how that, how…that conjunctive phrase How; for similar forms with that, see that C and Grammar and Syntax 15.4
1863 Carter CW Letters (Nov 26) the boys will be to home in a few days they can tell you how that I am giting along. 1863 Poteet CW Letters (Nov 12) you dont now how bad that I want to see you and My littel Babes. 1956 Hall Coll (Waynesville NC) This is Taylor Sutton giving my version of how that the old-timers made whiskey. 1971 AOHP/ALC-32 I can’t understand how that Martin Van Buren Bates was so big. 1973 GSMNP 4:15 They was a lot of tales about the Civil War over there, how that they came through that country and killed people and so on. 1984 GSMNP 153:27 My daughter was bragging about how nice that you people was in trying to help her find out and to get some of these pictures. Ibid. It was a little hard I suppose for the ranger to conceive or understand how that you could go on and not have any waste products at all. 1989 Matewan OHP-9 Could you tell me how that you did that? 1997 Dante OHP-53 They would tell him how much that they could spend. 2014 Blind Pig (Jan 10) When they pulled up, I was telling him how that I had been the one taking care of the place for the last several years.
—Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English
I’m always excited when I see this blog used in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English. My work being included in the dictionary is one of the highlights of my entire career of celebrating the Appalachian region.
When I come across a reference to the blog I always go back and read what the dictionary is pointing to. Sometimes it’s something I wrote and sometimes the quote can be found in among the comments left by readers.
But this dictionary entry presents a sort of mystery.
The post for 2014 (Jan 10) is part of my Overheard series. Here’s what I shared that day.
“If I never have a worse enemy than a lady bug I won’t worry.”
Obviously not the text from the entry. I searched through the comments and failed to find the quote there either.
I checked the Jan 9 and Jan 11 posts thinking maybe the wrong post date was grabbed inadvertently, but I didn’t find it in those either.
The comment might have gotten ‘lost’ when I moved the blog back in 2018. Or maybe the date is wrong and the text is from another post somewhere on the blog. The exact location of the text doesn’t really matter to me, I’m just thrilled it’s included in the book.
The usage how that is beyond common to me, in fact I’m positive I use it on a weekly if not daily basis.
One thing that isn’t a mystery is who I heard say “If I never have a worse enemy than a lady bug I won’t worry.”
As soon as I read the old post I could see Pap smiling with his eyes twinkling as he said that to one of us while we were down at Paul’s pickin and grinnin one Sunday evening.
Paul used to have a terrible time with lady bugs this time of the year and it seemed like as soon as we started playing they would start landing on one of us and we’d start swatting them away.
Pap thought we carried on way too much about the annoying ladybugs 🙂
Last night’s video: So Exciting!! Planting the First Seeds of 2024 & Choosing the First Seeds for the Garden.
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TO your readers,
I have been fighting Japanese Lady Beetles. These masquerade AS LADYBUGS. They can be yellow, red, dull red etc. They do look very much like Ladybugs. They are a nuisance that get into your home and emit an odor when squashed. They do bite but their bite is not painful. They can also infest a dog’s mouth! UGH!
Look these up, you may not have innocent ladybugs.!
What geometrical direction is “catty cornered”? Have you heard that used?
Gary, I have heard and said “catty cornered” many times. To me, it meant a corner was not square.
Gary we used catty- corner to signify the opposite reverse corner – say the rider in the back seat right side is ‘catty- corner ‘ to the driver.
The closest thing I’ve heard was my father asking “How’s that?” when he didn’t hear you. I think it might have come over with his parents from Ireland.
I know it is thrilling for you to see your blog noted as a reference relating to Appalachia. I got excited when I saw mention of your and Jim’s cookbook as one of the top books to read in our local Union Power monthly magazine. I was so excited for you and Jim. I can just imagine how happy it makes you when you have worked so hard and for a long time to see this kind of validation of your work in preserving the culture we all love so much. Thank you for all you do to keep Appalachia culture alive!
I have heard and use “How that”. I never noticed it til now. Mama hated ladybugs with a passion and she was invaded every year. She would catch them and put them in a Mason jar to await execution. My son and I were visiting once when he was probably 6 or 7 or so. He took the jar outside and released the prisoners!
That specific one I don’t use myself but I had a friend when I was younger that grew up with her grandparents way up on the mountain and she was bad to throw extra words in her speech like that. After I met them I soon realized it was because she spoke exactly like they did. Granny Violet who wasn’t my granny but sort of my adopted granny, she would always say certain things backwards. Like ever how instead of however. She said that alot. “Ever how ye git this thang offa here” or “Don’t matter to me, ever how ye ont to”. She was a good ole soul, I miss her. When I was young I shied away from speaking like so many of my elders did…Almost seemed embarrassing for a while but now I’m more embarrassed for the opposite reason and wish I’d embraced it sooner! Young and dumb I guess, thinking there was anything to be ashamed of.
I found it, Tipper. January 10, 2014.
Jackie-was it in the comments?
