Time for another Vocabulary Test-take it and see how you do. I’m especially interested to see how you do on this test. I just cannot fathom that the whole USA doesn’t use a few of the words below the way I do.
- Miss
- Mislick
- Mighty
- Meet up
- Mean
- Miss-to lose. “I keep missin my pen. “Seems like I walk away from my desk for just a minute and when I come back it’s gone!” or “I missed the first turn off and had to circle back around to get on the right road.”
- Mislick-an accidental stroke/strike with a tool. “When he was changing the engine in his truck he hit a mislick with the wrench and tore his fingernail clean off.” or “I made a real mislick when I failed to buy that gun. It’d be worth a fortune now.”
- Mighty-very, especially, exceedingly. “I found it mighty suspicious when I seen him at the store when he was supposed to be a work.”
- Meet up-to meet someone by chance or accident. “When I was walking down at the track I met up with some old friends and we finished our laps together. It was nice.”
- Mean-confirming what a person said; unruly or mischievous child; someone who has bad behavior according to society’s norm. “See what I mean is, you’re welcome to come anytime but I’d just like to know when you’re coming so I can clean this place up.” or “That little boy that lives at the old Coffey place is as mean as a striped snake.”
I can’t imagine how I would say what I wanted to say if I didn’t use number 1, 2, 4 and 5 the way I used them above. Surely everyone uses those words in that way? Hope you’ll leave me a comment and tell me if you do or if you don’t.
Tipper
Yep, use ’em here in Oklahoma…tho’ not ‘mislick’–but do use “lick’ as in, ‘hit it a lick’….ALOT.
Really enjoy these…keep it up, please!
You know I use them all – right. But I’m from your neck of the woods (kinda) —
Love all the pictures – too.
Have a great afternoon.
I use all them terms daily.
I have often heard or used all but #2 (though, it makes a gob of sense). I mean, I use #5 all the time.
I always enjoy the vocab tests, and love the above comments!
I use all of these words and can’t imagine anyone not using them.
Yep, I know and use them all, except for misclick. Never heard that one before.
I have used all but #2. That was a new one for me. Love the lessons
Mislick, like many others, was new to me. Loved the stories above! Loved the picture of jars!
I use all but ‘mislick’ which I’ve never heard.
Tipper, I use all of those, except for #2. I’ve never heard mislick before.
I know and have used or heard all but #2. Mislick is new to me but I think I would have understood it if I heard it in conversation.
Thanks for the new vocabulary word.
Helen
i use all but number 2, mislick, never used that one but i have heard it a few times. the others i use a lot
Mislick is new to me, but the others are always used.
Tipper, All of these words and use are common to folks my age here in far east tn. Times are a’changin however . I hear lots of young ladies these days whose every sentence ends with an intonation of a question like they hear on TV . Larry Proffitt
Tipper
All sound like regular talk to me! Don’t use mislick much but sure know what it means.
Howdy to Pap and Paul from the head of the hollar.
Uncle Dave
Warren-Thanks for the great comment! I’ve heard “the necessary” too : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk
All at http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
We use all of these on a regular basis. I’m surprised so many don’t recognize mislick – I guess that means that “lick” would be a strange word to some too – “Let me take a lick at it”, meaning let me have a turn, or try at doing something.
This is a true story Tipper,
I had a friend that was “meanness” ready to happen and she was constantly up to something. She called and wanted to know if we met up after night college classes would I want to get a bite to eat. I met up with her later and it was a mighty fine burger. As we were departing the restaurant, she missed her car keys. She handed me her purse to hold while she looked in the pocket of her jacket…As she handed it over, it took a mislick from her hand to mine and the purse hit the pavement!..BOOM!..
Both of us looked at each other startled! She said, “Oh, “&#@%“ no! We both looked around. Nobody was lying on the road! A man at the gas station came running out. “That’s a mighty strong “smoker” to be carrying in your purse, you alright?
Yep, her gun went off! Shot a hole right thru the small hand bag!…I never knew until then that she carried a pistol in that little purse to night classes. Now I mean to tell you, it scared me to death!
