Free Republic

That’s it. I have heard it all! As a southern person, I say the word “y’all” all the time. It is a conjunction of the words “you” and “all”. I use it for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, old, young, white, black….In no way, shape, or form is the word racist. That is, unless you’re a liberal I guess. I came across an article calling for the word “y’all” to be banned because thy fee the word is racist. NPC Daily writer Neville Croft wrote, “[A] new hate word is increasingly being used by the alt-right. The...

See this nut? We’ve posted about how pecans are grown, their nutritional benefits and our favorite pecan recipes, but we’ve never really discussed a popular topic of debate: Are they pee-KAHNs, pee-CANs, PEE-cans, pick-AHNs or some other pronunciation? How do YOU say pecan? ==================================================================================================================== Turns out, it depends on where you’re from. Joshua Katz, a doctoral student studying statistics at NC State University, recently created interactive dialect maps using data from Bert Vaux at the University of Cambridge. For example, check out the map showing how people pronounce “pecan”: =================================================================================================================== It shows that pee-KAHN is dominant nationwide, but in areas...

Razib’s Dialect SimilarityLanguage dialect is something that we often pick up unconsciously, so I find it an interesting if narcissistic project to query my own dialect affinities. The above was generated using a 140 question test (warning: server often slow). In case you were curious, my most ‘similar’ city (to my dialect) is Sunnyvale, California. Though most of my life has been spent on the West coast of the United States, I did spend my elementary age years in upstate New York. You can see evidence of that in the heat-map. There are particular words I use and pronunciations that...

In a remote fishing town on the tip of Scotland's Black Isle, the last native speaker of the Cromarty dialect has died, taking with him another little piece of the English linguistic mosaic. Scottish academics said Wednesday that Bobby Hogg, who passed away last week at age 92, was the last person fluent in the dialect once common in the seaside town of Cromarty, about 175 miles (280 kilometers) north of Scottish capital Edinburgh. The Biblically-influenced speech — complete with "thee" and "thou" — is one of many fading dialects which have been snuffed out across the British Isles.

ThereÂ’s been a good bit of discussion and hand-wringing lately over whether the American public is becoming more and more politically polarized and what this all means for the future of our democracy. You may have wrung your own hands over the issue. But even if you have, chances are youÂ’re not losing sleep over the fact that Americans are very clearly becoming more polarized linguistically. It may seem surprising, but in this age where geographic mobility and instant communication have increased our exposure to people outside of our neighborhoods or towns, American regional dialects are pulling further apart from...

Ninth-grader Jordan Shumate said that during class this month, he was reading aloud a poem by acclaimed African American writer Langston Hughes when his teacher interrupted and directed him to read in a “blacker” style. “She told me, ‘Blacker, Jordan — c’mon, blacker. I thought you were black,’ ” said Shumate, who is African American.

The typical English accent didn't develop until after the Revolutionary War, so Americans actually speak proper English. Here comes the science. Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? Reading David McCulloughÂ’s 1776, I found myself wondering: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents? If so, when did American accents diverge from British accents? The answer surprised me. IÂ’d always assumed that Americans used to have British accents, and that American accents diverged after the Revolutionary War, while British accents remained more or less the same. Americans in 1776 did have British accents in that American accents and British accents hadnÂ’t...

Here's the challenge: certain words and phrases characteristic of Appalachian English in eastern Tennessee and elsewhere can be traced back to Scottish English. Some of these are disappearing; others have spread throughout the South; a few seem to be making it into widespread usage. How many do you know? 1. backset; 2. let on; 3. bonny-clabber; 4. palings; 5. redd up; 6. creel; 7. kindling; 8. hull; 9. nicker; 10. whenever. (I knew 5 of the 10, so that makes me 'bout half smart . . .)

