what-all (1861)

Mark Mandel thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 1 03:42:48 UTC 2008


How about "who-all"? I use that.

m a m

On Jan 31, 2008 5:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> It reminds me of Deacon Andy Griffith, as he was known back in the day
> when he did stand-up. He uses "and I don't know what-all" in a
> recitation in an exaggerated version of his native, North-Carolina
> dialect called "What it was was football," which is/was? available
> from iTunes.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Jan 31, 2008 4:50 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:      what-all (1861)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > OED lacks an entry for this frequent U.S. colloquialism, which I've used
> all my life.
> >
> >   1861 in David Detzer _Donnybrook: The Battle of Bull Run, 1861_
> (Orlando: Harcourt, 2004) 180: Plenty of good things such as chicken,
> Biscuit, Butter, Eggs, Ham, Mutton, Honey & I don't know what-all.
> >
> >   JL
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Never miss a thing.   Make Yahoo your homepage.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>
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>



--
Mark Mandel

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