swamp yankee

[Joel S. Berson]

The area of the Narragansetts and King Philip's War, circa 1675.  The
Indians were said by the English to "swamp" themselves -- that is, to
hide in the swamps.  The OED does not (yet) have this sense of the
verb, which it dates only from 1694 (I've sent Jesse a couple of
1675/1677 instances).  The noun dates from Virginia and 1624, John Smith.

Joel

At 2/6/2011 11:13 AM, Paul Johnston wrote:
>I've heard it to extend to Southeastern Massachusetts too, as well
>as to the distinctive dialect of the area.  A guy I went to college
>with, from New Bedford, said he "spoke Swamp Yankee".
>
>Paul Johnston
>On Feb 6, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      swamp yankee
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 2011  http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=135429&messages=47#3089482
> > (Feb.
> > 6):  I'm a Swamp Yankee. That's an insult for Rhode Islanders by
> people from
> > neighboring states. Like so many other derogatory words, it is
> not an insult
> > when we use it to describe ourselves.
> >
> > 127,000 hits, including its own Wikipedia article.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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