"to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)

[Wilson Gray]

Herb asks:

"Could this be a Southern usage?"

Don't forget that BE is a dialect of Southern English. Some BE usages
are also current in SE; others once were. But, even if they were never
part of the speech of white Southerners, they're still "Southern," by
definition. "Y'all" is as common among black speakers in Boston as it
is in Marshall, Texas. And when you hear "y'all" mixed with Bostonisms
like "cahn't," "bahth," "Meery" (Mary), "Ian" (Ann), "so risn't [i.e.,
*is*] yaws [yours]," etc. it's all you can do to keep a straight face.

-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.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 8:29 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The OED gives a meaning:
>
> Â b. To dwell, lodge, reside (permanently or regularly). Sc., S.Afr.,
> India, and U.S.
> 1754 E. BURT Lett. N. Scot. (1818) I. 20, I was told that I
> must..inquire for such a launde (or building), where the gentleman
> stayd, at the third stair, that is, three stories high. 1800 Monthly
> Mag. I. 322 [Scotticisms], He stays in the Canongate, means, He lives
> in that suburb. a1915 Mod. (Sc.) Mr. A. moved last Whitsunday; I don't
> know where he stays now. a1915 Mod. (Cape Colony: communicated.)
> Englishman. Who lived in that house last? Colonial. Oh, Mr. Brown
> stayed there. 1951 Amer. Speech XXVI. 75/1 ‘Do you stay here?’ In
> common Negro parlance stay is used for ‘live’ but is heard otherwise.
> 1959 A. FULLERTON Yellow Ford v. 45 ‘Would you care to stay round
> here, man?’ I had not caught on, at first, to her meaning: the verb
> ‘stay’ is used in South Africa when in England we'd say ‘live’. 1962
> W. FAULKNER Reivers i. 13 Mr Wimbush stays a solid eight miles from
> town. 1980 D. MORAES Mrs Gandhi p. xiii, In March 1977..my wife..and I
> went to see her in New Delhi, at 1 Safdarjang Road, the house where
> she had stayed since she first became Prime Minister in 1966.
>
> Note the 1962 Faulkner example. Â Could this be a Southern usage?
>
> Herb
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net> wrote:
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>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â "to stay" vs. "to live" (reside)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I taught for a number of years @ a historically black university in NC.
>> 100% of my students used phrases like "where do you *stay*", or "I don't
>> *stay* with my parents"...situations where the average white person would
>> use *live*
>>
>> How might this have originated?
>>
>> Bill Palmer
>>
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