More 1908 Dialect Notes on E 'Bama (white) English

Mon Aug 30 13:27:16 UTC 2010

I forgot about "tough titty," but, as Robin and Dan indicate, it's a frozen
phrase.  The HDAS files take it back to the '30s, but GB offers a believable
(though unverified) ex. from 1921.

"Tough shit" (WWII; earlier?) was far more common.

JL

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 7:22 AM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> Subject:      Re: More 1908 Dialect Notes on E 'Bama (white) English
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My mother (born Indianapolis, 1920 and raised there) used trade-last
> exactly
> as "a compliment that one has heard about someone, which one offers to tell
> to that person in exchange for a compliment heard about oneself". I
> heard/used it a lot as a kid in the 50s-60's but haven't used it much, if
> at
> all, since then. I might start again now, though. It's kind of cute.
> DAD
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 11:50 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: More 1908 Dialect Notes on E 'Bama (white) English
>
>
>
> My grandmother told me about "trade-last."  She said it was familiar to her
> in NYC around 1910 or earlier.
>
> "You don't say!"  Common in movies of fifty years ago and more. Am not
> sure if I've ever heard a person utter it live.
>
> I never heard "titty" in NYC except in derisive contexts about nursing
> babies. "Tit" was the universal rude synonym.  When I first heard "titty"
> i=
> n
> the South, it seemed weird.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:26 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > "WHUT, pron.  What. A common pronunciation."
> >
> > Whut TF?!!! There's *another* AmE pronunciation?! Abstracting away
> > from the three pronunciations of _wh_, of course.
> >
> > "WHAR, adv.  _Whur_ is also heard."
> >
> > Some may recall my surmise that there may be a connection between
> > these two pronunciations.
> >
> > "WHIPPERWILL, n.  The chuck-will's-widow."
> >
> > Also commonly known as the whip-poor-will.
> >
> > "Y'ALL, pron. pl.  You all. This form is now practically universal in
> > the South [and absolutely universal in BE. W]. *It is never used with
> > a singular significance, as has been asserted by some.*" [emphasis
> > supplied]
> >
> > Amen!!!
> >
> > "YOU DON'T SAY.  You don't say so; equivalent to 'I am greatly
> > surprised by what you say.' A negro usage, chiefly."
> >
> > Most certainly a phrase favored by my Texas grandmother, along with
> > the perhaps-more-stereotypically-Southern, "I declare!" She also used
> > "You don't say so!"
> >
> > "WORK LIKE A CHARM, v. phr."
> >
> > This was once peculiar to the South?! Youneverknow.
> >
> > "WORK THE RABBIT'S FOOT ON ONE, v. phr. To conjure ..."
> >
> > No mention of this as "A negro usage." Interesting.
> >
> > "VOMIK, n. and v. Vomit."
> >
> > Again, no mention of this as "A negro usage." Though not universal,
> > the shift of spelled _-it, -et_ to [Ik] is completely ordinary among
> > BE speakers.
> >
> > "A negro is never addressed as _Mr._ by a white person."
> >
> > Those were the good old days!
> >
> > "TRADE-LAST, n.  A compliment reported from a third party."
> >
> > An interesting word!
> >
> > "TOSSEL, n.  Tassel"
> >
> > Common among urrbody in Saint Louis, but not used in E TX BE.
> >
> > "TOAD-FROG, n.  Toad. Universal."
> >
> > Yep. I had to unlearn it.
> >
> > "TITTY, n.  A woman's breast."
> >
> > Not specified as "Universal," though, of course, it is.
> >
> > "TOD(S) [falls together w. sE _toad(s)], prep. Toward(s)."
> >
> > Alternates w. _twod(s)_ [twOd(z)] in E TX.
> >
> > "TIGHT, n. ... [U]sed of financial stringency. 'I'm in a tight (for a
> > little money).' "
> >
> > Universal in BE.
> >
> > "TEENINCY [ti 'naIntsI], adj.  Very tiny."
> >
> > Universal in BE and WE in Texas. (I heard it used by white Texans
> > while in the Army.) I've never heard it used by anyone from anywhere
> > else, not even by my father, a native of _W_ 'Bama. Also [ti 'naintSI]
> > in TX.
> >
> >  "TACKY, adj.  Shabby, out of style ... Common. A _tacky party_ is a
> > party in which the guests dress comically or ridiculously."
> >
> > As fate would have it, It's precisely in the term, _tacky party_, in
> > which I learned this meaning of "tacky." Sadly, I didn't learn it
> > until *after* I had arrived at the party, well-advertised in advance
> > as being a "tacky" one. As they say, "If you don' know, you bettuh
> > *aks* somebody!"
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > =96=96=96
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint
> t=
> o
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > =96Mark Twain
> >
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>
>
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