"Tell me something good!"

[Tom Zurinskas]

That's a nice postive greeting.  I'll use it.  It'll be interesting what I get back.


Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, then Tenn 3, NJ 33, now FL 9.
The FREE English-based phonetic converters, URL and text , are at truespel.com




> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "Tell me something good!"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> > When would one use "Tell me something good"?
>
> It's a Texas thing. You wouldn't understand. :-(
>
> But, seriously:
>
> WG: Hi, Tom! Tell me something good!
>
> TZ. Hi, Wil! What's up with you?"
>
> You use it whenever you want to,as a form of greeting. The person to
> whom "Tell me..." is said is not obligated to make any sensible or
> relevant response at all. It's simply a greeting, very like unto
> _Hi!_.
>
> OTOH, an old Army buddy from Munday, TX, tells me that, out his way, a
> common response is,
>
> "Don't start me lying!"
>
> or
>
> "I'd have to lie to you,"
>
> or some such.
>
> These are likewise merely random replies, despite the implication that
> the speaker has nothing good to tell, unless he lies about his
> circumstances. Of course, as is always the case in human interaction,
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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