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

Mon Aug 30 14:35:33 UTC 2010

I vaguely recall a childish joke from years ago that characterized the Lone Ranger's Theme Song (the opening of "William Tell Overture") as ("rump-titty-rump-titty-rump rump rum"). at the time, this was intended to be risqué.

There was an article on TRADE-LAST in AMERICAN SPEECH. I think the author was Tom Murray, so it was long ago.

On Aug 30, 2010, at 9:27 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> 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:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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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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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --=20
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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