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

[Dennis Preston]

Down Louisville way we also had the turtle: "Mr. (also no Bre'r)
turTELL is down by the well," and the whole thing was an enormous
shaggy dog, not the quickie Wilson gave us.

dInIs

>---------------------- 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
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>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
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>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

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