Prof. (Emeritus) Michael Montgomery has shown a definite link between the Scottish English of the Ulster emigrants to America and the Appalachian English dialect. Robert Burns was a poet and a lyricist who studied and wrote in Scottish dialect. His most famous collection of poetry is "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect." Burns collected Scottish folk songs, which he sometimes revised or adapted, and he traveled through southern Scotland collecting material for The Scots Musical Museum. Burns' poetry and lyrics thus reflect an extensive knowledge of the Scottish folk idiom. (Burns' letters, in contrast, are written in standard English.)

In 1869, writer E. A. Pollard toured the western provinces of Virginia gathering material for his book The Virginia Tourist (J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1871). Pollard noted and included in his book fragments of the English spoken by the mountaineers, including a pair of interesting words, "extrornificacious" and "beatingest." These and a few other Appalachian English words are presented in context in an excerpt from The Virginia Tourist. NOTE: These are not "dirty" words! [Sorry!]

Here's the challenge: certain words and phrases characteristic of Appalachian English in Eastern Tennessee and elsewhere can be traced back to Scottish English imported to this country by Scotch-Irish settlers. Some of these are disappearing; others have spread throughout the South; a few seem to be making it into widespread usage. How many do you know? 1. piece; 2. beal, bealing; 3. mend; 4. airish; 5. chancy; 6. muley; 7. bottom; 8. discomfit; 9. singlings; 10. fireboard . . . .

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.

The unenlightened assume that Appalachian accents and usages are a “hillbilly” corruption of the flatlands Southern drawl. This is not so; the accents and usages of the Backcountry developed contemporaneously with the versions of English spoken in the other areas of European settlement. The society and culture of the Backcountry were dominated by the large numbers of Scotch-Irish immigrants, blended with the influence of German, Dutch, Welsh, Scottish, and yeoman English settlers. Appalachian speech developed from the versions of English introduced by these settlers, independently of the development of the Southern drawl and the Yankee accent of New England. The...

...Many pundits are focusing on Reid’s notion about Obama being light-skinned and his lack of a “negro dialect.” I found two other things troubling. Reid seems to admit that Barack Obama can use the dialect when he wants to get votes from blacks. Some might consider that manipulative. The second issue is that Reid believes that white voters would not vote for a black man for president...

Harry Reid, read my lips: There's no such thing as 'Negro dialect'By Michael Meyers Special to NYDailyNews.com Tuesday, January 12th 2010, 3:48 PM Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid really put his foot in his mouth when, last year, he told two reporters that white voters would vote for Barack Obama because Obama was a "light-skinned" African-American who did not speak "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." He's since apologized - to Barack Obama and to every "African-American" in his Rolodex. But he's sorry for the wrong reasons. Reid has only backed off of his word choice; he has...

This past weekend it was revealed that Harry Reid in 2008 referred to then-Senator Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." The reaction to these revelations came as expected: Republicans called for Reid to resign from his leadership position, while Democrats circled the wagons around the Senate Majority Leader. Despite their criticisms, Republicans have missed the full meaning of Reid's statement in 2008 as well as his recent clarification. While the immediate acceptance of Reid's apology from those who censured Rush Limbaugh's attempt to buy an NFL franchise is striking, the last...

Coulter to Sharpton on Reid: ‘Did He Ask You to Stop Using That Negro Dialect?’ Watch the video.

Obama as appealing because he was "light skinned" and spoke "with no Negro dialect..."

Since Sarah Palin was selected as the Republican candidate for vice president, many people have made comments about her unusual speech, comparing it to accents heard in the movie Fargo, in the states of Wisconsin and Idaho, and in Canada. Some have even attributed her manner of speaking to her supposed stupidity. But Palin actually has an Alaskan accent, one from the Matnuska and Susitna Valley region, where Palin's hometown, Wasilla, is located.

Some believe that the Southern drawl has expanded to the point where, arguably, more than half of all Americans now glide their diphthongs and hush their R's like modern-day Rhett Butlers. Some professionals who travel around even adopt different regional dialects as they go, knowing it's one of the best ways to get ahead. But other experts believe mass communications and urbanization are cutting away at the distinctiveness of the Southern voice, resulting in a more mono-pitch America.