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A-huntin' The Sources of Appalachian English
Backcountry Notes ^ | March 26, 2010 | Jay Henderson

Posted on 03/26/2010 7:00:19 AM PDT by jay1949

An order of the Virginia Colonial Council dated May 4, 1725, concerned an allegation that "divers Indians plundered the Quarters of Mr. John Taliaferro near the great mountains [i.e., the Blue Ridge] . . .[and carried off] some of the Guns belonging to and marked with the name of Spottsylvania County . . . ." The Council concluded: "It is ordered that it be referred to Colo. Harrison to make inquiry which of the Nottoway Indians or other Tributaries have been out ahunting about that time . . . ."

Now, the Colonial Council was an august body and its proceedings were formal, so we can be sure that "ahunting" was not common slang. It was, on the contrary, an accepted usage which is now obsolete except in Appalachia and the Ozarks, where folks still go "out a-huntin'."

(Excerpt) Read more at backcountrynotes.com ...


TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS: appalachia; appalachian; dialects; english; englishlanguage; language; linguistics; rural; seedofalbion; virginia; virginiahistory
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To: Salamander
I was just messin' with you a bit...I won't be forty-eight until this summer.

Man, if I had known that I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of my teeth.

161 posted on 03/27/2010 7:50:38 AM PDT by Semper Mark (Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. - Aristotle)
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To: Boonie

Another Appalachian term is you-uns. It’s the more formal version of y’all.

And feelin puny.


162 posted on 03/27/2010 8:04:25 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: Boonie

In NC mountains it’s usually a branch or a creek.


163 posted on 03/27/2010 8:10:59 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: Genoa

lol


164 posted on 03/27/2010 8:18:33 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: wardaddy

Our property lies just about midway ‘twixt’ Dale ‘Holler’ and Cumberland Lake. Just driving around in the area you’ll see far more idle wells than active ones-I’d say the ratio is about 5 or 6 to 1. According to some of the old-timers in the area, back in the early ‘70’s when first discovered there was quite a lot of activity. But it was never anything like on the scale of say LA, Texas, or OK. Sadly, it’s all ‘pert near petered out’ now.


165 posted on 03/27/2010 8:49:08 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (imagine if the GOP grew a brain-and threw all RINOs OUT! But that would also require a spine *sigh*)
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To: LibertarianInExile

And there’s a difference even within states. My mother was from extreme North GA and father from central GA. Both moved to Atlanta after high school to work and that’s where they met, married, and lived for 35 years. But we usually spent every other weekend with one or the other’s family. There’s quite a bit of difference between how my ‘hillbilly’ cousins talk compared to the ‘flatlander’ cousins.


166 posted on 03/27/2010 9:02:07 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (imagine if the GOP grew a brain-and threw all RINOs OUT! But that would also require a spine *sigh*)
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To: DManA

I remember a lot of my relatives were angry about the Beverly Hillbillies at first, but I don’t think that lasted long.

The part I didn’t like was when the Clampetts mistook one animal from another. Nobody who grew up on a farm would mistake a camel for a cow, even if he had never heard of a camel before. I’ve known city folk who were ignorant as they could be about animals, but country folk are very perceptive about critters.


167 posted on 03/27/2010 9:07:31 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: snuffy smiff

Did your Granny ‘saucer’ her coffee like my Granny and Great-Granny did?


168 posted on 03/27/2010 9:10:36 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (Don't wish doom on your enemies. Plan it.)
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To: Boonie

One thing I’ve never heard in the Appalachians or the South in general is the nickname “Bubba”. But everybody associates that with the South.


169 posted on 03/27/2010 9:22:49 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: stainlessbanner

I’m fixin to go. I’m remembering my grandpa “fixin” his old T-Model tires, or his harness when using a wagon to go into town. It could be that was the etymology of the expression.


170 posted on 03/27/2010 9:25:09 AM PDT by IrishPennant (If you can accept losing, you can't win. ~ Vince Lombardi)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Yes ma’am, she shore did! LOL!


171 posted on 03/27/2010 9:33:11 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (imagine if the GOP grew a brain-and threw all RINOs OUT! But that would also require a spine *sigh*)
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To: jay1949

Seems like Gary Cooper did a good job of speaking it in Sergeant York.


172 posted on 03/27/2010 9:36:31 AM PDT by eartrumpet
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To: Salamander

What part of the country are you talking about? I’ve never heard a branch called a run.


173 posted on 03/27/2010 9:38:08 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Oh and NICE RACK!!!

(alright you pervs-check her homepage-I’m talkin’ ‘bout her deer!)


174 posted on 03/27/2010 10:08:40 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (imagine if the GOP grew a brain-and threw all RINOs OUT! But that would also require a spine *sigh*)
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To: All

For those of you who love the sound of bagpipes:

www.celticradio.net/

Music to soothe the savage Celt!

No, it’s not “all bagpipes all the time”-they have traditional and the not so traditional-it’s a little of everything Celtic-and they do take requests!

Check ‘em out-you’ll be glad you did!


175 posted on 03/27/2010 10:16:05 AM PDT by snuffy smiff (imagine if the GOP grew a brain-and threw all RINOs OUT! But that would also require a spine *sigh*)
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To: STONEWALLS

My grampa always skinned the bark off his apple trees when the signs were right. I know from college that trees can’t survive when they lose their bark. He always had the healthiest apple trees you ever saw.

There was an apple tree called Crow Eggs that yielded the best tasting apples ever. They were egg-shaped apples.


176 posted on 03/27/2010 10:33:20 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: gitmo

W.MD/northwestern WV/VA/southwestern-central PA.
All in the Appalachians.

Just within a mile or 2 of me, there’s Lane’s Run, Rattle Run, Rabble Run, Tom’s Run, Hinckle Run, Indian Springs Run and Cherry Run.

And those are just the ones I can think of, off the top of my head.

Just because you never heard of it don’t mean it ain’t so...:)


177 posted on 03/27/2010 11:00:33 AM PDT by Salamander (....and I'm sure I need some rest but sleepin' don't come very easy in a straight white vest.......)
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To: TheStickman

ping


178 posted on 03/27/2010 11:07:57 AM PDT by visualops (Freepin' on my Pre!)
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To: snuffy smiff

My folks lived in a mining town in the NC mountains. Our 5 mile driveway was lined in spar and the isenglass made it real purty. (spar=feldspar, isenglass = mica).

I remember a woman asking the man in the store where the serial (cereal) was. Nobody in the place had any idea what she wanted. The surreal was in the back.


179 posted on 03/27/2010 11:41:31 AM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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To: Salamander

Yeah, I’m from Western NC. We had creeks and branches. A branch is smaller than a creek. A creek is smaller than a river. What we call rivers up in the mountains, they call creeks in the flatlands.


180 posted on 03/27/2010 12:59:55 PM PDT by gitmo ( The democRats drew first blood. It's our turn now.)
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