Well, I checked out the definition of colloquialism and found this, Set.
colloquialism definition
col·lo·qui·al·ism (-iz′əm)
noun
1. colloquial quality, style, or usage
2. a colloquial word or expression
3. loosely a localism, or regionalism
Webster's New World College Dictionary
I know that a colloquy is also a book of some churches.
Joe, wasn't there a soft drink called a sasparilla? That might be what we call root beer.
@Region Philbis,
Quote:Quote:
Quote:They also like to invert their contractions for some strange reason.
They say "doesn't" instead of "does" and "can't" instead of "can".
It's the strangest thing. I have no idea where or why that originated.
haven't heard anyone do that... yet.
(and by "haven't" i do mean "haven't")...
But I have heard this:
Boston Guy 1: I hope the bleepin Yankees get swept.
Boston Guy 2: So don't I.
"Flat as a flitter" and "over yonder" were two particularly prominent West Texasisms.
@Letty,
regionalism IS a colloquialism, whereas a colloquialism is not necessarily a regionalism. A cooloquialism used throughout the country, (eg the word "tricked out" for a customized car is pretty much a nationwide colloquialism but IS NOT a regionalism).
Sarsaparilla is a combination of flavors from Birch root, sassafras root, pipsessewa, and other flavors. Root beer doesnt contain sassafras or pipsessewa. Also, REAL sarsaparilla was a slight narcotic if made correctly. Sassafras root can be a mild sedative. Whenever we did field work in the Appalachians in WVa and NC, wed always hunt down sassafras roots and "Bile em up" to make a nice "vallerian like" narcotic and carminative tea.
@DrewDad,
Using "Is" as a combination sing or plural intrans verb is quite common in both written and spoken english in the Eastern W Va panhandle,(Jefferson down to about Monterey Counties W va and va)
@farmerman,
use it in a sentence so I can get your drift FM
@rosborne979,
rosborne979 wrote:People in New England say "wicked" a lot. Like... wicked cool, wicked hot or "that was just wicked".
People say that all over the world. They were saying it in Britain 20 years ago.
Wikipedia say thus:
Bark from the roots of the sassafras tree was the typical flavor in root beer historically, and is the primary flavor most individuals associate with the beverage. It is slightly red at times. Sassafras bark was banned by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1976 because of the carcinogenic properties of its constituent chemical safrole. A safrole-free variety is now used, with some claiming that it has a weaker flavor than the pre-1960 variety. Acacia is also used. . . . The primary ingredient, artificial sassafras flavoring, is complemented with other flavors, common ones being vanilla, wintergreen, cherry tree bark, liquorice root, sarsaparilla root, nutmeg, anise, molasses, cinnamon and clove.
and:
Sarsaparilla . . . is a perennial trailing vine with prickly stems that is native to Central America.[1] Its name (which is zarzaparrilla in Spanish) comes from the Spanish words zarza for "shrub" and parrilla for "little grape vine."
I'd always heard that rut beer is a combination of sassafras and wintergreen, which may simply have been the recipe popular where i was drug up.
There are, or once were, some people in the Carolinas who referred to Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola as "dope."
Joe, the great deceiver, has perverted this thread. Long may his evil reign.
@Setanta,
sassafras bark is a poor sub for the root. The hillbilly teas (The pink tonic as it was callesd in W Va) is from the roots harvested only in early spring.
Almost everything in root beer is fake nowadays and its the saffrole in sassafras root that is the mild sedative.
I never heard of sarasaparilla as a plant.I went to the Wikepedia articles and found the ref to a sarsaparilla plant. Hmmmm. I must look further, Im certain that boittles of Franks Sarasaparilla list sassafras extract . Saffrole is easy to get out of an extract.
@Roberta,
Roberta wrote:
I believe that "stand in line" is specific to NYC. (It's so natural to me that I had to look up what is standard--"stand on line"--and what's Noo Yawky. Or is it the other way around?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "stand ON line"
I just asked someone born and raised in Lubbock...she stand IN line.
@Roberta,
If they say sack when they mean poke, they're probably from somewheres up north.
@panzade,
Them fields is about ready ta pick.
We's goin to town.
@Region Philbis,
Region Philbis wrote:
Quote:They also like to invert their contractions for some strange reason. They say "doesn't" instead of "does" and "can't" instead of "can". It's the strangest thing. I have no idea where or why that originated.
haven't heard anyone do that... yet.
(and by "haven't" i do mean "haven't")...
The inverted contraction thing is a bit freaky because many people who do it, don't even know they are doing it, and if I ask them why they said they, they will deny that they did.
I bet only a Texan would say, "I'm gettin' pissed-er by the minute."
@chai2,
chai2 wrote:
Roberta wrote:
I believe that "stand in line" is specific to NYC. (It's so natural to me that I had to look up what is standard--"stand on line"--and what's Noo Yawky. Or is it the other way around?
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "stand ON line"
I just asked someone born and raised in Lubbock...she stand IN line.
Ooops.
Got it backwards. Whichever one is unfamiliar to you is the one we say.
@roger,
roger wrote:
If they say sack when they mean poke, they're probably from somewheres up north.
Sack means poke? Not in these here parts. I was referring to "sack" instead of "bag."
I'm getting fuhblungit.
@Roberta,
Roberta wrote:Sack means poke?
And vice versa. Where I come from, (England), "a pig in a poke" is something you shouldn't buy, a purchase made without prior inspection.
