Babbity Bowster

Mon Mar 15 05:00:59 UTC 2010

Got it, Paul; thanks.

Does ADS-L have the tech-know and capability of using audio?  Or, better
yet, video?

Then many of these laborious phonetic "translations" would be mightily
augmented.

Re WMU, I recall seeing swans swimming in a pool in front of one of the
residence halls.
Last time I saw such a lovely sight was in England.

Judy raised in GR, schooled in Ann Arbor, taught in Chicago---a real
midwesterner
now living in Norfolk, VA where more folks sound midwestern than "southern"
probably because of the military presence

On 15 March 2010 00:38, 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
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > 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
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Frisky Moll Press:  http://judithprince.com/home.html
> >
> > http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/jprince/
> >
> > "Southern hospitality has ten years left."  ---Jeff Hecker,
> > Norfolk, VA
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
Frisky Moll Press:  http://judithprince.com/home.html

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/jprince/

"Southern hospitality has ten years left."  ---Jeff Hecker, Norfolk, VA

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