It’s time for this month’s Appalachian Vocabulary Test. I’m sharing a few videos in this test to let you hear some of the words too. To start the videos, click on them and then to stop them click on them again.
Take it and see how you do!
- Brogan
- Braggety
- Bounden to
- Botherment
- Boogerman
Brogan: a coarse heavy shoe; a work boot. “He come stomping in here with his ole brogans on and left mud all through the house!”
Braggety: boastful; self important. “That man ain’t nothing but braggety! Every time his mouth opens he’s telling about how good he is at something.”
Bounden to: obligated; to be certain. “They’re bounden to know we’d help them if they’d only let us.”
Botherment: a nuisance. “Having to go to the tag office ever year and stand in line ain’t nothing but a botherment to me!”
Boogerman: the Devil. “You better straighten yourself right up and I mean it! The boogermans gonna get you if you keep acting ugly.”
All of this month’s words are still very commonly used in my part of Appalachia. What about where you live?
Tipper
Heard them, ALL.
Yep. I don’t hear them as much nowadays as I used to. TV is destroying our speech!
I noticed that three of the five pictures have identification badges displayed. I had to wear one of those for many years. The first one only had my picture and my name and employee number. The second they added a bar code to. Then a magnetic strip took the place of the bar code. The bar codes and strips would let us through various entrances and doors and punched us in and out. Then we got a fob with a chip and the badge went back to just our picture, our first name in a big bold font and our last name in a tiny one. They told us we didn’t have to wear the badge anymore. We just had to have it if somebody asked but I just kept wearing mine
When I left I was supposed to leave the badge but I took it with me and hung it on the mirror of my truck. The sun has faded my picture almost to nothing just like I feel sometimes.
Yep, heard ’em all. Even used a couple of them now and then.
How about you?
God bless.
RB
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Tipper, I have heard all these but don’t commonly use them except brogan and bound to anymore. Look forward to the videos . Larry Proffitt
I hope you all are warm and happy..we had snow here in pa and its in the 30’s
thought it was supposed to be spring
big ladybug hugs
lynn
Tipper,
I recon I’m familiar with these words, but when I clicked on the white arrows in the 5 pictures, nothing happened, so I clicked again to make the arrow go away. I just wanted to see if everyone sounded like I remember. It’s OK tho, sometimes my computer won’t let me see things either…Ken
heard/used them all! Love the accompanying audio/pictures. Sure hope he got that brand new pair of brogans…..
Tipper,
I’ve heard the word boundin like he’s like to be boundin for the city. I learned through collecting admission money on Friday nights at a cultural museum in Blount county from a lady whom I’d never met or only took her money. I don’t even remember the words I said to her but I’m always kind and southern to the folks that come. A lot of then are tourists in town and want to hear the music. This lady shoved her change in her purse & looked at me and said you scotch-Irish do not put ing at the end of your words. She turned & walked away from me & I was so taken back cause I never heard that before. I’m scotch-Irish by birth but married a German descendant. The store manager told me said he had never heard that either. He moved here from up north. I just laughed it off cause my family goes back to revolutionary war in East Tennessee. Gods blessing this morning! My dogwoods weren’t tipped by frost. Sorry I wrote so much but I want to know if any of your readers have heard about ing rule!
Carol Rosenbalm
I didn’t ever use braggerty but I will now. I tried to think of a word that meant the same to no avail. It takes a sentence to say what that one word means.
I use bound to instead bounden to.
Botherment in my world is just bother or sometimes botheration.
I have a pair of brogans I’ve had for nearly 40 years. I would tell you they are Red Wings but that would be braggerty.
A boogieman is a just something people use to try to keep their children in line. The Boogerman is Satan himself. He doesn’t jump out and get you, he creeps into your heart. Not little children but adults and especially governments. Looks like he will be running against himself for president this year.
I know all but one. Bounden to is unfamiliar to me or maybe I never heard it enough to remember it. That Boggerman was used on us younguns all the time to keep us from misbehaving.
I remember being scared of that unseen creature especially at night when I was going to sleep. I guess it helped somewhat in making me behave but it also caused me some anxiety by wondering if he was lurking behind the bushes or under my bed. I’ve never used that to threaten my kids because of that.
I guess I was bounded to not use it to scare my kids.
I remember all those words spoken by someone when I was a child. Before my grandparents bought a home in town, they lived out on their farm in MS. We were visiting them one year when I was about four. It was near Christmas and I remember my grandmother warming a quilt by the fire. She wrapped me up in the warm quilt and opening the door to the porch she stepped out and by the moon’s light I could see across the pasture to the forest. She said it’s time to be quiet and go to sleep because you don’t want that old boogieman or scratcherdevil to get a hold of you. My grandmother was a wonderful woman. I had never heard those words before or after but believe me, I didn’t make any commotion about going to bed.
