LL-L "Idiomatica" 2004.09.21 (09) [E]

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From: Kevin Caldwell <kcaldwell31 at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2004.09.21 (05) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Idiomatica
>
> John Feather wrote under "Holidays" today:
>
> > recon = reckon. I found when I went to the US that Americans thought
> > that only cowboys talked like this.
>
> This is my experience also.  I remember that soon after my arrival in the
> States ("donkey years ago," as I would say as my Australian approximant
> persona) a friend (a Midwesterner) told me to stop saying "I reckon."  She
> seriously believed that it was an affectation, a very poor attempt at
> sounding American, going over the top by making it fake-Texan.  But it is
> actually very commonly used in Australia, which is where I had lived
> before.

It's actually very commonly used in the US. You just went to the wrong part!
Try the South next time. You'll fit right in.  Just be sure to say "Ah"
instead of "I", and draw the whole thing out a little.  Throw in a few
double modals and you're all set (I've never been able to bring myself to
adopt the phrase "good to go" that seems so popular these days).

> She did not object to "I s'pose" (< "I suppose"), probably because it's
> fairly non-American but understandable and she has much tolerance and
> liking
> for such things (as opposed to putting on non-Standard American accents).
> I
> now tend to say "I guess," sometimes "I suppose" (not "I s'pose," nor
> "stawb'rry" or "secret'ry," nor "contróversy" but "cóntroversy").

"I s'pose" sounds American to me.

Kevin Caldwell

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

Kevin (above):

> It's actually very commonly used in the US. You just went to the wrong
part!
> Try the South next time. You'll fit right in.  Just be sure to say "Ah"
instead of
> "I", and draw the whole thing out a little.  Throw in a few double modals
and
> you're all set

Thanks, Kevin.  Yep, it was the "wrong" part.  Whenever I visit the South, I
very much enjoy the dialects, find it rather easy to adapt, nobody questions
my language (due to so much dialectal diversity in the Southeast and my
idiolect fitting in), and I feel strangely tempted to adopt the local lingo.

One of my favorites:
"Don't pay him/her/it no never-mind!"
("Don't pay any attention to him/her/it!")

> "I s'pose" sounds American to me.

People do say it in the States, but not with as much frequency, certainly
not with as much frequency as "I guess," and many actually say "I suppose."

> (I've never been able to bring myself to adopt the phrase "good
> to go" that seems so popular these days).

Same here.  I haven't quite "advanced" to that, though it sounds kind of
"cute" to me, in some contexts a bit like British "... and Bob's your
uncle."

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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