30.877, Disc: Northern Alabama Expression

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-877. Fri Feb 22 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.877, Disc: Northern Alabama Expression

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Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2019 14:36:26
From: Reagan Humber [reaganhumber at gmail.com]
Subject: Northern Alabama Expression

 
My father's family us from the hills of Northern Alabama outside of Fayette.
Based on my research, they've been in that area since before the Civil War.
Growing my dad used to repeat a phrase he heard from his older relatives who
lived there. It's "ghee o dow." He said it filled the function of Goddamm. It
was pronounced like "ghee" (as in the Indian clarified butter or the French
pronunciation of Guy), O (long O, like the exclamation Oh!) And Dow (like in
Dow Jones). I've never seen it written out. He said it all the time and the
pronunciation was consistent from what I remember (meaning I don't think he
was misremembering). So, I'm wondering what the origin of this could be.
Obviously it could just be someone's personal idiosyncrasy that got spread in
the family. But I'm wondering if it's related to any British dialects or
languages other than English brought over. I have been watching Welsh shows
recently and it made me wonder. As far as I can tell, my family is typical
Scotch-Irish, Northumbrian, etc. common in the Southeast of the US. My family
immigrated here in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. 



Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Language Documentation
                     Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): Aguaruna (agr)
                     Gaelic, Hiberno-Scottish (ghc)
                     Gaelic, Scottish (gla)
                     Scots (sco)
                     Welsh (cym)

Language Family(ies): English



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