rebel yell and yeehaw

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thank you for the link, Sam.

It may not matter much, but what Stan yells isn't "Yeehaw!" It's "Yeeeyaahh!"

Definitely a / j /, not a / h /.

JL

On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 8:29 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: rebel yell and yeehaw
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Below is the description published in 1866 of a rebel yell from the
> perspective of a member of the opposing forces.
>
> Title: Life in the army: in the departments of Virginia, and the Gulf, ...
> Year: 1866
> Author: J. Chandler Gregg
> http://books.google.com/books?id=M4y_uRmDyI8C&q=fiendish#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> I was near enough at times to the rebel lines during these three
> terrible days, to hear their unearthly, fiendish yell, such as no
> other troops or civilized beings ever uttered. It was not a hearty
> cheer, or hurrah, or roar, but a kind of shriek as dissonant as the
> "Indian war-whoop," and more terrible
> [End excerpt]
>
> Jonathan summarized other descriptions in a message to the list in
> December 2006.
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;Ppldbg;200612041354550800A
>
> The growth of the full-text databases might allow the construction of
> a more comprehensive set of descriptions. There may have been multiple
> rebel yells, and they may have changed over time.
>
> On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 6:36 PM,  <sclements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       sclements at NEO.RR.COM
>> Subject:      Re: rebel yell and yeehaw
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> When we last discussed this topic in 2006, Jon Lighter said-
>>
>>  "And lest Sam feel like chopped liver, if "Yankee Stan" Freberg did yell "Yee-ha(w)!" in 1955 (rather than "Ya-hoo!") it was a significant moment in American life"
>>
>> Here's your significant moment, via youtube.
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSa7W8zBOU
>>
>> Sam Clements
>>
>> ---- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> Thanks, James, for mentioning the my excruciatingly learned posts on
>>> this matter.
>>>
>>> Update: nothing new to report, though I've kept the topic in mind.
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 12:41 AM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> > Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>>> > Subject:      rebel yell and yeehaw
>>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > I got the following comment today on my blog post on "yeehaw"
>>> > (http://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/yeehaw/):
>>> >
>>> > ----
>>> > Wrong. The reason "Yeehaw" exists in association to the West is
>>> > because so many Southerners ended up there after the Civil War
>>> > because their homeland had been sacked and burned and was under
>>> > Federal (Yankee) occupation - home itself was not friendly territory.
>>> > They probably did yell it on cattle drives; whether early Hollywood
>>> > actors and writers from New York, Chicago and maybe Alberta were
>>> > familiar with it is irrelevant.
>>> >
>>> > "Yeehah!" is the Southernism that was identified as the "Rebel Yell"
>>> > which was in use since before the Civil War and was heard during the
>>> > Civil War... usually delivered at the top of one's lungs. Just
>>> > because you haven't observed its history doesn't mean that such
>>> > history doesn't exist. I grew up in rural South Carolina and this
>>> > goes back a long, long way, for generations.
>>> > ----
>>> >
>>> > Needless to say, I think he is a little oversure of his version,
>>> > although it is in its way an interesting contribution to the
>>> > question. I would be glad of comment (by email or at
>>> > http://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/yeehaw/) by any with
>>> > pertinent knowledge -- someone a little "closer" to it might speak
>>> > more authoritatively than I could.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks,
>>> > James Harbeck.
>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>>
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