
>-Wilson
>
>On Dec 4, 2007 7:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child
>>Re: "Jazz Means
>>                Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  The version I heard in the '70s also included "Mr. TurTOOL is out
>>by the pool."  I don't recall the Remusian "Bruh" honorifics,
>>however.
>>
>>    JL
>>
>>  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>    ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: Wilson Gray
>>  Subject: Re: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re: "Jazz Means
>>  Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  When I was a child, somebody gave me a copy of the book for Christmas,
>>  but I wasn't able to make any sense out of it, even with the aid of
>>  the accompanying illustrations and nobody in my family was able to
>>  read it to me. Nineteenth-century Black English eye-dialect wasn't
>>  taught in school. Nowadays, I know that "brer" doesn't spell "brayer"
>>  and that "sezee" doesn't spell "see zee."
>>
>>  Here followeth the only tale of anything at all like those of the
>>  Uncle Remus school that I've ever heard. It dates from around the time
>>  of my mother's childhood, AFAIK. Ca.1910? Earlier? Later?
>  >
>>  Bruh Rabbit and Bruh Buzzard were partners in a business cleaning
>>  outhouses. After a day's work, Bruh Rabbit went by Bruh Buzzard's
>>  mansion. Bruh Rabbit rang the doorbell. The butler answered the door
>>  and asked,
>>
>>  But: Yes, sir? May I help you?
>>  Rab: Bruh Buzzud tuh home?
>>  But: Yes, sir. Mister BuzZARD is out in the yard.
>>  Rab: "No lie? Well, tell 'im that Bruthuh RabBIT is heanh wit duh shit."
>>
>>  -Wilson
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  On Dec 4, 2007 9:47 AM, Amy West wrote:
>>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  > Poster: Amy West
>>  > Subject: Very OT: Uncle Remus frightened me as a child Re: "Jazz Means
>>  > Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>>  >
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > A personal anecdote:
>>  >
>>  > I never read the Uncle Remus stories as a child. I have a distinct
>>  > memory of pulling it off the shelf of the branch library in
>>  > Tonawonda, NY, opening it, and not recognizing it as any type of
>>  > English I was familiar with -- and I was used to foreign languages
>>  > with my dad doing German and Russian translations -- nor the type of
>>  > English that my (white) Southern relations spoke. And it scared the
>>  > bejeesus out of me. I put that thing back on the shelf and never
>>  > touched it again.
>>  >
>>  > ---Amy West
>>  >
>>  > >Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 16:01:56 -0500
>>  > >From: "Baker, John"
>>  > >Subject: Re: "Jazz Means Happy and Loose Like" (1917)
>>  > >
>>  > > "Rastus" seems to have been popularized by Brer Rastus, the
>>  > >deacon of a colored church, in the story "Uncle Remus's Church
>>  > >Experience," collected in Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus, His Songs
>>  > >and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation 190 - 93 (1881;
>>  > >copyright 1880) (Google Books full text). But Harris does not seem to
>>  > >have invented the use. Here's an earlier, passing example:
>>  > >
>>  > > "While Brudder 'Rastus Putts passes round de hat, de
>>  > >congregashun will please sing de useal Ducksholiday to de same good ole
>>  > >tune."
>>  > >
>>  > >Professor Julius Caesar Hannibal [probably a pseudonym], Black Diamonds;
>>  > >or, Humor, Satire and Sentiment, Treated Scientifically 15 (1857;
>>  > >copyright 1855) (Google Books full text).
>>  > >
>>  > >John Baker
>>  >
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>>
>>
>>  --
>>  All say, "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'l Clemens
>>
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>
>
>--
>All say, "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'l Clemens
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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