LL-L "Idiomatica" 2004.09.22 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.SEP.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

I wrote:

> 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.

In the meantime I have asked a few native Americans about it.  (This is
"native" with a small "n," though at least two of them are part "Native"
also.)  All but two of them now live here in the Pacific Northwest.  Two of
them are originally from the Northeast (Connecticut and New York), two from
the South (Alabama and Georgia), three from the Midwest (Michigan, Missouri
and Ohio) and four from the West Coast (California and Washington).  The
Westerners and the person from Michigan considered "I reckon" simply
"Southern."  The rest of them referred to it as "Appalachian."  Only one of
them (a well-traveled Washingtonian) was aware that "reckon" in this sense
is used in English varieties outside North America.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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