"Give me some sugar" ... alive and well

[Anita Puckett]

In the southeastern Kentucky/northeastern Tennessee areas where
lived for some time, did linguistic anthropological research (i.e,
full ethnographic),  and still visit, it's still very common.  It
means some form of tactile positive affection, not just a kiss.  A
good hug might do--kiss better--and generally asked by older person
of a child relative.

Anita Puckett


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Joseph Salmons <jsalmons at WISC.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: "Give me some sugar" ... alive and well
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Some sugar = 'a kiss.'
>
>
>On Dec 18, 2007, at 6:01 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: "Give me some sugar" ... alive and well
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  But what exactly does it mean?
>>
>>  Gerald Cohen
>>
>>  ________________________________
>>
>>  From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Joseph Salmons
>>  Sent: Tue 12/18/2007 5:06 PM
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: "Give me some sugar" ... alive and well
>>
>>
>>
>>  Oh, this one is far from dead ... at least among my relatives in North
>>  Carolina.
>>
>>  Joe
>>
>>
>>  On Dec 18, 2007, at 4:55 PM, Dennis Preston wrote:
>>
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>  -----------------------
>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>>  Subject:      Re: "Give me some sugar."
>>>  =
>>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>  ------
>>>
>>>  'Give me some sugar' was very common among white folk in Southern
>>>  Illinois, Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, including use by my
>>>  grandparents, making it  much older, in the early 40s and 50s. It is
>>>  it old timey indeed; could be gone.
>>>
>>>  dInIs
>>>
>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>  -----------------------
>>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>  Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>  Subject:      "Give me some sugar."
>>>>  =
>>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>  ------
>>>>
>>>>  When I was at UC Davis in 1969, I had occasion to say to my
>>>>  girlfriend, a white native of Sacramento, "Gimme some sugar'." After
>>>>  an awkward silence lasting some few seconds, she finally replied, "I
>>>>  don't know what you mean." From that time to the present, I've
>>>>  asked a
>>>>  random assortment of white Northerners about this expression and
>>>>  have
>>>>  yet to find one who was familiar with it. (I haven't asked any white
>>>>  Southerners, since they're as rare as black people in the rarefied
>>>>  Northern atmosphere in which I live. In addition, I've, for no good
>>>>  reason, assumed that the expression is General Southern and is not
>>>>  peculiar to BE.)
>>>>
>>>>  Google yields about 80,000 raw hits for all variants: "sugar" v.
>>>>  "suga," "give me" v. "gimme," etc.
>>>>
>>>>  DARE has only(?) "gimme some juice," under GIVE, presumably only in
>>>>  its literal meaning. Interestingly enough, all of DARE's Black
>>>>  variants are in use nearly everywhere in BE as I know it.
>>>>
>>>>  So, I guess that this is still almost surely only a Down-Home
>>>>  expression.
>>>>
>>>>  -Wilson
>>>>
>>>>  -Wilson
>>>>
>>>>  --
>>>>  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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>  > <http://www.americandialect.org/>=20
>>>
>>>
>>>  --
>>>  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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--
Anita Puckett, Ph.D.
Director, Appalachian Studies Program
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA   24061
540.231.9526 office
540.231.7013 fax

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