I noticed, while in Australia and Scotland, that the locals, when
talking amongst themselves, would be hard for me to understand. Their
speech was rapid, and in Australia filled with slang. They'd have to
slow down so I could get it. Esp. in western Scotland, where many
still speak Gaelic, I could be on a bus or train and not be able to
tell if people were speaking Gaelic or English, unless I heard the
occasional "and" or "the", which told me it was English [with a very
strong accent]. I suspect, in general, when people are talking with
others from the same area, they speak differently than they do around
others. Maybe a comfort thing, or a bonding, a shared identity.
Conspicuous Consumption indeed. I have cleaned out the houses of
several older relatives, of the "greatest generation", and what they
had was touchingly simple compared to all the stuff we "have to have"
today. A good piece of jewelry or two, for special occasions, and one
or two "best" suits or dresses. Nice drapes they kept for years. The
"good china," with nice linens to go along. And these were decent
people, who led very productive and satisfying lives, minus houses
crammed full of pointless clutter.
Nancy
-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
--Daniel Boone
On Jan 7, 2007, at 1:55 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> 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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