On this strange Leap Day, though I'm glad it's not my birthday, it's as good a time as any to consider dialects and word usage. Personally, I speak a mishmash of coastal (East), Pennsylvania borderland, and North Carolina Piedmont. Though I've lived for a spell in the Chicago area and the Twin Cities (St. Paul), and for quite a little while in Detroit, I'm resistant to Mid-Westernisms like "pop" (for soda), K-Marts, Chryslers, and Krogers (like G.W. Bush saying "internets," some white Detroiters add an extra "s" to these names for good measure). Nor do I pronounce "wash" like "worsh," like some old timers do (they also say, "Worshington" for DC). Regardless of my own preferences, listening to people talk is endlessly gripping -- even if I sometimes get distracted from the intended meaning.
Detroit has quite a farrago, with clear linguistic influences from parts of the American South (and distinctions between black and white lingo, but with some of the same food references) and East, plus additions from various ESL infusions. In a word, it's groovy. I dig. And I pick up/use certain expressions and phrases from other people just for the hell of it. One is lifted (probably) from John Lee Hooker, a man with no formal education originally from Delta Mississippi who settled in Detroit for quite a little while . . .
Today's Rune: Partnership.
7 comments:
We do the "adding the s" thing here in Chicago. Years ago, my friend Bob pointed out that contrary to my statements, the Chicago Bears play at Soldier Field, not "Soldier's Field."
Another Chicagoism is to ask a question and then add "or no?" to the end. E.G. "Do you want to go to the store with me tomorrow or no?"
Another Chicagoism is to call the space between two buildings a "gangway."
P.S.
I saw Macguffin in your "dormant fires" section. Happily, he's posting again. He's got a Cary Grant theme going on right now.
adding to Johnny's comment. "I true Chicagoian would say "Do you wanna go with, or no?" leaving off the "Me"
I speak a combination of Cincinnati and Chicago with a hint of Anglophile.
Paul Pillsbury said: Dialectically fascinating.
I was born and raised kickin it in the D and any motherfuckah got somthin bad to say bout it better ax permission firs.
Peace
mark
I've picked up various sayings from books I've read, which garners the odd look on occassion.
Ah, thanks y'all for the comments. I'll have to check out Macguffin's new posts after a dash across the gangway (how about breezeway?) but not sure if, for spring break, it'd be better to go "down to Shore" (Philly/NJ) or "Up North" (Metro Detroit). Actually, I'll be in Dixie. Yeahdawgs!
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