In Appalachia we use the word get in a variety of ways like:
- using the phrase ‘get about‘ as a verb-meaning to move around. “He must be close to 90 year old but I swear he gets about better than I do.”
- the verb phrase ‘get to‘ -meaning to start is also used. “I better get to going or I’ll be late.” or “It got to where every time I seen him I had to give him some money.”
- the verb phrase ‘get up‘ is used-meaning to gather together. “Granny said for us to get up some wood and water before the snow starts.”
How about you-do you get about, get to, or get up?
Tipper
I use all of’em all the time!
Marc-thanks for the comments! I have heard hoof it used in my part of Appalachia. Hopefully some others will chime in about it in their area : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Very familiar with all the terms, so much so that I thought they were used everywhere! You mean they ain’t!!
Brrr! Got to get in some firewood-
We said “git around”. And “git” to dogs hanging around.
Gittin in far wood is when it is already split and stacked. You just have git up and brang it in the house. Gittin up far wood is when it is still on the stump. It has cut, trimmed, skidded in, cut up, split and stacked.
Gittin in far wood means you might not even need to put your shirt on. Gittin up far wood means you might feel like taking your shirt off after a little while.
b.Ruth-Thanks for the explanation of your former ancestors being conundrums. I think I have a plenty of them in my lineage. In fact so many that I turned out to be a conundrum myownself.
Tipper,
I love all these useages of “get” or
“git”.
My daddy told us a story one time about
an acquaintance of his that he worked
with. Growing up in the Depression
Times, daddy worked for about a dollar
a day at a quarry. Most were paid with Dougaloo and when he wasn’t working, hung out at Mint Smith’s Country Store. One day they were all playing “setback” and in walked a
guy named Clyde. (they all knew him) Clyde touldn’t tawk pwyane but he
walked up to the counter and said
to Mint “Got any fwesh meat today?”
Mint said “I just got in a bunch of
pickled hog tongues, can I fix you up a mess?” Old Clyde frowned and
said “shoe no, my wife and I touldn’t tand anything comeing out of a hog’s mouth, just gimme a dozen eggs.” …Ken
Tipper,
Speakin’ of words….
In my answer to your post about “notions” the other day…
Ed asked me to explain…former ancestors…Well Ed, what I said is a “conundrum”…In other words I wasn’t sure that feller was really one of my ancesters, therefore a mystery ensued, so I thought maybe a conumdrum would work!
Thanks Tipper and Ed…I gotta git! Time’s a’wastin’!
Glad I got my grammar lesson before the end of the year. The uses of get are not too off what I would have thought they would mean. You have a lot of get up and go to keep this site running smoothly through the holidays. Thanks! I look forward to reading your information every day!
It’s gettin’ so that hardly anybody with any get up and go gets out and about anymore or gets over to visit or even to get acquainted with the new neighbors they got last week. They get stuck in their recliners in front of the TV and get along just fine that way. I don’t get it.
Some would say that he had a basic character flaw; he was a loner in that nothing could “Get to him”. It seems no one could “Put their hands on him”, ever!
I feel right at home with all these uses.
I know and use get in most of the ways mentioned. I would like to write more but I’ve got to get a going!
Our family has used every version of “get. . .” mentioned so far in blog and responses except for “get up” meaning to gather something. Instead we say ” ‘get together’ some wood before it gets too wet.”
We use the word “get” or “git” like the examples described every day around here
All of those are familiar and often used out here on the edge of the Great Plains. Only exception is that “get around” is more often heard than “get about”.
Tipper,
Shore looks cold in that picture..
Could that be ice on the trees in the second picture and are the girls gettin’ a picture of the trees?
Instead of sayin’ “Oh, he’s nearly 100 years old! I’d probably say, “I’d say, he’s gettin’ about a hundert years old!…
I used to “get up” far wood, too.
Sometimes we just “gotta git” like “We gotta git” it’s gettin’ late and the road ain’t gettin’ no shorter as we sit!”…
Thanks Tipper,
Gettin’ good at them word usesages….LOL
Oh Tipper I love it!
I get it too!
I am linking this to my Facebook page!
Happy New Year!
Regards and Blessings
Jim
ha! I get it…….
It’s “getting to be” time to git up and git some work done. It’s “getting to be” pretty late.
Have heard all of these and used most of them. Additionally there is just “get”….as in “I’d better get” (for get going). Also “Get at” as in “I need to get at cleaning up the porch”.
As a child in Jersey, ‘hoof it’ was commonly used; such as ‘hoof it on down to the store’. Was this expression ever used in Appalachia?
Tipper–Today’s vocabulary musings offered a perfect way to get going on a Monday morning.
My Grandpa Joe, a delightful fellow who was in many ways a boy trapped in an old man’s body, invariably had the same response when someone asked him how he was. “Oh, I’m so as to get about.”
That was certainly the case, because almost until his death he had plenty of get up and go. When he was about my age (in his 70s) he fell while out squirrel hunting after a snow and shattered his hip. He was the better part of a mile from help but somehow slide and crawled until he came to the top of a high bank along old U. S. Highway 19. After hollering for help until he was hoarse, he finally realized his only hope was to slide down the steep bank to the roadside. He did so and survived to walk again and live another 15 years or so. Folks at the hospital said he was the toughest fellow they had ever seen, and once out of surgery he refused any pain medication whatsoever. Now that was some gumption.
There are a number of other uses of “get” which come to mind.
“I’d better get in those clothes on line before it starts to rain.”
“I swear that dandified fellow would wear fancy get up to take out the trash.”
“It’s time for me to get on with some work instead of piddling around enjoying this blog.”
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
I use all of those, especially the first one – get about.
I’ve heard and said these.
I know and have used all of them, including Sheryl and Don’s examples.
We Appalachian’s are a thrifty people with words as well as other resources. We make full use of all our words!
I have use and heard them all except get up. I. Am like Don Casada and have used the phrase get in to replace it.
Whir I come frum get is pronounced git. Get up is also how you got the old plow horse to move, if she was of a mind to.
Not only do I use “get about,” “get to,” “get up,” and Don’s “get in,” and “get up,” but I also use and have heard all my life other “get” phrases that are obvious in meaning and expressive: “get on,” “get going,” “get started,” “and the past tense forms of “got stopped,” “got straight,” and “got on,” (as, unfortunately, “He got on the wrong track! Forbid that we get caught on that way!)
My “get up and go” has done “got up and went.”
Get is a very popular word in my vocabulary.
Also use with some. As in “get me some” cornbread and beans.
I use all of these and have heard them all my life
I use all of those, but there’s also a use for “get in” – and I believe I’d have used it for in the firewood example:
“I smell snow in the air; reckon I better get in some firewood.”
The term “get up” can refer to how one is dressed, such as:
“What in the world kind of get up have you got on?”