Time for this month’s Appalachian Grammar Lesson.
It is common for the words like to to be used in place of the words almost or nearly. A few examples:
*We was coming across the mountain when it fell a flood. I like to have froze to death before we got back to the house.”
*I saw Juanita down at the store, I liked to have never got away from her. She was a telling me about her family.”
*He like to of quit after they talked to him that away. But I told him just hold on a little longer and it’d all work out.”
Would you hear the sentences above in your area? Or would the ‘like to’ be replace by almost or nearly?
Tipper
40 Comments
caro
July 14, 2011 at 8:43 amI thought of one that I heard people use…air-ish It means very breezy. “It’s right airish today.”
Shelia
July 1, 2011 at 12:21 pmI’m so proud of my East Tennessee Appalachian roots! I always tell people ‘don’t expect me to talk like a Southerner, cause I ain’t one…I’m an Appalachian mountain girl!”
Kim Haynes
June 29, 2011 at 8:09 pmCharlotte and Jeff, we use it for lack in South Ms and North Ga too. And I love when I’m corrected – as if I didn’t know. I’m a high school guidance counselor with a master’s degree and I guess they think I don’t know better – but I’m really just not aove my raisin’.
Becky
June 25, 2011 at 7:03 amNot likely to hear it in my area, that is unless you are at my house.
kenneth o. hoffman
June 22, 2011 at 11:10 pmTipper: “like it happened right smart” or so they say. i thought that was western jargon . guess not. regards k.o.h
Jeanna M
June 22, 2011 at 10:59 pmOf course we use like and then again I don’t live far away neither. LOL
Suzi Phillips
June 22, 2011 at 10:15 pmI liked to have fell over at the great Caldwell barn pictures!
Miss Cindy
June 22, 2011 at 7:26 pmOh yes, know it well. You mean everbody dont talk this way?
Pat in east TN
June 22, 2011 at 5:19 pmI agree with the other TN folks … hear them/use them all the time.
John
June 22, 2011 at 5:09 pmNone of the above are heard in England though “Near as like” means the same as “more or less”, while “like as not” means “probably”.
John
“By Stargoose And Hanglands”
Alica
June 22, 2011 at 4:04 pmHave you ever read the book “Christy”, by Catherine Marshall? I feel like I’m reading it when I read your post today! I’m re-reading that book for the umpteenth time right now…love it!
Ken
June 22, 2011 at 3:53 pmTipper,
I ‘liked’ to got my hands blistered pullin’ wires from pole
to pole for my White Runners. Yeah, I recon thats the way I talk
too…Ken
Larry Proffitt
June 22, 2011 at 2:14 pmTipper , Thanks for your work. Common veracular for us here in
far east Tn. Larry Proffitt
Barbara Johnson
June 22, 2011 at 1:17 pmOf course I still hear this from my Dad. Same thing with near. “I nearly have this finished” “I most near put my eye out”
Laurie
June 22, 2011 at 1:14 pmI love it – I had almost forgotten about “liked”. I remember my grandma telling my mother
“I reckoned you wasn’t coming this year – I liked to worked myself to death puttin these pole beans up by myself.”
Laurie
Mary
June 22, 2011 at 1:04 pmWe still use it around here!
Joe Mode
June 22, 2011 at 12:47 pmOh yeah, of course we do here in East Tennessee.
Kristina in TN
June 22, 2011 at 12:45 pmAs a non-native local this is one phrase I have adopted when speaking in causal settings. It sure beats the excessive repetition of “like” I heard from kids when I lived out West. Give me “like to” in the South any day 🙂
Charlotte
June 22, 2011 at 12:42 pmYes, we’ve always used those words and we do use “like” instead of “lack” all the time. Isn’t it nice to know we share things in common in this hustle, bustle world?
Sheryl Paul
June 22, 2011 at 11:58 amI talk like this all the time, I once had a friend comment when I said I liked to have hit him crossing the bridge….well, why didn’t you if you would have liked to?
Ethel
June 22, 2011 at 11:30 am‘Like’ and ‘like to’ get a fair amount of play here in the foothills. We also have purty near, or as my grandma said it, purt’ near.
Rhonda
June 22, 2011 at 11:27 amI still use “like” in my everyday life. I like to have never gotten that border on straight…..
Pop over when you have time and take a look at my “outhouse” quilt.
Take care.
Phyllis Salmons
June 22, 2011 at 11:24 amEvery day around home in Winston-Salem!
Carol
June 22, 2011 at 11:03 amWell, since I consider Spartanburg Co to be the coccyx bone of the Carolina Appalachians, yup, I hear it and use it all the time.
Jim Casada
June 22, 2011 at 10:29 amTipper–There are Appalachian “talk” synonyms for “like to” and they ain’t nearly or almost. Instead, they are “purt near,” “near about,” and “near nuff.” As in I purt near (or near about or near nuff) roasted yesterday while working in the garden.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
B. Ruth
June 22, 2011 at 10:00 amTipper,
I liked to have fell over laughing ’cause I thought nearly and almost was wrong usuage…ha
Thanks Tipper
Brian Blake
June 22, 2011 at 9:56 am“Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like watermelon.” — Groucho
Ron Banks
June 22, 2011 at 9:44 amI liked to of laughed out loud when I read this and realized that I say it all the time!
Tipper
June 22, 2011 at 9:29 amJeff-thank you for the comment-and you are so right about the other usage. I would say “how much do you like till your done with the mowing?”
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Tipper
June 22, 2011 at 9:25 amClint-I still hear that phrase-and use it myself too : ) Like- I come within one of falling down that bank behind the house or I come within in one of telling her exactly what I thought.
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Jeff
June 22, 2011 at 9:22 amOh yeah, “like to” is very prevalent in our conversations. You might hear the occasional “nearly ’bout”.
Somehow,”like” has also become interchangable with “lack”. As in, “How much do you like being done with your homework?”
warren
June 22, 2011 at 8:56 amAbsolutely! I hear that all of the time! Of course, I live in the heart of Appalachia. I love it!
SUSIE SWANSON
June 22, 2011 at 8:46 amI like this Tipper. I talk this way myself sometimes..lol..
Mamabug
June 22, 2011 at 8:46 amWe use like/liked in the same way Tipper. Hey I recognize that old barn from over in Cataloochee! I love being in the upper part and looking out over that big field.
kat
June 22, 2011 at 8:42 amThese are commonly used here. I use them and also nearly.
Janet
June 22, 2011 at 8:39 amI grew up with everyone talking like that and I talk that way on a regular basis.
Clint
June 22, 2011 at 8:26 amWe would say ‘almost’ or ‘nearly.’ I used to hear my grandmother say a phrase I don’t even know how to write. It’s something to the effect of to ‘come within one’ of doing something.
Sandra
June 22, 2011 at 7:58 amsince i live in Florida, these are not sentences we would hear down here. i used to here them in GA and KY but that was many years ago.
Vera Guthrie
June 22, 2011 at 7:55 amI have always heard and spoke the same as above.
Dee from Tennessee
June 22, 2011 at 7:49 amOh, for sure …it’s “like” as in I liked to starved to death last night in this house cause there is NOTHING to eat….lol.