It’s time for this month’s Appalachian Vocabulary Test.
I’m sharing a few videos to let you hear the words and phrases. To start the videos click on them.
1. Yanway: that way, in that direction. “He said he was going to the mailbox but he must be taking the long way because he headed out yanway and went out of sight around the ridge.”
2. Yard baby: a young child large enough to run around in the yard. “There’s all sorts of descriptive baby names that were once common in Appalachia. Two others that come to mind are lap baby and knee baby.”
3. Youngun: a child. Also grandyoungun. “Wilson Holler is full of younguns. I reckon it always has been and I hope it always will be.”
4. Yuns: more than one person. “I told yuns I was going! Nobody listens to a thing I say around here.”
5. Yarb: herb. “The girls used to have a book about a little old lady who went through the spooky woods hunting yarbs. They just loved it!”
Yard baby isn’t common in my area and yarb is only used in a teasing manner. The others are often heard. Hope you’ll leave a comment and tell me if the words/phrases are used where you live.
Last night’s video: The Panther On Cold Mountain and Other Stories 16.
Tipper
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I say yuns and younguns daily, almost hourly. I also pronounce yanway as “yonway” closer to yonder and I sometimes add an “s”. yonways.
Maryville, TN
I missed this post yesterday. Good Sunday morning Tipper and Acorns. I say all of these except the “Yarb” for herb. Our county is quickly losing their old ways since the influx of folks from NY, CA and FL. Money talks. They are bossy and hateful for the most part. I pray the voice of the mountains calms them down. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. I love y’all.
I haven’t heard yard baby before, but it’s a good one! My Daddy called his three little girls ridge runners because we liked to run through the garden when he was plowing it and creating ridges (rows) for planting.
My son, his wife, and my precious grandson live in Latrobe PA., near Pittsburgh. You can see Chestnut Ridge from their porch. This ridge is the western most part of the Appalachians as they move northeast. After my family has been gone 155 years, we’ve finally returned to the mountains.
Yuns is frequently used there. I had never heard it so it’s not used much, if at all, in Texas, California, or Ohio.
And of course the Pittsburghese variant is “yinz,” with the plural form often “yinzes!” Pittsburghers sometimes are called “yinzers.”
The only phrase I’m familiar with is younguns. My mom used that word. She was from West Virginia. I also remember members of her family using the word ” yuns.” I enjoy learning about the Appalachian vocabulary. Thanks for sharing with us. I live in Northwest Arkansas .
The only one I’m familiar with is younguns . I enjoy learning about the others !
Praying for you and your brother Norman !
I say yuns and younguns all the time. The others I haven’t heard except for yanway which I’ve heard my daddy and a few other elders say. I love our “mountain folk” talk. I used to be embarrassed by it when I was a teenager but soon learned that some of the smartest people I’ve ever known speak this way. Now I’m almost offended when I hear people that I know darn well are from here speaking all proper and they refuse to say y’all or yuns or ain’t. Don’t get above your raising is what I’ve always been told 😉
I have never heard yard baby. Very familiar with knee baby and lap baby and I still use those. Also never heard yarbs for herbs. All the others words I grew up hearing. Our warm spring weather is on pause today. Was 31 degrees this morning.
I knew what every one of them meant immediately, although I don’t hear them often unless I’m around my oldest sister. The little ones in the house I refer to as ankle biters and those out in the yard are tricycle motors. My dad called us hooligans and as I got older he called my friends and I cohorts.
The only one I knew was younguns so I guess I didn’t do so great today. Thanks for sharing. Always enjoy these vocabulary tests.
I had forgotten about yanway, which I believe is a handy contraction of yonder way. Similarly, yuns is most likely short for you ones and younguns for young ones. The references to babies are all new to me. I like them.
I’ve only heard of young’uns.
The Only One I’ve Ever Heard Is Younguns. Very Interesting To Hear All The Different Sayings, Words.
I believe I have heard all these at one time or other. An older family member who has passed on said something like “dis” for “just”. “Eye dis wanna go down yander to Adlanner”
Prayers for you and your family Norman.
I’m in Northern Illinois and the only words I haven’t heard is yanway and yarb. Yuns and Younguns can be heard regularly, especially with the older crowd.
I am also not familiar with the two words you said that are uncommon in your area. I grew up hearing younguns, youins, and yanway almost daily. Instead of saying yanway, my parents often said yander.
I’ve heard them all except Yard Baby!
You know it just irks me that we communicate amongst ourselves using the same words for hundreds of years and then along comes an outsider who tells us we are wrong and how that we should talk the way they do. Our words and their words come from the same root and ours are much closer to the original yet we are expected to change. What irks me even more is that too many of our own give up without a fight. Not me!
These videos brought back many memories of our community when I was a child. I still live in the community I was born and raised in, mostly all family. What a blessing! We still refer to our precious gift as younguns. Thank you for sharing! Warmed my heart.
The only one I. have ever heard is younguns.
Yuns Is a classic western Pennsylvania expression. It just goes to show when the Scots Irish came down through the Appalachians out of Pennsylvania they brought their language with them. And left some behind.
Young uns is the only one I recognize. I’ve heard you uns and we uns long ago
It was the vocabulary tests the girls did with you that brought me to your channels. Corie was sweet and Katie was a hoot! That is the my vocabulary word we used in my home State of Indiana. If you are super funny you were a hoot!
I’ve heared yanway, younguns and yuns but not the rest. Well I have heared and used lap baby in my time. I love how our culture has such fun descriptive words. It’s just one of many things that makes Appalachia unique.
The one I heard all the time growing up is “yuns”. But I heard it pronounced “you uns”.
“Youngens” was the only one of these words my family used. I’ve never heard of the others.
I have always said youngins, yuns, and yanway all my life. It is what my folks said.
pray for my brother, the tumors in his brain are affecting him, confusion, I didn’t know an oxygen machine put off so much heat, need an electrician to fix some outlets so we can turn on air conditioner, God help God help, the bed is awful high, hard for him to get in and out, I think he’s considering another form of care, God bless him, thank you for praying
I’m so sorry Norman. I will keep praying.