Talking Appalachian English -- and Scotch-Irish

Backcountry Notes ^ | March 14, 2010 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

Are yous up for a few more words on the subject of Appalachian English? The words for today being "yous" and "you'ns," along with variant spellings like "youse," "yooz," "you-uns," and "youens," and their Scotch-Irish roots. The traditional speech of the Backcountry is not a "corrupt" dialect, as is often assumed by those from "yonder" and “away,” and its roots can be traced to the places from whence the Backcountry settlers originated. "Yous" or "youse" as the plural form of "you" is of ancient origin and came to America with Scotch-Irish settlers in early colonial times.

[Defiant]

I highly recommend this movie to yous for its respectful portrayal of Appalachian speech and songs:

Songcatcher.

[BiggieLittle]

Meant no disrespect to you folks down South. I read on Wikpedia that it’s called “yat”.

[lovecraft]

A beautiful style of speech BTW.

So beautiful my family married into it! My sister married a great guy from there first and then I met my wife in Knoxville after college. South Carolina and East Tennessee seem to be good fits for each other. :)

[hoosiermama]

It’s like the word dead.

You can tell where a person is from by how many syllables
Dead =1
deadyud=2
deadyuduh=3

Had two boys in class who spelled their names the same.

One was call Jir-my
the other Jar-ah-me.

[jay1949]

I suspect there are multiple origins for the New York City versions like “youse guys,” but it is something I haven’t studied on. There were a lot of Catholic Irish who came to New York City after the potato famine and the “youse” form occurs in many parts of Ireland, so that is a strong possibility.

[jay1949]

Many of my distant kinsmen and their neighbors migrated from the central North Carolina Piedmont to Clay County, Indiana, in the 1820s and 1830s. Such folk tended to move as a community and would have taken their dialect with them.

[xkaydet65]

35 years ago I began teaching in Catholic school in Ridgewood,on the B’klyn/Queens border. My kids spoke much the same way I did. Today I am still in contact with many of them and we all share that Noo Yawk dialect. I just retired from the DoE after 25 years in Woodside Queens. Many of my kids,even those born here, are of Latin and Asian background and their accents and mine are quite dissimilar. One group of Hispanics I’ve noticed have kept the old NY accent are the Puerto Ricans. Often I’ll be watching the news and hear a person interviewed on the street who sounds like me. I’ll look up and see a dark skinned fellow with a name like Rodriguez. Since you’re on the job I guess you’ve encountered many Puerto Rican officers with these old NYC speech patterns.

[dps.inspect]

So “yall” “y’all” is slang for yous?

[jay1949]

Definitions of scotch and scotch Definition of scottish The word "Scotch" is not limited to whiskey (my drug of choice being Jura single-malt, BTW) and the term "Scotch-Irish" is traditional, "Scot-Irish" having become popular more recently. My mother's grandfather, who was born in Scotland, described himself as being "Scotch." Of course, that may have been a double-entendre, as he was known to be quite fond of Scotch, the whiskey.

[passionfruit]

We was yuzzed! It happened in a diner in Eastern Pennsylvania. “Can I get anyting else for yuz, Hon? I wonder if that is a variation.

[Earthdweller]

Funniest one I ever hear was a southern woman trying to say psychological. I hate speech bullies but I couldn't help but burst out laughing...I felt so bad.

It was like sock-o-lodge-ico...the emphasis was like a choppy 'sock-it-to-me' with a lodge thrown in. I about died...

[Fresh Wind]

Youse is common in and around Philadelphia-pronounced “Flelfya”.

[jay1949]

Not really; same idea, but with independent origins.

One of the points of my article is that words like “yous” and “you’ns” aren’t slang; they were accepted forms which eventually weren’t taken into “standard” American English.

[John-Irish]

I’m an American. My people came from Ireland. However I was born and raised in Kearny, NJ. At the time I lived there Kearny had loads of Scots living there. Knew tons of ‘em and woe be someone who used the word “Scotch’’ around any Scot in Kearny NJ.

[dps.inspect]

I’m amazed you took my post seriously.

[caww]

It was in a restaraunt near the Poconos I first heard Youse guys...thought then it was hard to say the two together...sounded like poor english until obvious more of it was used along the way.

Moving inland to Western Pa. someone mentioned “pop”...had no idea they met soda! Ha! sounds so funny..PoP.

The to Western border of Ohio it became you-ens.

[jay1949]

I tend to do that unless someone puts the ;>) thing at the end.

[jay1949]

“Pop” is the standard term in most of western Virginia also. East of the Blue Ridge, it is generally “soda.” Which one sounds funny depends on which one you grew up with, I suppose.

[jay1949]

woe be someone who used the word “Scotch" around any Scot in Kearny NJ.

Unless a glass and some ice were involved, I presume.

[jay1949]

I have a copy somewhere of several pages from a court reporter’s transcript, from about 1990, so not at all ancient, filed in Washington County, Virginia — very close to Sevier County, TN — where the term is written as “youens.” Also, the word “yous” appears several times.