Oh, I meant to ask, did Paul find a way to get rid of the “Ladybugs?”
Dee-they just eventually went away 🙂
I hadn’t thought about how many times I had heard or said, “How’s that?” I just know I’ve heard it all my life and still use it myself:)
Now, you’ve brought a new subject for me to study on and that is “Ladybugs.” They may be more of a problem in the south now, as years back when I was down during winter months I didn’t see them.
So far up here in SC PA I’ve never had a problem with bugs but at my son’s house down in NE MS, I was down a couple years ago in the winter, and oh my goodness, I think he had an infestation of them in his attic above the kitchen. Lots of sunny windows in the kitchen and he said soon as spring came they were gone. Beneficial or not, I would not have put up with them. I would call in the Bug Busters:)
There used to be native red ladybugs; today they are orange, and the orange one’s pinch. I don’t like them. They were imported from Asia to eat crop aphids, but they are invasive as all get out and run in swarms. The red ones were native to the U.S., but I haven’t seen them in probably three decades. I used to love them as a child. I read that the red variety were nine-spotted and are now mostly extinct. Very sad.
Hmmm you did it again. I do not know if I say “how that” or if folks around here do either. I am used to “how bad” and many variations speaking to matters of degree though; how long, how wide, how steep. etc.
You bring up a very interesting point about not finding the BP&A reference. Makes me wonder how powerful the search engine is behind your “search” utility (assuming the quote from DSME is itself correct). And I am further assuming it “came with” your website. I have no doubt that there are ways (and people) who can search on anybody’s digital content with their own search engine such that virtually nothing escapes them, even near but not exact matches. And I have little doubt it is being done though if so it is a darn shame.
How that is a regular part of my speech.
I’m glad they’ve included your blog. You deserve the recognition.
Martin Van Buren Bates is one of my ancestors on mom’s side of the family! My cousin has researched and found some interesting things about how that he lived in special made houses with special made furniture for him and his tall wife. Mom’s uncle Tom was around 7′ tall. That gene has been passed on for several generation with a lot of my immediate family being above average in height.
Lady bugs have invaded my house! I have fly traps and bug zappers on my sun porch where my windows are often orange and black speckled. They leave a nasaty trail and stink like cyarn. My closest neighbor doesn’t have a single one. I have no idea how that the pest choose who to torment.
How that post got away is a great mystery. Maybe you’ll eventually track it down.
I didn’t know until I read the dictionary entries “how that” would be used. I guess it is so common in my everyday language that I don’t even realize I’m saying it!
It’s more than “how that”, there’s who that, why that, where that, when that and more. That is a word that confounds me. Where that I should use it and when, if at all. Ever time I write something I have to go back and find all the thats and try to eliminate them. But, it never seems right without them.
Congratulations on being added in the dictionary! That’s quite a thing to be proud of indeed! Pap must not have met or seen the ASIAN LADY BUG that will bite the tar out of you!!! I remember getting bit for the first time by one about 25 years ago and I told people “this is not our lady bug.” I was accused of exaggerating, but then folks began reporting they too had been bit. I got bit by a praying mantis several times now. (I don’t think they pray at all or they’d be nicer critters. Lol) Crazy I am indeed! Crazy like a fox and usually fast on the uptake… I pride myself in wising up over the years… God bless ya and have an awesome Christ centered day! Ready to skim the walls today FINALLY…. Have no inclination to be indoors of the summer…I’ll be barefoot in the dirt.
I was always told that Lady Bugs are a good thing to have in your garden ,but I have never seen so many I had to swat them or have I tasted them.
If I was late picking up my granny to take her to town, she’d say “how that you was late gettin’ up her?”.
Another beautiful day awaits us here in the Tennessee valley, so get outside!
Blessings to all the family.
I wish I could be like your dad and not let ladybugs worry me so; but, I completely agree with ‘how that’ Paul feels about them. I have been battling a few of them in my house since late fall. I think I am finally winning the battle by leaving my vacuum sitting beside the sunniest window in the house and constantly sweeping them up in it. I have two funny (sort of) stories about ladybugs. One year, when we had several in our house, I had made ravioli for dinner. You know that the color of a ladybug pretty much matches the color of ravioli in sauce. Well my poor hubby ate a bite where a ladybug had secretly landed. Yuck—Ok, so it was a little funny at the time! So, now when we have some flying around, I am soooo careful to keep everything covered. My hubby did get the last laugh one other year when the ladybugs were swarming outside. I was standing on our front porch looking at them flying around everywhere. I yelled down to my hubby in the yard about how many there were, when one flew right in my mouth and landed on my tongue! I got it back out, but believe me when I tell you, I know ‘how that’ they taste! I understand they are supposed to be beneficials, but they are not benefitting anything in my house. Lol.
I don’t have any ladybugs here. The Japanese beetles and stinkbugs keep ’em all run off!
I grew up hearing ‘How’s that?’ meaning ‘Pardon Me?’ or ‘What was that you said?’.