"tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

That's a good un!

-Wilson

On 1/24/08, Russ McClay <mcclay at taolodge.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Russ McClay <mcclay at TAOLODGE.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, 23 Jan 2008, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> > FWIW, I know "tallywhacker" only as a literary term.
>
> And fwiw...I remembered a story I read years ago and
> thought I'd give the google book search a try to
> find it...and find it I did:
>
> 36. That Boy Needs Pants
> Told by Elbert Short, Crane, Mo., June, 1933. He
> heard near Marionville, Mo., in the early 1900's.
>
> One time there was some country folks giving
> a big dinner, with a lot of high-toned company
> from town. The house was kind of crowded, because
> they had too goddam many children. The kids was
> running all over the place, and hollering so loud
> the grown folks couldn't hardly hear theirself think.
>
> There was one boy that climbed right up on the dinner
> table, so his mother had to pull him down by the
> collar. She didn't want to give him hell in front of
> the company, but the old man reached over and slapped
> his bottom good.
>
> "Maw," says the farmer, "how old is that there boy?"
> The woman says he must be twelve, going on thirteen.
> "Well, I reckon we'll have to put pants on him," says
> the old man. "That's the second time he's crawled up
> there and drug his tallywhacker through the butter."
>
> The high-toned company just set there, without saying
> a word. But everybody took notice they didn't eat no
> more butter.
>
> - From Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales
>
> =)
>
> Russ
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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