A follow-up to my earlier comment…
My Swedish colleague Gunnar wasn’t familiar with “meet up”, but as soon as I used it in an example, he knew what it meant.
Another fellow, who was born in France, then lived/worked in Australia for a while, and now lives in Canada had – like Gunnar – never heard of hittin it a lick or of mislick. The use of “meet UP” was also new.
I’m from south Alabama. I use all of the words but “mislick”. I had never heard of that one, but I may start using it now!
Tipper,
I am certain that some – and I actually think all but #2 – are commonly used beyond Appalachia.
I’m co-instructing a workshop in Toronto, Canada this week with a Swedish fellow who speaks 5 languages and has acquired a good knack for sensing meanings of colloquial and regional uses. I tried the “I missed a turn off back there” and he knew what I meant. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard him use “missed” in exactly that way.
However, he did not know what a mislick meant. But then he also didn’t know what I told him to hit it a lick.
If I get a chance, I’ll try to see if I can get some of our students to look at these at the end of the day. We have quite a few backgrounds here, including South African, French, French-Canadian, and Indian.
Tipper,
The next time I ‘meet up’ with you
I ‘mean’ to tell you what a ‘mighty’ fine job you’re doing
with these Appalachian word tests.
Every time I have a ‘mislick’ on the keyboard, I’m reminded of how much I ‘miss’ those days of youth.
Nice pictures of the old bottles at the top…Ken
I heard one I have never heard before…I have been working with a lady the last few days on a project that requires us to be out and about a lot. Anyhow, she said she needed to “use the necessary”. I had never heard it that way before. Of course, I knew exactly what she meant…I love hearing new terms!
Tipper,
I knew and have used them all. I have one that I’ll just bet you and your readers have heard.
Years ago when I was a teenage boy (many years ago) I worked for the Coca Cola Company and we serviced a neighboring county. Now this county was reminiscent of Hazzard county of Dukes of Hazzard fame. There was an old lady that ran a store way out from town. One day when we got to her place she called me up onto the porch and said “Come here little feller.” I think she always called me “lITTLE FELLER” because I was so skinny or at least that’s what the guy that I worked with said. She said, “I got something to tell ye.”
In that county back in those days, every boy had a hot car with loud pipes. She went on to tell and show me about a wreck that had happened the night before. Well, here is the word that knocked me out. She said, “Little Feller, last night this man was hauling (bad word) down the road and he lost it right over yonder and went HEADFOMUS down in the woods and there were’t hardly any hide left on him when they got him out.
We thought about that word for a while and we decided that it must have originally meant head foremost instead of HEADFOMUS.
Bradley
We use all of them except #2, never heard it used before. Have a good week!
Number 2 is new to me, but the rest are part of my vocabulary.
Mislick is a new one-I like it. Thought the rest was standard english! My grandmaw used the word “commenced” a lot, as in “we commenced to butcher the hog.”
Use all but #2.
Mislick is the only one I was not familiar with. But I promise to try and incorporate it into my daily vocabulary. 🙂
Hadn’t heard of mislick but I s’pose I’ve used or at least heard of the others! 😀
2 is new to me, but I use the rest daily!
Tipper–All of these are in my vocabulary and see mighty regular usage whenever I meet up with another soul (from the mountains or not). I turn to them without so much as a thought of relying on them constituting a linguistic mislick.
Another intepretation of “miss” is employing it to describe a lack of something–such as “That Casada fellow is missing something; he ain’t got a lick of sense.”
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
I use all of them except 2. That is a new one to me. Barbara
Hmmm…only 5. Nerver heard of #2.
Oh yes, I know all of these. Didn’t know it was Appalachian, thought it was good plain English.
I use 1, 2, 3,and 5 most and 4 least.
Mighty fine, Tipper!
Yep, I’ve heard and used/use them all. They are just a part of my speech.
Blessings
Patty H.
I use “mighty” like that all the time, and also “Mean”, both ways. Here’s one for you. When I was a teenager we had a young neighbor couple next door fresh out of Oklahoma. The lady had a baby; my mom asked the daddy, “Does the baby have much hair?”
Elzie answered, “Yeah, right smart.” Meaning a lot.
All but # 2.