What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Ga-a-h-a-rr..lee, Mr. JTT, That is some kinda' perty writin' you do!

Ain't he a caution ?

Where do you get that phrase setanta? sounds like one of those good ol' southern idioms...

You're welcome, Booman.

Yup . . . although i am a native New Yorker, i did not grow up there. I lived in Virginia, before it was overrun by Yankees. Contrary to popular history, this did not happen in 1865--it began in 1965. These days, i don't even recognize Stafford County.

It's a northern phrase in Britain, methinks.
<aside: Is that a schipperke, Setanta?>

Miss Clary, much of the local dialect of Virginia, as well as the pronunciation, especially in the tidewater, is descended from Elizabethan English--so it would not surprise me at all to find parallel development like that.

No, that is the dog you are used to seeing in my avatar picture, a few summers ago when the groomer got carried away.

Hey Boss, drop by, take yer shoes off, set a spell . . .

It's a Heinz (57 varieties)

You know Miss Clary, for more than a hundred years it has been assumed (or was, until quite recently) that the author of Mallory's Morte d'Artur, as set up and printed by Caxton (1485?) was Thomas Mallory of Westmoreland, a thoroughly despicable man--a felon accused of or convicted of rape, manslaughter, kidnapping and a host of other charming activities.

However, i read an analysis by one of your countrymen, who says that there was a Thomas Mallory of Yorkshire, who was a prisoner of the Duc d'Armagnac, who is more likely the author. He based his contention on the language of The Death of Arthur as it is found in Caxton, which he claims to be of a Northern dialect (a statement which i am not qualified to judge--however, as i did learn middle English at university, well enough to read Chaucer comfortably, i do note that it varies a great deal); further, he points out that Armagnac had one of the best libraries of the Arthurian cycle on the continent, noting that Mallory frequently refers to "the frensshe book," "the frensshe book sayeth." All very convincing, and very interesting.

Whan that Aprille, with hes shoures soote...

What's that all about? Don't that dude know nuthin?

He musta been ig-nernt, McT . . .

This thread moves along at a good clip, doesn't it. There were several things I wanted to reply to and didn't get the chance... now there hardly seems a point. This is why I prefer to lurk. Then, I don't feel like I'm getting behind.




"Plum on" definitely implies that some distance will need to be traveled before reaching your destination. I think you've got the gist of quantities, , at least you're close enough that you'll be understood should you need to actually use them in the South. You should work "a bushel" into that, though - probably between "a bunch" and "a heap". I have no idea what "a wh-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-l…GOO-GOBUHDEM" is. I imagine it's plenty.

Before traveling through the South again, however, you should be aware of a "mess". A mess is an actual quantity and is a term used frequently in the South. A mess of fish could be caught and fried, or a mess of beans might be cooked for supper. It has nothing to do with making a mess.

I'm going to stray from the topic for a moment, , and share a true story that happened to friends of my family several years ago:

A friendly young lady, a Yankee visiting the South, did a good deed for an elderly Southern woman. The Southerner wanted to thank the kind lady properly, and so offered her some green beans from her garden. After filling several large paper grocery bags full of freshly picked green beans the Southerner turns to the Yankee and asks, "Now, will that make a mess?"
"Oh, no!" replies the Yankee, not wanting to offend the elderly woman. "That won't make a mess at all."
The Southern woman smiles and begins to fill more large paper grocery bags. After having filled several more, she turns to the Yankee and asks, "Will that make a mess?"
"No," says the Yankee, shaking her head though slightly aghast. "It won't make a mess."
The elderly Southerner sighs and begins to fill more bags. This continues and eventually large paper grocery bags filled to the top with green beans overwhelmed the kitchen, and the previously kind and now horrified Yankee agrees that yes, it will definitely make a mess. The elderly woman smiles, satisfied. She carries these bags out to the car where her friends, Southerners, are waiting for her and wondering what on earth is taking her so long in this woman's house. She explained as she loaded bag after bag of green beans into the car. After they stopped laughing, they explained the meaning of "a mess" of beans. All agreed she had more than a mess.

Now that you're able to identify quantities and have reduced your risk - y'all come!

Satanta, I thought you must've spent at least some time in the South. Which do you prefer? NY or Va?

(Hope no one minds the deviance - I'd add a peeve to get back on topic, but I'm really all out. I'll work on that. :wink: Hi, JTT.)

Delete. Double post.

I dislike cities, Miss Virago, but, alas, the Virginia of my youth is no more. I lived on the northern neck, which is now a "bedroom" community of Washington.

Mr. Wolfe was indeed correctly in stating that you cannot go home again.

Mess < mensa - table (and therefore meal)
a mess of pottage, the Officer's Mess etc. That po' Southern woman must have been fresh outa beans!

Other quantitative expressions: a whole heap a, right many, more'n you can shake a stick at, a washtub full . . . i'm sure others will occur to me later . . .

I worked briefly for Miss Lee in North Carolina, while i was between jobs, first pickin' strawberries, and then acting as an unofficial supervisor. One day, Miss Lee says to me: "The Johnson boy (not the real name), he's right high smellin', isn't he? Why is that?"

"Well, yes ma'am, he surely is--but i can't answer for why, i didn't take the boy to raise."

Virago,
....A whole "googabudem sombiches" is a whole googab of them sons-a-b#tches

Booman 2 wrote:

Ah, the googab. Yes. I understand. And let's not forget the passel. "That woman's got a whole passel o' young 'uns."

Setanta wrote:

Progress is a lot like Kudzu. Ever notice that?

Clary wrote:

Likely so, Clary. One might even say she was slap out of beans. :wink:

Virago