I knew a few of these. My mother used to call me Briggity. Maybe Briggity was the high falootin’ version of Braggety !
I love Blind Pig and the Acorn!! My mom is the one who told me about it so I need to stop bein’ so briggity and listen to her more often.
He’ a “stoggin” around the house
in his ol “Brogans.” The “Sackman” is lookin for kids “fulla meanis.” Them elbows are plumb “Krusty.” He’s “paddin” around the house this mornin.
Familiar and use all or a variation: like b.Ruth I say “bound to” instead of “bounden to” but I used it to express determination ; Carol brought up “beholden to” but I use “beholden” by itself to express appreciation with the implication of some courtesy repayment in the future; “botherment” is usually shortened to “bother” but becomes “botherment” in moment of extreme irritation.
During my childhood, Dad and Grandpa bought their brogans from the Red Wing salesman who sold shoes door to door -or maybe I should say “farm to farm”.
When I was little (well – I was never “little”, but when I was a child) my Dad used to get me to stay in bed at night by telling me the Boogerman (sometimes “boogieman”) was afraid of him and sunshine and hid under my bed when he took me to bed; but, since I was a youngun, Boogieman’d grab my foot and pull me under with him if I tried to get out of bed before the sun came up without Dad there . Didn’t help me sleep but did keep me in bed. To this day I don’t like to let my feet hang off the bed!
I figured out the meanings based on similar words I have heard. We used “bound to” instead of ‘bounden,” and “boogieman” rather than “boogerman.” A brogue is a shoe, Irish or Scottish in origin, and “braggety” must come from “braggart.” I love word origins!
We had 1/2″ of snow this morning, and it has been blowing snow all morning. It’s a “blinking day”, with the sun coming in and out.
The videos are a good idea. They made the meaning of the words very obvious, and I agree that homework was always a botherment of immense proportions.
I only knew brogans and boogerman this time. I’ve heard “braggert” as a noun. I love “botherment’–says it perfectly!
Hope yall are all doing well & that your Pap is ok. I get so much pleasure from The Blind Pig. I look forward to seeing it every morning right after the local paper with my second cup of coffee! Always feel like we’ve visited for real!
Whoo-Hoo, I knew them all!!! I have heard them all my life! Love the videos.
Pam
scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com
I’ve heard them all but only a couple recently. My wife gets upset when I come in from the garden and don’t leave my brogans in the garage.
Once when I was very young Dad said, “The booger man got him one.” as we passed a police car with another car pulled over. I had heard, “If you don’t behave the booger man will get you.” many times. So, I thought for many years the policeman was the booger man.
One of my childhood friends said, “You don’t belong to do that.” meaning You shouldn’t do that.
I can’t get the sounds to work.
The only one I don’t say the way you do is bounden to. I say bound to, which means the same thing. Yep, that’s the right way to say boogerman! The boogieman is the guy who boogies (dances) to music.
New words for my vocabulary! I could figure out three of them, but I think it was pure luck. I love all the pictures. You are truly getting to be a really good photographer. Keep up the great work.
While I am familiar with all the words, must have heard them at one time, the last two are the only ones I still use and hear.
While I am familiar with all the words, must have heard them at one time, the last two are the only ones I still use and hear.
While I am familiar with all the words, must have heard them at one time, the last two are the only ones I still use and hear.
While I am familiar with all the words, must have heard them at one time, the last two are the only ones I still use and hear.
Tip, I’ve heard all these words at on time or another but brogans is the one I’ve heard the most. Growing up brogans meant heavy shoes or boots as opposed to slippers which were lighter weight pretty shoes that you could just slide your feet into. Hence the name slippers!
I knew all of the words this time! I understood “botherment” and “braggety”, but I don’t recall hearing them before. I always heard “boogieman” rather than “boogerman”.
Tipper,
I thought I heard all of these words but “bounden to! Then I said it in a sentence to my self…Why sure that’s the way I say “bound to” almost every time I speak it! Who knew…I sure didn’t realize it….ha
Thanks Tipper,
PS…Covered some veggies last night…Did you all have frost or a freeze? Hope not!
I have heard all of the words! Instead of “bounden to”, I have mainly heard “beholden to”.
I’ve never heard any of these, although I had Boogerman figured out! Loved hearing those charming “southern” accents! 🙂