"I got a woman / Way ...

Dave Hause dwhause at JOBE.NET
Thu Jun 3 15:37:26 UTC 2010


My father (b. 1912 in Angels, Wayne Co., PA - the Poconos) used to say "down
home" referring to the (home of the) grandmother who lived across the road
and (slightly) down hill, and variously "up home" and "over home" referring
to the grandfather who lived a couple miles away, closer to Newfoundland.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Waynesville, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>


_over town_"

as Ray Charles sang.

It's the case that _over town_, which I otherwise know only from Ray
Charles's song, is common among local speakers here in the towns along
the banks of the Susquehanna in the Wyoming Valley, with reference to
going across the river uptown (north) to "The City Square" in
Wilkes-Barre, the primary local shopping district. My wife, who never
used this phrase in Boston, uses it all the time, now that she's back
home.

I *still* have no idea what, exactly, Ray Charles had in mind, when he
used "(way) _over town_."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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