I have noticed that many Southern folks talk differently around their own or
in what would be considered "casual" conversation with trusted friends. In
this type of conversing, what would ordinarily be labeled incorrect grammar
becomes the norm. As mentioned earlier, I've never lived out of the state
of TX, but other relatives & in-laws, from the deep South, can switch back &
forth with ease & their "business/formal" language will sound nothing like
how they speak when they are in familiar company. Even Larry King on CNN
uses the word "ain't" often in certain situations & of all people, he knows
better...and he's from Noo Yawk.
Diane E.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Speech patterns
> Something that always amused me was the way Oldtimers, and I mean
> "literate"
> ones; educated ones.... fine ladies and gentlemen, even, would say "Don't"
> when the sentence they were using called for "Doesn't".
> For instance, "She don't know...."; "He don't care...."
> And those same people also would not hesitate to say "Ain't".
> To our over-educated ears that may seem like an abomination but I'm
> talking
> about people who truly knew better, who were very, very well educated
> (some
> had even gone off to some fine Yankee schools so we KNOW they were better
> educated:) but they persisted in using idioms and figures of speech that
> broke all the rules of usage. Now, they didn't WRITE that way and when
> they
> were in a more formal, social setting they didn't always talk like that,
> but
> amongst themselves they did.
> I've thought about this a lot and I've decided that it has a bit to do
> with
> the old-timey way of thinking in which it was really, really bad taste to
> try to speak, act, behave, conduct oneself as though one was, somehow,
> "better" than others; or better educated; or knew more; or had been to
> more
> places or seen more of the world.
> That attitude which is fading fast also reflected itself in the notion
> that
> the very worst thing a person could ever do was to show up overdressed for
> the occasion. It could be a mortifying experience for someone to arrive at
> a
> function overdressed. Far better to be way under-dressed than overdressed
> which could be perceived as showing off one's finery or, God forbid!
> drawing
> attention to oneself.
> I'm not all THAT old (I'm in my 50's) but I can well recall that attitude
> of
> trying to be understated in the way one dressed and lived. The theory of
> Conspicuous Consumption began to rear its hideous head in the 1980's at
> which time we Americans latched onto it and have never let go, in my
> opinion.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Diane Ethridge" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 11:28 AM
> Subject: Speech patterns
>
>
> My ex in-laws were from E. AL with their grandparents from SC & one
> generation earlier, VA. They often used terms of speech & words that were
> a
> complete mystery to me. I'm born & bred in TX, not exactly Boston in
> speech patterns, but had never heard some of the strange (to me) words
> used
> by those folks. They would say, "I was daresent" to go/do/whatever,
> which
> I assumed was a form of "dared not" or another one was that something
> wasn't
> "approcrut" (appropriate). I would become so interested in listening to
> their strange form of speaking, that I would lose track of the subject
> matter.
>
> Diane in TX
>
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