Babbity Bowster

Mon Mar 15 04:38:48 UTC 2010

Closer to the action before the Queen, which has the vowel
Midwesterners substitute for it.  It's actually fronter (see my other
message).

Wow--you have a K-zoo connection, too.

Yours,
Paul
On Mar 12, 2010, at 7:48 PM, Judy Prince wrote:

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> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Judy Prince <jbalizsprince at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Babbity Bowster
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Thanks, Paul!
>
> Apparently Wilson and I, and maybe others, aren't certain of the
> sound you
> intend.
>
> It looks from your email address that you're affiliated with WMU in
> Kalamazoo, MI.  If you're a midwesterner, then, as I am, p'raps we can
> easily establish the pronunciation of "bo-" in "bowster".
>
> Does it sound like the satiny ribbon one puts on a gift, or like
> what one
> does before the Queen?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Judy whose parents met and married in Kalamazoo
>
> On 12 March 2010 16:51, Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at wmich.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Babbity Bowster
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> In Scots, it'd be pronounced like [^] + barred-u, the vowel that
>> occurs in words like yowe=ewe, knowe=knoll, and in words like roll,
>> gold (Sc. gowd), and a lot of dialect words like coup and loup.  You
>> can substitute the vowel in OUT we have, because in Standard Scottish
>> English (as opposed to Scots), they do have the same vowel. Bowster,
>> in fact, equals bolster.  Incidentally, the names McKeown and Bowie
>> also have this vowel in Scotland, though they don't here.  I had to
>> learn that one, especially because David Bowie was especially popular
>> when I started to live there,
>>
>>
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Judy Prince <jbalizsprince at GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Babbity Bowster
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> ---------
>>>
>>> Apparently the term "Babbity Bowster" hadn't/hasn't emigrated to
>>> the States
>>> as I had thought when querying this list a few days ago.  Robin
>>> Hamilton
>>> kindly sent its etymology, but we still don't know how "Bow-" is
>>> pronounced=
>>> .
>>>  If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.  Following is the
>>> information Robin
>>> sent:
>>>
>>> DSL - SND1
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> BAB AT THE BOWSTER, BAB IN THE BOWSTER, BABBITY BOWSTER, phr.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. An old country dance, finishing off a ball, a wedding, or any
>>> kind of
>>> merrymaking.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     *Sc. 1851 Eng. Notes and Q. (18 Jan.) 45:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     The manner of dancing it is, the company having formed itself
>>> into a
>>> circle, one, either male or female, goes into the centre, carrying
>>> a pillow
>>> [or handkerchief], and dances round the circle with a sort of
>>> shuffling
>>> quick step, while the others sing, =E2=80=94 =E2=80=9CWha
>>> learn=E2=80=99d y=
>>> ou to dance, you to
>>> dance, you to dance, Wha learn=E2=80=99d you to dance, Bab in the
>>> Bowster b=
>>> rawly?=E2=80=9D
>>> To which the dancer replies: =E2=80=9CMother learn=E2=80=99d me to
>>> dance, m=
>>> e to dance, me to
>>> dance, Mother learn=E2=80=99d me to dance, Bab in theBowster
>>> brawly.=E2=80=
>>> =9D He or she then
>>> lays down the pillow before one of the opposite sex, when they both
>>> kneel o=
>>> n
>>> it and kiss; the person to whom the pillow has been presented going
>>> over th=
>>> e
>>> above again, etc., till the company tires.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     *Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin (1868) xxxv.:
>>>
>>>     Lang ere Sandy=E2=80=99s fiddle struck up the grand finale
>>> o=E2=80=99 =
>>> =E2=80=9CBab at the
>>> Bowster.=E2=80=9D
>>>
>>>     *Lnk. 1894 W. H. Ballantyne in A. B. Gomme Dict. Brit. Folk-
>>> Lore I. 9:
>>>
>>>     Wha learned you to dance, Babbity Bowster brawly?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     2. A children=E2=80=99s game. (1) A ring game. (2) A hopping
>>> game.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     (1) *Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 45:
>>>
>>>     Bab-at-the-bowster. . . . A children=E2=80=99s ring-game.
>>>
>>>     (2) *Arg. 1901 R. C. Maclagan Games of Argyleshire 58:
>>>
>>>     Crouching down on their . . . hunkers, . . . and clasping their
>>> hands
>>> under their legs behind their knees, they hop on their toes
>>> opposite each
>>> other, singing: =E2=80=94 Wha learnt you to dance, Babbity Bowster,
>>> Babbity=
>>>  Bowster,
>>> Wha learnt you to dance,Babbity Bowster? [etc.]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     3. =E2=80=A1A boys=E2=80=99 game. Known in Dundee as Hockey-
>>> duck.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     *ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 45:
>>>
>>>     Bab-at-the-bowster. . . . A game of the leap-frog kind, in
>>> which one bo=
>>> y
>>> climbs along the bowed backs of several others.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     [From Bab, v., 2 (1), and Bowster, a pillow.]
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Judy
>>>
>>> --=20
>>> Frisky Moll Press:  http://judithprince.com/home.html
>>>
>>> http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/jprince/
>>>
>>> "Southern hospitality has ten years left."  ---Jeff Hecker,
>>> Norfolk, VA
>>>
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>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>
>
> --
> Frisky Moll Press:  http://judithprince.com/home.html
>
> http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/jprince/
>
> "Southern hospitality has ten years left."  ---Jeff Hecker,
> Norfolk, VA
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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