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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