Scots-Irish migrated down the Appalachians from Pennsylvania during the colonial period and became isolated there, avoiding later homogenizing of the language. There are similarities today between Appalachian speech and dialects of English still spoken in the UK. For example, some pronouncing the past tense of “eat” as “et.”
Interesting. thanks will bookmark
You’ve got it. We of Scots-Irish descent know where the language came from.
A mechanic I knew some years back liked to conclude his sentences with a verbal exclamation, “what I did.”
I would ask the status of one our mining machines and he would respond, “I just changed the oil in the D-9. What I did...”
I’ve always wondered where this came from.
Other words are very old English...fetch, reckon, kivvers (covers)
Also, along with a-huntin’ we’ve said a-courtin’, a-fishin’...most words ending with “ing”
I've noticed that too. Heck, some of those English folks speak the language almost as good as we do in East Tennessee. ☺
I also hear a lot of similarities with the Scots and the Irish in the way that they round off their g's the way that we do, e.g. fishin', huntin' and cookin' etc.
For example, some pronouncing the past tense of “eat” as “et.”
Julius Ceasar to Brutus: “Et tu Brutus?”
Brutus to Ceasar: “Naw man. I ain’t et nothin’”.....Brother Dave Gardner
Ditto the Eastern Shore/Outer Banks accent and the accent spoken in parts of coastal England.